More On Fat Gripz

 Training With A Fat Grip is more than just building muscle size and strength, it creates a new level of control and focus that you can't duplicate with typical gym equipment. You won't be able to rely on style, form, technique or even timing because it's really just sheer strength and power to make a lift. It has a far greater burden on the tendons, ligaments and musculature than a regular barbell, dumbbell or even pull machine ever will.

In reality, very few athletes will go near fat grip training, although today it is making a comeback, there is still a wide range of men or women that have that fear factor. Working with Fat Gripz is not meant to be easy, matter of fact, much of it separates the men from the boys because in order to get better, you have to push through that barrier and challenge your capabilities. You won't work the same amount of weight with a typical bar but that's ok, not many even attempt it. I've taken my FG's to the gym and I do get looks every now and then cause I don't work with regular equipment or at least work with what they got so I need to create that extra inch if you will of training that makes it unique yet old school. 

I'm not about the bodybuilding culture or toning down to look like an athlete. At 40, the main thing is to not just maintain muscle but to still have strength that means something. Sculpting was never my thing and quite frankly, most sculpting methods of weight training require levels upon levels of steroid use, overuse of isolation exercise and a diet that most likely will make me miserable as hell. Besides, having a good look is fine but if your strength is shit, what good is the look going to do?

I prefer to use my FG's for my TNT Cables which has greater ability to build healthier joints plus having the hand strength to go along with it. When I do use them for the gym, they go on the bar, dumbbells and bars for pulldowns and such. That's it. I still manage to build some decent strength and I only do a few sets of 10 or less with every exercise I do, it makes things interesting that way. As they say, strong hands equals a strong body.

Be careful in how you do them. They're not meant for toning or putting on a little muscle, if you consistently train with them, you're building muscle that is meant for raw power and strength. They build muscle that is rugged, thick, functional and outside the parameters of a regular gym goer. Want to take them out for a spin? Grab a set and see/feel the difference and humbling experience it provides. If you really want to another level, go for the Extreme set and really dig into the realm of the old time strongmen.   

TNT Cables And Fat Gripz

 The TNT Cables from Lifeline Fitness have been one of my favorite tools of resistance band training for years. Off and on, I kept the exercises simple and basic. Hell of a traveling apparatus as well since you can fit the handles and the cables inside your duffle bag. With the door attachment, there are many exercises you can do just like you may do in a gym. Very versatile and a great idea for training.

Every once in a while, I'd like to spice things with them and attach my Fat Gripz to the handles to simulate Thick Bar Training. Usually just keep to about 4 Exercises (Curls, Pulldowns, Rows & Chest Presses) and do one arm or two arm versions of those exercises. For a period, I would have a set number of reps and work with that and use heavy resistance (around 100-200+ lbs of resistance) depending on the exercise I do. Lately, I've gotten back into that kind of training; the exercises stay the same but the set/rep scheme has changed. I would do just one set of the exercises but do enough reps where it's a challenge but I'm not going to failure. I try to keep it around enough reps where I have at best 2-3 left in me but make that enough to stop.

This has been a very good workout to work my grip strength and achieve greater muscle activation in the exercises. With this type of training, it's important to not focus so much on speed or resting very little which in most of my workouts is a focus. This is meant to focus more on technique, hitting the muscles hard and resting as long as needed for the next exercise. It's purely more about strength than anything else. For the rest period, I'd say give it 1-5 min depending on how the set goes but that's just an idea, take as much time as you need to feel ready, have the mindset that when you go into the next exercise, you go with a vengeance. Don't hurt yourself and sure as hell don't try to break records or anything, it's not ego lifting.

You can use the Fat Gripz on your dumbbells, barbells and machines to enhance your exercise. Don't try to do so many exercises for so many sets and reps, focus your attention to simplistic exercises as best as possible and keep the amount of exercises short. The old timers knew this very well and had great success because of methods like this. If you're really ambitious, work up to the Fat Gripz Extreme which is close to 3 inches in circumference, this will test you big time. I've only done the Extreme a handful of times ever but I made it count and they're to be respected. Build strong hands for a strong body. 

Thick Bar or Handle Training is no joke and you won't do as many reps as you normally would, it cuts the reps to about from what I understand to 1/3rd of what you would normally do so if you could say Bench 315 for 10 reps with an olympic bar, with these Gripz (especially the extreme) the reps would be no more than maybe 3, 4 max so that should tell you how tough these bastards are. I like them because I don't have to spend a ton of time training and don't do as many reps because I want to dig into the muscles hard and get stronger. How often would you work with the Gripz? With consistency, probably no more than twice a week, if you're an advanced trainee that is geared toward pro ranks, maybe 3-4 times a week but that's pushing it. For beginners, if you decide to go that route, start with once a week or every 10 days because these are crazy to work with. 

Train with intent, listen to your body and make every workout count to take those steps towards your goals. Be amazingly awesome everyone.