Natural Gripper

[Mjoynt]

I just received my Inch Dumbbell Bar from PDA today and I was seeing what various people could lift on it.  This one guy at my gym clearly deadlifted 136 lbs. on it.  He could break 156 lbs. off the floor about 1/2 ft.  These feats are not world class, but this guy doesn't train his grip at all.  He's just naturally strong.  When I see someone lift like that without training, it's kind of frustrating.  Does anyone else know anybody like this?

Matt J.

[Guest Uberman]

I just met one of my Uncles last year. We met for dinner, after dinner we went outside it was probably 10 degree out. We BSed for a few minutes in the cold. I then took him over to my truck were I had my Coc #3 gripper which I had told him about. Without warming up and after standing there in the cold he squeezed the gripper  about a quarter of the way closed. He said "Yea this is a hard one". He then reajusted his grip squeezed it probably to within 1/4 inch of being closed. Mike

[Tom Black]

Mjoynt,

    I would be willing to bet that the guy in your gym has long fingers.  I once had a guy who was my height do surprising well on the Inch handle.  He was generally very weak and the same height as me, however, when we compared hands, his fingers were a full 3/4" longer than mine.  I was warming up with regular deadlifts at the time and had 185 on the bar, in order to put him in his place I lifted it suitcase style with no center knurling and pretended it was an easy lift so that he would try.  It was humorous to watch the guy totally baffled that he could not lift the full Olympic bar, but of course his longer fingers had no advantage on that lift.

[Sybersnott]

Tom,

What can you do on the Inch?  I just got my PDA Inch handle in the mail today, and I'm itching to give it a try.  Your hands must be like mine; I have a big palm, but my fingers are normal size.