Diesel Crew - Muscle Building, Athletic Development, Strength Training

No Live Stream Today

Jim Smith — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 17:04:58 +0000

Diesels,

Several of the Gripaholics that were going to be here today had to cancel out, so there is no live stream today, but we are in the process of scheduling more group training sessions soon, so please stay tuned.

In the meantime, here is a quick video of the last time we got together when Mike Rinderle lifted the 50-lb Blob for his first time and when I had a go at number 4 gripper, coming pretty close to finishing it off.

If you don’t know what the Blob is, here is a post that will tell you all about it: The 50-lb York Blob.

I wanted to let you all know a few of the things I have going on…

This week I will have guest posts popping up all over the internet. I sent a guest post over to my buddy Joe Hashey on Grip Training Pitfalls for Strength Coaches and Athletes. Believe it or not, the way you train grip for athletics is different from the way you train for doing feats of strength and for competing in grip contests. I’ll go over that for you at Joe’s site, Synergy-Athletics.com.

Also, I am working on a guest post for the Art of Manliness on Feats of Strength that build huge amounts of muscle. If you go to that board at all, look for that coming up soon.

I have plenty of other stuff in the works as well. I shot a ton of video yesterday, have lots of other stuff that I am sitting on, and have a whole sheet full of stuff that I haven’t even done yet. It’ll all be coming your way in time.

Also, some time this week, I am going for the Mash Monster Gripper Level 3 Certification. I was supposed to do that during today’s live stream, but won’t be able to now, at least not with a group of dudes cheering me on. I will have to go at this one solo! Wish me luck.

Diesels, with Thanksgiving coming up, I may not be posting much this week. I am lucky and have a huge family and have tons of Thanksgiving Festivities this coming week. While it gets in my way of doing website stuff, I am still very thankful to have so many people in my life that I love and that love me. I hope this coming week, you remember how lucky you are and tell your family how much you love them like I will be doing.

I also want to let everyone know something that happened within my family a couple weeks ago. My sister was heading to North Carolina for the weekend to visit one of our cousins. She was in the right hand lane of travel on a big highway and a giant tractor trailer was entering from a ramp beside her.

She could not get over to the left lane to let the truck enter, but the trucker did not yield. The giant truck smashed into my sisters little car, propelling it forward and spinning it around 180 degrees. The turck and my sister hit the brakes and now my sister’s car was actually facing the grill of the tractor trailer, being pushed backwards down the highway to a screeching halt.

To top this all off, once the two vehicles came to stop, the tractor trailer driver simply backed up a little bit and then drove off as if nothing had happened.

I guess the lesson learned here is on these on-ramps, you never know how the driver is going to act. Will they yield? Will they speed up? Will they get in front of you? Will they hit you? Who knows – so be prepare for anything and keep yourself safe. Move to the left when you can and get the heck out of the way!

Luckily, my sister and her boyfriend walked away from this mess without even a scratch on them, but they were very scared and shocked that the driver did not even have the decency to check and see if they were alright. It could have been a lot worse and because she got out of it unhurt, I am truly Thankful.

So I encourage each of you reading to count your blessings this week. If you have any stories you’d like to share with us here at the Diesel Community feel free.

All the best in your training this week. Remember, the show still goes on the week of Thanksgiving my friends!

-Jedd-

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How to Deadlift the Proper Way

Jim Smith — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 03:29:39 +0000

How to Deadlift

How to Deadlift the Proper Way Without Wrecking Your Back

If you’ve been on Diesel for any length of time you have been to our Training Center. If not, look to the right navigation bar and you’ll see a TON of cool information around many muscle building and strength training exercises and concepts.

One section in the Training Center is How to Deadlift.

It was awesome but it didn’t contain a very crucial piece. The analysis of how to setup on the deadlift. The deadlift is notorious as a back breaker in most peoples minds. When in fact, it is the poor execution of a deadlift, combined with poor mobility / flexibility, improper warm-up, poor core strength and many other factors that led to the acute or cumulative trauma.

