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Ottarski's Baseball Lift


Guest rockblaster

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Guest rockblaster

I am planning to make this gadjet out of a softball as Mr. John Brookfield described in his book.  I was just wondering if anyone else has used this method of developing hand strength with much success.

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now I've started doing an exercise very close to this one: I lift an old dumbell with round weights by one of its ends, and the feel is probably very similar, even if that would make a bigger ball!

Well I find it really works my hand (fingers+thumb)!!

so go for it and tell me what gains you make!

train hard

david

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Guest Bobjodoin

I have a softball that I use. It is just another pinch variation but I really like it. It murders the thumb. You only want to grab smooth leather. Hooking the strings makes it easier to hold. Baseballs are really too small.

Bob

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Guest rockblaster

I wonder if there is another object to use that is smoother than the softball but about the same size--like a shot put, maybe?  Any suggestions?

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Guest woody36

RB,

    I went to a pet shop supply store,and got a couple

of solid rubber balls.One 2 1/2" dia-the other 3 1/2"

put a 60d nail through it bent into a hook,and you

just support weights on a chain.

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    I have a 16-pound shot put that I sometimes lift in the manner described in Brookfield’s book.  Of course, it is not progressive and I’ve never attached any weight.  This is an expensive, but interesting option.  I probably could attach weights with a small removable screw and a wire.  I better exercise for the 16-pound shot is simply throwing it back and forth between hands.  I began doing this again after a long lay off after seeing John Sullivan’s site recently linked to from the grip board.  I believe that 20-pound shots are also available, but you would have to have a big hand to pick it up.

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I went to an art store and got a large (softball-sized) unfinished (and very smooth) wooden egg and drilled a hole thru it top-to-bottom. Like woody, I dropped a long nail thru it, and bent it into a hook. From the hook, I attached a cable and support a weight from that.

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Good links, Tom. I had no idea that a 28 pound shot was commercially available. I got a 20 pound shot from MF-Athletic a few years ago and it was their heaviest shot.

In my opinion, any shot lighter than 6 pounds is useless. For grip training, a 6 pound iron shot is a bit larger than a baseball. A 10 pound shot approximates the size of a men's softball and a 12 pound shot is obviously larger. A ring or hook can be welded to the shot for doing lifts. However, the shot would no longer be suitable for putting or juggling.

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  Soon I will try to juggle the 16-pound (outside).  But you don't need to juggle it to have the benefit it you throw it back and forth.  I think I could put a very small eye hook screw (maybe 1/8" ) into the steel and attach a wire and then weights to it.  It's not like you would need to attach 100-pounds to it, I'm sure 10 or 20 would be VERY difficult to lift like the baseball lift.  

    The SpringCo site is very hard to find, it's weird because very few of the throwers sites seem to link to it.

    Barbender, can you palm the 20-pound shot palm down?  What is the diameter of the ball?

(Edited by Tom Black at 8:21 am on June 3, 2001)

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Guest rockblaster

I just made the softball lift gadjet and tried it out.  It was really a wonderful workout.  It felt as if your hands were actually transformed into grasping talons.   This also  seems to work the entire hand .  I was careful however, not to grasp any part of the stitching on the ball as this would make it easier to lift.  What is a good weight goal to achieve with this exercise?

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A great way to use the softball lift is on a

lat or low row machine ........real easy to

adjust resistance.RS

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Tom, I have yet to palm that 20 pound iron shot. I use it primarily for standing puts anyway. When I try to pinch lift it, I can't quite get enough squeeze on it.

Qualifying a good lifting poundage on the softball lift depends mostly on how far the digits extend beyond the equator of the ball. A large hand will have more finger and thumb under the ball than a smaller hand. Forty pounds is a good goal for someone with small hands.

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I have made both the softball and the baseball versions to what Brookfield described in his book.  The softball is just too big for any serious weight to attach to it, while the baseball is just right (at least, for me).  Put some heavy weight on it and lift!  I also have a 16-pound shotput that I use, and I can overhand grip it - once you can do that, start swinging it for resistance.

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