The blob and the thumb

[jimwylie1]

BC

Just re-measured for you.  At a stretch I can get 9 3/4".

[Guest Mikael Siversson]

This is a good example of why one should not fix a standard width in pinch competition at 50 mm which has been suggested by some. This would be an unfair advantage to people with average sized hands (like myself). It would better to have two, one at 50 and one at 70-75 mm. Both widths can be handled by most if not all potential (male) competitors.

[supersqueeze]

Wade - You are a physical anomaly!! A blob by the side?! A 70 lb db by the end?! A basketball between the thumb and little finger?! All I can say is WOW!!

Mike M.

[OldGuy]

My hand measures 8 15/16'' in length and spans 10 5/8''  I have not tried a blob or dumbbell on end type lift. I am poor at pinching 2 narrow plates, but can lift much more weight with 3 or 4'' wide blocks. My thumb is long but kind of weak compared to my finger strength. I intend to rig up a 50 pound blob trainer using wood, and also try several 10 pound Olympic plates pinched together. I am not a threat to the thickbar and pinchgrip daddies.

[Wade Gillingham]

BC - yes that would make sense to train on >2" bars.  My point was just that with always having a strong thumb that dominates my grip when I do things with normal size bars - like farmer's walk, cleans, deads, etc..  In other words I could find movements that isolate my forearm it's just not a natural part of my lifting so I'm as strong on thick bars than I probably should be based on my finger and thumb strength.  By the way, I find that thick bar/db training the hardest to improve at by far.

What is Sorin's grip gauntlet - never heard of it.

[Roark]

In my opinion pinch gripping does not require a standardized

width. Each person should be allowed to pinch on whatever

width he is best at. That way no one has an excuse. If competitor 'A' chooses one inch wide, and 'B' chooses two inches wide, with each man understanding that the total is what counts, not the width, where is the complaint? Pinch the

width that is perfectly suited to you.

It is thus put on the level with standard diameter bar lifting,

and thus differs from thick bar lifting. The pinch grip strength,

not the pinch width becomes the issue. And hand size is bypassed because each competitor would know his own best width for success. No?

[OldGuy]

brilliant

[Guest Mikael Siversson]

Brilliant in theory. The pinching apparatus should ideally be standardized. This would be impossible if we all had our own personal requirements. Vince Basil may produce pinch blocks aimed for competition in, initially, the UK, Australia, US and Sweden. One cannot expect him (or someone else) to produce blocks at all sorts of widths. This would if nothing else make them very costly I would guess. I know Vince himself prefer one width only (two inches) but this is probably not very suitable to people with large hands. Having two widths (i.e. two and three inches or better, 50 and 75 mm to give it a more international touch) and using both in competion would give a better picture of all round pinching ability than using just one width. If it is not too costly, another alternative (more like Roark's) is to produce blocks at more like five or six widths (e.g. 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100) and let people compete with whatever width (of these) they like best.

[bseedot]

Yeah, that makes sense Wade.  It's impossible to train everything we'd like to at the same time!  I ran into this same problem when trying to train for strongman and grip contests at the same time.  I just couldn't do it and something had to give.

I did go get more York's today.  In Blob-speak, I purchased four 50's, two 45's, and two 30's.  They didn't have any 80 pound dumbbells, but told me that another of their local locations may have them.  I won't have a chance to measure anything tonight so I'll just start a new thread with the measurements when I return.

BC.

[apdwler]

The only problem, I can see, with using any desired width, would be making a uniform surface. Somehow, you would have to insure the slipperyness of the devices was the same.

[bseedot]

This isn't an advocation that people should be allowed to pinch with whatever thickness they choose in a contest, but it wouldn't seem to take much ingenuity to come up with something that would work.

Take making your own farmer's bars, for example.  While one could get a length of 2" pipe and then weld two shorter lengths of 1.5" pipe on each end for the collars, many people also use a longer length of 1.5" pipe and slide a shorter length of 2" pipe over the 1.5".  Something of a similar fashion could be done to make a pinch block larger or smaller.

BC.

[Guest Duncan]

Well guys, if you're a young'en like me and your hands havent grown to their total potential, you're gonna have some trouble pinchin, but i jus like to think of how good ill be later on