f Heavy Grips hand gripper and 2 pair of Heavy Handles 1" and 2". I origanlly got these got these for grip training but have found a ton of great uses for these, well beyond grip! By the way, when you order the whole set you will get a cool duffle bag. Yeah I got the whole damn thing. Over the years I collected kind of a grab bag of odd grippers but never had a full set, and I really think getting a complete set will improve my training. I have also had my eye on the Heavy Handles for a couple years now and I will say I was not dissappointed.
I have incorporated Heavy Grips and Heavy Handles in to several of my workouts. My favorite use for the Heavy Handles is in my tricep workout. Now I use the Heavy Handles a little different than most, as you will see in my next article on tricep training. If you would like to see a complete set of exersices as designed by the creator of Heavy Handles check out http://www.heavyhandle.com/exercises/index.html .
l of Grip4orce for me was that it requires you to supply press to secure the grip. So not only do you have the challenge of the added size but you also have to supply the pressure to keep the handle closed. I have been experimenting with my Grip4orce for the last several weeks and have found there are endless ways to use the Grip4orce. I used it on straight bars, dumbbells, ropes, handles, as a gripper, and have event used it to pinch and hold various objects including my discus.
r Breast Cancer.
y USA Powerlifting to compete in seven IPF world championships- the World Men's and Women's Powerlifting Championships, World Junior and Sub-Junior Powerlifting Championships, World Master's Powerlifting Championships, the World Bench Press Championships, and World Master's Bench Press Championships.
Over the years I have had the pleasure of competing in many different strength sports in many different organizations. Some of my most unique exeriences were competing in the USAWA. The USAWA is old school and cool! If you need a break from the standard lifts and want to challenge yourself with lifts made famous by strength legends, check out the USAWA. They have tons of different sanctioned lifts, you could spend a year learning them all.
e the long standing tradition of old-time weightlifters like Eugen Sandow, Louis Cyr, Arthur Saxon, Hermann Goerner, Warren Lincoln Travis, and many others. We strive to preserve the history of the original forms of weightlifting, which in the past has been referred to as “odd lifting”. Many of the lifts we perform are based on stage acts or challenge lifts of old-time strongmen."
g center in Litchfield Nebraska, and trained with his Braveheart Barbell Club. Kevin is a former Olympic Training Center Coach and has been nice enough to share his knowledge with me over the years. I also had a chance to compete in a couple contest down at Clarks Gym in Columbia Missouri, this is a gym built for legendary lifts. Bill Clark is a USAWA Hall Famer and the sports best ambassidor. His gym is one of my favorite in the country! My Bulldog Strength Sports has hosted a few different small USAWA events in the past at my old home gym, when I lived in the country and we had some fun! I think it's getting about time to get the gang back together for a little USAWA action in my new Bulldog's Gym here in Papillion!
oung boy in Africa stared back through the TV set. The boy wore dirty, tattered clothes. Flies swirled around his head. He wore no shoes. His mother, father and all his siblings killed by brutal warlords. Yet the young boy was smiling because he had found joy by helping other families escape the same fate of his family. He was driven to help and not let his misfortune ruin his life. That boy was BORN STRONGER.
Born Stronger Inspire ladies t-shirt. Born Strong did an incredible job designing the t-shirts down to the smallest details, Heck, even the tags are cool. The nice thing about the Born Stronger gear, it is a very nice quality shirt with a very classy yet bold logo. This is gear you could wear to the gym or just out on the town. As for the Rash Guard, I have to say this is one of the nicest quality rash guards I have ever seen. I am jacked about all my new gear from Born Stronger.
Like many middle age lifters, I am starting to deal with some of the things that come with wear and tear on your body. My biggest issue is some bad tendinitis in my right elbow and some minor tendinitis in my left elbow. Most of my pain comes from pulling motions, like lat pull downs, rows, etc. I have found that using grip aids help reduce the discomfort, but for years I have been a grip purest, that would never use a grip aid. Other than using straps on partial deadlifts and heavy shrugs, I have never used any type of grip aid. I have competed in USAWA grip contest, Rolling Thunder contest and closed the #2 COC gripper. So needless to say I take my grip strength serious, so I had a real conflict!
I spend alot of time looking through things I collected over the years, and researching things on line. I have a variety of lifting straps, but like I said I really only like them for heavy partial deadlifts and heavy shrugs. Straps also take some time to put on and they eliminate the grip. I also have a pair of leather cuffs that work like a strap, but the other than using them on pull ups I don't find them very practical. As for products on line, I found most things had the same flaws, they eliminated the grip completely and they were cumbersome to use.
the hell, it was worth a shot! So I ordered a couple pairs and I had to have one of their T-shirts, because there logo is AWESOME and they are black and gold like my Steelers!
in middle school with the purpose of improving my abilities on the football field. It wasn't until several years after I stopped playing football that I started to participate in competitive strength sports. My first entry in to strength sports was when I walked in to Bushwhackers Country Bar in Ralston Nebraska the night of an armature armwrestling tournament. I took second place that night with more that a dozen guys in my weight class. More importantly I met Mary McConnaughey, who became a life long friend and was the person who taught me how to armwrestle. For the next 10 years I competed in the American Armsport Association contest in Nebraska and Iowa.
American Armsport Association
http://www.armsport.com/w.armsport.com/
Since becoming the first NASS (North American Strongman Society) State Chairman for Nebraska and Iowa, I have had many people contact me, asking how to get started in strongman. The first thing that they want to know is how to train for a Strongman contest? Now unlike Powerlifting or Olympic lifting, Strongman does not have set events. The events are up to the individual promoters. Now there are some events you will see often, like the tire flip, truck pull, and atlas stones, but you may find contest with events created by that promoter. So strongman competitors can't be one-dimensional. You have to train outside the box. Training more than just the traditional barbell movements is vital.
Now I am fairly new to the sport of strongmen, and I do not claim to be an expert, but I have been fortunate enough to draw from the experiences of veteran competitors. What I have concluded after compiling this data is, strongman training is not an exact science. What I have learned is that you cannot have a narrow focus when training. Powerlifting movements (squat, bench, and deadlift), and Olympic lifts (clean & jerks and snatch) are great base exercises, but there is so much more that is needed. Many people don't realize the cardiovascular conditioning it takes to compete in strongman. I can tell you walking for 10 minutes on the treadmill does not compare to pulling a semi truck 60 feet. I like to refer to cardio training for strongman as 'power-cardio'! Carrying or loading heavy object, pulling or pushing trucks, will build muscle and build the cardiovascular conditioning needed to compete in strongman.
Another thing to remember when training to become a Strongman, is the importance of functional strength. Many of the events require the lifting or carrying of heavy, odd shaped objects. This requires power, stability, and explosiveness through out the whole body.
This year at the Arnold Classic Expo I was introduced to kettlebell training. I was truly convinced this was something I needed to incorporate into my work out. Kettlebells build functional strength! They allow a variety of movements, as well as many options for isometric training. Unlike many exercise implements, Kettlebells come in a wide range of sizes, including an 88lb Kettlebell. Not only did I find Kettlebells to be a useful training tool for strongman, but also a great training tool for Powerlifting, Armwrestling, and Highland Games.
