Tou Posted June 15, 2002 Share Posted June 15, 2002 I had a couple of friends at home tonight to drink a few beers while playing darts. One of my friend, the one who deadlift cars to shift them from parking lots tried my grippers. He tried all my grippers going from the 1 to the 4. He tried them only once before. #1 : way too easy. #2 : no contest. 309 : keep going. BBM : 3 fingers. Oops, forgot to use the pinkie. #3 : 1/4 and then 1/8. and here's the scary part ... #4, he got it to 1/2. :0 . I urged him to tried the #3 again but he said his hands were hurting. A BBM with 3 fingers when you never touched grippers is something but a #4 to 1/2, with a mega poor technique (he doesn't position the gripper with his free hand, he grasps it with right and goes straight) is phenomenal. I'll try to get him to train with me and I give him 2-3 weeks and the #3 will fall down easy. Some of us have to do it the hard way but some people are just too strong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nathan Say Posted June 15, 2002 Share Posted June 15, 2002 Is he interested in grip training or not? If he is see if he'll come in here. I wonder if he'd have much to contribute though because he doesn't seem to take it super seriously. Not yet anyway. He's still got some pretty good squeezes though, about what I can do on a good day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tou Posted June 15, 2002 Author Share Posted June 15, 2002 The guy has no interest in training at all. He is super strong since his youth. I might get him to train with me once in a while but there's no way he would follow any kind of regular routine. When he tried the grippers, he remarked that taking to handles to parallel was easy but the closing was tougher. I handled him the #4 so he could experiment that getting the handles to parallel is almost impossible with it but he went down to 1/2. I got 1 1/4 just after. With a good technique and a few training sessions, he would destroy the #3. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jeff Roark Posted June 17, 2002 Share Posted June 17, 2002 Tou, There are COC here that have closed Elites and still can't get a #4 down that far. He could not get the #3 closed and was just a hair difference in the distance he shut the #3 and #4, come on now... what kind of #4 is that? If he got it that close 2 months and he'd be the next man to close the 4. For some reason I question this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimwylie1 Posted June 17, 2002 Share Posted June 17, 2002 Just sounds like it's a matter of positioning the gripper correctly to me. Most people see a pretty rapid increase in strength with the grippers when they first start using them. I attribute this to learning how to position and set the gripper, not masssive strength increases. This guy just sounds like he was mashing away without even thinking about it. If Tou says his friend is that strong on the grippers I believe him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Black Posted June 17, 2002 Share Posted June 17, 2002 I have a trainee at work who has a very strong sweep. When he could barely close the #2 he moved the Elite noticably more than I could, and yet I could do a 17.5-pound straphold with the #2 at the time. I think it may be that his hands are large. I think it is possible to have a good sweep but not a good close, but I tend to agree with Jeff above, and I question this. Maybe this was a very rough measurement on your part Tou, after all, you mentioned the "few" beers On the #3 close to within 1/4" (and 1/8! ), I've seen many people make up a 1/4" quickly due to positioning and technique training (on the T-#2, however, not the #3) so if the measurement is right then he could close the gripper within a month with technique training. Now the question arises, has there ever been an un-trained man who closed the #3 that quickly? I'm not referring to the WSM types who have done other types of training, just your typical man off the street. I don't think so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RiotGrip Posted June 17, 2002 Share Posted June 17, 2002 Now the question arises, has there ever been an un-trained man who closed the #3 that quickly? I'm not referring to the WSM types who have done other types of training, just your typical man off the street. I don't think so. Tom, I remember reading that John Brookfield witnessed a man close the #3 cold at one of his shows and commented "that wasn't so hard" and walked away. I'll take Brookfield as a man of his word, and if there is one man out there who can do it (I'm assuming John would recognize a WSM professional), then chances are there are others out there who can as well. As frustrating as it is to accept, I believe there are individuals out there who can close the #3 or at least get to 1/8" without training. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nathan Say Posted June 17, 2002 Share Posted June 17, 2002 It shows you that a lot of people who lift weights & train are no match for someone who has done manual labour for a long time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Mac Posted June 17, 2002 Share Posted June 17, 2002 I agree. Whilst training with weights may be the quickest way to gain strength, if you've been working a manual job for many years and have managed to stay clear of over-use injuries, that is a great head start. I have no trouble believing that there are people (not many, but a few) who would have the ability to perform elite grip (and, indeed, just about any other kind of lifting) feats with little or no weight or grip-focused training. And that is not even including those who are extremely strong (by almost any standard) whilst doing no or little physical work of any kind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jeff Roark Posted June 17, 2002 Share Posted June 17, 2002 The thing that gets me is the little difference between the attempted closes of the #3 and #4 thats all. I beleive that he closed the BBM and thats the only one he closed. I was actually questioning the #4, is it merely a harder #3 mis-stamped? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest StrongerthanArne Posted June 17, 2002 Share Posted June 17, 2002 Jeff, A friend of mine told me that he had witnessed Svend Karlsen have a go at a #3 and a #4. He got both to about 1/4. There is a guy at my gym who never does any grip work. He once tried a PDA 399 ip, which is only slightly weaker than my #3. He closed it down to 1/8. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jeff Roark Posted June 17, 2002 Share Posted June 17, 2002 Well then... Tou you better keep the grippers out of that boys hand! maybe you can get him hooked on it. I wish I could get drunk and do so well! What kind of beer you drinking up there by the way? maybe I need a case hehehe! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tou Posted June 18, 2002 Author Share Posted June 18, 2002 Believe me Jeff, it's not a joke and my #4 is pretty hard. I can't go over 1/14 on it. My friend is VERY strong. He doesn't lift weight and hasn't done manual labor. He is a chemist. However, I can take my two hands and that guy will still beat me at armwrestling. He closed teh bBM easy and slowly with 3 fingers. He got the #3 down to 1/8 with the pinkie fully wrapped around the handle and without free hand positionning. Same thing on the #4. I believe I can make him close the #3 in less than a month. I'll check with him if he wants to do a little training. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest StrongerthanArne Posted June 18, 2002 Share Posted June 18, 2002 Tou, The guy at my gym who can fully close my very hard #2 with both hands could probably also close a #3 within a month, but like your friend, seems to have absolutely no interest whatsoever in doing so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest sjeff70 Posted June 19, 2002 Share Posted June 19, 2002 Welcome to my world. That is how my co-worker Ron is. They prolly think why in the heck should I work out, I already look like I work out. Or why should I get strong, I'm already strong. You always want what you can't have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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