Are Fat Gripz The Key To Major Upper Body Strength?

 I first learned about Thick Bar Training around 2003-2004 from Iron Man and showed some of the things used for it. I didn't touch a thick handled dumbbell or barbell till about 2007 or 2008 and it was at my friend Logan Christopher's house. It was pretty heavy and only held it for 10 seconds, couldn't do anything else with it. When I finally got around to wanting to do more Thick Handle Training, I learned about the Fat Gripz and how they can be attached to dumbbells, barbells and machines in seconds. 

Thick Bar Training has been around for decades, even more than a century because the old time strongmen worked with them. Reading more about it in Brooks Kubik's Dinosaur Training book, I wanted to see what I can do. When I went to the gym in 2018-2019, I would attach the Gripz to the dumbbells as heavy as about 50-60 lbs and they were tough as hell to handle. Did a 225 standing overhead press with them for a few reps and that almost killed me. For years before that, I used them to attach to the handles of the TNT Cable System from Lifeline Fitness. 

When I used them for the TNT Cables, that put in a new perspective on making things interesting to train with. Whenever I need a boost or a challenge for strength training that's what I would do. I would work with about as heavy as I can handle and do mainly Overhead Presses, Curls, Pulldowns, Rows & Chest Presses. Talk about alternative to weights. These can be just as challenging if not more so than a hunk of junk iron weights because with the fat gripz, its forcing you to work even harder than usual and every fiber of your being comes into play. 

Thick Bar Training challenges even the strongest of men and strikes fear into many that would run away at the very sight of it and for good reason. Fat Gripz are no joke and will test you in ways that makes muscle building all that much more torturous yet sweet at the same time. First off: In most cases when lifting, your grip will give out more often than most muscle groups and the bigger diameter of a handle, the less weight you'll end up using. If you're even a 600 lb Bencher, you wouldn't even come close to that if you tried with a thick bar, it's almost impossible. 2nd: With Thick Bar work, you're firing far more than just the muscles used in any specific upper body exercise, your entire body has to be in unison and it tests even your core strength to be stabilized enough to control the movement. 3rd: Controlling the lift or movement itself takes far greater concentration than with a regular implement. You could get away with being a little awkward with a lift with a implement that's normally what 1-1 1/8th inches in diameter but with a handle at 2 inches or more, you can't be sloppy, your form has to be damn near perfect otherwise you'll easily slip out of holding it. 

The power of Fat Gripz training can even give a boost of testosterone as it forces you to fire the nerves into the muscles on a larger scale and attack the system with a vengeance. Doing compound exercises with a thick bar or fat gripz does produce another level of boosting testosterone. Muscles will grow pretty fast with Fat Gripz training but also the recovery and rest will be different as well because even 1 or 2 sets can wear someone out rather than a typical 5-8 set workout with a particular exercise. 

One workout I did with Fat Gripz & The TNT Cables was to go as heavy as I can handle and do 4 exercises for 1 set each. The objective was to do as many reps as possible in 90 seconds for each exercise. This to me was one of the most brutal workouts I've ever done and my forearms were pumped like crazy. They were thick and I was feeling a burn rarely ever taking place. I would rest as long as I needed between exercises and I didn't count the reps, I just kept going as much as I could for that 90 second set. On the exercises, I would stop for maybe 1 or 2 seconds to catch my breath and keep going, they were hard as hell and you can't possibly know what that feels like until you've done them yourself. 

It would definitely put a little more lead in your pencil if you catch my drift. I normally don't go for the pump but I just wanted to see what I was capable of. That's the beauty of training, coming with things that are fun to do and creating challenges for yourself you don't normally do. When I really need some upper body muscle work, Fat Gripz & TNT Cables are a way to go and they're easy to travel with.  

Get a set of Fat Gripz, more than a fraction of the cost to an actual thick bar. Most gyms don't have thick bars because for one, the average person or even bodybuilder is afraid of them and two; even by the intimidation, the space isn't that great either. The Fat Gripz can be attached to most dumbbells and barbells plus a machine. The most weight I lifted with these attached to a barbell was a 315 thigh deadlift and I thought that was crazy to do. Imagine the kind of strength and muscle you can develop with these bad boys, they are a pinnacle of learning the difference between boys lifting weight and men lifting weight. Go ahead, I TRIPLE DOG DARE YOU!!!!

Below here's a video of doing Fat Gripz Curls with a 100 lb Resistance Cable. Without the Fat Gripz, I can do as many as 25 in a row but with those things attached, I can only manage 16 here and that was killer on the biceps and forearms while maintaining good form and not trying to cheat (you can't really cheat with these cables). 

Here's what I did with the same resistance but without the Fat Gripz...