Four Hour Tour

[Jedd Johnson]

This Saturday, October 24th, I am hosting a Grip Get Together at my house.

We will start at 11 AM. We will go until 3 PM.

We will be doing grip training for the first 3 hours. Grip feats will NOT be the primary focus during this time. During the last hour, we can look at feats and bending.

I will have the order of training focuses all laid out.

If you have questions or want to come, the best way to get a hold of me is by email - jedd.diesel@gmail.com - I will get it on my blackberry that way and be able to easily hit you back.

I am in Bradford County PA.

I am open to anyone serious about training coming. If you want to come and watch, stay home. I have a lot of serious guys lined up and we just won't be able to entertain people just sitting or standing around.

Thanks.

[Guest Bullitt]

As you know I'm in! Thanks for the later start time bro.

[barbe705]

I'll be packing my car tonight.

Brent

[Jedd Johnson]

Who else is in? Gonna be good times.

[Magnus]

I'm in.

[Jedd Johnson]

This is going to be awesome!

[RPGoodfellow]

This is going to be awesome!

I wish I could be there for this, gents! I've got a weekend full of baby stuff and I can't back out on the wifey. Take tons of video...and I look forward to the write-ups!

[Jedd Johnson]

Today's workout was awesome. If you didn't make it up, you missed a killer time. We streamed everything live on UStream and I know several board members were watching.

This is what we hit:

Grippers

Two Hands Pinch

Double Over Axle

One Hand Axle

Gripmas Hammer Levering

Hammer Deadlifting

BTR Block Weight Loading

This went great. It was very structured - without a doubt the most structured grip get together I have every held or attended and it enabled us to get a ton of stuff done.

We started everything with an intense warm-up, hitting full body general followed by specific warm-ups, stretching, leg swings, etc. I felt great.

We ran the grippers at contest intensity. What I mean by that is we took one round of warm-ups then 4 rounds of max attempts just like a contest. We also took two rounds of triples after that. We finished this all in about 20 minutes.

We moved on to pinch and did the same thing, cycling through to work towards a max attempt. We tried to do a couple other things up around our max, but there were cut thumbs and humidity issues, so we moved on to the axle.

In the middle of the pinch, Mike and Brent each lifted the Blob - Mike for the first time. Frank also lifted the Blob - did we ever figure out if it was the fatman guys?

The axle lifts went well and then we finished with loading block weights for as many reps as possible in a minute's time. This was just downright awesome hard work. The platform we were lifting to was 44 inches high, so it was pretty much a high pull to load it. Lifting to this height is important and so is training for the heightened work capacity.

Then we ate around 3.

Mike headed out around 4. Brent, Frank and I walked down stairs, got talking and started training again on my fitness gear 45 hub and the fatboy replica. Frank and Brent both got the fitness gear 45 by the hub, Brent multiple times. I never got it but hovered it a few times.

Today was awesome. I had a great workout. My hands are throttled. My thumbs are on fire, but never tore.

Frank tore his thumb so bad it looked like when a callus rips off in the farmers walk. Sick stuff. It looked like he could have hidden a dime in there.

Thanks for coming up guys. Thanks for pushing me.

-Jedd-

P.S. The best part was we knew there were time constraints and we shoved a ton of solid work into the time frame without any waste or rush.

[Guest Bullitt]

Another great time at Jedd's. If you ever get a chance to get up there, DO NOT MISS IT!!!

Great write up by Jedd. I'll give my take on the day.

First of all, I wish I could have stayed around for the after party.

5 hour drive up to Jedd's. Left at 6 AM.

Grippers went very well. I closed the 162 and change RB for my warmup and ground the handles on that gripper for my 1st real attempt. Next gripper up the ladder was 168 and change BBE. Pretty sure it closed on my 1st attempt at it, but I was pumping so hard, it was a little tough to tell. Came within a credit card width according to Jedd and Magnus on that same gripper for attempt 3 & 4. We then did two attempts to see what the biggest gripper was we could do a triple on. I closed the 153 and change BBE for a triple. I then went to the 154 & change #3 and got 2 reps and missed the 3rd by about 1/32. Jedd closed some big grippers and so did Frank, but his crush was a little down. Brent hit a new PR by closing the 162.

Next was the 2HP. I have really been training this and was hoping to see a big jump in my numbers. One problem... HUMIDITY! It was very, very humid in Jedd's. It was raining like crazy outside and every implement you went to pick up left your hands wet. Everybody's numbers were way down. Jedd pulled in the high 240's at Nationals and got 220 today. In fact he missed 220 several times before he lifted it, and this was the first time he had missed 220 in training in something like 5 years. So that gives you an idea of what we were dealing with. So the fact that I pulled 190 and change made me extremely happy. I pulled 193 at Nationals, and I think this was 192 or something like that. Given Nationals conditions, I feel confident I could have pulled a big PR. Brent pulled close to 200 and frank pulled about what I did I think.

