More On The Right Kind Of Strength

Appeared June 28, 2006

May your spirit be stronger than your body.

We're spending the week hanging out with Dennis Rogers and his lovely wife Sylvia. Unless you're living under a rock you know that Dennis is the living link to the old-time strongman feats and the modern "Daddy," of phone book ripping.

I never liked phone book ripping as a feat because I considered it illegitimate until I watched Dennis do it. There are many tricks you can use to rip a phone book that makes it no more than children's slide of hand. But when you legitimately rip one with grip strength it is a tremendous feat.

When you train for phone book tearing one of the big exercises is the pinch grip. In fact that's a big exercise for hand training. One of the major divisions that must be trained for all-around strong hands. I have a really good pinch-grip, but in working with Dennis I found that there is a special type of pinch grip for phone book tearing. This is what I referred to yesterday. A basic exercise, but the specific variation necessary to make your training work for your goal. In this case it's the thumb pad pinch.

I have never seen this done anywhere else (you can see it very soon in Dennis' phone book tearing DVD which we'll be announcing on our site ASAP). Most normal pinching is done by using the digit of the thumb itself along with the fingers to pinch whatever object is being lifted. Thumb pad pinching is done by taking the digit of the thumb itself out and using the heel of the hand or the "thumb pad," and the fingers to pinch the object. This directly simulates the grip you need to rip a phone book via legitimate grip strength and it trains your hand in a totally unique way that you can immediately feel.

This is another in the long line of problem-solving adaptations to get to your goals. The truth is real strength training is as much about the problem solving as is the technical aspects of lifting. Thinking and investing yourself in your training is what really leads to gains. That also is a secret to success in the other areas of life. Keep on the lookout for new training as there's a biiiiiiiiig project coming soon from Dennis and myself together!

You won't believe it when you see it!


You also won't believe a lot of the training footage on our new DVD set. Bodyweight training, dumbbells, barbells, kettlebells, odd objects, heavy lifting, great conditioning and live workouts. What more could you ask for? Find it here: How To Hit Like A Freight Train

Some people still don't believe the incredible gains you can make in both strength and endurance simultaneously if you follow the right training. We've done most of the problem solving for you and blazed the trail for you to get world-class strength and endurance. Find that here with Twisted Conditioning I and II.