Seems a few people have enjoyed the 3″ axle pull up challenge from the remarks on facebook. Here are a few more.
This challenge is a hang and pull up with a mixed vertical grip plus claw pinch. You will use the Ironmind Little Big Horn Anvil trainer (the official Ironmind lift record is 100kg held by yours truly) and the Ironmind Hub lifting handle.
Hang them then use an overhand grip on the anvil and the classic “claw” grip on the hub.
Let me know if you get it. Share a video here or on my Facebook fan page “Adam T Glass” so I can show the world your strength.
The next challenge uses the Strongergrip Gripmo pull up handle. This handle was designed by Ryan Pitts and later copied by several equipment companies.
The gripmo was an easier fix to the problem of dealing with a kettlebell while hanging it for pull ups. I imagine most of you have not tried that before, it’s one of the best arm developers ever. For strength I am speaking, not body building. I was using 36 and 40 kg bells as I liked the size, and one day Ryan told me he has something for me to try. On a Saturday morning of a Grip Decathlon Ryan pulls in with the Gripmo.
One of the interesting things he added was the globes on the sides. They feel like rock climbing tools on the top. From the bottom they represent an incredible chance to build elite hand strength. The challenge is to pinch the bottoms of the globes and pull yourself up.
If you do this, please tell me. I think it is was one of the harder things I built to and I would like to personally recognize your achievement.
I had a go today at the vertical + hub challenge, but as I didn’t quite have the equipment for it, I had to substitute the IM hub with a 20k plate set precariously on top of a twin pulley + pullup bar combo setup at the gym and then hang a 2″ vbar from the rack. I can’t say how much easier the vbar is vs. the horn, but it felt like the hub dimensions more than made up for the difference (about 4,5″ wide and 1/2″ deep, slightly sloped). I managed to hang, but pulling up, no way! The vbar was lower for me than the hub, and I felt much weaker gripping the hub. Actually, it wasn’t that much harder to just hang from the vbar alone with one arm, so I suppose I wasn’t getting much of a pull from the hub.
All in all, it is likely a pretty difficult feat to get, but it’s nice to try out these feats that are not pure numbers, if you know what I mean.
I also tried a 3″ rolling pvc pipe, but I couldn’t even hang (definitely the most difficult seeming out of the three challenges, although I don’t know how the gripmo would feel like). Some related lifts for comparison: a semi-rolling fat gripz pull up BW+24k, pinch 2h 2″ sanded wooden block 64k at 73k BW, a pullup with 4″ stainless steel balls, fingers not over the top.
Eetu, good stuff man.
The goal in mind is not to get people to switch over to doing what I do, but to inspire them to do their own thing.