islandd387 Posted June 29, 2010 Share Posted June 29, 2010 Hey guys I want to train strongman someday, currently i do louie simmons westside barbell routine, altered to my weaknesses. but i have been watching some strongman competitions and on some events the grip gets killed and then they go right to another grip exercise, which leads me to believe i will need a strong grip that can endure a long time. So not only will i need grip endurance but a very strong grip, in order to train for this I have decided to use an apollons axle for all my movements. So far I've gained some immediate forearm strength, being able to pinch a 25lb disk and curl it for 2 reps in each hand from just two workouts with this bar. But I've also heard you can get some elbow and wrist problems using a thick bar which does not rotate and i really dont want to spend 500$ to try to save my wrists and elbows. I mean they use it in strongman it can't be that bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malice Posted June 29, 2010 Share Posted June 29, 2010 I don't know about the wrist/elbow issues cuz I don't use a non revolving bar but since I got my Fat Gripz I've been using them for every lift except bench and shrugs and have noticed a big improvement in grip. The way I see it is if I want to improve grip and using a fat bar will help with this there's no reason for me to use a standard size bar. Sure some of the weights have gone down due to grip weakness but they're coming back up fairly quickly and my grip is coming on like gang busters. If the powers that be had made the 2" bar standard back in the day then we'd all be using it now instead of the 1 1/8" or whatever size they are and we wouldn't know any different...but we would probably all have much stronger grips. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stew Posted June 29, 2010 Share Posted June 29, 2010 I'm sure it will work wonders for your grip but its gonna seriously hamper your strength building. IE if you do bent over rows for instance how much can you really hold onto on a 2" bar for reps, I'm guessing 120kg-140kg which is not really gonna cut it, there's plenty of other examples shrugs and deadlift for instance. Like I say you will develop a great thick bar grip for sure but there's going to be a lot of power moves where the hands will give out before the other muscles and this will hinder your strength building. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
climber511 Posted June 29, 2010 Share Posted June 29, 2010 I'm sure it will work wonders for your grip but its gonna seriously hamper your strength building. IE if you do bent over rows for instance how much can you really hold onto on a 2" bar for reps, I'm guessing 120kg-140kg which is not really gonna cut it, there's plenty of other examples shrugs and deadlift for instance. Like I say you will develop a great thick bar grip for sure but there's going to be a lot of power moves where the hands will give out before the other muscles and this will hinder your strength building. Be careful of your wrists - they will take quite a bit more beating with an Axle if you do everything with it instead of a normal bar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anson Posted June 30, 2010 Share Posted June 30, 2010 I'm sure it will work wonders for your grip but its gonna seriously hamper your strength building. IE if you do bent over rows for instance how much can you really hold onto on a 2" bar for reps, I'm guessing 120kg-140kg which is not really gonna cut it, there's plenty of other examples shrugs and deadlift for instance. Like I say you will develop a great thick bar grip for sure but there's going to be a lot of power moves where the hands will give out before the other muscles and this will hinder your strength building. Be careful of your wrists - they will take quite a bit more beating with an Axle if you do everything with it instead of a normal bar. Chris is correct, I've messed up my wrist doing cleans like this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rico300zx Posted June 30, 2010 Share Posted June 30, 2010 I got a really bad case of tendonitius curling with mine. I had to stop just about every thing for about 8 months. That was 2 years ago. Now I only use it for dead lifting and clean and press. Rico Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
underdawg Posted June 30, 2010 Share Posted June 30, 2010 It takes much, much more than a strong grip to be good at strongman. It was always pretty much last on my list of things to work on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1stCoC Posted July 1, 2010 Share Posted July 1, 2010 The thicker bars and axles are a real key to boost training. BUT be careful , ease into the new stresses involved. My best year of grip training ever in the late 80's incluced 2" bar deadlifts for a whole year. Both my deadlift AND grip went up. I used the Apollons axle almost every deadlift workout getting ready for my Summerstrong showdown this past Sat. I was very pleased with the results. As a tip ...Big Rich Williams doesn't "train" his grip seperately but includes MUCH thick bar work holding the weights he trains on during his various exercises. RS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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