Jump to content

Brain Shaw's grip gauntlet


UnomeKC

Recommended Posts

Love to see how much fun they have. I also love my Blobs :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Question- When pinch grip training, why not use surfaces that have maximal amount of friction? That way you can manage more weight before slipping. It seems like these york bells are quite slippery even with chalk. Unless I'm mistaken and the friction with the surface is actually pretty high?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 minutes ago, Drygord said:

Question- When pinch grip training, why not use surfaces that have maximal amount of friction? That way you can manage more weight before slipping. It seems like these york bells are quite slippery even with chalk. Unless I'm mistaken and the friction with the surface is actually pretty high?

Because the purpose is to get stronger, not to move the heaviest weight. If all you want to do is move weight then a barbell is the best tool. The whole challenge of block weights is that they are difficult to grab, 50lbs generally isn't heavy for most any other lift.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

If it's the actual shape of the object you are seeking to grab, then it makes sense to use a higher friction surface like rubber coating. By the looks of the gauntlet, most people are failing due to lack of friction than hand strength relative to the shape of the blob. Brian even mentions the "cheat line" on his bigger blobs- where the force of friction is higher due to the casting marks.

Edited by Drygord
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Drygord said:

If it's the actual shape of the object you are seeking to grab, then it makes sense to use a higher friction surface like rubber coating. By the looks of the gauntlet, most people are failing due to lack of friction than hand strength relative to the shape of the blob. Brian even mentions the "cheat line" on his bigger blobs- where the force of friction is higher due to the casting marks.

Brother, you are missing the point. It's a pinch exercise, you need to pinch the blob hard enough so it doesn't slip out. Otherwise you could just put tacky (adhesive grip) onto both sides and take grip strength out of it.

Edited by DAVE101
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ya. The point of grip is not to make stuff as easy as possible to lift. It’s to be strong enough to lift extremely challenging items. Items are made challenging through several factors such as shape, width, texture and weight. We lift weights in grip which are sub maximal for our bodies but are hard to hold on to and that makes your hands work harder to lift them.

Edited by Chez
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, DAVE101 said:

Brother, you are missing the point. It's a pinch exercise, you need to pinch the blob hard enough so it doesn't slip out. Otherwise you could just put tacky (adhesive grip) onto both sides and take grip strength out of it.

I don't think it would take the grip strength out of it. On the contrary, it would take make the friction component less critical in the equation and shift more of the focus into hand strength / being able to create force in a wide or seldom used pinch position. 

If you are only going by friction and preventing slippage then you might as well lube your fingers with vaseline. At least if that's the only thing in consideration.

EDIT: it's probably just much cooler and simpler to grip a york dumbell blob naked than applying some extra rubber coating or tacky, so yeah bareback is the right way to do it ;) still seems slippery though. I really want to grab a blob now

Edited by Drygord
Link to comment
Share on other sites

IMG_3011.JPG?width=282&height=376

This is about 32 pounds and 5.5 inches thick. I guess my point bringing with all this is that I feel more of a mechanical stress on my thumb before feeling any slippage. And if it were any more slippery I would miss out on the mechanical stress benefit, etc.

Edited by Drygord
Link to comment
Share on other sites

42 minutes ago, Drygord said:

IMG_3011.JPG?width=282&height=376

This is about 32 pounds and 5.5 inches thick. I guess my point bringing with all this is that I feel more of a mechanical stress on my thumb before feeling any slippage. And if it were any more slippery I would miss out on the mechanical stress benefit, etc.

I think Shaw is getting mechincal stress on his thumb lifting this 72.2 lb block weight. It’s all relative. Because he’s so strong, he can lift the lighter slicker ones without as much texture or chalk also. Block weights are all different. Some have more texture than others. I have felt super easy 50 lb ones and insanely hard 50 lb ones. And the easier ones are the ones with more texture due to rougher paint or being left outside etc. implements also get rougher over time through use and we call this “seasoning” in grip. Once your your stronger, you can squeeze harder and overcome the slicker ones. If you create more friction on the block weight, it makes it easier and a different feat. If two guys try the same slick block weight and one lifts it while the other can’t, the guy who lifted it was able to by squeezing harder to overcome the slickness (for simplicity assume they both have good tenchnique and same size hands etc since those also play a factor in real life)

 

 

Edited by Chez
Link to comment
Share on other sites

33 minutes ago, Drygord said:

IMG_3011.JPG?width=282&height=376

This is about 32 pounds and 5.5 inches thick. I guess my point bringing with all this is that I feel more of a mechanical stress on my thumb before feeling any slippage. And if it were any more slippery I would miss out on the mechanical stress benefit, etc.

 

The mechanical stress comes from the force you need to place on the blob to keep it from falling.  You can calculate exactly how much force you need to exert.  That force will be based on the coefficient of friction and the weight.  So according to https://hypertextbook.com/facts/2005/skin.shtml, not very good source but good enough for the following, a nickel has a coefficient of friction of .73 I'll say that is close enough to a york dumbell that means that the force he needs to apply to prevent a 50 pounds block from slipping is 50/.73 so 68.5 pounds plastic had a coefficient of friction of .98 so lifting a 67 pouund plastic object will require you placing 67/.98 or roughly 68.4 pounds of force to prevent slippage.  Those numbers are roughly equivalent which means the force your hand is required to produce is the same for both of them.  The stress on your thumb is created purely by the force you need to prevent slippage.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

For those who have tried the Inch dumbbell- does the weight slip out of your hands due to friction or does the diameter of the handle and huge weight simply overpower your thumb and pry it open?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

35 minutes ago, Drygord said:

For those who have tried the Inch dumbbell- does the weight slip out of your hands due to friction or does the diameter of the handle and huge weight simply overpower your thumb and pry it open?

It’s mostly the diameter of the handle, and the fact that the dumbbell is one solid implement so it tends to want to roll out of your thumb (as you stated)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, Boulderbrew said:

It’s mostly the diameter of the handle, and the fact that the dumbbell is one solid implement so it tends to want to roll out of your thumb (as you stated)

Sounds wicked. I would love to give it a try one day. I have exceptional thumb strength for a slim/weak person - massaged my mom since I was 6 who had massive and knotted up back muscles. Worked as a professional massage therapist for a few years and did a lot of thumb rolling (most therapists get lazy and do elbow/palms to keep the thumbs fresh).

Yesterday I watched Shaw incline the double Inches. Totally insane.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, Boulderbrew said:

It’s mostly the diameter of the handle, and the fact that the dumbbell is one solid implement so it tends to want to roll out of your thumb (as you stated)

The handle will want to roll out whether it's fixed or rotating.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy policies.