NEW MEMBERS Introduce Yourself Here

[Juha Harju]

Thanks my friends

Show must go on!!

[big nasty]

Hello Everybody!

I´m 34 year´s old Personal Trainer from Finland. I´m training Powerlifting and

all kinds of sport ,what needs maximum power. My right pectoralis major snaped last

summer, when I was doing Benchpress. It was operated and now I am revovering about that.

After the last summer I met in Finland ,Fitness Expo, Finnish Rautakoura assosiation and its

member of gripstrength fanatics. Right away I was in hooked and I thought, that it is a

good way to recover my chest accident. I bought Ironmind #3 and #4 and was hungry to absorbe all

kinds of knowledge about handstrenght. After 2 months of training I was able to close Ironmind #3 gripper

parallel set and ccs set. Matti Heiskanen " kilkkinen" and Teemu Ilvesniemi were instructed and encourage me

how to train smart and how to be persistence, what comes to grip training. I want to thank both, Matti and Teemu.

I appreciate it very much, that they have shared their knowledg with me.

My personal best result in gripper training are: BBE closed parallel set, both hands, also #3.5 with right hand with parallel set.

Rolling Thunder my PR is 88kg´s, which is also Offical FinnisRecord. I love very much Agility and I have many goals to achieve and I think

only sky is a limit! God Bless to everyone!

Juha Harju "Heimopäällikkö"

Very stout grip work welcome !

[Juha Harju]

Thank´s

[Teemu I]

So now you are here too, welcome! Looking forward to competing against you in the future!

[ewokhugo]

Juha!welcome to this board!

i am sure u are a valuable member and "we" are proud to have such a strong grip guy here!

Finland have at the moment one of the best european team! its a shame Teemu I coulnt take part at the next european champ at 16 th August-(

Teemu I its my oppinion the finish

record holder of the R.t (done at home) : 95 kg(not official)

[cemery]

My name is Casey Emery. I live in the DFW area in Texas. I am interested in all aspects of grip training. Lately here it's all I can think about. I am 5'11 and weigh 160 lbs. I bought my first grippers about 5 months ago. . . IM # 1, # 2, #3, and trainer. I recently aquired #2.5, the BB SM and finally an RB 210. I can parellel the # 2 for about 20 reps. Parallel the 2.5, BBSM, and the RB 210 for 1 rep. Gripper training is going good.

Lately here weve been training hub lifting, pinch grip and bending. The plates we are hubbing are from Acadamy and have no markings except for the weight, don't know if it's comparable to York. My bending is not so impressive yet. My best accomplishments are :

pinching two 35 lb plates to full DL.

Hubbed a 45 with two 5's laying on it.

Hub transfer with a 35

[Paul Knight]

Hello, my name is Paul Knight from the Dallas - Fort Worth area, I'm 6.0' ~ 215lbs and I am also a gripaholic. I train w/cemery and tommyd. We are looking for anyone else in the DFW area to train w/and exchange grip knowledge. I'm currently working on bending and pinch gripping and just ordered a 2" V-bar and in process of ordering a Rolling Thunder, so I'm sure I'll be hooked on those too. I'm very excited about finding the Gripboard - now I can finally relate to some people! Anyways - besides what I mentioned - we pretty much train anything that toughens lower arm strength, ie... Horse Shoes, card ripping, license plates, phonebooks, cans, etc.. can't seem to do anything to a tennis ball yet but working on it, so if you are somewhere close by and would like to train - please reply.

[EricMilfeld]

Hello, my name is Paul Knight from the Dallas - Fort Worth area, I'm 6.0' ~ 215lbs and I am also a gripaholic. I train w/cemery and tommyd. We are looking for anyone else in the DFW area to train w/and exchange grip knowledge. I'm currently working on bending and pinch gripping and just ordered a 2" V-bar and in process of ordering a Rolling Thunder, so I'm sure I'll be hooked on those too. I'm very excited about finding the Gripboard - now I can finally relate to some people! Anyways - besides what I mentioned - we pretty much train anything that toughens lower arm strength, ie... Horse Shoes, card ripping, license plates, phonebooks, cans, etc.. can't seem to do anything to a tennis ball yet but working on it, so if you are somewhere close by and would like to train - please reply.

As it turns out I've a grip nut living ten minutes up the street from me. It looks like Paul and I might be able to meet up for a workout Saturday. Welcome aboard, Paul!

