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What type of chalk do you use?


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1 hour ago, Cannon said:

Because it also has resin or what?

I don't know what it is but it doesn't feel like resin at all.  I can't lift as much with it alone so I never worried about it.  I have always assumed it was the drying agent they use in their Super Chalk but I could be wrong.  

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Chalk and Grip Sport

Chalk serves two purposes in grip.  It absorbs the natural oils on your hands and it absorbs moisture.  It has limited but some “friction” on its own – and this is what really concerns us when we can “prepare” the surface and our hands immediately before a lift.  Applied too thick and it will slide on itself – acting like tiny ball bearings.  Too much build up of chalk alone will result in lower weights lifted.  Too much on the hands will be even worse.  You want a very thin to almost nonexistent layer on both surfaces.  Also if the surface is too rough with rust – the rust may not be strong enough and can break loose – resulting in a failed lift also.  Also that deep “pitted” surface you sometimes see on Euros (that “looks” so awesome) will have less friction than a somewhat smoother but still seasoned surface.

Tacky is often mentioned as “cheating” but it depends.  Tacky comes in different stiffness’s and is strong enough to help on things like Blobs and lifts where the overall weight isn’t all that high.  But tacky stops you cold on something like the Euro.  Depending on the strength of the tacky used it will slip on itself on lifts like the Euro well before a chalked hand will.  At around 150 to 160# my tacky fails completely on the euro.  Different tacky’s will no doubt vary.

The best I have found is to experiment and find the surface prep (within the rules) and hand prep (through cleaning and the best chalking method) for you.  Then do that every single time you train or compete.  There aren’t that many brands of quality chalk out there – it’s worth your time to experiment with each (all) of them to find what you like and what conditions each works best in.

Why try tacky - it was because of rumors that it was used by some for Blob lifts - which led t trying it on lots of things - unsuccessfully or successfully as the case may be.

I did all my experiments quite a few years back except for when Friction Labs came out - I repeated everything.

Edited by climber511
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What’s this “chalk” you speak of? I only lift on Ironmind implements. 

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I ordered four blocks of White Gold. I’m almost embarrassed to admit in all these years I thought all chalk was pure magnesium carbonate, and therefore equal. If I do a 350 Saxon lift with the White Gold I’m gonna be so mad at this entire board for keeping it a secret since 2002.  

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Perfect timing on this thread, I just ran out of chalk. The chalk I have used is cheap so it's probably the bad type of chalk. Going to order some of the brands recommended here and maybe I can improve my pinch a bit.

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23 hours ago, Nigel Blackburn said:

What’s this “chalk” you speak of? I only lift on Ironmind implements. 

Good luck beating the WR on the blockbuster without chalk.

Ironmind sure knows how to come up with stupid rules.

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Quote

since we know Randy wont ban or censor anyone on his forum for heating things up, i would recommend that any passionate questions or complaints you guys have with regards to Ironmind products and the rules and or records for them be taken directly to the IM forum.

I agree 100% on this.

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Also note that for the MashMonster certs, Magnesium Carbonate based products are only allowed.

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Black diamond white gold. It's dense, leaves a nice thin layer on the skin that reduces tearing, and if you want to grind it onto a smooth surface with your palms (blobs, plate pinches) it sticks pretty quickly.

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32 minutes ago, Tommy J. said:

But what i have never seen happen after Randy makes a new rule, is for anyone to nut up and ask Randy himself why he made the changes he made. Not saying its never happened, but i dont recall anyone specfically asking Randy what was what about a new rule or change they didnt agree with. And for the record, Randy does respond to direct questions. He’s not the type to give a cold shoulder to a would be “i want to talk to the manager!” kind of individual. He’ll hash it out if your eager.

 

I am happy that you were lucky in communicating with Randy.
I'm not so lucky. I wrote them three times. I have got questions about rules for establishing a world record at LBH.

The answer has never been. But any questions from me about purchase his products - without any pause and problems i have got very quick.

Just my experience.

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On 3/5/2019 at 11:38 AM, Cannon said:

Because it also has resin or what?

Eco Ball - The chalk substitute in this Eco Ball is Cabosil, a fumed silica.  From an REI advertisement. 

