NEW MEMBERS Introduce Yourself Here

[Metsudragon]

Hey guys, name's Donn, I'm currently using a Heavy Tension gripmaster in my grip training, I want to have as strong a grip as possible, seeing as how I'm training to be an MMA fighter, I feel having an exceptional grip strength is paramount. I also have an interesting in one day closing the CoC 4(and any higher ones if any) and lifting an Inch Dumbbell overhead. I'm hoping I can find strategies and advice to hopefully reach these goals, if any of it helps my statistics are:

Height: 5'8"

Weight: 157

Age: 20

[Ryan 502]

My name is Ryan. I've been training grip for about a year. One day I looked at my hands and thought they could be alot stronger. I lurk the board trying to gather as much information as possible to become stronger.

Accomplished:

IM 7" Yellow DU bend

CRS 1/4 6" DU Bend

32kg Kettlebell BU press x 2

National Guard Full deck tear

COC #2 5/5

Short Term Goals:

IM Yellow 6" bend

Full deck Bike Tear

Long Term

COC #3 Cert

IM Red Cert

Retiring

Edited December 27, 2008 by Ryan 502

[BigTone]

This will be a sort of reintroduction of sorts for me.

I got introduced to the grip community a few years ago, since that time i've amased a little collection of grip toys.

COC Trainer/#1/#2

ISG, slegehammer, a few hex block weights, and most recently Mrs. Claus brought me a pair of bolt cutters and some steel.

I can own the #1 without a problem, and I've closed the #2 in the past, but I'm a few MM short currently. I got some 3/16" round steel over christmas and I'm melting the 5" lengths so I'm gonna work with it for a while and then move on to the square stock.

Long term goals - Bend a red, be a bastard, become a COC

Short Term goals - Drop about 25 lbs (currently 6' 235 lbs), build up my deadlift again

This is such a cool forum, amazing to have access to the cream of the crop gripmasters where you can ask questions and get encouragement. I'm going to utilize the workout logs as an accountability tool. Will be good to hear people's feedback on my workouts as well as keep me on track.

[realman]

Hello.

I'm Adam. Performing name is Adam the First Real Man. I am a sideshow performer, I swallow swords, eat fire, hammer nails into my face, etc...I also teach these feats at the Coney Island Sideshow School. I've been performing these acts for the past six years in and around NYC. Recently I've decided to expand my acts and move into some strongman stunts. Seeing as strongmen have always been a part of the sideshow, it seems a natural progression. Furthermore, both strongman feats and sideshow feats involve no trickery. What you see is what you get. It's not a magic trick. (though I do a bit of that too)

Learning to swallow swords requires both a mental and physical commitment. You have to convince yourself that swallowing a sword is a normal thing to do. That's the mental conditioning. Of course the physical aspect is overcoming the gag reflex.

In watching Steve McGranahan's training dvd's, reading and viewing online materials and frequenting the gym devoutly for the last three months, I can see a close parallel in sword swallowing and strongman feats.

I've been interested in strongman stunts since reading The Mighty Atom's biography a number of years ago and have browsed and surfed the acts since. No real practice or training.

I consider the last three months at the gym my warm up. It's now time to get serious about grip training so that I can accomplish the goals I've set out to do:

Tearing a deck of cards in half, tearing a phone book in half, spike bending, and rebar bending.

I was lucky enough to watch strongman Steve Ekstance perform on the Coney Island boardwalk yesterday for the annual Polar Bear swim. I had the opportunity to speak with him both before and after his performance. This was a motivating experience, hence my joining the Gripboards and wanting to move forward in my skills.

Last week I ordered two Ironmind CoC grippers, the Trainer and #1 as well as 2 books the Grip Master's Manual and Mastery of Hand Strength. (The books may take up to 5 weeks to arrive, backorder from Borders)

Some personal stats: Height-6'1"

Weight 265

Age-37

[docjay]

Thor reporting from Iceland.

I wish to improve my grip to improve my deadlift as well as help me with impressive goals such as opening a bottle of coke with my bare hands.

Age - 18

Height - 180 cm (5'11)

Weight 79 kg (173 pounds)

[arande2]

Just call me Arande

I'm 16 and I train with grippers, extension bands, sledge levering, and different pinch gripping.

With grippers, I'm still stuck doing several reps on the #1 after a few months. I do the yellow Ironmind band. I'm starting to get near the end of the 8 pounder in front and rear levering and around halfway on pronation/supination. Nearing a 25/35 plate pinch with right hand and barely 2 25s with left hand. That's about it.

I'm 5'11" and weigh around 255.

Nice to be here.

