Atlas Stone - example GPP (conditioning, fitness, or whatever)

Well my workout was a bust today. Planned on getting some heavy squat work in and mess around with the chains but got into the weight room later than planned and next thing I know im running out of time before the bus leaves for the High School District meet. Instead I had to improvise and this is about what I salvaged in a 30minute block.

Weighted box jumps 5x5

First 3 sets with 40lbs of chain on 32" box (gotta throw those in somehow, right?)

Next 2 sets were on 24" box with a 80# sandbag on my shoulders

Stone workout- 9 pickups on the 240# on single rep lifts (too much dust to reset and hit again

3 sets x 8 lifts @170# and then shoulder carry 110# for a 20yard lap

And that was about it really. Wanted to do some other things but just ran out of time. Forearms are good and tore up and the workout felt pretty good. Im starting to get the feel for the 240# and its coming up much easier as long as I can get my grip set. I think its time to invest in a heavier stone and some tacky. When my arms get dusty its almost impossible to get a grip on the 240.

Grip4orce - Use and review

Long time ago I ran across something interesting and what I thought at the time sort of bizarre. An ad on a forums saying how great these little black rubber handles that snap onto bars and what they did for grip strength. I wasn't sure what to think since I never heard of this company nor had much experience with grip training. Not even sure what possessed me to buy them but what I do know is Im glad I did.

The funny thing is when I first bought these things they were on back order for what must have been 4 or 5 months. Their website wasn't fully functional yet but I saw they had an offer so I figured what the hell? I also bought two pairs, regular and stiff. Apparently the initial design department didnt think that there was any reason to put any sort of distinguishing mark on them as until you squeezed them you couldn't tell which was which. A pair of wire cutters taking a snip off a corner on the stiff pair did the trick. I havn't tried the newest but with all the new colors and that Im hoping they did something to resolve this issue by now.

As far as construction and cost Im pretty surprised at how durable these are. I've had them for almost a year now and have been regularly using both and they are still as good as the day I bought them. Cost was roughly $40 each minus a %15 discount on the back order which I thought was solid. And considering these can be attached to practically any bar or object the cost is well within reason.

So what do my athletes and myself use these for?
Everything.

Quite frankly theres very little in the lifting department that you cant just clamp these things onto. And compared to Fat Gripz the Grip4orce grippers need to actually be squeezed onto the bar and can easily open up during the lift if you are not careful. This really puts your grip on notice if its lacking. So all the wrist wrap junkies out there may not appreciate what Grip4orce will do to their egos.

So far what I have found most effective using the G4's is during either dynamic or high volume upper and lower days where the weight just is not as heavy and the extra reps will really blow up my forearms. Pretty good example is doing simple exercises like DB shrugs or rows for 12-20 reps. Also lower work performing deadlifts or trap bar deads really hits the hands as well.

Lately, I've noticed I have been using them more and more during heavier workouts. Can really feel my grip strength increasing and catching up to the rest of my lifts. To put it in perspective I couldn't even pick up 315 off the rack much less shrug or dead lift while not Im pretty confident with that and more. What really hammers the grip strength, bottom line, is any sort of high rep pulling work (back and bi's for example). It definitely adds a little variety to press work but not nearly as effective as pulling weight.

I still plan on getting a few pairs of Fat Gripz down the road and will definitly buy a few more pair of Grip4orce for my future gym for extra grip work. I really like the product and between the cost and abuse they are definitely worth it when considering how much they save from buying fat bar equipment.

So if you are wondering I'd highly recommend these. Check 'em out -  http://www.grip4orce.com

Chain Lifting - Accomodating resistance at its finest. Part 2

Well this is the more 'legit' post for the day/week. If you already read my previous post about the chain ordeal (which is still to be concluded btw) then hope it gave you a laugh. If not at my own expense.

So, anyways, for something a little more constructive. I wanted to put the new chains through a workout to see how it went. I will be the first to say I havn't had a good upper workout like that in awhile. I tried to get in a pretty good variety and at certain points was just banging out reps trying to get a good pump. No matter what I did the chains worked well.

Heres a rough recap of the workout. Remember, I had several sets I just either went to failure, left 2, or was just playing around to see what would happen. Some exercises worked great while others not so much.

Bench press- Worked up to max effort for 3 reps with 80lbs total chain. Hit 245 for a trip. Puts it around 305 (some of the chain sits on the ground at lock).
Swiss bar Incline Press with fat grips (theres a mouthful)- hit 4 sets for 10-12 reps. Used 40lbs chain, narrow grip, and Grip4orce grippers on the bar.
Multi-grip pullups- This one I just sort of hit reps at whatever I felt like at the moment. I think my pride on the day was the triple I had with 80lbs of chain on me. Puts me close to 300lbs. So 3 pullups at that much is pretty good for me.
Multi-grip inverted row- Same deal just hit different grips. Mixed in chains (was awkward and clumsy) and used fat bar and cannonballs.
Arms and shoulders- Just started rocking curls and raises with the cannonballs. My biceps cramped pretty hard later on.

This is a pretty heavily edited video. Didnt want to bore everyone with EVERY single rep I did.