Then my favorite part. The 50lb blob. I had several big air attempts with each hand. Got it well above my knees with each hand but couldn't quite lock it out. Then I rested a couple minutes and pulled it to full lockout!!! Jedd got it on video, which was cool too.

Then we moved to axle.

Jedd's axle is 2.25". It was slippery. We all took a bunch of pulls. Nobody set any PRs. I think I got a double with 240 and missed a few attempts at my knees with 290.

We then went to 1 arm pulls on the axle. I think Jedd got 185 with his left hand, which is just sick on a 2.25" axle with the humidity he was dealing with. My best pull was 165. Given the conditions and the diameter of the axle, I would say that is pretty comperable to the 195 I have pulled on my pipe axle at 1.9". Maybe even a little better.

We then went to sledge levering on a table. Not good for anybody. I think Jedd got a 16 pounder a couple times. Nuff said.

Then was the loading phase of the day. Brent used the 45lb hex weight and got 8 in 30 seconds. Frank got 7. I got 0 (The old man was dragging) Jedd went 60 seconds with the fatman and got some sick number. I ended up using the 37# blob and got 7 or 8. Then Jedd did it with half a 120 hex. He got like 7 or 8 in a minute. Just stupid. Not right. Everyone finished that round and Jedd and Brent did one more with a 50lb scale weight from the bottom for a minute. Brent got 10 and Jedd got 15 or so. Just amazing stuff. Seeing Jedd doing touch n go reps without regripping blew me away.

With that it was time for grubb, and as usual Jedd fed us like Kings. I hit the road and missed some hubbing, but I didn't have anything left in the tank. Got home about 8:30. All in all a great day.

One last thing. Jedd listened to me talking about how i have no way to squat other than straddling my bench at home. He sent me home with a pair of squat stands. Unbelievable! Oh, he also let me take home a 50lb blob to keep practicing!!!

That's not all. Brent and I had talked about how i don't have any good plates to hub and it kills me in medleys. He brought one of his deep dish plates for me to take home and work on. The guys I have met on this board are some of the greatest people I have ever known. Always willing to help anyone that is willing to put in the work to improve.

Edited October 25, 2009 by Bullitt

[Shoggoth]

Sounds like a awesome day. Congrats on the Blob Mike!

[Guest Bullitt]

Sounds like a awesome day. Congrats on the Blob Mike!

Thanks bro! And now I can do "REAL" squats!!!!!

[rico300zx]

Nice write up Mike!

Jedd can we still watch it there as a rerun?

I had to split to watch Parris' football game.

I really wanted to see the hammer work.

Rico

[bencrush]

Great work and writeups guys! Wish I could've been there to join in the fun. Love hearing about the sharing that goes on among grip buddies too.

[barbe705]

long day. It wasn't helped by the fact that I screwed up and got there an hour early. so, when things got under way Jedd said he wanted to run it close toa comp series of events. hitting grippers like he said and so on. I think that by the time we wrapped up pinch it was less than 2 hours for gripper warm up, 4 max attempts, attempts at triples, MANY pulls on an extremely hard 2hp and then into axle. with only the four of us working and a set agenda we were flying through things.

highlights:

so mike has never lifted a blob before. he keeps missing the blob he's working on. I ask Jedd if it's the easiest he has. he says no. so for the guys first blob lift Jedd decided he needed a harder lift. what a jerk. I surprised he didn't have the clone fatboy out for mike to play with.(for the record, the clone fat boys are amazing). when we got the easy blob out mike lifted it no problem. now that he's over that mental hurdle he will own it from this point on.

frank was banged up. it only got worse as the day went on. I think that the big tear was in addition to a small tear on his other hand. get better man. heal up fully.

I pull sumo these days. no one has ever pulled sumo on jedd's axle before. slick as glass. and really thick.

some of the items weren't damp, they were wet. they had beaded up condensation that could have been squeegeed off. we ended up wiping stuff down with a towel before we tried to chalk it.

I freaking know I could have taken jedd in the scale weight if I would have unloaded the way he did. it was so much faster than how I did it. next time jedd...

my hands actually feel okay. I wore gloves the whole way home and then to bed. I'll do some rehab tonight and I think I'll hit it again on monday. And, like mike said, if you get a chance to train with Jedd, or any one else for that matter, go for it. you can learn a lot. and I know I never would have pushed that hard for that long if it was just me in my basement.

[climber511]

I watched bits and pieces on the live feed - it was great - wish I could have been there. Group sessions like that are sooooo good for you. Like Brent said - he never would have pushed that hard for that long by himself - great job to all!

[Jedd Johnson]

Nice write up Mike!

Jedd can we still watch it there as a rerun?

I had to split to watch Parris' football game.

