Your Personal Opinion

[dave]

QUOTE

Joe says the #2 should be given away in cereal boxes- it is that easy

makin comments like that is low. you dont make fun of others liftin ability in wieghtroom, why would grip ability be any different? as long as someone is doin there best and givin 100% is what matters.

maybe im takin it outta context.

[tmmicklabs]

I agree with Dave.

Anyone that can close a # 1 has a good grip in my opinion.

Anyone that closes a # 2 or above has a world class grip in my opinion.

I've never even seen a # 2 closed in person. And i've handed my # 2 to hundreds of people...big and small...short and tall...over the past year. 90 % of the grown men that have tried my trainer have failed to close it. And yes, it is wrong to degrade people that are not as strong as you. I am probally the weakest guy on this board but I am the strongest person that I personally know. I am very dedicated and am getting stronger by the week and that's what counts in my opinion. Joe Kinney used to be my insperation for the # 4 but not any longer. People like Dave, Tommy and Heath are great guys and keep my motivated.

[Roark]

To defend Joe. He did not say it sarcastically, or to disparage others- I interpreted it to mean he was comparing his strength levels to the feat. It would be like

we would refer to the the toy-like plastic grippers found in old department stores 20 years ago; they would be so easy for us we literally would not use them for training.

Joe said nothing unkind during my conversation with him,

and I got the sense he was a man who, if you were struggling with a #1, would encourage you, not ridicule you.

[tmmicklabs]

Roark.. Thank you for the clarification. Does anyone on this board personally know or have ever met Mark Henry ? I am very curious as to if anyone has ever witnessed Mark playing with the COC grippers.

[dave]

my bad then, i i took it rong. easy to do on these puters

[stratavarious_connection]

when Joe Kinney made the video, he said he was between 170-175lbs....sometime after that, his bodyweight had increased 10- 15lbs. he was eating a lot more and was working on his squats....he wrote to me quite sometime ago .." just here recently, on my 42nd birthday my squat workout went up to 510lbs."....he later told me, on the phone, that his wife didn't like the extra weight he was putting on, because he was getting slightly fat...

[Patrik_F]

A hand size of 7 3/4 inches really seems to be the average size, it is funny that Joes hands are that size. A 400 lb bench without drugs, strict, without shirt and not much back arch is crazy good I believe. I have never been a natural bencher, my best so far is around 300 lbs. But I think I can do more now since I have started doing dips, I have gotten much stronger doing them. I you havent tried dips, I suggest you should!

[Roark]

I have met Mark Henry on two occasions, and in fact have a photo of him on one side of me, with Terry Todd on the other side. I am the smallest, but the best looking

Mark is a pleasant man who adopts the wrestling persona in public when the crowd needs stimulating. He is monstrously strong as he has proven on many public occasions.

I have not seen him handle the grippers but have been told that he can close the 3 right side up and inverted with either hand, and frankly, I readily believe that. He has hands the size of hubcaps, and grip strength that allows him get elevate the MB a few inches, and the Inch a few feet.

He has competition deadlifted more than 900 lbs.

He is the largest man I have ever seen in person.

[tmmicklabs]

Thanks for the info Roark. Will Mark be at the AOBS this year ?

Someone should get Mark Henry to come to Rick Walkers grip competition. That would be awesome.

[Roark]

As I understand, Mark has a ten year contract with the

WWF now WWE. Not sure when that expires?

I was told he missed the Arnold Classic this year because he was on assignment overseas at that time, and, unlike, the previous year, was not released to compete at the Arnold.

I do not follow pro wrestling, unlike some of you who

DIVA head first into it

[tmmicklabs]

My guess is that Mark Henry want's to skip the # 3 cert and go straight for the # 4. Not with just one hand but with both hands at the same time. Imagine someone closing two # 4's at the same time. Now that would be legendary in my opinion. Or maybe he is skipping the # 4 and going straight for the BB World Class.

Only time will tell.

[RSW]

Anyone that closes a # 2 or above has a world class grip in my opinion.

I think closing the #2 is significant, but not remarkable. I realize that most people require training to close a #2 (it took me one year), but I think very few people are incapable of closing a #2 with a bit of training. I think the "world class " level is more like the BBSE.

[Tom of Iowa2]

Wow! a lot too cover since my last post I didn't find kinneys's statement of #2 being an appropriate toy for a cereal box offensive at all?(paraphrazing)Consider that For a full year it is ALL he could close....so i wouldn't have taken it to heart. (it's ALL i can close-for reps - at this exact moment also..)IF someone starts off at a #2 and it is a full year before he can close a #3....?well the #2 must have been a significant milestone?After all it(#2)was what was closed before the #3.He must have just been joking around.

I do think that with his knowledge of grippers and the fact that he reads Milo,spoke personally to Strossen and understands the magnitude of his accomplishments(and the fact that the #2 was HIS first step?) that it might not have been a politically correct joke.

My friend and training partner has said a few things jokingly about the #3 and the IM Rolling thunder and other grip feats but he doesn't read the magazines or Grip page ..in fact doesn't even have cable TV to watch WSM!So he has no concept of the importance of such things...

However,i guess though if we ALL go back far enough we can think of a weight we used in training and laugh about it?

The video must be something for it to be talked about with such respect and awe.Perhaps when I see it I'll change my mind But the 3 or 4 guys that recently closed the #3 right out of the box-without specific training?-are at least off to a jolly good start.........I too have seen some CRAZY S#!t lately.

I heard a guy over in Illinois has the tape so I'll hunt him down.

interesting about Joes hand size.So many good closures in the 7 3/4 to 8"inch size hand range.

