COC#3 with both Left hand and Right hand

Train harder gentlemen!!

Double clean and bottoms up pressing with 32kg bells

A fun and challenging movement, harder then it looks...

Train Harder in 2010!

2009 Year in Review

17 Sept 09

Shown here, a finger lift with 175 and 185 on the little finger or Pinkie, and a stacked press of 56kg

Jedd Johnson-- 115 block weight

I feel comfortable sayng Jedd is the best block weight lifter in the world after seeing this.

If you have never lifted hex blocks, the challenge is the wide pinch and the slick surface. In my gym i own a number of hem, and a 43lbs block (half of 85lbs DB) seems to stop all men unless they train grip or do a lot of manual labor. Seeing Jedd lift this block is the same as if i say someone slam dunk a basketball from the 3 point line. I am not kidding.

Awesome power Jedd! Now add weight to it!!!!
-ATG

Friday Night Beat down, 28 Aug 09

Accept no limit

Fire Walk With Me--26 Aug 09 Upper Body

Fire Walk with Me, Arms: 23 Aug 09

Hex Bastard In Every Way

17 August 09, Pinching, pulling, pressing

Graded Bolts - The Perfect Stepping Stones to the Red Nail

For many new benders, their ultimate goal is to bend the Red Nail from IronMind.com. If you are not familiar with the Red Nail, it is a 7-inch piece of 5/16-inch diameter Cold Rolled Steel. The Red Nail is the grand daddy of the succession of IronMind's nails.

Here's the Complete List of IronMind's Nails

White Nail - 3/16" x 6" CRS
Green Nail - 3/16" x 5" CRS
Yellow Nail - 1/4" x 7" CRS
Blue Nail - 1/4" x 6" CRS
Red Nail - 5/16" x 7" CRS

What many do not realize is that there is a huge jump between the Blue Nail and the Red Nail. Going from 1/4-inch diameter to 5/16-diameter is huge. So if you are planning on climbing the IronMind bean stalk in order to bend the red nail, if all you have is a bunch of blue nails to bend, it's going to take you a while to get it done.

However, there is a very easy and economical option for you to bridge the gap between the blue nail and the red nail, and these are graded bolts, especially the Grade 5 and Grade 8.

What are graded bolts? I found an article that does a great job of describing what graded bolts are in fairly reasonable layman's terms at RockCrawler.com. Click here to read the article.



In short, Graded bolts are a type of fasteners that are designed to meet specific and well-defined load ratings under a variety of stresses, including "Proof strength (about 90% of yield), ultimate tensile strength (bolt fails in stretch), yield strength (bolt begins to get a permanent set and changes cross-sectional area typically) and shear strength (bolt prevents parts from separating by using it’s shank or body as a stop)," according to the RockCrawler.com article.



The most common graded bolts used by benders to get from the Blue to the Red are the Grade 5 and Grade 8 bolts. In the image above, you can see that Grade 5 bolts have 3 lines around the diameter of the head and Grade 8's have six lines.

Also called cap screws, the Grade 5 and Grade 8 are tempered to resist bending and will actually fight you back when you try to bend them. The Grade 8 will bounce back even more than the Grade 5.

Bending these graded fasteners will train you squeeze and push as hard and as long as you can in order to defeat the recoil. Just as I suggest in my Bending eBook on How to Bend Nails, Bolts and Stock, it is important to load the upper body with radiant tension before exerting force on the nail, and then once this radiant tension is loaded, it should be unloaded in a long, controlled fashion. This elongated force generation will negate the bounce of the graded bolts and will also keep your power directed efficiently into the nail.

So, there you have it. If you are finding that you are having trouble getting the Red Nail to do your bidding, then get your hands on some Grade 5 and Grade 8 bolts, cap screws, whatever you want to call them and start bridging the gap.

Here's that link again for the Bending eBook ===> How to Bend Nails, Bolts, and Other Forms of Steel.

Any questions on bending, please leave a comment here. Adam and I would be glad to help you in the right direction.

Thanks and all the best in your training,

-Jedd-

Video record, 2nd week of August 2009

Please let me know if you enjoyed this video.
ATG

Fire Walk with Me, lower body: 10 Aug 09

SttB Twitter Chat Tonight

Tonight I will be doing the weekly twitter chat with Straighttothebar.com on the topic of hammer lifting. We will talk hammer for strength, conditioning, and even body building. see you there, use code #aghl

Some ripping and bending

1,324lbs Rack pull (601kg) and serious pinch PRs

Getting better...

Subscribe to Our Newsletter!

We just put up a sign-up to get email updates from our blog.

Just put your email address in and you will get an email update each time we post something.

Thanks!

-Jedd-

Thumbless Gripper Closes

I have been trying many new things my gripper training recently, trying to spur some gains. Here is a short run down of things I have been trying:

Gripper drop sets - I make an attempt at a goal gripper and then immediately do a hold for time with a much lighter one.

Continuous handle cutting - I cut a gripper handle for beyond-the-range closes and every time I close it I shave more off.

Thumbless gripper closes - I attempt to close the gripper without assistance from my thumb.

I have never heard anyone speak about this type of close before, so I thought I would make a video to illustrate the concept.



I utilize my thumbs a great deal with gripper closes. I think this technique is going to help me out because my fingers are forced to put in the extra work.

Incidentally, all three of these techniques make me feel it big time in my last two fingers. I also encourage everyone to try the drop sets - they give you a huge forearm pump!

All the best in your training,

-Jedd-

New Video - Catalog Tearing

Not sure if you all have ever tried catalog tearing, but this feat is no joke, y'all!