Not a "chalk" at all really - but it does dry your hands.  I never worried about people using it because in my experiments - it wasn't as good as regular chalk on friction lifts.  For now at least I have not found any substance that is as good as a well seasoned (but not too well) surface and well cleaned and lightly chalked hands.

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2 hours ago, Tommy J. said:

 

but what i have never seen happen after Randy makes a new rule, is for anyone to nut up and ask Randy himself why he made the changes he made. Not saying its never happened, but i dont recall anyone specfically asking Randy what was what about a new rule or change they didnt agree with. And for the record, Randy does respond to direct questions. He’s not the type to give a cold shoulder to a would be “i want to talk to the manager!” kind of individual. He’ll hash it out if your eager.

Anytime I found something puzzling regarding a rule change, most recently with this chalk decision, I have gone right to him via email.  I've known him for a very long time and he's generally very reasonable over email, and I encourage others who don't like the rule to voice that to him, so he knows how many people feel that way.

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Randy and I have had some excellent "arguments" (In person at the Arnold) about grippers and setting when that rule was changed back in the day.  We have sat around at the Olympic lifting venue and discussed all kinds of strength topics - including a very interesting discussion of PED use with a couple Russian Power Lifters he knew that wandered by.  Randy has been involved in the lifting sports for a long time and while I don't always agree with him - he does think things through - albeit from his own point of view.  Most may not know but he has also done some rock climbing.  And through all the hell he has caught on this board he has always been a generous sponsor for our Competitions.  

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4 hours ago, Tommy J. said:

Hold up a second... this happens every single time Ironmind changes something. But did you know that Randy actually doesnt sit and think this stuff up? Yeah.. I can assure you he also doesn't just throw some rules out there and add them. He actually takes the time to reach out to those in the know to get opinion on his proposal before hand. I know this for a fact because i have been one of those guys. Recently.  

So what happens is, some cry baby runs to Randy telling him about how “some guy” is cheating... by using too much material on a bend, by having too narrow of a set, or “the only reason that guy lifted more than me is because he cheated and chalked the implement!”

and what whatever move Randy makes by responding with new rules in an attempt to keep things fair is always met with hate.

 

but what i have never seen happen after Randy makes a new rule, is for anyone to nut up and ask Randy himself why he made the changes he made. Not saying its never happened, but i dont recall anyone specfically asking Randy what was what about a new rule or change they didnt agree with. And for the record, Randy does respond to direct questions. He’s not the type to give a cold shoulder to a would be “i want to talk to the manager!” kind of individual. He’ll hash it out if your eager.

 

since we know Randy wont ban or censor anyone on his forum for heating things up, i would recommend that any passionate questions or complaints you guys have with regards to Ironmind products and the rules and or records for them be taken directly to the IM forum.

 

otherwise, its easy to come off like a diva.

 

I think Randy changes rules when folks take liberties with current rules, and then tries to standardize them the best he can.  I applaud his courage to do this, despite the fact that we have not always seen eye to eye on quite a few things over the years.  Years back, he called me and asked me of my opinion about setting grippers when he was contemplating a rule change about how deep grippers could be set prior to a close attempt.  I told him that when I closed grippers, I would set the gripper enough so I could wrap my pinky around the handle, which for me would leave the handles about 1.5" apart prior to my close attempt.  I never thought of doing anything otherwise.  At the time this conversation took place, the number of people certifying on the #3 was on a very fast rise, and there were some folks who just went about things the wrong way.  Some people were "foot stomping" grippers to aggressively season the spring, deep setting grippers so the handles were a fraction of an inch apart when starting the close, or heating up the springs to weaken the springs.  All sorts of stuff was going on, which Randy eventually fixed by settling on the credit card rule (which I told him may be an unsafe starting distance for some people) and sending brand new grippers to those who were attempting #3 certifications.  Personally, I like the idea of the credit card rule (to keep things uniform) but I prefer the handles being a bit closer together when I start to close a gripper as it is not as strenuous on my joints.  So, I like the rule but disagree on the distance between the handles.  Does my certification on the #3 mean any less to me because I did it under the old rules? Absolutely not, as I played fairly within those rules without taking any shortcuts along the more than two year road to certification.  If the rules changed along my journey to certification prior to successfully certifying on the #3 gripper, then I would have just changed the way I trained to play by the new rules.  I don't take shortcuts in my training or my life.  That is my personal choice and I live by that.  Whatever others chose to do to certify, that was their choice.  I would have only been kidding myself how strong my grip was at that time had I taken shortcuts. 