I wanted to give everyone a quick, easy-to-understand, easy-to-apply setup for the conventional deadlift. It will give you the perfect setup everytime.

How to Deadlift Video

Here is what you’ll see in the video:

conventional deadlift stance
distance from bar
hip placement / posture
breathing
tension, irradiation
grip considerations
concentric phase
eccentric phase
bracing, intra-abdominal pressure
upper back engagement
head posture

Here is a step-by-step setup guide for conventional deadlifts:

1. Setup with your feet shoulder width or slightly wider than shoulder width apart
2. Toes can be straight ahead or turned outward
3. Shins should be approximately 4-6″ AWAY from the bar
4. Grab the bar with a double overhand grip (until the weight gets too heavy)
5. Legs will be straight
6. Take a big breath and force your abdominals outward and hold
7. Drop your hips as your knees shift forward toward the bar
8. Create tension in your upper back and lats by squeezing your armpits and pulling your arms downward
9. Drive the floor away, keeping the bar against your body all the way to lockout
10. Once bar gets to your knees finish the lockout with a powerful glute contraction, finish in a straight line
11. Move hips backward, keeping the glutes and hamstrings on tension
12. The bar will move downward and once the bar reaches the knees, drop straight downward back to the floor
13. REPEAT

Another consideration I wanted to add to the Training Center was how a deadlift can be modified.

How to Modify a Deadlift

Beyond the Range – pulling through a greater range of motion (ROM) which helps accelerate through sticking points and is done by standing on an elevated surface. It can be either 100lb plates or a 4″ box.

Pulling Against Bands or Chains – forces the lifter to accelerate to lockout which develops greater end range strength and rate of force development (RFD)

Band Assisted Pulling – assists the lifter off the floor and should be setup to deload before lockout, allows supramaximal weights (great than the lifter’s 1RM) to be used

Change the Implement – varying a barbell, a trap bar, dumbbells, odd objects or an axle will modify the tension and leverage of the lift

How to Deadlift Video


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Live UStream Grip Workout This Week

Jim Smith — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 04:09:30 +0000

This weekend, I will be holding another massive Grip Training session at my garage in preparation for the annual Christmas season Grip contest, the Gripmas Carol.

The last time we did this here, I put up a live feed on UStream.com.

It is beyond easy to set these up and I know last time we had like 20+ people logged in at one time and lots of people were asking questions to find out more about competition Grip training.

The plan is to run a structured Grip practice.

What is a Grip practice you might ask?

Well for quite a few years, I have been going to Grip Get Togethers where Grip training, Feats of Strength, and other quite fun lifting have taken place.

However, the lack of structure can mean that more emphasis is put on accomplishing remarkable feats of strength and not enough on building a well-rounded grip.

A well-rounded grip is what you need for success in Grip contests. Plus you need to spend time working on the specific lifts that will be featured at the contest.

You see, Grip is just like any other sport in that you have to practice the fundamentals over and over. For example, in basketball, it is important to practice ball handling, lay-ups, mid-range shots, three-pointers, sprinting, rebounding, boxing out, etc.

Old School Two Hands Pinch

In Grip, you have to be ready for everything: you have to close grippers in a choker, with a set, without a set, etc. You have to two hands pinch on the Euro, you have to pinch blobs, hubs, loose plates. You have to work thick bar, and you have to work narrow support. And on top of all that you have to train both hands evenly and make sure to include max effort, endurance, and repetition work.

Doing just feats of strength would be like shooting half court shots that whole time during basketball practice. It’s like focusing on 5% of the game and letting the other 95% slide away.

This weekend, check out a fun, structured grip routine on my live stream on Ustream. Sunday morning, I will post the link here on the Diesel site. You will be able to view everything that goes on here in my garage from the comfort of your own house.

What’s great about Ustream is that you can learn by watching, and you can also post questions on the live chat that goes on right beside the video! If there is anything you want to know, I will be glad to answer.

So, I invite you all to come and check it out this Sunday. We will start out at noon and be hitting Grip from many different angles so that we are all ready fro the Gripmas Carol on December 12th.