I really wanted to see the hammer work.

Rico

`

I don't think it can be replayed because I didn't record it, bro. I'm still not really 100% familiar with UStream, but thanks for putting two D's in my name.

Mike, enjoy your squat stands and keep hitting that blob. I expect +5 by Gripmas.

[jad]

I have to admit I thought the whole structured thing was kind of iffy when I first read..like really, Jedd's going to tell someone they can't touch the blob anymore because they're done training that. However, the fact that you had 2 guys drive so far for just a practice speaks volumes. I think it's great that you've got grip guys traveling that far to train with the best. Pretty common in other sports and refreshing to see it in ours. Good idea Jedd and thanks for the reports everyone.

[Jedd Johnson]

The practices for all the sports I ever participated in have been structured. I played baseball and basketball for years and never did the coaches just let us bounce around and do random things. Everything was done with a plan and purpose, so it made total sense to me to run it this way.

So many times I have done weekend grip sessions and they ended up being complete wastes of time, I was sick of it.

These guys came up for a serious workout and made it happen - big time. I got as much out of them as they got out of me. True team work.

The only time anyone sat down was when they were changing their shoes. These guys were on their toes ready to get in there and take their turn, like we were running drills. There'd be a person doing the movement and the rest would be spotting or supporting.

Of course, it's not like I was barking orders, like a drill sergeant either. In fact, we segwayed into some blobs and inch lifts at one point for a short break. The point was it wasn't just an endless try-this-try-that type of thing where random feats are tried with no pattern or point.

[jad]

Sounds like it went very well. Hat's off to you for implementing some structure!

[Jedd Johnson]

Thanks Dude.

[jad]

Regarding feats and it being a waste: do you think the problem is they're all essentially just singles and/or that you leave stuff out (i.e if you keep trying to pick up the inch you probably won't get any gripper training done, etc..). Thanks.

Josh

[Rick Walker]

I missed this one due to some miscommunications. I wont miss the next one..

Great job by all!

[Jedd Johnson]

Regarding feats and it being a waste: do you think the problem is they're all essentially just singles and/or that you leave stuff out (i.e if you keep trying to pick up the inch you probably won't get any gripper training done, etc..). Thanks.

Josh

Yes, pretty much.

I look at it this way. You're not going to improve as much for grip contest performance by training for gripboard lists as you will if you train for the contest lifts and other specific strength building activities that are near to the same joint angles or positions that pass through those joint angles.

Let's take two hands pinch for example. You get better at 2HP by doing 2HP.

Auxiliary lifts could be narrow pinch like 2-45's or 2-35's held for time, or plus weight, or reps with the 2HP, or thumb clamp, or TTK. Building thumb strength.

Feats of strength show you where you're at but don't do as much to increase.

Doing feats of strength for 4 hours would be kind of like taking an extended batting practice and trying to hit bombs over the fence the whole time, but never practicing hitting the ball to all fields or working on weaknesses, like low outside pitches. Or a better example, going to basketball practice and throwing up half court shots the whole time instead of working on dribbling, passing, inbounds plays, free throws, etc. Or even with arm wrestling, working on flashing the opponent to the table but never working back pressure, top roll, wrist control, finger pressure, or shoulder pre-hab.

Just my thoughts.

[Guest Bullitt]

Well, it was by far the best grip workout I have ever done. We got more done in a 3 1/2 hours than I ever thought possible. It was well thought out and definitely geared toward the events we will be competing in at Gripmas. We were flying through the exercises with just enough rest in between attempts to recover. Having 4 guys that were really focused and having Jedd with all his experience(and all his grip toys) really made this a productive day.

I was thinking on my 5 hour drive home that if you just divided that workout into thirds and split it up over the week (Mon, Wed, Fri), you would see all around grip strength go through the roof. There was no part of grip that we didn't hit with at least one movement, and some we hit with 2 or 3. You could do grippers and pinch on day 1, Thickbar on day 2, and sledge work, block weights, and dynamic pinch on day 3. Each workout would be about 1:15 and everything gets smoked.

Strangely enough, unlike past contests and other griptogethers I have been to, my hands and forearms aren't as sore as they usually are, even though we did a MUCH higher volume of work. I attribute some of this to the fact that I have been training pinch and thickbar a lot more and those muscles are a little more used to the work load, but I also think it was because I wasn't going from one max attempt to the next over and over again for 4 hours.

Thanks again Jedd for a kick arse time!!!!

Oh yea, did I mention I finally lifted a blob? Just sayin'.

[Magnus]

Mike, the GGC was when I was at my best for grip strength, and it's also when I was doing my most solid routine going. I was doing grippers/SW on Monday, pinch and TTK on Wednesday, and thickbar on Friday. I should really get back on that routine again.

Mike, did you lift the Blob? I don't remember if you told me or not...

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