The “Gorilla Grip” ship

Dear reader,

I’ve often spoken about the importance of building not just the muscles of your body – but also INTERNAL health and strength.

And the moniker “true strength” comes with a few corollaries, my friend.

The first being that it’s not necessarily the size of your  muscles, or how they look, or even if you “have a six pack or not”. What matters is what your muscles can DO – and how quickly they can ADAPT to certain situations.

Take the “grunter” and “preener” out of the gym and dump him in the pool, and ask him to tread water for a while – and chances are he’ll flop flat on his face within the first few seconds – if he can even last that long.

Was discussing “treading water” with my buddy last night by the way (while I was about “three sheets to the wind”, hehe) – in the U.S. elite forces one of the tests they have you do is to tread water – but get this – with FULL GEAR on – which means rucksack, boots and everything else.

Whew. One heck of a workout – and though I’ve done water workouts before, I haven’t quite ever done it with “full gear on” – but I’ll be sure to give that one a try the next time I get to a pool!

Second, it’s all about internal health and the strength of your organs as well. I’d rather a strong liver and kidney anyday over those that claim to “build strength” in the gym but then drink it all away (or eat it all away) on a regular basis.

No point in burning the candle at both ends, in other words.

And last, but not least – something that is often ignored is what I should have said at the beginning itself – and that is – TENDON strength.

Your ligaments and tendons are KEYS to building superior strength, my friend. It matters now how “big” your muscles are if the supporting tendons and ligaments can barely support those “bloated” muscles.

To put this another way, you’re only as strong as your weakest link – which of course is the grip for most people – and that INCLUDES serious trainees as well.

For some reason, the grip is often ignored – and this is a huge, huge mistake – made not just by newbies, but experienced trainees as well.

And no – pumping out sets of curls in the gym is NOT the way to train the grip, my friend. Reverse curls ain’t gonna cut it either, my brother. That’s a great way to “pump” and build “bloated muscles” – but it does next to NOTHING for your tendons and ligaments.

Most of you will remember the nasty injury I suffered on my left thumb a week or so ago. In fact, it was the 2nd of January if I recall correctly.

My thumb quite literally “cracked” out of it’s joint and then “split” back in if that makes any sense while doing some advanced exercises – something so advanced that even I had no biz trying it, and something I’m NOT gonna mention here – because I do NOT want those of you reading this to get all pumped up about it and try it.

‘Tis a great goal to have, and I’ll detail it in King Kong Fitness, but not now.

For now, let’s get back to tendons and ligament strength.

And with all the above in mind, let’s look at a testimonial I recently received from Alan Murray  – a person I’ve been fortunate to work with in the past. Great guy, and here is what he wrote.

I first met Rahul in 2016 and he nearly squashed my hand in his grip.  We got to talking about fitness and he suggested fingertip push-ups to try to mitigate some chronic pain I’d had in my hands by building up the tendons in my forearms.  I started off very gently and over time it’s worked like a charm. My next goal is to improve my general fitness by exercising my abdomen and legs using the methods Rahul describes here.  Off to a good start! 

Alan Murray

Regional Administrator – Balboa International Education

So THAT is what I’m talkin about, my friend.

THAT is what my buddy (a former U.S. Marine with over 25 years of service) meant when he said I’ve “got an unnatural pull” in my grip. And THAT is what most people notice about me when they first meet me – my grip strength.

Yes, I’ve worked long and hard for it – but I’ve done it the right way.

And guess what – without the grip I have today – I’d probably not be able to do half of the fitness stuff that I do and write about on a regular basis.

Not only that – my thumb was back to “50%” operational capacity within almost a day. Most folks suggested the doctor or even putting the thumb in a cast, but it wasn’t necessary.

The tendons recovered far quicker than they would have for the average person, and it’s all because of the exercise I do, my friend.

Exercises YOU can – and SHOULD do as well, my friend – and that too on a REGULAR BASIS. Not just to build a bone crushing grip, but also to keep the tendons and ligaments of your forearms and entire upper body strong and healthy.

Let’s face it – we all spend hours “hunched” over our computers etc, and thats NOT good for you.

My book “Gorilla Grip” gives you several exercises that if used correctly will catapult not just your grip – but your tendon and ligament health and strength to scary levels, my friend.

Remember too that the grip can only be developed to it’s maximum potential if you develop your body as a whole. In other words, simply doing “isolation” exercises for the grip is NOT a very good idea.

I discuss this more on the Gorilla Grip page, as well as book. Check it out right here – http://0excusesfitness.com/products/gorilla-grip

I look forward to welcoming you on board the “Gorilla Grip Ship!”

Best,

Rahul

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