Now, here is the best thing. I will also be offering prizes to some of the viewers, so make sure you stay tuned to the live stream throughout the day.

One last thing. Want to see us do something in particular during the session? Leave me a comment here and we will try to fit it in.

Thanks and all the best in your training.

-Jedd-

P.S. Click the link to see more posts on Grip ContestsSimilar Posts:

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39 Reps with the 50-lb Blob

Jim Smith — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 03:41:41 +0000

Recently I set out to hit a big mark on repetitions with the 50-lb Blob. The video of this feat is below, but before we get to that I want to make sure that everyone knows exactly what I am talking about.

Blob Facts

Richard Sorin lifting the Blob

Origin of the Blob

The Blob was named by Richard Sorin, who is one of the modern pioneers of Grip training. Sorin had a 100-lb York Dumbbell that broke and instead of throwing it out, he decided to try to lift it by pinching it at the top. After much trying, he was finally able to lift this block weight, or broken dumbbell head, and began calling it the Blob. This test of strength would later gain popularity as awareness of Grip Training grew.

Why is the Blob so Challenging to Lift?

The Blob is more difficult to lift that a hex-shaped block weight because it flares out on the sides. Because of this flaring slope, your hand is positioned in a more open position, adding to the challenge.

What kind of Blobs are there?

There are many kinds of Blobs and it can be tough to sort them all out.

Fatman Blobs – These are the original style heads of York Dumbbells. They bulge out on both sides and are quite a bit tougher to lift than other Blobs. Richard Sorin is the first person I ever heard of who called the original Yorks by the name Fatman. In addition to having rounder sides, most of these Blobs are also 1 to 4 pounds heavy.

New Generation Blobs –This generation of dumbbell was designed slightly different from the original style. While the handle side bulge is similar to the original Fatman style, the non-handle side is flatter. This flatter thumb side makes this generation of Blob somewhat easier to lift. This style of dumbbell head was discontinued circa 2005. These Blobs are usually pretty close to 50 pounds.

Blob50 – Gordon Vizecky got a cast produced of one of the newer style Yorks in 2005 once York stopped making them. From time to time he gets more Blob50’s made at a foundry near his home in Minnesota. These Blobs vary in difficulty depending mostly on the texture. A rougher texture generally makes the Blob easier to lift. There is little data available to show how the weight of these Blobs vary.

Legacy Blobs – This is the most recent style of dumbbell produced by the York Barbell company. They have one side that is very straight making them very easy to lift when the thumb is placed on that side. Anecdotal evidence suggests that if they are lifted “backwards,” with the thumb on the rounder side, the challenge returns.

Fatman Clones – A fellow named Chris from the Baltimore area made a cast from a Fatman style Blob and produced replicas of the original style Blob. Chris sent me one of these gems and it is by far the heaviest and most difficult Blob of any design I have tried to lift. It is wide like a flatman, shoots out on both sides, and can annoy you like the hall monitor in High School. I love my clone and have another one on the way. Thanks Chris for going to all the trouble of producing these!!!

- – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – -

So, there you go.

There are many types of Blobs out there. As long as they are not of the Legacy variety, they are considered a legitimate challenge to lift and something to be proud of.

I got my first Blob from Rick Walker in 2003. Blessed with large hands and great thumb R.O.M., I was able to lift it and take a few steps with it the first time I saw it.

I always include plenty of Blob work in my training, because block weight training is so great for hand strength development, whether it’s Blob holds for time, Double Blob Farmer’s Walk, Blob Plus Weight, Blob by the Face, or Blob Lift for Reps.

As I said at the beginning of this post, I recently tried to go for as many full deadlifts with the Blob as possible. By full deadlift, I am talking about standing completely erect with the hips locked and the blob up near my waist area.

I set out for a goal of 40 Blob lifts in however much time that I needed to accomplish it. Unfortunately I lost count as I was lifting and only got 39, but what a tremendous workout. Man, was I pissed when I realized I miss-counted, though…

Here’s the video of my 39 reps in about 6 minutes.

