Started by Joshua Naterman, November 15, 2009 · 49 Replies · 22,616 Views
Seiji: the guy in the video is wrong. I split them by pulling with my thumbs 
The human hand can become MORE than strong enough to literally rip an apple in half.
Griff: HOLY SHIT!!! That guy is awesome. That has been my goal for a long time. I can do it if I use my fingertips, but not with my fingers literally wrapped around the apple... That is amazing. I will be there someday
I usually just punch the apple if I want to break it though.
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This is the video from griff's post!
Update: Our welder has so far forgotten to get the gas. However, I believe I have come up with some low cost alternatives to the welding. I'm not sure how that will pan out just yet, we shall see!
slizzardman said:Update: Our welder has so far forgotten to get the gas. However, I believe I have come up with some low cost alternatives to the welding. I'm not sure how that will pan out just yet, we shall see!
what became of this ? I'm very interested in a device for myself
cheers
No progress. I will probably make a wooden version first. This kind of thing is really useful for heavy partials and such.
Thanks, i'll continue the search. Strange times we live in. Most of the equipment i'm interested
in is extinct or has been hard to find in my locale.
Neck helmets, dan lurie's half-moon round bench, backlift, harness lift, schmidts....
I'd love to see a video Slizzardman! Now I really regret I bought oranges instead of apples when I got groceries just half an hour ago 
borg said:Thanks, i'll continue the search. Strange times we live in. Most of the equipment i'm interestedin is extinct or has been hard to find in my locale.
Neck helmets, dan lurie's half-moon round bench, backlift, harness lift, schmidts....
neck helmets are out there, search for PDA skunkworks. They call theirs the spartacus. You can see how to build one or you can see if they will let you buy one.
Half moon bench isn't as great as I thought it would be, personally. I had one and it just wasn't as cool or useful as it seemed. Back lift is pretty sweet, but you will need custom harness or platform for that one lol! Harness lifts can be done with a draft harness or with the Ironmind hip belt, depending on how you want to do it!
DIY axles are the way to go too, in my opinion. Making free spinning is a bit more difficult DIY, but they aren't that expensive these days. Ironmind has a 2" freespinner for a reasonable price!
slizzardman said:some low cost alternatives to the welding.
I'd like to hear these ideas, even though I do have a welder I might have some ideas to help.
Pretty basic, I'm actually just going to put a carriage bolt through pipe for the fulcrum and have that held in place by a simple wooden frame with integrated place to stand. I will probably drill holes every so often, maybe every 3-4 inches and use an eye bolt as the anchor point. That should be more than enough to handle my strength training for a very long time, with the possible exception of hip lifts. Still, I can do the basic equations and see what kind of levers I need to create in order to be able to turn 200 lbs into 2000 lbs, that shouldn't be horribly difficult. It will be a little while before I can hip lift more than that.
This will be interesting, I was thinking you might be able to use a bicycle crank for something. You could pick up scrap bike for nothing (many are abandoned where I live), so you have a nice smooth fulcrum and a frame which could be welded/bolted onto a another frame. Although I did break a crank arm on my old mountain bike before.
I made a very simple device today, put a 6ft barbell into it with 2x5kg plates on the end and was unable to deadlift it! I have no idea of my max deadlift as I rarely test 1RM, but looking at my log I did 19reps at 101kg before and one calculator estimates the 1RM as 203 or 165kg, I would expect it to be at least 150kg for this short ROM.
No welding just a bunch of holes drilled out. Photos
The fulcrum is at the back where the spinlock is, the hole at the front is an elongated slot so it can move up and down. The adjustable webbing allows you to change between exercises very quickly.
A commercial one.
Nice work!
Very cool. In the end I'll be going to a machine/welding shop and just making a ghetto version of the commercial one, which I believe was from PDA skunkworks. They do great work.
slizzardman said:You can't buy this. It is no longer in production. One notable person who has used this device tohelp himself achieve completely enormous strength is John Grimek. I came across the device in my research on old-time strongmen.Back in the day you were expected to be ridiculously strong in all aspects. Hand-balancing, supports, lifts, bending, etc etc. John Grimek is the man that single-handedly destroyed the myth of the "muscle-bound" man. In his day people believed very strongly that any work with weights or heavy exercise would make a man slow and inflexible. So, Grimek visited the professor who was the heart and soul of the "muscle-bound" theory and in front of a huge number of witnesses, including the professor, he and some of his training friends performed just about every feat of athleticism and flexibility imaginable. Handstands on people in handstands, back walkovers, blindingly fast sprints, every stretch in the book to extreme degrees of flexibility(particularly in Grimek's case), tumbling, and so on. At the end of it, the professor, the champion of the muscle-bound theory, completely reversed his stance and said from then on "There is no such thing as muscle-bound." This feat, and the death of the muscle-bound theory, opened the door to athletes using external resistance training and effectively created the field of modern athletic training. Without this event, it is possible that fitness professionals wouldn't exist in the way we know them, if at all.
That's a short, short history of Grimek, who is one of my "idols." I have great admiration for his overall athletic ability and strength. I felt it was important to include here since he used the Automatic Exerciser when he traveled, so that he could continue his heavy work without depending on whatever facilities awaited him at his destinations.
