Fat Gripz And The Gym

 Every now and then, I'll go to the gym with the wife and do a few things while she does her own training. It's almost like a day off for me and just seeing what's possible. Sure there are more machines than free weights but I'll go with what I can get. Usually do a quick warm up doing DDP Yoga and then get to it. Normally when I go, I take my Fat Gripz with me to make the exercises harder and engage more muscles than the machine has you doing. 

Most of the exercises I do with the FGs is Dumbbell Curls, Lat Pulldowns, Close Grip Pulldowns, Rows and Bench Press on the Smith Machine. I'm sure I'll get hounded one way or another for not using a real barbell, which is fine because like I said, it's just another exercise that I can make more difficult. When it comes to reps, I really don't do more than 10 with a weight and increase little by little until I can only do a few reps as opposed to the beginning. Sets are typically 3-4 or so per exercise. With the FGs, I don't use as much weight as I normally would since it's supposed to make the exercise harder and the muscles are working at a greater capacity. 

I do take rest periods but only long enough to get going for the next set and then move on. With the SMBP, I wanted to test my strength and see where that went. When I go after this exercise, most of the time, I'll go until I can barely do a few reps but the last couple times, I've done quite a few sets until I start hitting singles and increase weight from there. The bar weighs 20 lbs so when I add on plates, I do count the bar when I lift. So far with the Gripz, I've gone up to 280 for a single which to me is the heaviest I've ever done having those things attached. I would say even with a machine, that's pretty decent strength. 

Fat Gripz create an interesting element to Strength Training and teaches you more about control than anything else. It forces you not just to engage muscles but target the ligaments and tendons as well and you can build some crazy upper body strength from doing that. Utilizing the old school method of working with a Fat Bar, it adds another level of Strength Training that has helped many lifters reach new PRs and harness power from another perspective. You won't use nearly the same weight without them which isn't a bad thing, it's just another look at what you can do to build strength. 

I'm the type of guy who doesn't really get into the whole isolation movement thing so if I'm going to work with machines or weights, I'm going to make it interesting and focus as many muscles at once in whatever movement with the upper body in this case. This way, I'm getting more out of the movement. Grab a set yourself and see what you can do with them. Remember, these are not to be taken lightly, work with a weight you are able to control and focus on the mind/muscle connection as you push or through the exercise. Turn an isolated movement into a multi joint strength builder. 

Be amazingly awesome and build insane hand and wrist power. 

A Powerful Grip Goes A Long Way

         The joy of having a strong grip is a lot to have. Many opportunities arise when your grip can handle many things like carrying groceries, helping someone move, twisting off a tough jar, climbing, carry someone and holding onto them so why not develop a mighty grip? It’s a lot of fun because our hands were meant to be strong for the things we need to have in our lives. The stronger our lower arm is, essentially the stronger our whole body is. It’s not just a pump you get in the gym or squeezing someone’s hand.

            Most people who start out with developing anything, get all excited and can’t wait to jump in but as they move along, most of the time get really bored and don’t want to progress any further or they just keep up the same old crappy routine and never make any headway. It’s all about the three P’s; Pacing, Progressing and Patience. We start out weak in some area or another so we begin with the simplest things plays around with them, we progress in order to advance ourselves. Don’t just push yourself all the time, pace yourself; do a little more each time. It’s the journey, not the destination that is the key; the smallest things can have the biggest impact. Be patient, if you get stuck somehow, find a solution, change things up and use your imagination to get better. We all have different ways of progressing, some are faster than others but we share a common goal and that’s getting better. It’s like math; you don’t start out with calculus right? We start with Arithmetic and work our way up, same thing developing your grip strength.

            One of the greatest modern Physical Culture authors Brooks Kubik said to Master your exercises. Doesn't matter what you’re shooting for but to progress with the best intentions, you must master what you want to develop. For grip strength, you don’t need to master a million things; you just need to focus on a few things. Do no more than 3-4 things to master because this helps you focus on what you can do to progress to a higher level whether it’s adding sets/reps or advance to a more difficult exercise. For me as an example with my Thor Hammer, I started out just lifting up, down and side to side. Next progression, slamming it with a tire 1000+ times often, next one was pressing it up using only the ball of the hammer, after that was juggling and flipping it. There’s more to progress to but you get my drift. It doesn't have to be a hammer, you can add in Fat Gripz onto your barbells and dumbbells to make your exercises harder, the effect is much different when you curl a 40 lb. dumbbell the regular way, slap on a Fat Grip, you’re in a whole new world of lifting my friend.

