NEW MEMBERS Introduce Yourself Here

[only_one]

I can close the ironmind 1 and am about 2mm from closing the 1.5. I have very small forearms and have added about 1/2 inch to both my forearms since I began grip training with just grippers about 3 months ago.

[V1sual B1nary]

Hi im Steve, im 16, 5 foot 8 inches, im 176 lbs or 80KGs and im from the UK.

In this last week i have just managed to close the COC #2 and am looking forward to buying the #3 in the near future.

Hopefully i will be able to gather alot more useful information here and i look forward to chatting to many of you.

[gnoia]

Hi everybody.I`m Samu and from Finland.Currently 17 years old.

I have been a grip-a-holic for about 8 months.

I`m currently working at closing the CoC#2.This forum is the #1 source for hand strength training on the Internet so i decided to join.

Edited February 18, 2007 by gnoia

[punkerella118]

I am 20 years old I live in Florida and my boyfriend Luke or aka Crotchulla is a member on the GripBoard. His obbession with grip strength and bending led my to follow in his footsteps. On my first "bend session" I bent the white nail and the green nail but I only managed to put a 1 penny kink in the 7/16 x 7" carriage bolt. I also managed to close the HG 150 once. oh well I am glad to be here and am looking foward to getting to know all of you.

[greenBuddah]

You sure it was a 7/16"?? Don't have any of these, but a Red is 5/16, and the KoaB is 3/8". Sounds crazy strong if you could kink that bar.

Very well done with the other stuff

[punkerella118]

Yeah I meant it was a 5/16. Not as impressive, huh? Sorry misprint thanks for the correction.

[greenBuddah]

Of course 5/16 is impressive, but not as 7/16 that's logical . Anyway nice job.

[no6bach]

My name is Morten Bach. I'm 22 years old and I live in a small town i Denmark.

I just recently got interested in the subject and have almost no grip training experience. I just finished reading "Mastery of hand strength" by John Brookfield and plan to try and make some of the equipment mentioned in the book.

The only stat I can mention is 7 reps with CoC #1

/no6bach

[liam.mccaffrey]

I'm Liam

6'- 300 pounds (lean-ish )

im a former junior international in shot and discus. I'm using bending and grippers to kickstart my interest in training again. Its been 6 long years since i've thrown a bar about with any anger.

I'm about a 1/16" away from the #2 but im finding bending is what i really enjoy. my best so far is a 1/4"x6" DO with more to come

My Goals are to close the #3, bend the red nail and dead lift a Thomas Inch or equivalent bell

Cheers Liam Mc

Edited February 21, 2007 by liamcafs

[wyldhawk9]

Good grief! There's 45 pages...who's ever going to read this and know who I am???

Oh well...here goes:

Name: Nathan

Ht: 5'7"

Wt: 164

Occupation: Editor/Wrestling Coach

Goals: Functional Grip Strength--I want to be able to teach and guide my athletes through grip strength training, but I've never done it...so I'm reading stuff on here and other sites and doing workouts for my own grip to see what works best or what will be good for my athletes.

I'd also like to tear a phone book in two, but that's a long ways away...it'd be more rewarding to see one of my athletes do it or see them reaping the fruits of having a super strong grip..

Feel free to message me with any insights.

Glad to be here.

[michael7]

Howdy, My name is Mike and I'm in Fargo ND. I stumbled across Eric's bending page in August 2006, and thought that bending looked like fun. I went out and bought lots of HRS, nails, grade 2 bolts, and the Heavy grips, as well as the John Brookfield books. I can now close the HG250 with both hands, and I'm working on the COC #2 and HG300. I am working on a few different kinds of 60d nails but I can only kink them. I also enjoy breaking Apples and tearing decks of cards. I just started lifting weights again so I don't really have a grip routine, I just bend and work grippers as much as I can a couple of times a week. I would like to bend horse shoes and wrenches eventually as well as the Ironmind red nail and beyond, so I plan on sticking around and hopefully talking with some of you.

2007 Grip Goals:

60d DO & DU

HG300

COC #2

Burst Soda Can

2 Decks of cards

4 foot 1/2 inch round HRS (Behind neck)

[wscorpion]

Hi all,

My name is Mark, 28 years old and i'm from the Netherlands.

From March 1997 till October 2001 i did bodybuilding quite intensively (6 days a week), after that i joined the army for a year and there i was doing more of a fitness / runner based training with rope climbing, climbing, obstacle courses, etc.etc.

After the military (end 2002) i moved to a house in the middle of nowhere. The nearest gym was a 45min drive, i didn't had the space to make my own gym, and i was very busy with my work, so i wasn't able to do any exercises until 3 months ago.

5 months ago i bought my own house so now the attic has been turned to my personal gym.

So since 3 months i've been able to exercise regulary again, and since i'm training WSM style, i've decided my grip should be much better as well.

About a month ago i received the CoC #3 gripper, which i am now using regulary to strengthen my crushing grip. I'm doing static holds with a normal bar, a 2" bar, a chain and towels regulary as well.

