Grip Your Way To Power

            You are one powerful human being; we all are in one form or another. We have certain strengths, weaknesses and we find some way to use a talent we posses. A lot of what we do physically contains within our hands. Our hands are the very essence of what we create. Grip Strength is one of the most important foundations a man or woman should posses. Being able to handle groceries, carry your kid, defend your family or if you’re a sports athlete, your hands are the very foundation of your talent; can’t shoot a basketball, throw a football, swing a bat or coordinate a hockey stick without having good solid hands. You can have very powerful hands not just in crushing strength but many other ways.

            One of the best ways to develop superhuman grip strength is increasing the strength in your tendons and ligaments. How many injuries can you count where an athlete or the average person had to wear a brace on their wrist because of a tendon pull or break? A form of training called Partials where you only lift a short distance is one of the most fun and brutal ways to increase your tendon power. Think of lifting a weight you could never imagine hitting at full range; you can almost have twice as much strength to lift at short range. This not only builds dense muscle but take your tendons into the stratosphere.

            In combat/contact sports, you must find a way to take down an opponent whether you’re a football player or even a MMA athlete, your grip can change the very facet of the match and it either make your or break within less than a few seconds. You’re on the defensive line in football and a running back or a receiver has got his hands on the ball, if you have strong hands, you can take him down and squeeze the very life out of him and he’ll think twice of getting in your path. You’re in a fight against a great Mixed Martial Artist or Wrestler, he’s fast, he’s agile and knows how to slip out of holds, but you have some mighty mitts and you end up one way or another getting him in a lock or have a good hold on him for a takedown. You have him in your grasp, you put your heart into this fight and you even put in the time to train your grip to the core, you get a hold on him, he has no choice but to tap out, he can’t fathom how strong and supple your hands are on him. Want strong hands, you’re going to have to build them.

            You are one strong person my friend but it’s important to continue getting stronger. Like lifting weights, use fat gripz for your upper body movements like pulls, presses, curls, cleans, snatches anything that you can put your hands on, even pull-ups, these will make your hands super strong. One type of implement that will take your grip to a new level is sledgehammers, think of the old-time laborers and how powerful their hands were doing hours of taking out rock and stone with a heavy hammer, think of being Thor and tackling the frost giants with thunderous power and superhuman strength. Build your eagle claws by doing exercises on your fingertips like push-ups, pull-ups and even Animal Exercises; think about that, being able to walk in the steps of a big and powerful bear or the super strong gorilla on your fingertips, that will build tendon strength like an extreme few can ever be done.

            How would you feel if you had the grip power to knock home runs, bend steel, tear decks of cards in half and destroy your competition on the gridiron taking down fast runners and receivers and even taking out the quarterback? Your grip will be a major factor whether you realize it or not and the stronger you make your grip, chances are the stronger your entire body will be. Our hands are not just these little bitty muscles and tendons; they are one of the most powerful energy sources in the human body. Create energy in your hands and you’ll see how powerful you can be. Stay hungry my friends and be strong and smart.

The Mighty Strength Of Hercules

           A god caught between two worlds; Mount Olympus & Earth. Mythology’s strongest hero is one of the greatest stories ever told. In the training world, it’s the pinnacle for us guys to try to emulate (At least the strength). We are so amped when we develop our strength in many areas but building physical strength comes with a price. Like the 12 labors of Hercules, we too must conquer our challenges even as they get tougher. Unlike the Labors, it’s never ending and sometimes we suffer to get what we want but we should never give up on what can be ours.

            Although we can never have the strength Hercules possesses, we can however channel our energy to create super strength and power by how we use our imagination. Our strengths are different but we have similar goals and although we think differently generally a certain outcome will remain the same. How we breathe can generate or destroy our strength, how we move and think can lead a path of strength or have it be given away. Building strength just by lifting or doing certain exercises may be good but it’s not quite enough. Think big, dream hard and make the impossible possible. Hercules also used his intelligence to help his strength; we too must learn this concept for it is the very key to creating results fast and powerful.