One of The Red Nail rules was changed before I certified on The Red Nail and I was heavily involved in this change as you will soon see.  I attempted a Red Nail certification in early 2004 at Bollenbach's gym.  I successfully bent the Red Nail in about 10 minutes.  I took all I had to do this, and I did it in reverse style.  I was very happy about my success.  I was happy until I received a phone call from Randy a couple of days later rejecting my attempt.  He explained to me that in the spirit of a strength feat, the bend just took too long.  I told him that nowhere within the rules was a time limit ever addressed so my attempt should have been passed.  We got into a discussion about performing feats of strength in front of an audience and that if I took ten minutes to bend that nail, everybody in the audience would have lost interest in what I was doing by the time I was successful.  Well, I had to agree with him.  It all made sense to me.  He told me that he believed that one minute would be a good time limit.  Not too short of a time, but not too long either.  I agreed with him that one a one minute time limit made perfect sense.  At that moment, even if Randy decided to pass my attempt because of my "no time limit" argument, I would have rejected it because his one minute strength feat argument was that persuasive and it made total sense to me.  Then I asked him if he was coming to the 2004 AOBS dinner that summer.  He said he was planning on attending.  I asked him if he minded bringing a Red Nail for me to certify on and if he would be my referee.  He happily agreed.  I performed a show at the AOBS dinner in 2004 along with my buddy Pat Povilaitis, and after we were done and the dinner was over, Randy found me and I certified on the Red Nail just a few minutes shy of midnight without a thing to eat for most of the day.  So, the rules were changed in midstream and I had a good argument about succeeding within the current rules the way they were written.  In the end, I became stronger, and I certified under the new rules.  There were further rule changes after that of course, concerning the wraps and the use of rubber bands as well. 

I just wanted to shed a little light on the history of the rules on a couple of things from "way back in the day," in case people were interested why some rules for grippers and nails changed along the way. 

 

 

 

Edited by 3Crusher
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5 hours ago, Tommy J. said:

Hold up a second... this happens every single time Ironmind changes something. But did you know that Randy actually doesnt sit and think this stuff up? Yeah.. I can assure you he also doesn't just throw some rules out there and add them. He actually takes the time to reach out to those in the know to get opinion on his proposal before hand. I know this for a fact because i have been one of those guys. Recently. 

So what happens is, some cry baby runs to Randy telling him about how “some guy” is cheating... by using too much material on a bend, by having too narrow of a set, or “the only reason that guy lifted more than me is because he cheated and chalked the implement!”

and what whatever move Randy makes by responding with new rules in an attempt to keep things fair is always met with hate.

 

but what i have never seen happen after Randy makes a new rule, is for anyone to nut up and ask Randy himself why he made the changes he made. Not saying its never happened, but i dont recall anyone specfically asking Randy what was what about a new rule or change they didnt agree with. And for the record, Randy does respond to direct questions. He’s not the type to give a cold shoulder to a would be “i want to talk to the manager!” kind of individual. He’ll hash it out if your eager.

 

since we know Randy wont ban or censor anyone on his forum for heating things up, i would recommend that any passionate questions or complaints you guys have with regards to Ironmind products and the rules and or records for them be taken directly to the IM forum.

 

otherwise, its easy to come off like a diva.

Getting ideas from someone that didn’t know there was a difference between chalks about chalking...now thats funny!! 

 

The timing of the chalking rule also seems very suspect considering when I looked at the rules for the LBH shortly before our contest it wasn’t included and then it was there after the contest. I have no problem failing a lift bc it wasn’t good enough but to say you cant chalk the implement is stupid to me bc everyone has access to chalk, including purchasing better chalk and testing which is best for them. The records need to be reset or have a separate list and for anyone that wouldbe  taking a WR attempt he should provide a brand new item just like with the grippers bc seasoning is another issue altogether. 

Edited by Lucasraymond
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Found a bag of Friction Labs Bam Bam on eBay and ordered it. Looking forward to try it... On the IM Blockbuster of course :D 

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I always considered chalk something to level the playing field with climate being so varied around the world. 