[Paul Knight]

Hi Guys,

My name is Wil They call me Brawler I am an MMA fighter Currently out of commision due to a knee injury. I am also a CFT through the ISSA and in the process of ataining my SSC. I am also A power lifter and interested in doing strongman in the future.

Whatsup Brawler, I'm an MMA fighter also, I've had 4 am fights and coming off an injury myself - a tough grip will defineltly help your MMA, so might as well at least continue to train that. Good luck on your recovery - I know there is at least one other guy on here that trains MMA also - I'm new to the board myself, there's probably alot more. Anyways, glad your here.

[dageda]

Hello everyone,

I've been coming to this site for a couple months and figured I'd introduce myself. My name's Jonathan, I'm 6'0" tall and weigh approx. 196 lbs.

My overall vision is to build a lot of functional strength in my whole body. The inspiration for this comes from my father who after working manual labour jobs for most of his life has a very strong back, huge forearms and hands and can work for a long time without getting tired. Since my career is headed in the white collar direction I figured I'd try and get the best of both worlds!

I don't have any consistent weight training experience in my background and I've only dabbled in the bodybuilding style 5 days a week, isolation exercises type thing. So, no, I haven't made much progress. haha.

My equipment is minimal but currently I own an Olympic barbell with 300 lbs of plate, 4 CoC grippers (Trainer, #1, #1.5, #2), an 8 lb sledge and a home made wrist roller.

My workout routine at the moment consists of 20 rep squats, pushups and grippers on Mondays and Thursdays, plate pinching and sledge levering on Tuesdays.

I get a lot of motivation from the workout / training logs on this forum and a lot of my training ideas come from there. So I just wanted to say thanks to all the people posting!! Keep up the great work! Eventually I will start a training log of my own on here, but I'm going to wait until I reach a couple more PR's and get more equipment so that it will be a little more interesting!

[cmj]

Hi,

My name is Chad and am 33 years old. Home is Winnipeg, Manitoba. I did not realize that there was such a cult of grip trainers out there. I have had many repetitive injuries over the years due to chronically tight muscles, particularily in my hamstrings and forearms. My forearms have been a real problem for the last 7 years. I could not lift my 25 lb. baby boy, curl, and developed serious pain in my forearms. Instead of seeing a professional I took time off to heal it only got worse. Only in the last 6 months have I learned that the problem was very tight muscles in my forearms, not an acute injury to my biceps. I have lost alot of strength in my grip over the years, so it is time to be proactive and with the help of you guys I hope to develop that "so you want to date my daughter" handshake for the years to come. I did try a dynamometer a few weeks back and had a score or 74 (RH) and 55(LH). The unit went to 100, but I am not sure what the weight measure was. I want to buy some CoC's (not sure which one to start with) and am looking forward to being a part of this forum. Take it easy and thanks for this forum!

[Acidic]

Hey all

My name is Joe im 17 and at college, im 5'11 and 150lb. Only recently have I decided to 'get fit' as it were as im the skinny type that cant put on weight (fat) and between my life and school I havent had much time to execise (not an excuse I know) anyway about 6 months ago I started going rock climbing alot and am thinking about a career in it. Im training to do a one armed pullup and while my grip strength is enough to support my weight with one arm it could improve alot for climbing in general. Currently I have just bought grippers and can close the 1.5 first time in both hands. My aim is to close 2.5 and would like to use this forum basically to improve my motivation almost and also to prevent myself over doing grip training as I do in most sports as well as finding new ways to train. Im also interested in arm wrestling for fun.

[AlanW]

Hi Guys

Alan here. 46 yo (and counting) 5'7", 147lbs. I've been lifting since I was 17 and had hair. I was fortunate enough to start training in a good gym with some decent powerlifters so that's the direction I took. I trained hard, but wasn't particularly gifted so I'm not going to try and impress you with any big numbers! I was asked to represent the gym in the Scottish Junior Powerlifting championships (way back in the early '80's), but college got in the way and my training suffered. The boy that took my place won the weight class, so there you go. After graduating and moving over to the east coast I found another hardcore gym but this time it was wall to wall bodybuilding. I stayed true to my sport and pounded away at the Big Three. A niggling back injury that I'd picked up years earlier (before I'd ever set eyes on a weight) reared it ugly head a few times, but hey I was young and healed fast. At 30 I totally screwed up my back one Sunday after cycling an hour to the gym for a leg workout. After a set of squats I knew I'd done "something" that was going to hurt the next day, so I called it quits and cycled and hour and a half home for a hot shower and some painkillers. It was nearly a year later before I could stand up straight again, and I've never been able to squat or do full deadlifts since. I just learned to live with the chronic pain. In the meantime I've still been training for strength, but it's dips, leg press and chins now. That is until a year or so ago.