            Some of the strongest men in the world don’t always have the biggest hands. Yes big hands give a distinct advantage and that’s awesome if you have them but there are some of us who don’t have that luxury. Don’t fret though, there’s still hope and don’t ever let it stop you from chasing your dream from having strong hands. Want an example; Dennis Rogers is one of the strongest men pound for pound ever yet he’s no more than 5’8 and weighs no more than 170 yet he’s been able to do things most men twice his size can’t even fathom. He was also a champion arm wrestler at a point in his life and took down some of the best there was and some of them were far bigger than he was. So you see, there’s no excuse for you, you have the power to have some mighty mitts and you can have them if you want them bad enough. Train with intent, think big, think powerful, use your imagination and make it happen for you. Grip strength is very important, it can even save someone’s life, think about that. Don’t ever give up chasing your dream, don’t just chase it, thrust through and take a chance. It’s within reach, go get 

Building Eagle Claws

Building strength in the fingers, hands, wrists and the entire lower arm can make you or break you in a workout or anything you need your hands for. We need our hands to build things and create things so is it essential to build a level of strength, flexibility and dexterity that helps us in our everyday lives? I believe so. There are many ways to build a solid steel grip but there are other ways to keep the tendons strong and durable no matter what you do.

 The lower arm area all the way down to the fingertips is the most neglected parts of the human body in exercise. You won’t get by much with just wrist curls and a few isolated circular movements; you are learning to build that area by squeezing, flexing, extending, push, pull and working the individual fingers. It is important to master all these factors because if you don’t have strong hands, you won’t be able to pick up a weight no matter how big your arms it’s not going to happen. What if you need to fix something with a wrench or screwdriver and don’t have the hand strength to twist and turn, that would suck and if you work using those types of tools you won’t be at your job for long.

 When I talk about building eagle claws, I’m not just referring to training the entire lower arm to claw somebody in a fight or having great strength to do amazing things, I’m referring to creating great strength, flexibility and dexterity no matter what you want to do with your life. It doesn't matter if you’re a musician, athlete, entertainer, carpenter, construction worker or landscape artist, you will have great attributes if you gave yourself the chance to learn. How about curing Carpal Tunnel and never needing to wear a brace ever again, be less prone to injury and be able to heal quicker with exercises that work the entire region and not just that area but the shoulders, the arms and the trapezoids.

 One of the best conditioning programs ever assembled is the use of Animal Exercises. You can learn how to move like an animal in the wild and teach your body to burn fat, build muscle, increase the strength in your organs, tendons, muscles and so much more for only a few minutes a day. Now how about amplifying those exercises once you have mastered them, begin to do some on your fingertips, this type of training alone can build crazy strength in your lower arm in ways you can never get from machines. Having a solid steel grip and power in your lower arm can help increase your strength in other areas, it’ll help you pick up weights better, and it’ll help your grappling game much more efficient and if you’re into Arm Wrestling, look out because you’ll be ripping those guys up in no time.

 Getting started is like everything else, begin where you’re at and progress from there, work certain exercises that keep the blood flowing and ready to go. Spread exercises throughout the day so you can keep that energy flowing and use certain tools to help the grip. One of the coolest tools I like for building grip strength is called Fat Gripz, these babies will take thick bar training to a whole new level and you can attach them to just about any dumbbell or barbell but if you’re a bodyweight guy, you can attach them to your pull-up bar to increase the difficulty. I use these for building strength and endurance in Arm Wrestling using my lifeline Chest Expander. Progress is a very important factor because once something becomes easy; you want to continue to challenge yourself so you increase the difficulty by a small percentage. Even Rock Climbers have to progress otherwise if they jump in too soon, they’ll fall off much quicker and that can mean certain death so it’s important to build progression.

 No matter how you slice, strong hands equals a strong body because when you have the strength to pick up really heavy weight or be able to twist off certain objects with a wrench or even pick up groceries for that matter, your hands are the tools that open doors to everything you pretty much do. Even doing certain Feats Of Strength requires strong hands, you can build as much strength as you want in every other area in your body but if you’re hands aren't up to par, you’re pretty much done. Complete the whole package by training as many areas as possible including your lower arm, you’ll be amazed how weak or strong your hands are certain situations so my suggestion is make those hands work for you and build a foundation to have the strongest and most functional hands as possible.