[jrepp]

I've been powerlifting about one and a half years now and i seen some vids on youtube of guys closing cocs.That got me intrested and my main goal is to close a coc 3.5 which i think is possible for me.I closed my hg200 the first day i tried and i'm very close to closing my hg 250 after one weeks training but my hg300 feels alot harder than the 250.Goals for this year are close a coc3 benchpress 480-500 squat 530 deadlift 600.

[Robin Piedeleu]

Hey all, my name's Robin, I am a french rock climber striving to build some real grip strength. I am 19 and tend to be that kind of very nimble lightweight (5'7" and only 125 lbs) climber with some promising skills provided that I work on my upper body strength and especially my pinching and supporting strength. So that's why I am here. Besides, I have been reading the posts for a month and really got hooked up by the whole grip thing. I've started some pinch routine and ordered some IM grippers (T and #1) that should be delivered in a fortnight or so (shipping to France seems to be a long way). Can't wait to start training with them.

Btw are there any other french guys in here ?

(Hope the spelling is not too bad )

[pullemfar]

Whats up guys, Chris here from TN./Ft. Campbell,KY area, 34yo, working for my uncle(U.S. Army) 12 years at it (8yrs as a MARINE/ 4yrs Army) 2x OIF Vet.. Strength training is my current thing to do, trying to apply AW work and training in with it. Been in the weight game for about 10 years off and on. Taking it alot more serious now.

Thanks for letting me be a member here, look forward to reading and learning all that i can and maybe providing some valuable info. as well.

[Lazi]

Nice to meet you all.My name is Lazi , just joined the forum in order to 'steal' some nice tips.

I'm 25/6'2"/220 , training for about 8 years , looking to participate in armwrestling competitions ,

so I try to improve in all aspects , including grip and forearm power.Just ordered the # 1 ,2 and 3!

I'll report back on how it will go.I'll try to learn as much as I can from the best -

[terminal]

Hi Folks,

Well this is my 3rd post since I didn't see this while lurking about.

My name is Al, I am a trainer who resides in Vancouver, Canada.

I got interested in grip training recently from reading Napalm Jedd's stuff at various sites.

I have a background in grappling so I do have a sense of the importance of grip in a sport context.

I bought myself a COC1 &2 for XMAS and am close to closing the 1. I am also doing wrist rolling and plate pinching several times a week.

So I am a newbie to this grip stuff. Really interesting. I am especially drawn to grip goal-setting as I have a young child at home (almost two) and so I don't have the time for sports training or getting to the dojo. Jsut lifting and grip work for now.

Great site.

[dmbphan041]

Hi there, I'm Adam, I'm 20 and I just started weightlifting about 3 months ago and some guys over at bb.com directed me here. I want to get my first gripper but I'm having a had time deciding on what company and what setting. I'm trying to decide between a CoC 1 or 1.5.

Any other suggestions welcome. I just figure I'd go with CoC cause it seems like the most "legit" (I could be totally wrong though)

[-joe-]

hey im joe lockwood from australia and have been lurking for quite awhile... i am very interested in grip training and want to start off by getting some captains of crush... this has prob been posted thousands of times but wat do you recommend starting off with..i have had a bit of experience with grippers before but only the ones you get from the sport store..

thanks, joe

[jack-jack]

hi im jack also from australia and ive just ordered my coc 1 and ive been reading and watching different things for grip on a few other forums and this seemed to be the place to go.i pretty much just want a better grip and finger and tendon strength so i can try planches one day plus i think grip strenthg is pretty cool. im 18,about 87 to 91 kgs and 6 foot

[Deadtorights]

Hi, I'm Kurt. 19y/o. 5'6". 145-147lbs. I started strength training in the early April of 2008. As I progress in my training, I find that my grip is lacking on deadlifts. From this forum, I am eager to learn from experienced people of what it takes to get a beastly grip. I bought CoC Trainer and #1. Trainer,I can do about 8 reps each hand.For the #1 on a good day I can get 2 reps on my right hand and barely 1 on my left. Definitely need some work!

[Donkeyno9]

Hi My name is Dan. I'm from Wisconsin. I'm 32yrs old,5'9" tall,and 220lbs. I'm here because I want to increase my grip strength for Deadlifting.

[MarkSTL]

I'm Mark, from St. Louis. I'm a complete grip noob. I'm looking to enhance my bjj game by increasing my grip strength.

Short-term goal is to close the CoC #1 I got last week. Hopefully, that will be the start of something great. As of now, I can close it to 1 or 2 mm RH, and 5 - 10 LH. Hopefully any day now. . .

[cclayton]

my name is Caleb. i'm 6'1" 240 lbs. I'm mainly traing my grip and wrist strength to help me in my job (mechanic). right now i can close a coc 2.5 right handed and a coc 2 in the left. i'm just looking for different training ideas

[bencrush]

I'm Mark, from St. Louis. I'm a complete grip noob. I'm looking to enhance my bjj game by increasing my grip strength.

