Women #3

[Hubgeezer]

I keep saying grip is different. Let me give some more examples to ponder.

I was a long distance runner for 5 years, age 15-20. I worked way harder at it than I ever have anything strength related. As a kid, it was important to me. My times as a miler, half miler (800 meters), two miler, did not even come close to top female runners in the world. If you take any track and field event, and if you were a young man exceeding the top women in the world in that event, you were talented. How many guys on this Board, if they devoted the next 5 years of their lives to the Pole Vault, could go 16 feet, like that young Russian gal keeps doing? How many guys, if they decided they wanted to take up the 400 meter run, are going to break 50 seconds? You can train all you want on both, and I think the answer will be zero.

Grip is different. There are guys on this board (Morton, Edgin, Bussi, more) who closed a #2 the first time they touched it, meaning they were as strong in grip as the strongest women in the world.

Julie HAS trained her grip a long time. She has written the most definitive "how to" book on Strongman in existence. She has held the longest running Rolling Thunder contest (5 straight years) in the world. She sells grip products. You don't think she is serious about grip?

For whatever reason, men seem to have more of a genetic advantage in grip than women than most other sports. Kara and Julie will be practically twice as strong as me no matter how hard I train. The majority of guys on this board will never be as strong as them. But, almost every serious grip guy on this board should be able to outgrip any woman in the world.

More guys should add to the dollars of the pot. It is a safe challenge. But I would be happy to be proven wrong.

Hubgeezer

[Teemu I]

I keep saying grip is different. Let me give some more examples to ponder.

I was a long distance runner for 5 years, age 15-20. I worked way harder at it than I ever have anything strength related. As a kid, it was important to me. My times as a miler, half miler (800 meters), two miler, did not even come close to top female runners in the world. If you take any track and field event, and if you were a young man exceeding the top women in the world in that event, you were talented. How many guys on this Board, if they devoted the next 5 years of their lives to the Pole Vault, could go 16 feet, like that young Russian gal keeps doing? How many guys, if they decided they wanted to take up the 400 meter run, are going to break 50 seconds? You can train all you want on both, and I think the answer will be zero.

Grip is different. There are guys on this board (Morton, Edgin, Bussi, more) who closed a #2 the first time they touched it, meaning they were as strong in grip as the strongest women in the world.

Julie HAS trained her grip a long time. She has written the most definitive "how to" book on Strongman in existence. She has held the longest running Rolling Thunder contest (5 straight years) in the world. She sells grip products. You don't think she is serious about grip?

For whatever reason, men seem to have more of a genetic advantage in grip than women than most other sports. Kara and Julie will be practically twice as strong as me no matter how hard I train. The majority of guys on this board will never be as strong as them. But, almost every serious grip guy on this board should be able to outgrip any woman in the world.

More guys should add to the dollars of the pot. It is a safe challenge. But I would be happy to be proven wrong.

Hubgeezer

Good post, good arguments to back up the statement that grip is different. Maybe it is then. I still believe that genetic disadvantage or not, MMS close #3 is possible for some women (as was my original statement) through really hard work.

I forgot to mention in my last post that I meant serious specialization on gripper training. I doubt Julie has done KTA for example, as many gripper enthusiasts on this board.

We need more serious women in this sport, that's the only way to know.

[superfeemiman]

"True, but that would be easily fixed if all those guys worked their deadlifts as hard as they work their grip. I think it's as simple as that. I know many guys don't take the rest of their training as seriously, for whatever reason they might have. It's easier to work your grip hard than it is to work your deadlifts hard, that's one."

It's not like majority in the world train for full-body strength anyway, so training grip is already better than most people. So you're either saying everyone should work out their full body, which is obvious because it's better for you, or you're saying someone who trains one thing for strength should train their whole body too, when not most people don't do either so you're pretty much back to the first option.

No, you got me wrong there. I said that only to point out, that grip is no different: it all depends what you choose to work hard. I doubt Julie Havelka has worked her grip as hard as many grip specialist guys on this board.

Alright. I said that to show you what joeyg probably meant though. It seemed like you were saying poeple who are just doing grip should do more.

[Chrisx9118]

Its not the same saying that you need to train deadlifts as hard as grip. I can train my grip 3 times a week very hard and i can only deadlift once a week because it is much more taxing and much more prone to injury.

[David Horne]

Elizabeth will have a go at this. She will train on both a credit card set and MM set. I think she can get the #3 with the MM set in the 365 days alloted, but the credit card set is a whole different ball game. We shall see.

David

[Teemu I]

Elizabeth will have a go at this. She will train on both a credit card set and MM set. I think she can get the #3 with the MM set in the 365 days alloted, but the credit card set is a whole different ball game. We shall see.

David

That's great! Good luck to her, I'm confident she will accomplish that MMS close within 365 days!

[joeyg]

KTA is not the be-all, end-all gripper programs...it works for some people, not for others like anything else.

There are plenty of women who take grip seriously, more seriously than some men...but a #3 has not been shut by a woman.

[Teemu I]

KTA is not the be-all, end-all gripper programs...it works for some people, not for others like anything else.

You are right, that is why I brought KTA up only as a simplified example.

[twig]

Elizabeth will have a go at this. She will train on both a credit card set and MM set. I think she can get the #3 with the MM set in the 365 days alloted, but the credit card set is a whole different ball game. We shall see.

David

Are there any men on this forum 1/4" away from a #3 close that are willing to see who gets there first? Let's see if the alledged advantage of being male is better or worse that having David Horne as a coach, and Elizabeth's grip and determination.

[Teemu I]

Elizabeth will have a go at this. She will train on both a credit card set and MM set. I think she can get the #3 with the MM set in the 365 days alloted, but the credit card set is a whole different ball game. We shall see.

David

Are there any men on this forum 1/4" away from a #3 close that are willing to see who gets there first? Let's see if the alledged advantage of being male is better or worse that having David Horne as a coach, and Elizabeth's grip and determination.

That would be interesting!

[joeyg]

Elizabeth will have a go at this. She will train on both a credit card set and MM set. I think she can get the #3 with the MM set in the 365 days alloted, but the credit card set is a whole different ball game. We shall see.

David

Are there any men on this forum 1/4" away from a #3 close that are willing to see who gets there first? Let's see if the alledged advantage of being male is better or worse that having David Horne as a coach, and Elizabeth's grip and determination.

i'm about a 1/4" away...but i don't have the determination...can i get david to coach me too?

[CoC#3]

I saw a video of a 150-lb girl (woman) - Kara Bohigian or something? - standing pressing 235 lbs overheard, strict, for 5 reps. Also the same girl (woman) bench pressing 402 lbs competition style. Apparently she also squats over 600. She is a 150 lb girl (woman) who out-lifts nearly everybody I've ever known in my life. If a 150 lb girl (woman) can do all this, surely some woman, if she ever puts her mind to it, will close a # 3.

Here's Kara Bohigian benching 402 at 148 bodyweight:

Here's Kara Bohigian standing military pressing at least 235 lbs for 5 reps at 148 bodyweight:

(Edit: Actually it looks like she does about 195 for 5 reps, then does about 235-245 for a single, with really thick 45-lb plates)

I spoke with Kara about her grip. She said she has trouble with her #1. I have given here a few suggestions and i think she could possibly get up to a #2 but because she is only 5'3'' and therefore has smallish hands i unfortunately cannot see here closing a #3.