My two pinch gripping tools

[ruffhans]

a feww weeks ago i was at wallmart and bought one of those 40 lb fixed dumbells. i didnt have a way of getting the york ones like brookfield talks about in his book. anyway, i went home and sawed one end off so i would have a block wieght. becides not being heavy enough, once i hooked some more wieght on it it worked awesome!

my other pinch grip tool is pretty simple.  one section of wood, (the width of two 2/4s) fastend to a concreete block. the block wieghs 50 lbs. theese are pretty cheap and simple compared to other stuff some of you have, but i dont have acsess to power tools at this time. i have been using theese, and my thumb strength has gone up a great deal. im starting to enjoy my pinch gripping just as much as my crush gripping. i took the advice of some other here and split my training up into days.

monday COCs warm up on the #2, and then sqeeze the #3 like there is NO tomorow.i give all, ( and i mean all) ive got to that #3 for three times each in each hand. when im done i may do some 1/4 reps on the #2.

tuesday pinch gripping. what has been working for me is long holds until my hand is tired, and then going for as long as i can until i cant hold it anymore.

wednsday. wrist roller. ihave a two inch pipe with a inch wide nylon dog leash for the rope. 4 sets, followed by sledge hammer levering. i never realy new what a correct lever was, but here is what i do.  whith my arm hanging down along side of me, holding the hammer, i lever it up and down for reps using only my wrist to move it. i do this cuz it seems to realy BOMB my forearms. i do it holding the hammer infront, and in back of me. then for my wrists all i do is hold the hammer as far back as possible on the handle for timed holds. i marked the handle of the hammer with a wood burner every 4 inches so i an keep track of my progress.    well, so far this has been doing wonders, any input from you guys feel free

[Jonathan McMillan]

I haven't been able to find york dumbells in my area either.  I reccomend you buy a 60lb dumbell hex just the same as the different width and added weight makes it quite a challenge.  I use my 20lb (from a 40lb hex) weights for swinging snatches, and the overhand catch training that Brookfield wrote about.  The 30's I can only lift one at a time and I'm up to 9 cleans and presses with my left hand and 8 with my right.  I have to chalk to hold on to them and my grip isn't strong enough to do them without going to the floor at each rep.

Jon@han

[Drassk]

For levering I do the 'front levers' from the floor as that's the only real way to hit that muscle so far as I can tell.  On the other hand there are two ways to do the 'back' levers.  One is, as you said, from the floor an is very similar to a Weaver stick lift (I call it 'weaver style'), the other way is to pick the hammer up so it is perpendicular to the ground and your arm is parallel (hold it at arms length with the head on top pointing straight up) then lower it to your nose or equivalent point and then lever it back up to vertical.  You can, of course, spot with your free hand.  Try to do it with the arm parallel to the ground and then move your hand up until the -hammer- is parallel at the bottom of the lift before you move up in weight.  Before I blew out my shoulder I was making great progress like this.

[ruffhans]

thanks dressk! ill try that. would yagree that the single two best things for wrist are pate curls and sledge hammer lifts?

[Drassk]

I'll ignore the 'single two best things' part...but, yeah.  I think sledgehammers are the best overall wrist developer (just my opinion) but wrist plate curls are great.  I find wrist plate curls far superior to wrist bar curls.