-Jedd-

How Can We Serve YOU?!

Jedd Johnson and Adam Glass are here to serve YOU and get you stronger/leaner/meaner in the year 2009!

We want to know what YOU want from US! What topics do you want to read about here? Think this just about Grip? Wrong amigo! Lets look at some areas of special knowledge, what are we bringing to the fight for you

Baseball - conditioning, GPP, SPP, rehab, Prehab

Wrestling - All of the above plus special drills you have never seen that will make your opponents cry on the mat

Military conditioning - drills that will make you move better with your IMT, Shoot better, fight longer, Want to make that interceptor easy to wear again? Tell me!

Stone lifting

Strongman implements of all types

Kettle bells

Clubs

Maces

Steel bending in all forms

Deadlifitng

Overhead pressing

The Odd lifts

The Classic lifts

We are at your disposel! So let us know!

John Eaton-- 45lbs plate curl

Seriously strong! Note how casual John is, lift and curl. An incredible feat of strength, made easy.

Jedd Johnson-- Double Blob Farmers Walk, World Class power

Jedd gives a pair of blobs a ride-For 101 feet!

Card Tearing, Plate Curl Progress, Finger Lifting

Ready to get started? www.cardtearing.com

Card Tearing in Oven Mitts

Shown here-- Quartering in mitts, and behind the back in mitts.

If you want to learn to tear cards directly from Jedd Johnson and Adam Glass, please check out the Dieselcrew card tearing Ebook, the link is located here on this page.

New Video Coming Soon!

I have been extremely busy working on my new garage gym!

In November, we hired a contractor to start an addition on our house. It's all finished now, except for the gym.

With the contractor pulling up stakes, it's become time for me to take over.

I have been a working fool for the last 3 weekends, but the hard work is paying off! One weekend, Eli even came down and helped me for several hours to work on it! Thanks man!

I took some video clips of how it is all progressing, and the first video is ready.

Check it out!



Look for much more to come. This place is going to be awesome and I am going to be putting out LOTS MORE VIDEOS!

-Jedd-

Grip day 8 april 09

Some PRs for me. I lifted that dang 45 by the hub, which is nothing too special, i really have had problems with hub lifting for a while. My grippers felt good, pinching felt really good.

You know a year ago i struggled for solid closes with my #2 (no set than, i had no idea how to use a set) was hit and miss with pinching 25's and my Rolling Thunder was nothing special. Just by dedicating myself to more practice, i have been able to improve much this year.

I think the three things that have helped

#1-- Listen to those who are doing it. I bug Jedd all the time for more and more grip info. Some other people who have been a huge help with grip this year--Ben Edwards, who never hesitates to help someone out, Paul Knight who has crushed every gripper he puts his hands on, and Smitty who has put out the finest grip training videos on the web.

#2--Make it a priority. Really make it important. You have to WANT these things. Make them first, not an after thought.

#3-- Visualize the success. I know this sounds corny, but really believe you can do it.

Adam's clips from recent events

Various feats performed at several different events. I work with the highest quality items for the most authentic and legitimate strongman experience. For more information contact me at Adamtglass@yahoo.com

Kettlebell Rocks-- New from the Diesel Crew

From the mind that introduced the world to the kettlebell Power bomb-- James Smith brings us the Kettlebell Rock.

DO THIS! For healthly shoulders and mobile arms/back

You will never get strong if your shoulders are tight or painful. Do this, it helps.

Card Tearing Ebook is Ready!

What will you learn with the Diesel Crew Card Tearing Ebook?

- 40+ pages of exercises that will give you inhuman levels of hand strength

- Find out how you can use push-ups to increase your grip strength and card tearing power

- How one simple technique can help you tear a deck of cards

- The #1 way to prevent injuries from card tearing

- Strengthen your hands while simultaneously strengthening your shoulders and biceps

- How things lying around your house or garage can be used to strengthen your hands, wrists and forearms

- Instantly improve your hand health with this simple recovery exercise on page 135.

- The importance of the extensor muscles and why you must train them in order to realize your full hand strength potential

- Learn the 3 exerices I do week in and week out that have kept my lower arms injury free since 2006

- Find out the card tearing hierarchy. What are the most difficult cards to tear? Which are the easiest? Go to Page 122

- Learn the recognized technique for measuring the hands - Page 123

- Avoid frustration by learning how to properly chalk your hands!

- Find out 4 basic card tearing techniques and 7 advanced ones, each complete with clear images and easy-to-understand directions

- Discover the Card Tearing Checklist - 5 mental points to run down in order to dominate every deck of cards in your path


For the many who have seen the Nail Bending Ebook-- You know what to expect. The best information from the Leaders in Grip. Act Now and pick it up at its opening price of $24.97.

Check it out here.

Tendon conditioning 101- Heavy Lockouts

DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME, The One, the Only Mike the Machine Bruce

The amazing Mike Bruce. DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME. Mr. Bruce has spent YEARS conditioning his body for this level of stress. If you go crush your throat its all your fault. This is a feat best enjoyed from a distance.

Welcome to Feats of Strength and Power!

This is will be a joint blog endeavor between US Grip Champion Jedd Johnson of the DieselCrew and Professional Preforming Strongman Adam T Glass.

What can you expect from this blog? Well for starters we will address all things GRIP. We will cover feats of strength and power in all forms. We will host interviews with some of the top names in the strength world. We will offer exciting products that will make you stronger and more powerful.

This blog will be a huge stay tuned!