And YES his body weight does make it more impressive to me.After handing off the #2 to a lot of people it is usually larger heavier guys that close it...or get close.It is frequently even by guys with hands bigger than Mr.Kinneys.

i couldn't quite agree with a #2 being world class though.

Not anymore.But all that do close it certainly do have a good grip.i'd have to go with at least a #3....or whatever is the next one up(btween #3 and 4)i hope to get the #3 soon and think I'm light years away from world class.

The largest person i have ever met is Phil Makadisi.He was 6'4"and was officially weighed in at 440lbs that day.people claimed he was 15% bodyfat...in retrospect and after digging out some photos i'd guess around 20%(still fairly lean)He had large hands but did not perform that well at the strongman contest.He is leaner than Mark Henry.

Best of my recollections he had the third largest hands at the contest...after Phil Pfister and Big Tony.i have no idea if he has a good grip.I would guess tha t he did.

i met Jeff Maddy also and he was 6'2"and weighed 510lbs. But did not have the visual impact of Makidisi.

Jeff IS a COC and apparently certified on a #3 back in the day.He DOES have a grip.

Well thats about it...what an interesting thread THIS turned out to be

[Roark]

Whoa, did the music stop and I miss a chair?

Kinney closed the #2 after two weeks. He wanted to start with a #3, was convinced, or thwarted into trying a #2, conquered it matter-of-factly, and insisted it be traded/exchanged on a #3 which he wanted in the first place.

[AnimalCage]

I met Brian Schoonveld at the Snowman in January. He easily closed my #3, but said he didn't want to certify until he could do it on the #4. Mark Henry may be of the same opinion. For Brian, it seemed he had no interest in being on a list for something he could easily do. He just wanted to go for something that, to him, was challenging. A very personal matter. Show him something he can't do, and he is a crazed animal.

[Adam Black]

He just wanted to go for something that, to him, was challenging. A very personal matter. Show him something he can't do, and he is a crazed animal.

That is probably true for most of us. I myself was not interested in being a COC until I first tried the 3. From that day on it was a battle of will between me and it. I won!

[Roark]

Alan,

At the Snowman, I'm sure you watched Brian try and try and try, wait a few minutes and try again to get the

Millennium Bell off the floor?

You are right- what was casual level strength for him (#3)

did not merit his attention. But the MB, now we're talkin'!

He is a good natured fellow, but it bothered him that he could not get the MB. He had a bad back at the time also.

[Tom of Iowa2]

Roark,Well than the #2 WAS his first milestone...and IF he didn't close it right out of the box then it took him 2 weeks to close it?Is that correct?It then(apparently)took him another 12 months to close the number #3(I thought that is what was posted?)sooooo.. during that period of time..the #2 is what he COULD close?And while he was working towards the #4?The number #3 is what he COULD close?

Thats all I'm saying....

I'm going off a post that said it took him 12 months to close a 3.And then another 10 months to close the #4.

Animal Cage-yes Josh said that Schoonveld said the same thing to him.He even said that due to Schoonveld having a back injury?? that he was going to take a year off of ..strongman competitions and play with grip toys for awhile.

I then recently heard that he is training strongman events again?

He was more impressed with Schoonvelds tenacity than he was with Schoonvelds grip? He said Schoonveld would just NOT give up on lifting the unliftable...and had worked himself into a frenzy.

[AnimalCage]

Schoonveld was/is dealing with 3 bulging disks. His lifts were far less than impressive. He obviously wasn't trying his hardest. But that MDB, my oh my. The man was a clown one second and a possessed madman the next. I've heard that Kinney was just as possessed, or maybe a more sustained determination over time, going for the #4. That could be why a training program is named after him!

[Tom of Iowa2]

Animal,I think unfortunately-for the grip world -that guys like Schoonveld and Josh(and NO I am not saying he is as strong as Brian )is that they get pulled in so many directions.

i.e.They CAN be strong in so many areas that the Grip thing may not stick and they'll move on to something else.That is my fear.Josh still trains grip and has made HUGE progress sice the pics in the Gallery were taken (and since you handed him the #3 ) but he is possessed now with the 18 INCH dead and trap bar, heavy incline presses ,and squats...along with about 4 or 5 other movements.

On the other hand Wade Gillingham is actually a Pro strongman and looks like he is sticking with grip...so multiple strength interests-at a VERY high level- are manageable.

[Sybersnott]

Question: Did ANYONE here (besides me and Joe Kinney) train exclusively on the Secret Weapon before closing the #3?

It was HIS grip machine that got me my COC status. Nothing else propelled my grip gains faster than that machine! :stuart

[don of tha new grip]

Snott, it was supposed to be a secret right?

Edited April 18, 2003 by don of tha new grip

[mobsterone]

Schoonveld was/is dealing with 3 bulging disks. His lifts were far less than impressive. He obviously wasn't trying his hardest. But that MDB, my oh my. The man was a clown one second and a possessed madman the next. I've heard that Kinney was just as possessed, or maybe a more sustained determination over time, going for the #4. That could be why a training program is named after him!

That being 'possessed' is what you need to be numero uno.

[Sybersnott]

Kinney called it the "Secret Weapon" because it was a machine of his design and it's function was to get you to "train beyond the range".

It was something never seen before, and a machine that was designed for the average grip trainer to train negatives. I bought the machine and went as hard and as heavy as I could. The results were amazing! However, it seemed like most people on this forum that had one didn't experience the same type of gains I did. It took me from barely closing the #3 to overcrushing it!

The only problem with the Secret Weapon is that it hurts like hell when you go heavy on it, and it's design is for negatives.... so it is limited in that aspect.

[don of tha new grip]

Where is this secret weapon? is there a picture of it somewhere?