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1 hour ago, Tommy J. said:

I responded in the bold to your first sentiments. 

And to the 2nd half of your post, tell Randy himself you think he’s out to get you? 🤷🏼‍♂️

Thanks I’ll take that as a compliment on being more prepared and maximizing all technical aspects. 

 

More than likely the timing is more due to getting the rule in before the Arnold and coincidentally at the same time as my record attempt and nothing to do directly with me (you see that I agreed with ya!)

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I'm not sure what chalk we're using in competitions in Finland, but in training I just use the chalk that's cheapest and easiest to find. 

I agree with Luke everyone has the same chance to chalk up their implements. My "problem" with the rule change is that wiping down the implement is too subjective, and takes extra time. How do you standardize cleaning the implement, what's clean enough? 

All I care about is equal playing field that's easy to judge, and to me this seems like a move to a wrong direction. I think the intention was good, and to make it more equal to everyone.

PS: I wish people could be constructive with their criticism. I don't see how some of the posts I've seen on facebook or other platforms are really helping. 

Edited by Mywor
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11 hours ago, Tommy J. said:

My sentiments can go either way depending on how you look at them. You can say your more prepared, but i could also say that maybe you wouldnt lift so much without needing to chalk whisper. Either way, im seeing it as the usual. Another over analyzation in the sport. But this time to claim some chalks are that much better than others. Or is it?.. maybe this edge some of you have just came to everyones attention? 

Also, you guys should be careful pointing out how much of an advantage your pet chalk gives you in grip comps. Merely by pointing it out, you prove that things arent what they seem with some guys doing big lifts. See what im getting at? While a handful of you sit here and try to claim how much more intelligent you are by seeking the clingiest chalk, the rest of us are going “wait a minute... maybe thats the reason why those guys are lifting stuff im not! So what else are these guys doing to get an adge?”

 

because if we’re being honest, if your chalking didnt make that big of a difference, i dont see any reason for you to lock into this thread so hard with grievance.

so maybe Randy was on point this time afterall!

 

and try not to get mad at anyone here but yourself. You’re all but admitting that you cant hit nearly the numbers on that lift without running some chalk game. 

 

Either way, i could care less who this rule hurts. Im eager to see how our numbers on the LBH might compare with all things being equal now.

 

As I stated in my first post; the records need to be reset then bc it does change the lifts significantly which has been everyone's stance from the beginning that no records will ever be broke again bc it does make the lift harder on all friction based lifts (less on thickbar but still effected). The large percentage of gripsters that have competed > 1 year try to optimize their chalking on their implements and some to the level of figuring out the best chalk for their lifts; which is why so many people responded to this post. The reason I have to utilize chalk so much is because I have some of sweatiest hands there is; which isnt a good thing in friction lifts. 

I’ll test LBH as soon as my thumb is ready and let you know the difference. The blockbuster and hub are goingto show a bigger loss of top lifts than the LBH. 

 

Edited by Lucasraymond
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I have been watching this closely and had to just clean it up. Take it off the forum guys if you want to start taking jabs at each other.  I am not going to close it down YET because I think people can have a civil conversation about this without getting personal.

The fact of the matter is that in sports it is always going to be human nature to work within the rules to get EVERY advantage they can to win or beat others.  EVERY sport. 

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3 hours ago, Wannagrip said:

I have been watching this closely and had to just clean it up. Take it off the forum guys if you want to start taking jabs at each other.  I am not going to close it down YET because I think people can have a civil conversation about this without getting personal.

The fact of the matter is that in sports it is always going to be human nature to work within the rules to get EVERY advantage they can to win or beat others.  EVERY sport. 

As interesting as the politics around using chalk are, I really just wanted to see a lively discussion around which kind of chalk is best. 😅

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Just to add to my comments, my hands are always bone dry, I can read a book in an infrared sauna as long as the sweat doesn't drip down my arms, so what I need from chalk is a little protection so I don't tear my skin. If I had sweaty hands, more chalk and/or a different type might work better. But a thin layer, and breathing on my thumbs/fingers right before a heavy friction attempt is what works best for me.

 

Edited by wobbler
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