Several things helped me get so many reps in about 6 minutes time:

Pre-chalking a large area – By heavily pre-chalking a large area of the blob before lifting it, I could shift my hand around on the blob and lift it from various positions once my thumb wiped spots of chalk off the paint.

Multiple reps without re-gripping – By using a touch-and-go approach, I was able to rep out 3 or more reps in the beginning when my hands were still fresh. I was able to sneak in more reps in less time this way and as a result hand fewer irritation in my thumb skin.

Tilting – It is way easier to get the reps in if you tilt the blob prior to lifting it. This puts more of the emphasis on the fingers and wrist while taking some off of the thumb, requiring more time to wear the thumbs out.

If you have any questions about Blob lifting, please let me know. You can do this my leaving a comment below. Don’t forget to check back, though! I always try to respond to comments!

All the best in your training,

-Jedd-Similar Posts:

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Fast Five to Lower Back Health

Jim Smith — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 22:31:31 +0000

Lower Back Health

I’ve recently been doing a lot of discovery around lower back strength and health. We will be exploring this research more into 2010. Lower back health is not reserved just for strength athletes, it is a must for everyone. Muscle building programs found online miss this boat completely. That is why I made it a focus in AMD and that is why it is a complete muscle building system.

How prevalent are injuries? Just one look behind the scenes at Elite Fitness Systems you’ll see that approximately 80% of the questions (just from my observations) are injury related.

Do NOT miss this post!

How to rehab a knee injury
How to rehab a ankle injury
How to rehab a back injury
How to rehab a shoulder injury
How to rehab a hip injury
and the list goes on and on…TONS of questions.

With back and shoulder injuries probably at the top of the list.

Athletes and fitness enthusiasts go too hard and too fast WITHOUT attention spent to warming up and longevity.

It is a balance! Remember that!

You create tension in the weightroom. This tension weakens the soft-tissues and muscle fibers and rebuilds them to a stronger state. This adaptation occurs at a cost. Tension is stored in these structures in the form of shortening, adhesions, trigger points, inflammation and long term compensations accumulated over the course of a lifetime.

It is a daily fight, not only from recovering from the workout, but also high repetition, short range of motion postures throughout the day.

I wanted to give you five quick movements you can do everyday, in addition to your comprehensive warm-up and recovery that you normally perform (or should be performing), to ensure that you lower back feels great and you start moving better again.

Fast Five to Lower Back Health

Side to Side Shoulder Bridging

This movement is a combination of a glute bridge AND a thoracic mobility drill. Opening up the upper back while activating the glutes (this is important for maintaining neutral pelvic alignment and which releases tension in the hamstrings and abdominals) and stretching the hip flexors (also important for improving posture). A very powerful movement.

Birddogs

This coordinated movement transversely activates (the way the body moves) the hip and opposites shoulder. The glutes, hamstrings, erectors, rhomboids, traps, delts and a ton of other muscles are fired with this movement. It reestablishes spinal stability and can be used in conjunction with plank variations.

Full Body Circles

This movement is pretty simple. Soften the knees and move your upper body in full circles all the way down to your feet and extend as the circle comes over the top.

Seated Hamstring Stretch

This stretch is perfect for those who try to gain range of motion while stretching their hamstrings by rounding their back. This doesn’t improve your hamstring flexibility it irritates your lower back. Do not lift the leg, but rather drive the knee downward. Lengthen the spine and extend the back into neutral posture.

Glute Stretch

This stretch is brutal but highly effective. It gets a deep stretch in the hamstrings, glute and IT band. More tension can be created by elongating the muscles even more by passing the leg outward into a 90 degree angle.

Sample Mobility Workout

Side to Side Shoulder Bridging – 1 min
Birddogs – 8 each side
Full Body Circles – 8 upper / 8 lower
Seated Hamstring Stretch – 5 each leg
Glute Stretch – 10 sec each leg x 3

After improving your mobility and flexibility of your upper back, hips and hamstrings you must begin to strengthen the lower back. Here is the right way to perform good mornings. We used a safety squat bar which is much more difficult than a typical barbell because of the extra loading on the neck.

Safety Squat Bar Good Mornings


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