            What do you want; do you want to lift heavy weights, build more muscle or do you want to become super conditioned? Why not all three and more? You don’t have to settle for just one thing, that’s like saying if all you had for dinner the rest of your life was steak, you’d lose your damn mind and just get tired of it. You can develop great functional super muscle by applying the thinking of Hercules along with what you want to achieve. We won’t always look like a Mr. Olympia but we can create strength and muscle using techniques that can help our breathing, our movement, the way we think and going beyond the very essence of our strength and add even 1% of what scientists say about the amount of strength we use.

            To produce results fast, we have to think differently and we also need to use things differently. Grip strength is one of the most important keys in strength development and there are many ways to do it, one of my favorites is using sledgehammers particularly Thor’s Hammer to enhance my grip strength and overall body conditioning. Another is thick bar training if you want to lift great weights; this cuts your workouts in half maybe even a 1/3^rd because it takes a lot of strength to move a weight when it’s more than 2 inches in diameter like a barbell or a dumbbell. Some people can’t afford the thick bars so what can you do, use Fat Gripz or Fat Gripz Extreme, these alone can enhance your strength in ways that you never imagined possible.

            Think about getting strong in pull-ups, add thickness to those crazy machines and turn them into strength enhancers. Slap a Fat Grip onto your barbells and dumbbells and instantly turn them into one of the most difficult lifts around. Hercules was a man of superhuman strength and was built like a house but he does teach us the value of our strength and how we can apply it to create strength that all of us want to achieve in some form or another. When you think differently, your body reacts differently. The next time you lift or do a certain exercise, don’t look at it as just an exercise, think as if you’re the mighty Hercules and you have a powerful body, mighty hands and you have the strength and power to make the impossible happen. See how you react and the way your body moves with your thought. 

You Are Your Best Trainer

            Over the last 8 years or so since I've succumbed to the Physical Culture bug, one thing has stretched in my mind more than anything else in my search for great training and that’s being your own best personal trainer. What does that mean being your own trainer? Simple really, it’s not allowing those who tell you to do something and go with creating your own way of training, being self-reliant. It’s not very easy to do because there is so much info out there that you don’t know what works and what doesn't.

          We have a plethora of programs to choose from, like bodybuilding, strongman, 8 days a week, the super programs of crossfit, the next gadget in the infomercials, how to build bigger arms, getting 12 pack abs, grip strength you catch my drift. The secret is finding what works for you. Experiment, do different programs at the same time, piss off the establishment who don’t know a lift even if they had a gun to their head (exaggeration I know but it’s a good metaphor though). Those who try to tell you what’s superior, what’s the coolest trend, how to build a program that has nothing to do with your progression; they’re the ones who keep you from making something of yourself on your own. Trust your instincts, be bold and question things.

            Nobody really just trains and has fun anymore, to quote the joker “why so serious?” We pay to go to the gym and do all these crazy programs and eventually after a few weeks we just give up and quit. It’s not how hard you push yourself, its how much fun to do something you love to do. If you don’t love training but just keep running through the motions, sure it’s better than nothing but you won’t find the results you want. Train and have fun with it, focus on what you want, use your imagination and create something for yourself. Yes I believe if you have a goal you should be focused on it, be determined and willing to go beyond it and strive to excel at your challenges but don’t become a mean asshole to get there, play a little and make it an adventure.

            There’s always someone that follows specific programs and for some it’s the end-all-be-all for others it’s temporary and the rest think outside the box. Mix things up, draw outside the lines. Here’s an example, I’ve learned from many different guys and even some women and yet I don’t worship their craft and take all of them as a god/goddess of the fitness world. I respect what they do but I don’t agree on everything they do, if you agree with everything then you might as well not have a brain of your own. I love some of these people, some as if they’re my family but I also love being creative. I take chunks out of their craft and mold it into my own thing, kind of like Michelangelo carving out David; I take chunks of concrete to create a masterpiece.

            Love what you do, be creative, feel what you want to do. Think outside the box, be weird, be a dork whatever you are who you are and should train according to who you are as a person. Be safe but don’t be lazy, progress at your own pace and train smart. If you happen to get hurt, then you need to change things around and don’t ever stop learning. Think and Grow because eventually, you’ll find something someone doesn’t like or does but only you will love it the way it is and no one can take it away from you. That’s the heart of being your own trainer.