Besides that, i'm training pinch grip with plates as well and performing wrist curls and other exercises for the wrists as well.

Last week i started bending nails since i stumbled across some nice nails from the local hardware store after i've seen one of the movies of Theo Burggraaf where he's bending i believe an iron mind red nail.

I ended up here since i did a lot of reading regarding griptraining, and came across this site.

I'm sure i will find a lot of info here which will help me progressing my grip, and eventually it would be nice if i could help others as well.

Well, that's about all.

Regards,

Mark

Edited February 27, 2007 by White Scorpion

[DuTCH]

Welcome!

And i wish it was a IM red nail, but it was 5.5 G5 bolt..

[Hehe]

Hum

18 years old

175cm tall

80kg / 176lbs ( ? )

from sweden

I started weighttraing to stabilize my knee after a surgery performed after I twisted my knee pretty bad in a "innebandymatch" (not me in the picture, but if you dont know the sport http://www.innebandy.no/2006-2007/bilder/ray75.jpg )

Dont even know if I have an interst in griptraing, but it seems to be a lot of fun anyway hehe, and you never know when you could use a god grip.

Edited March 3, 2007 by littleboy

[Keyboard]

Hi,

Just yesterday I recieved my CoC's T, 1 and 2 in the mail. I also have a wrist roller and a sledge hammer, for leverring, but have not started out with any sort of a routine yet. I will be using these tools mentioned above to get a stronger grip, that's the hope of all of this, no sport specific goals in mind. Anyways, I don't know what else to post.

Edited March 4, 2007 by Keyboard

[blutsj]

Hi all,

I am 38 years and living in Europe. Blutsj is my nickname to honour my late dog whose name was Blutsj.

I workout at home as I do not like those fitness centres you see around, first they are bloody expensive and second I do not like this NASA looking equipment. I like to do the work myself instead of a strange looking machine doing the work for me.

The drawback is I have no big weights set as I do not have the space for it. I have 2 light, 15 kg db's I use for renegade rows and swings, I have my sandbag (great tool and grabbing it works your grip as well) and enjoy strandpulling and BWE exercises. For the BWE I also use most of the times rubber resistances.

Lately I am getting more interested in grip work as a strong grip can be usefull for my work to grab someone. My grip work is not pinching plates etc (although I find it interesting I just do not have heavy enough plates for it). Also some nice tips in Brookfields hand strength book.

For my grip, besides grabbing the sandbag, I use grippers and fingertip pushups. I started with the trainer from ironmind (COC) as I did not know where to start, but I discovered it was too light but perfect for warming up and higher reps. Wanted to get more COC's but at ebay I found a cheaper alternative called Heavygrips. I got a set of 150-200-250-300 and 350. the quality is as good (my personal opinion) as the COC, only these were cheaper and made smaller jumps (50 each) in resistance. These are the ones I am using (the 300 and 350 are still in the box).

For the time being I will start as a lurker, reading posts. I will first act as a sponge, absorbing as much as usefull information I can find. maybe at a later date I shall also post. I am glad I found this forum and I was accepted.

Hope I told enough and I look forward to reading all the posts. Thanks for reading, even at page 45.

[dimmers]

Hi,

After several posts in the 'Bending' forum, i thought i'd put a post up in this newbie section.

Been interested in grip for a few years now, but only recently decided to take it seriously (with my new obsession in bending). Have several of the COC grippers, with the #2 almost being shut this week. Recently got the KTA program and hoping it will take my grip to a new level, along with the bending.

Train at home, with my shed converted into a weights/grip room. Like to keep things cheap so have a lot of home made grip tools (very basic) but they do the job. Always looking out for new 'do it yourself' grip tools so if anyone knows of something that works, let me know!

Currently focusing on block weights, as they really have improved my overall grip strength a lot - recommend this exercise to everyone! Although i can't get hold of any dumbells to cut up, i use bricks with a bit of rope tied on then some weights attached to the end of the rope, works just as well and allows you to increase the load gradually.

Goals for this year are to finish the #2 and get serious on that quest for the #3, as well as continue improving in my bends & some day bend that IM red

Thanks

[cjsta]

Hi,

My name is Chris, I'm 6'04", 260#, and 30 y.o. I've been bending for about three months now, started in late Dec. 2006. At this time some of my bests are 60d down to 3/8 inside gap shank to shank started DU then crushed at chest. tore a mini deck of cards, St. Croix Polo #2 (it's the smile in my picture), and doing reps with a C.O.C. #2, and a 12# sledge.

This year I'm working towards cert. on C.O.C #3, IM Red, and a FBBC Bastard Bar. I'm also on the quest for a ST. Croix Rim #3 into a heart, quartering a deck of Bicycles in the box, and making some adjustable wrench pen holders.

I would like to watch a FBBC cert. of a horseshoe, can anyone direct me to one?

