Results matching “Bird”

Each week on Straight to the Bar a member of the team looks at a product or training tool that's made a big difference in their own routines. Be it a DVD, grip toy or something as simple as the Gymboss; you know it's made a serious impact.

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First up, a quick look at a book I've been regularly using (it's a great one to have on hand when you're in the gym) - the Diesel Crew's Bending eBook.

If you've ever wondered why this site's called 'Straight to the Bar', here's a bit of insight. A brief look at my own journey from alcoholic to weightlifter.

Over at EliteFTS Nathan Williams takes a look at the literature on 3 common recovery techniques : Massage, Hydrotherapy, and Hyperbaric Oxygenation. Good stuff.

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One of the most renowned Grip Strength feats is lifting the 50 pound Blob.
The Blob is one head cut from a 100 pound cast iron dumbbell. It was named by Richard Sorin, a pioneer of grip strength specialization, in the 1970's. When Richard saw the severed head of a dumbbell, he didn't see just a piece of scrap metal, he saw a training tool. And train he did until finally he was finally able to lift it.

Recently, there has been some confusion about true Blobs, and it is my goal with this article to set the records straight so that the new athletes who are entering the ranks of the sport of Grip strength can be clear about what they are purchasing and training with. After all, it wasn't too long ago that a new grip trainee wrote in about purchasing what he thought was a legitimate blob only to find out he had been misled in the deal. Here we go.

The Original Blobs

True Original Blobs are very rare for many reasons. One thing that makes them rare is credited to their color. Because they are a dark brown to black color, they do not look like the flashy, silvery colored dumbbells that are so common in gyms and health clubs today. For that reason, they are often discarded and replaced by "nicer looking" dumbbells.

I recently heard a story from a friend in New York state. He said he was checking out gyms to see if they had any of these dumbbells and he was told that they had just swapped out their old dumbbells for new ones. Where'd the old ones end up? The dumpster. Now that's a crying shame.

The version of York dumbbell that Richard Sorin first trained on and named looks much like the Blobs that many Grip enthusiasts currently own, but are actually a bit different and more difficult to lift.

If you really take a hard look at the original style Blobs, both sides of them curve out almost equally. This curvature on both sides of the blob is what makes them so much more difficult to lift that the blobs that many of us have run across today. It is very difficult to get any kind of dig or bite with the thumb like can be done on the next generation of Blobs.

York Blob Replicas

At some point, York discontinued the Original style of their dumbbells that had two bulging sides. The next type of dumbbell that came out was shaped slightly differently resulting in different Blobs. As I have already hinted at, they are not identical. I will refer to these as York Blob Replicas because they were actually manufactured by York themselves, and they were at best a replica and not a duplicate.

As noted, one edge of this generation of Blob is straighter than the original. Experienced lifters know that the most advantageous way to situate their hand when lifting the Blob is to put the thumb against the straighter side and the fingers along the side that is more curved. Since the thumb is the weakest part of the hand in this equation, it needs to get any advantage it can when you are lifting the Blob. This advantage is attained by digging it into the sharper edge of the blob.

On the Gripboard, I maintain the Records Lists for many established feats of Grip Strength. There is a list dedicated to Blob lifts there, and because of the rarity of true blobs, these York Replicas are also honored for that list.

In Summer 2003, I picked up a 100-lb dumbbell from York, right at their facility. Shortly after this time I began hearing and reading that York would be stopping the production of this style of dumbbell, hence cutting production of new Blobs. Ever since then, half 50's from old York dumbbells have gotten more and more rare...

Mark notes a promising study on a suspected benefit from high-dose turmeric consumption - reduced Type II Diabetes risk. Sounds good.

A great week here at Straight to the Bar. The highlights :

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Ready for a look at a couple of gems from Combat Core? These are brilliant.

Nail or spike bending is a true test of strength. You could bench press or squat a ton, and everyone will Monday morning quarter back your form, accuse you of heaving, cheating, not going low enough, using too much gear, using steroids, whatever. With a spike - the proof is right there. You bent it. End of conversation.
Every PR leaves a trophy. It is a truly manly activity, and it is in danger of being a lost art in today's namby-pamby metrosexual American fitness scene. Rest assured there is nothing soft, weak or manicured about destroying steel. My goal is to stop the madness, and restore this destructive science to its proper place in strength and conditioning. Perhaps you believe this is too hardcore for you, the weekend warrior who just wants to be healthy? I hope after reading this you will see there is a place in the bending world for you.

Short bending is one of the greatest ways to build true power and endurance in the lower arms, but its effects are not just experienced in the arms. You will build your chest, shoulders, lats, traps and abs while bending. You will benefit across the whole spectrum from muscle hypertrophy to power to endurance. I will discuss this in detail.

First benefit is to your neural strength: Steel bending is an exceptional way to build your single unit application of tension. What I mean is this - you have to tense and load every muscle in your body, take out all "leakages", brace everything together and direct it through you hands with a sniper's precise angle. If you get sloppy punching on the nails ends, you will hurt yourself. You could possibly punch yourself in the face, roll your hands out of the groove, stab yourself, or any other combination of less desirable outcomes. This activity will turn your wrist to stone. Your ability to direct power will be significantly increased. This will directly carry over to any other strength-skill you currently have. The way I load up to bend a Huge Stainless Steel Bastard is exactly the same feeling as when I load up to pull a max dead, to press a 48kg bell, or to slam an axe through a log. It adds a critical power appliance to your "strength skill tool box".

This increase in strength and power naturally will carry over to an increase in your endurance. Anyone who has bent a nail will tell you the first time they bent it was so tiring. I have watched people sweat bullets bending their first respectable nail. As time goes on you gain huge reserves of power. A personal testament to this level of power for me was October 2007 when I bent 150 60D nails in one hour using the double under (DU) grip. That represented a massive improvement from Jan 2007, when bending 10-15 nails left my hands extremely fatigued.

Let's talk about the muscle growth. Bending is a high tension exercise. Forcing a steel bar to yield requires hundreds of pounds of force, applied for several seconds. A big bend often will take much longer than it would take for a dead lift or squat. Your muscle fibers will get much denser. If you have ever met some one who does a lot of bending, you can not help to notice the density of the forearms, chest, arms and back.

Steel bending builds real confidence. You are doing what should not be done. When you trash a piece that takes hundreds of pounds of force to bend, you can not help to feel good about the achievement. I promise you will tackle your other hobbies, sports and challenges with greater confidence and determination after going all out on a steel bar. Bending can become a powerful implement to develop an individual's mental toughness and pain tolerance. I have witnessed this effect on people from both steel bending and kettlebell lifting.