6 June 2009 - Grip-Together

Mike Rinderle and I got together for a little grip-together today here in DC. Mike is a solid dude with a ton of grip potential. He's one of those guys who is big and strong and doesn't even know it. He just got into grip seriously and when we were finishing up he asked me if I wanted to borrow any of his stuff. Seriously. You're welcome to train with my anytime, bro. Thanks for coming out.

Like I said in my previous post, this was a Gong Show from the word, "GO!". I wasted little time, crushing every gripper Mike brought along. I hit his CoC #3 with my LH and RH and CCS closed it for good measure. I closed his BBE with my RH. I closed his CoC #3.5 for a few reps when it was choked to parallel and I got it for a solid MMS close with my RH. To say I was pleased would be an understatement.









Remember when I said Mike was one of those dudes who doesn't know his own strength? I meant it. Mike just recently got into grippers seriously...and even more recently, he started setting the grippers. Yeah, he's been closing grippers with a terrible set (sorry, Mike) or no set at all. I worked with Mike on his set and he was 1/16" away from closing my hard CoC #3. It took me ages to close that gripper. As the afternoon went on, Mike got stronger. Even though he was smoked from all the antics, his set got better and better and those gripper handles got closer and closer. I loaned a few HG grippers to Mike to help him bridge the gap between his CoC #3 and his BBE. With more set work and continued work on the bigger grippers, the MM1 will be no problem for this guy.

Today was also a big day for Mike in the pinch department. Mike had never touched a York blob before today. On his first attempt, he pulled Eaton's 42.4lb blob about 10-12" with his RH. He nailed it on his second attempt with a nice full pull.





Mike is one of those dudes who has a stronger pinch with his off-hand. Once he got the feel for it, he pulled Eaton's 42lb blob by the damn face! Keep in mind...this was Mike's first day ever seeing a York blob in person. Yeah...



Here are a few vids of me playing around with Eaton's York blobs.





I gave Mike two 60D nails to bend. Once his wrist strength improves a bit, he'll crush them like coat hangers. I bent 2 of them DO and DU, just to show him the technique. We also trashed some pretty big phonebooks, levered his 8lb sledge, and tossed his 60lb KB around. All-in-all, it was a 3+ hour shindig. I'd do it again tomorrow.

Goody