Thanks,

Chris

[walkinparadis]

My name is Greg Paradis live in Maine and just starting out, have closed the CoC#1 for 40 Reps. Just Got the Heavy Grip 250 and can Close it twice. On my Way to a CoC #2 then the #3.

[ox3782]

I think Wanna can back me up on this, since I am beginning to see a trend here.

On your very first post to this forum, PLEASE introduce yourself and tell us about what your doing in terms of grip training, what your interests are in terms of grip strength, and what you want to get out of this forum. You can also include other information that might be revelant, such as height, weight, age, etc.

Here's an example: On his very first post, I saw a newbie boast about the accomplishments of another member (which we are well aware of), and in the process break a rule of the forum. This led to Wanna locking the topic. I would have like to have known something more about the newbie as well.

OTOH, I read another first post from another newbie and he went into detail about who he was, what his training background was, and what he wanted to do in terms of grip - THEN he asked a question about his routine. IMHO, this is the way it should be.

Newbies that lurk before posting are good too. It means that they are gathering a consensus of the forum, and are cautious to ask a question here that has been asked about a million times!

O.K., I'll get off my soapbox now...

Hello everyone my name is Brendan Dwyer.I started gripping because I was intriuged by it and thought I had a descent

grip before I ever started training.Then I found Captains Of Crush grippers when I got the set T-4 I could close the No.2 once

per day at first and built on it from there I was aiming for the No.3 and was getting close then I started going backwards not

knowing why it continued to get worse.I then found out that I had type one diabetes and was getting very sick from extremley high blood sugars.I stoped training for a while after my diagnoses and insulin treatment had begun but resumed within a couple of months.The initial workout on the grippers yeilded me about 1/16 of an inch short of closing the No.3 and within two more

workouts I had it shut.I continued to train and build my grip and when I could close my No.3 for 6-8 reps I called to be certified

and got certified in may of 2005.I then took a brek from gripping seriously after devoping some sort of tendonitis in my ring

finger most likely from twisting oil filters off of cars at work.The finger is better now and I have started serious training again

I am aiming for the No.4 COC I will crush it.I now train with all the usual stuff Grippers,blobs,sledgehammers,hubs,kettlebells

etc.I am looking for enjoyable discussion in this forum and info and to make some freinds in the grip world.

[GetAGrip87]

Welcome Aboard Guys!!!

[Markster]

Hi my name is Mark Low, I'm an HVAC tech from Ontario, Canada.

I've been into grip training for a little while now, not overly serious but just having fun with different strength grippers and holds. I bought my first grippers in 2004 and recently( 3 weeks ago closed my #3's ) it was kinda a surprise since I usually only try the #3's every month or so because I'd always been about 1/4" - 1/2" off from full close. But since I closed them I've been really fuelled to get back into griptraining. I can only close them with my right hand though my left isn't even close it's still working towards the 2.5's.

Anyways I'm glad to have found this board and look forward to talking to all of you about becoming stronger.

[Cynical]

Hi everyone, I don't want to give out my real name on here... I'm just Cynical I guess.

I decided to start my grip training a couple of weeks ago and I ordered the Ironmind Captains of Crush Gripper Trainer, 1, 2, 3 and 4. Now I can only close the number 1 but I think I'll be on the number 2 in a couple of weeks as i'm about a 1/2inch away. I don't honestly expect I'll ever close the number 4... I mainly got it to psyche myself out.

As far as other grip training I also got an 'Ultimate Wrist Roller', which is beautiful... A set of of Ironmind Extensor bands, and I'm on the blue/red right now, for some reason the red ones seem slightly easier? And I've started to hang from towels from my rafters. I also attempt and mainly fail at pinch gripping my rafters and doing pullups like that.

Anyway, It's a nice little community you have here, and most of your feats make me feel demoralized and weak! Is there anything you suggest that I add to my training? Bare in mind I have only what I mentioned, and two adjustable dumbells with about 60lbs of weight plates.

Thanks guys.

[drd71351c]

Hello all. I just got into the world of grip training about 6 months ago when I moved in with my newest roommate who's a rock climber. I'm 23 years old, 6'2" and I weigh about 160 pounds. So far that makes me the skinniest person I've heard of on this board. Not big into the powerlifting side of things, but a strong grip is important to me for sports (golf mainly), finger dexterity, and some rock climbing activities. Been training with a sledge, block weights, grippers, and started bending a couple months back. So far I can close the CoC 1.5 with both hands, have bent the 60d nail, and can lift the 35lb hex fully. My goals for this year are to close the #2 CoC, get to the 1/4" G5 at 6", and continue working toward the blob. My only serious question currently involves rest and recovery. After a serious bending workout my hands are usually so wrecked that I can't do any other type of grip strength for at least a week, sometimes longer. Would I be better off ditching the bending entirely until I can get my levering, crushing, and pinching up to par? Or am I just missing a key to recovery such as heat or ice that is holding me back some?

Thanks.

David

[ObsceneJester]

Welcome David