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!