As far as exercises, the machine is best for working abbreviated ranges of motion, at least in the original incarnation. That's mostly due to lever length and arc traveled by the weight, which causes the force required to be slowly reduced as the bar raises from horizontal. In my opinion, while anything can be done on it, the most useful aspect of this machine is the ability to perform extremely heavy partial ROM lifts. For example, when I was in the Navy I topped out in the partial pench press at 675 lbs, because the machine simply couldn't handle any more weight. I then had to start doing high rep work, and ended up doing sets of 30-40 repetitions. With the Automatic Exerciser, there will be no such limitations. I will be able to go far over 1000 lbs in the last few inches of the ROM, and in doing so I will develop tendon and bone strength to a degree only a few men in history have achieved. Not only will this help with the gymnastics directly, but it will also help me achieve my goals of "superhuman" strength in all aspects. When I developed that strength on my ship, my full ROM bench press went from 315 or so to 385 in around 4 months, with no increase in my body weight. During that time I did not do any full ROM work on my bench press. That kind of strength gain would take a lot longer, and at least in my case lead to a gain in muscular size, which I don't want if I don't have to have it. I don't know what the upper limits are, but I'm going to find out. One of the benefits of this training is extremely low frequency, which will allow me to concentrate more of my time on the gymnastics and other dinosaur training while still achieving regular and enormous gains in strength.
I currently intend to do the following exercises with my version of the Automatic Exerciser: Beginning and end ROM arm curls, standing overhead lockouts(top ROM of military press), shrugs, deadlift lockouts, hip lift, "health lift"( hand and leg lift), back lift, bent over row, bottom ROM pullups (eventually... for now I'll be doing them in the gym), end ROM bench press at flat and incline, and end ROM dips. There will be both dynamic and static work done, probably in cycles. There are some exercises there such as the hip lift, back lift, and "health lift" which will be unfamiliar. They were unfamiliar to me too until recently. These require special harnesses to perform correctly, but are in some ways essential for "super strength."
I will have to buy the harnesses from Iron Mind, as they make the best stuff. THeir hip belt holds "3500 lbs with ease" so it's good for at least 7000, which is probably more than anyone will lift ever. That's based on testing procedures being that a device must hold twice the rated "safe weight" for ten minutes without deforming or otherwise losing its integrity in order to be officially rated at a certain weight as a "safe working load."
The one partial ROM workout that I did in the gym last week has already made my elbows feel better, I don't really have any pain!!! Quite exciting.
whaleysa said:Nice work!
Don't spare my feelings :wink: , it looks nasty! but does the job, I might make a better one. I use those boxes for doing negative chins and stand on them for hip belt squats as the weight can go lower and not hit the ground.
When I try to go on their site I am asked for a password so can see nothing, unless it changed. It was http://www.fractionalplates.comslizzardman said:In the end I'll be going to a machine/welding shop and just making a ghetto version of the commercial one, which I believe was from PDA skunkworks. They do great work.
These are very similar to T-bar machines, so if you look up diy t-bars you might get more ideas. Or you could double up the device to work as both. If you have a cage or other heavyish equipment you might be able to make use of it and just make an addon.
rubadub said:whaleysa said:Nice work!These are very similar to T-bar machines, so if you look up diy t-bars you might get more ideas. Or you could double up the device to work as both. If you have a cage or other heavyish equipment you might be able to make use of it and just make an addon.
Dude. That is almost my exact power rack!!! I love it. You just gave me what I think is a great idea! I really should have thought of that, thank you! I can build that right into my rack in the middle, so that I can use it for everything.
Now if I could just find an easy way to stabilize my wooden P-bars... I'm trying to convert over and it's not working well, but all I am using is 2x4's. I'm thinking I should make a 4x4 base to put the uprights on, but then I think that maybe just taking my metal bars to a shop and having the uprights welded in place is the best thing to do. I feel like my brain is failing me on this one.
PDA shut down when the founder died, is what I heard 
If anyone knows of anyone else awesome like that still alive, I'd be very grateful. I had this huge list of things I wanted to buy from them before I had to go back to Brazil for a few months, and when I finally got back to the states, gone.
I thought I had seen a rack in some of your videos, I look forward to seeing it made. Makes more sense to be in the middle, I like symmetry myself. Always better to kill 2 birds with one stone with designs.slizzardman said:Dude. That is almost my exact power rack!!! I love it. You just gave me what I think is a great idea! I really should have thought of that, thank you! I can build that right into my rack in the middle, so that I can use it for everything.
Are these in any videos of yours? I saw your metal ones and they did not appear to be attached together at the bottom, fastening at the bottom and the top would have them stable. Even if there was just one join at one end on the top it would be a lot more stable.slizzardman said:Now if I could just find an easy way to stabilize my wooden P-bars... I'm trying to convert over and it's not working well, but all I am using is 2x4's. I'm thinking I should make a 4x4 base to put the uprights on
I just saw your wrist roller video, brilliant idea! I will be making one. I will slip on mountain bike inner tubes over PVC for grip.
