Head over to Girevoy Sport, online home of Russian kettlebell afficionado Andrey Kuzmin. There's a wealth of great information on all aspects of kettlebell training; particularly in the forum. Enjoy.
Results matching “Bird”
This has got me seriously thinking about my home gym. And it's all good.
The American Kettlebell Club blog points to the site of kettlebell coach Catherine Imes, who was recently declared a Master of the Sport (officially); completing an incredible 192 reps in the Snatch [streaming, 9.3mb .flv download]. Congrats.
The DIY Equipment competition keeps growing. As promised, Clay Johnson has completed his Farmers' Walk bars (for only $10, I might add). Here's how they were put together (from Clay) :
- I made a set of Farmer's Walk Bars for under $10. I mainly used left over items from other projects and some old Pro-Style dumbbell handles.
- I have a slew of old standard weights out in my garage so I made them for 1 inch plates. 2 inch pipe or Olympic adapters can be used too.
- I started with 2 4×4 four feet sections. I think if I was going to be doing very heavy weights, I would use 6×6s.
- For the weight holders I just used some old pipe and 7/16 inch threaded rod.
- For the handles, I used some Pro-Dumbbell handles that I never use (they had rubber handles and I put some pipe over them and now they are about 1 1/4 inch in diameter. To connect the handles, I uses some hardened 1/2 inch threaded rod and solid conduit hangers I picked up for $1 a pound.
- These things are made to hold industrial pipe so they should hold a few hundred pounds. I used blue Loctite on everything.
- I just counter-sunk the holes.
They work well and are well balanced and all this for just a few dollars!
StrongLifts.com is the training blog of 26 year-old Belgian Mehdi (who, incidentally, has a very similar home gym setup to my own); featuring plenty of squatting, Olympic weightlifting and grip work. Head over there and say hello.
Another brilliant entry for the DIY Equipment competition - Chris Rice's Horizontal Pinch Device. A few words from the man himself will tell you exactly why I want one of these (and if you train grip, you're probably thinking the same thing) :
Before the build :
One of the problems I have encountered since I began to train grip is pinch training. This is primarily tested and trained isometricly and while I have had some success with it I feel that being able to train dynamically over a full ROM may have several benefits I would like to work with including greater hand health than isometric work only. The TTK, Squeezer, Pony clamp etc work the thumb, palm and fingers but in a way not quite like pinching plates, block weights, climbing or the Euro Pinch apparatus and have a weakness in the lack of use by the whole hand. My hope is to make an adjustable width pinch tool that works in a horizontal direction, has the ability to adjust from extremely wide to as close to zero as possible. I hope to make the face plates high enough for full hand length contact like plates or a Euro setup as well as angle adjustable from square to around the angle to match the sides of a York Blob. It will have adjustable stops for plate adjustment and prestretch on the resistance bands which will allow isometrics as well. It will use regular rubber bands for resistance. I have tried a back to back L configuration in the past but could never figure out how to keep the pinch plates parallel over a wide movement range or avoid the feeling of one side movement. This time I’m using a slide which will be constant over any distance.
and following construction (and use) :
OK – it’s done now and I’ve used it several times now. First, it’s very smooth – very smooth, no binding at all. Everything worked out about like I had hoped it would. The horizontal setup feels much more like a block weight or plates, Euro pinch or whatever. With proper tension on each side, both sides move unlike the feeling I have with other devices where one side feels locked and one moves, a couple less bands on the thumb side makes both move together. The angle adjustment is easy, quick, and works nicely. The width adjustment only takes a couple seconds. Changing to isometric mode also only takes a couple seconds. I can relax the tension on the bands easily to keep their strength longer. The movement feels good – better than always squeezing as hard as possible and no movement, hopefully this will be a good thing over time. It can be loaded with small changes in resistance giving a method of measuring progress and strength gains. All in all, I’m very happy with it – only time will tell what gains I will have with it.
Chris, that looks fantastic.
Tearing phonebooks in a street near you : Mama Lou. Here's a taste [streaming, 6.5mb .flv download].
Lifting, dragging and pushing. A great compilation from this year's South East Strongman competition [streaming , 16.5mb .flv download].
The Diesel Crew at it again. 2-handed plate pinching. For more info on this great exercise, head over to EliteFTS. Thanks Jedd.
Via Get Outdoors : Steep is a documentary on Big Mountain Skiing (aka Complete Insanity) by writer and director Mark Obenhaus. If the trailer's anything to go by, there are some great shots in there.