I met up with an old training partner who had given up the gym altogether for Old School stuff: sandbags, sledgehammers, thick rope etc. He came over to my house one night for a couple of beers and just happened to have one of his sandbags in the back of his car. Now normally years of excuses and self doubt would have kicked in but I'd had one or two beers which of course now made me invincible We were both surprised when I managed to lift and shoulder the 180lbs bag after a couple of attempts. I take care tying my shoelaces in case my back goes out, so this was a bit of an eye opener. My back was fine the next day and I was hooked. I gradually collected stones, tyres etc for training at home and weaned myself off the gym.

Near the end of last year something happened that changed my attitude towards lifting. My wife had to visit a local farm for something or other and I went along for the ride. Just before we left I spotted some nice beefy tractor tyres that looked like they were no longer being used. I asked the farmer about them, and sure enough he was looking to get rid of them (it would cost him to have them disposed of properly). I took them home in the back of a horsebox planning to keep one and give one to my friend for flipping/sledgehammer work etc. Fortunately he wasn't allowed his as it would "clutter up the yard" according to to his better half. His village competes in an annual competition for the prettiest village and his collection of training gear doesn't go down too well with the neighbours. The tractor tyre might have been the final straw. So I'm stuck with two tyres and wondering what to do with them. I stood them up on their ends and threaded a 1 1/2" pole through the middle and then got under the pole into the bottom position of a quarter squat. A couple of HARD attempts later I lifted them off the ground. It felt great. but what an effort. My first squat in...oh...15 years? OK it was a quarter squat from the bottom position up, but I never would have thought it possible a couple of months earlier. Over the weeks I added bricks into the tyre wells to make it heavier and turned the bar into a sort of yoke to take the stress off my wrists. One day I just kept adding bricks. The only thought in my head was "I can leg press 1000lbs in the gym, I can press this up". I got up to 700(??) before the bar bent over my back. Something just clicked in my head that day. There was no doubt that I could lift the weight, and no way I was going to stop until I'd done so. I learned the lesson. I added partial deadlifts into my routine, again using the tyres, and worked up to 700ish (no straps) which was waaaay beyond anything I'd attempted before.

Since being introduced to this Old School stuff, I'd come across various sites that caught my attention, The Diesel Crew & David Hornes site to name just a couple. Mention of the Dinnie Stones in particular caught my eye. It's BIG lift, like a partial deadlift with an emphasis on grip. Right up my street. The real stones are only a couple of hours drive from me and I got to thinkin'.....and that got me plannin'.....

I ordered a pair of Dinnie Ring replicas from David Horne and started training with them last November. Whether or not I actually lift the stones remains to be seen but it sure is fun training for them. Now my workouts have a purpose. I will once and for all put this "bad back" of my truly behind me! I look forward to advice from the rest of the forum.

Thanks

Alan

[ae_yogi]

AlanW; thank you for the inspiring story.

[djulian]

My name is Doug. I am an elementary physical educator. I've always loved working out. I try to keep a symbiotic relationship between the mind and the body. The passed 5 years I have been into boxing, jogging, strength training and flexibility. I finally stumbled upon beastskills and rosstraining which lead me to the gripboard. At first I was just a passive member, but I have been searching manically since I developed chronic elbow tendonitis from climbing the rope during a climbing unit at my school. Also, I have adapted ideas off of this and other sites to use in my classes. For example, when we use the parachute at my school we do a lean back and isometric pinch grip or crush grip hold and see how long we can hold it. I was probably not going to post, but decided that I wanted to say thanks to whoever put this free information haven together so that our species can glean the benefits of health.

[egg_uk]

welcome to the board, great story alanw

[reuters]

my name is rafael and im 16.i am of average stature at 5'8 140#. i have always been interested in grip strength and the forearm muscles. i am a musician and martial artist and do strength training on the side. grip strength would help me play piano/guitar better and help me stabilize my wrist when punching. i have no knowledge of grip exercises nor the grip workout. i would be more than happy to have someone introduce me to the art of grip training as my knowledge only goes as far as the gripmaster, and flexor-extensor curls. if there are other recommended resources please let me know.