Great idea with the grips! I am thinking about experimenting with spray on latex to see how that holds up, but the sanding works well for me so far.
I'm thinking of abandoning my wooden upright idea for the P-bars because it is difficult to do at home. I am going to make chocks for the uprights so that they can not move apart, and that should stabilize things perfectly. JUST using truck straps around the bottoms to maintain width made a massive difference, but the wobbling is still too much. I also thought about making cement feet for them by boxing in the existing foot structure and just pouring concrete into the box. If I am not happy with my wooden chock idea then I will probably do that, because at least I know that will be stable and strong.
I used a rubber paint on my chinup bar, it came off after a while, I did use a primer on it which came with it. But it was chromed so very smooth, if it was roughened it might have lasted longer. It was called plastidip, you can see them here http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss? ... ip&x=0&y=0
I still have to get some tennis tape to try out.
slizzardman said:You can't buy this. It is no longer in production. One notable person who has used this device tohelp himself achieve completely enormous strength is John Grimek. I came across the device in my research on old-time strongmen.Back in the day you were expected to be ridiculously strong in all aspects. Hand-balancing, supports, lifts, bending, etc etc. John Grimek is the man that single-handedly destroyed the myth of the "muscle-bound" man. In his day people believed very strongly that any work with weights or heavy exercise would make a man slow and inflexible. So, Grimek visited the professor who was the heart and soul of the "muscle-bound" theory and in front of a huge number of witnesses, including the professor, he and some of his training friends performed just about every feat of athleticism and flexibility imaginable. Handstands on people in handstands, back walkovers, blindingly fast sprints, every stretch in the book to extreme degrees of flexibility(particularly in Grimek's case), tumbling, and so on. At the end of it, the professor, the champion of the muscle-bound theory, completely reversed his stance and said from then on "There is no such thing as muscle-bound." This feat, and the death of the muscle-bound theory, opened the door to athletes using external resistance training and effectively created the field of modern athletic training. Without this event, it is possible that fitness professionals wouldn't exist in the way we know them, if at all.
That's a short, short history of Grimek, who is one of my "idols." I have great admiration for his overall athletic ability and strength. I felt it was important to include here since he used the Automatic Exerciser when he traveled, so that he could continue his heavy work without depending on whatever facilities awaited him at his destinations.
As far as exercises, the machine is best for working abbreviated ranges of motion, at least in the original incarnation. That's mostly due to lever length and arc traveled by the weight, which causes the force required to be slowly reduced as the bar raises from horizontal. In my opinion, while anything can be done on it, the most useful aspect of this machine is the ability to perform extremely heavy partial ROM lifts. For example, when I was in the Navy I topped out in the partial pench press at 675 lbs, because the machine simply couldn't handle any more weight. I then had to start doing high rep work, and ended up doing sets of 30-40 repetitions. With the Automatic Exerciser, there will be no such limitations. I will be able to go far over 1000 lbs in the last few inches of the ROM, and in doing so I will develop tendon and bone strength to a degree only a few men in history have achieved. Not only will this help with the gymnastics directly, but it will also help me achieve my goals of "superhuman" strength in all aspects. When I developed that strength on my ship, my full ROM bench press went from 315 or so to 385 in around 4 months, with no increase in my body weight. During that time I did not do any full ROM work on my bench press. That kind of strength gain would take a lot longer, and at least in my case lead to a gain in muscular size, which I don't want if I don't have to have it. I don't know what the upper limits are, but I'm going to find out. One of the benefits of this training is extremely low frequency, which will allow me to concentrate more of my time on the gymnastics and other dinosaur training while still achieving regular and enormous gains in strength.
I currently intend to do the following exercises with my version of the Automatic Exerciser: Beginning and end ROM arm curls, standing overhead lockouts(top ROM of military press), shrugs, deadlift lockouts, hip lift, "health lift"( hand and leg lift), back lift, bent over row, bottom ROM pullups (eventually... for now I'll be doing them in the gym), end ROM bench press at flat and incline, and end ROM dips. There will be both dynamic and static work done, probably in cycles. There are some exercises there such as the hip lift, back lift, and "health lift" which will be unfamiliar. They were unfamiliar to me too until recently. These require special harnesses to perform correctly, but are in some ways essential for "super strength."
I will have to buy the harnesses from Iron Mind, as they make the best stuff. THeir hip belt holds "3500 lbs with ease" so it's good for at least 7000, which is probably more than anyone will lift ever. That's based on testing procedures being that a device must hold twice the rated "safe weight" for ten minutes without deforming or otherwise losing its integrity in order to be officially rated at a certain weight as a "safe working load."
The one partial ROM workout that I did in the gym last week has already made my elbows feel better, I don't really have any pain!!! Quite exciting.
*****************What is the time inbetween partial range of motion workouts. or in other words what should it be?
brandon green
That depends on how you work them, but you'd treat them just like any other strength training. Typically once every 7-10 days.
slizzardman said:That depends on how you work them, but you'd treat them just like any other strength training. Typically once every 7-10 days.
************* Thank you.
Brandon Green