Guest Luke Reimer Posted July 4, 2001 Share Posted July 4, 2001 Whenever anyone discusses attempts made to lift a "challenge dumbbell," such as the Thomas Inch variety, I have been curious about what exactly would be considered a successful lift. Provided you are only using one hand, with your thumb opposite your fingers and the handle in between, does anything go? I'm mainly thinking about the advantage to be gained from flexing the wrist inward to get the fingertips further around. I think this question has been asked before but I'm not sure what was resolved. I've heard it suggested that trying to gain an advantage in this way would not work because of the demands on the wrist being too high. However it seems to me that the amount of advantage to be gained from your wrists would vary in direct proportion to handle thickness, because the thicker your handles the lower your best weight would be and the easier for your wrist to support. For instance, I find my wrists don't help my one armed pulls at all on a one inch handle, but help noticeably on a 2 3/8 inch handle, and tremendously on a 3 1/2 inch handle (it puts me easily 60 percent heavier on the 3 1/2 handle). Do any of you try to keep your wrists from participating in your one armed deads, in order to isolate the fingers? Or do you use your wrists too and just pile on more weights (as I have been doing)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kashtan Posted November 21, 2010 Share Posted November 21, 2010 3 1/2 inch handle? Hard! And there is most bigger thick handle? Exactly 4"? 10 cm diameter? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lifesnotfair Posted November 22, 2010 Share Posted November 22, 2010 3 1/2 inch handle? Hard! And there is most bigger thick handle? Exactly 4"? 10 cm diameter? Holy thread resurrection, Batman! If I had read this thread before I wouldn't have this question, but now that I've been following the armwrestling scene as a fan for a few years, I have to wonder if the original poster back in 2001, Luke Reimer, is the armwrestler from Canada? He was very strong from what I've heard (don't know if he's still active) and even got a win on John Brzenk leftie at one point, if my memory serves me right, so I wouldn't be surprised if he got some decent thickbar strength His question is fair and he does have a point, if a guy has superhuman wrist strength he could lift the Inch without that much "thick bar strength" as we know it, hell he could just bend his wrist completely and lift the dumbell while it rests on his palm, LOL. Of course this is just in theory as I doubt anyone can do this as I just described, BUT I have always suspected that the stronger-wristed people who may not train Pinch or Thumbwork as much as grip enthusiasts (ie: national level armwrestlers) would benefit from a "thumbless" grip with their wrist a bit more bent than we usually see the grip guys using. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Roussin Posted November 22, 2010 Share Posted November 22, 2010 Yes, this is the same Luke Reimer. Luke hasn't armwrestled since August 2008, and from what I hear he has no plans to return to the sport. Luke actually got a single right hand win over John Brzenk in 2001, but I suspect there was a bit of underestimation on John's part. John convincingly won their subsequent right hand matches. You are right Arturo, I think several armwrestlers would be able to lift heavy thick handled dumbbells with a thumbless grip. I witnessed a few do it this way just a couple of days ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lifesnotfair Posted November 22, 2010 Share Posted November 22, 2010 Eric, you might find this interesting, since you are an AW'er and are asking about the Inch. Rob Vigeant Jr. once told me in a private conversation that when he was grip training all those years ago he worked up to some crazy poundages on the RT, I wont even mention them as maybe he didn't want it made public, but I can believe them given his other feats and his very large handsize; he said, however, than when he started training for AW he used the RT "differently". He said "I can lift less now, but I do it differently". I suspect, because I didn't ask for very specific details, that he was lifting the RT with a somewhat flexed wrist. There was a young man called Wes on these boards that admited he "cocked the hell out of his wrist" when doing RT lifts, and he posted videos of over 250# on the old RT. Maybe he has/had wicked wrist strength. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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