[Redmaster]

Hello all. My name is Danny and I have been lifting weights off and on my whole life. I have been back in the gym a little over 6 monthg now and have a tremendous interest in improving my grip and pincer strength. I received my COC grippers in the mail last week and have just finished my 2nd workout today. I was able to close my COC 1 for 5 reps when I recived it in the mail with my right hand but only 2 1/2 reps with the left. I look forward to getting any advice you grip veterans can provide me with. Thanks.

[trafficmonkey]

Greetings, folks. David here, a TV/Radio traffic reporter in Nashville, TN, and budding businessman. I'm 42, 6'0", 190-ish. Very new to the whole grip scene, so starting to visit some websites and got John Brookfield's "Grip Master's Manual". Just bought a sledgehammer over the weekend. Yay.

After years of average conventional gym training, my current routine is Crossfit. WORLD of difference. Before I struggled to do a single pullup, now in some workouts I do 120 of them. Woo-hoo! And I'm a girevik, too. But I've always known my grip was a weak link for me. Hate stopping to regrip on pullups, swings, or high-volume deadlifts. That's a good part of why I'm here.

My goals

--to see my bodyweight as an utter joke to deal with. Pushups? Pullups? How many, and with which finger? ;-)

--to close the CoC#2 on my way to the 2.5 & 3.

--to start bending. Never have, but it looks like something I'll enjoy once I get there.

--to rip phonebooks. Blew my mind as a kid, now I want to be that guy. Anybody have that Dennis Rogers DVD, "A Grip that Rips"? Can I learn all that here, or should I invest in the DVD?

--to do other cool things that I don't even know about yet.

No desire to be a professional strongman...maybe a scaled-down version. Really just want serious real-world, functional, "farmboy" strength. Wouldn't mind tearing a phonebook on TV or on stage sometime, if only as an example of what people could do if they put in the time and effort. So I'M ready to put in the time and effort, and I'm here to learn.

Thanks for the Board!

David / trafficmonkey

[DrWorm]

Yo whats up.

Short pudgey mexican guy here from DFW, names Dave. Referred here by KC and Paul (forum names are ?).

I closed a COC#2 once... a long time ago, now I can only get about a hairs width from touching. go figure.. Anyways, glad to be here!

Edited April 2, 2008 by DrWorm

[cemery]

Dave !!!

Glad to see you on the board, all the advice from the best in the world is right here at your finger tips. The videos are inspiring. . . and humbling. Can't wait to see some progress from you.

[kinselbj]

Barry here,

I joined the site about a week ago and I am thinking I am going to start a blog once I finish writing my new program with my training partner. I bought my first two Milo's just over a month ago and I bought my COC trainer and #1 a few days after I read the journals. I bought my #2 two weeks ago and closed it straight off with my right hand--I have only closed it once with my left. Now I am a grip fiend. I heard about this community a few times but I saw a link recently and I seized the day. I wasn't going to train today because I am tired and my hands are fatigued from my grippers, but coming onto this site has given me the juice I needed so I will post my training aims when I come back from the gym. If I don't go now, I will never go. Till this evening then...

[kinselbj]

Back from the gym. Ended up being a good session. My main reasons for joining this community is to learn from all the experienced grip specialists out there. At the moment my grip interests lie with the grippers alone. I am really a strength and conditioning man at heart and I love the olympic lifts, the powerlifts, bodyweight exercise and speed and conditioning. I enjoy training to be a well rounded athlete rather than a specialist in one discipline. I play division one rugby in Ireland also. Anyway, the following are my stats and aims.

Age:26

Weight:90 kilos

Height:1m 85cm

My aims in the world of grip strength is to close the COC#3. I ccs close the #2 regularly with the right--only 1 no set close with the left so far. Got the #2 maybe 2 weeks ago and could close it straight off with the right. My left hand is getting stronger and catching up a bit.

My Olympic lifting aims are:

to perform a bodyweight snatch--currently only on 75kg

clean & jerk 110kg--can clean 105 but need to improve the jerk considerably

My powerlifting aims are:

A double bodyweight deadlift--Only on 3 reps of 160kg

A double bodyweight squat--Only on 3 reps of 150kg

I am nearly finished writing my new 4 week training program which will include all my training--grippers and weightlifting--and I am going to start writing my own training log.I am really pumped up at joining this forum.

Yours in strength,

Barry

[beckersv]

Hi, I'm Francesco from Italy, 21 years old and i'm a beginner climber and i'd like to know the secrets to encrease hands strenght since is necessary in my sport.

[K.v.K.]

Hello, my name is Mat Von K------ from Finland, live in the U.S. atm; I've been lifting for ~a year now and have begun to take an interest in general grip strength as well as armwrestling.