Short-term goal is to close the CoC #1 I got last week. Hopefully, that will be the start of something great. As of now, I can close it to 1 or 2 mm RH, and 5 - 10 LH. Hopefully any day now. . .

Hey Mark, welcome to the board man. You've got some very strong guys (some grip, some not) in your area man. Josh Dale, Brad Manion, Dan Sweeney is in that general area I think. And Dan's an accomplished MMA guy. He'd never tell you that, but I will. Give us a ring sometime. I'm not in that area, I'm in Lawrence, Kansas, but I sometimes go out to Josh's house or that area. I'm sure you'd be welcome to come to a get together in the near future. Not sure how you feel about a trip to KC, but I'll be getting together with some other grip guys in a few months and that one will be an open invite. If you're interested let me know. A few of us are good benders, so we'd give you tips and help on that too if you're interested in that. Otherwise, we are all capable in the overall grip department.

[garythenuke]

First Post Introduction:

Hi I'm gary from Paso Robles California. I have been a grip fan for quite some time. I have given ALOT of money to ironmind and have read most of Brookfield's stuff. I have a bunch of the COC's but I never closed the #3. I was about two human hairs away but then I got hurt. I could close the #1 with each hand from the day I got it.

I have a Rolling Thunder (that I never use anymore) and I have used rubber bands and "squishy balls". I've made grip blocks and would like to try blob lifting but dang they are hard to find.

I have been fighting tendonitis for about ten months in my elbow/forearm. It is the classical tennis elbow. I am just about able to do chinups again but I cannot yet close a gripper due to the pain.

I guess my goals are to build as strong and bulletproof hands and forearms as I can. Being injured STINKS and I don't want to do this again. I am looking foreword to learning a bunch on this site. I was directed here by Ross Enemait.

Thanks

[42wob-14ft]

Ok here it goes, My name is Joel 42, 5'10', 210lbs. I've been lurking for awhile now and find this to be a great forum lots of information and helpful advice. My first intrest in grip training was to improve on my Highland games scores, being cheap I got the hg set. I can close the 250 with both hands and am working on the 300, I've got it down to about 1/2 inch now. The 350 thats another story!!! Nothing but respect and awe for those of you closing the COC 3 and 4. I work with kids in the church and am always looking for new ways to get there attention, breaking boards concrete blocks,magic tricks, and juggling. My new idea is bending nails and ripping cards and phone books so grip training will be with that end in mind. I,m sure I will have questions for all of you as time goes but for now still digesting all the info that is here.

[jdcreamer]

My name is Jonathan, I'm 23 years old, 5' 10" and 200lbs. I've always had a pretty strong grip but it really took off when I purchased the Captains of Crush. I could close the 1.5 right out of the package, but the 2 was another story...it was the first gripper I ever had to WORK to close. Now that I can close it consistantly, I have purchased the Rolling thunder, "Blob 50",IMTUGS, as well as hub and book attachments to help excell my grip quest. I eventually want to complete the Grip Gauntlet by lifting over 200lbs on the rolling thunder, pinch lifting the blob, getting certified with the #3, lifting 50lbs on the hub, and bending the red nail with Ironmind.

[SilverCrusader]

I'm so excited to be on these forums

Anyway, my name is Daniel. I'm 17 and 150 lbs. I'm here to learn how to increase my grip strength for parkour.

[wyldwulf]

Hello my name is Mark. 34 years old, 5' 9", 180 pounds. I started extensive lifting in my teens, but dropped off in my twenties after a neck injury left me unable to continue heavy lifts. I am now looking at grip training as a means to condition my hands and retard RSI and other issues related to my career as a computer artist.

I recently have purchased the Vice Gripper (can currently close both hands at 7/4) and Vulcan Gripper (lvl1 on batch 3) to help accomplish this, with a goal of restrengthening my hands after such a long spell away from weight training and possibly certing CoCs if ever I advance that far.

Glad to be here!

Mark

Edited January 21, 2009 by wyldwulf

[Shoggoth]

Hi, my name's Jason.

I'm 36 years old, 240#'s and 6' tall.I live just outside of Edmonton, Alberta and have gotten the grip bug back last summer and began to incorperate it into my training.

So far my accomplishments are CCC a COC# 2.5 (Am hoping/will close the #3 this summer.) Rip properly ~1,500 page phonebooks, Halve vertically and horizontally decks of cards, Pull a corner out of a deck of cards, lever a 12# sledge on a 32" handle to my nose, bend every way (except Heslep) 6" x 1/4" gr5, Flattened my first 00 SCF a week ago and can get about 130# on my RT handle (haven't been working on that for a while), an BUP my 32kg KB's.

I'd like to find others in the area interested in grip and bending. I've been watching the site for a bit and there's some really good information getting passed around and I'm eager to learn more.