Griprite 70d-usa Nails

[Brad Manion]

Although I have recently suffered some serious elbow problems that are going to sideline me from upper body training of most kinds, including bending, I did make a big purchase of some GripRite nails today, and I came upon some information that some of you bigger benders will need to know.

I ordered a 50# box of GripRite 70d-China nails today, through the contractor's desk at a local HomeDepot in St. Louis. This is the same place through which I ordered my GripRite 70d-USA nails. Upon placing my order, I learned from the man at the contractor's desk that GripRite is gradually phasing out the 70d-USA nails and some day (he didn't know when, but let's say within this calendar year), all the 70d nails from GripRite will be made in China.

Maybe this is just a problem peculiar to me because of where I live. I do realize there are other manufacturers out there that will make some good tough 70d nails, but I still thought GripRite customers on this board should be made aware. So, if you really want some 70d-USA nails from GripRite, get your orders in a.s.a.p.

[Tim71]

Hey can you give both numbers again that you use to order?

I tell you I don't know if the people at my lowes are lacking upstairs but I had no luck whatsoever trying that.

I stop at the home depot just south of St Louis on hwy 55 sometimes so I may try it there. Kinda amusing last time I was there they had these new checkouts where people could check thereself out and pay even by cash. All to save time and manhours I'm sure so it was ironic that the girl checking me out had to stop every 30 seconds to go and help the person in that self-service line effectively tying up 2 lines instead of one. Now that's progress.

Anyway, which Home Depot in St Louis do you get these from?

I can't believe the USA griprites calibrated at 475 lbs. That is awesome.

Tim

[Jedd Johnson]

Brad, what happened to your elbows?

[Brad Manion]

Tim T:

I made order through a Home Depot in my hometown of Florissant, MO, at the Cross Keys Shopping Center. It helps that my older bro works there and is able to fill the contractor's desk guys in on the fact that I'm not just a nut. The price I have to pay for my sincerity, of course, is a brief demo during my purchases. The "daaaaaaaaamn....." comments are always worth it. Today, due to the elbow pain, I didn't want to go DO, so I did it DU with no problems, especially since I went DU.

Anyways, Tim, the SKU# is 7SPK. Make sure and specify that number and the fact that these nails are "Made in CHINA, NOT Made in USA". That's all it took for me. If your needs force you to travel up my way, I can talk to my older bro and get the names of the contractor's desk guys. Tell them Brad, the younger bro of Bryan Manion, sent you. The only thing I must also mention is that you'll have to wait a week or two for them to call you back, and then you'll have to drive back north to Florissant. But, I trust you'd want these nails as bad as I do.

Best of luck to you.

Jedd:

Long story about the elbows. Pain is mainly in the left elbow, which I hyperextended in a wrestling match when I was 16. Wrestled 1 more year, plus 2 more years high school football and two years college football. Got through the 4 or 5 years after that pain free with my elbows. Was able to close-grip and decline over 400# or more in early 2003, and injured my elbow in a contest, settling for maybe 420# that day. I fought through the pain and in the summer of 2003 did a 475# contest BP (500# in the gym). But, training for contest#3 that year, I had to call it quits for awhile due to pain. Couldn't even hold the bar on my back to squat (I don't have THAT problem now, thank God). 4 MRI's, 2 x-rays later, I got the diagnosis of bad bone bruises, from the bones of the forearm smashing into the humerus (the injured part). Basically, the docs and potential PT's weren't proactive enough with my recovery. No advice other than complete rest (they did like my idea of frequent high rep rubber band pushdowns) and proceed SLOWLY when I did decide to return. I did recover enough to get within an inch of locking out 500# at the 2005 USAPL Bench Nationals, but I've been slowly declining since then. I can do static pulls with really heavy weights (600# DL, 700#+ farmers DL, etc) but rows, cleans, etc hurt like hell.

Anyways, I've been fighting through pain for a long time now. I had 6 big powerlifting or strongman contests last year and lotsa demos, and they all took their toll I guess. That and the fact I never truly took my foot off the gas-pedal in terms of training intensity added up. I did keep my volume a little low at times, and that allowed me to maintain my strength, but to improve it... very little if at all. The straw that broke the camel's back was doing reverse green band bench presses on Thursday of this week. My 1RM in the last few months was 505# with bands, not far off my contest PR of 480#. I was hurting with just 95# (no bands), but had to work up to 365# + the bands in order to get to the point where I threw in the towel.

Ironically, it is the elbow injury in 2003 that caused me to take up grip training. It did help with my elbow pain, and led me to all kinds of cool stuff... first card tearing, then nail bending, and most recently, phonebook tearing.

So, I realize this is a very long post, and I apologize so much for that. That being said, knowing what I was able to do 3 years ago, I should be benching around 500# raw and 600# shirted now, and I am WAY off either mark. It bothers me a great deal. Any advice about pain relief, physical therapy, etc. would be greatly appreciated. I'd love nothing more than to be able to close-grip bench (any sort of weight, any ROM) and do heavy DB extensions --- my bread-and-butter exercises before my injury --- again. That, and being able to "sit at the adults' table" with a bend of a IM-Red or FBBC Bastard would be nice too

Well, I got some family stuff to attend to, so I'm outta here for now. Thanks for listenin'.

Keep up the great work, fellow bending bros

Edited February 3, 2007 by Brad Manion