Tip of the Week : Dynamic Thumb Training with the Titan’s Telegraph Key

Each week we publish a number of tips and techniques via X (Formerly `Twitter`), the blog; and the newsletter. Wherever you are, there’s always a way to improve what you’re doing.

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I love a dose of grip work; it’s a great way to challenge yourself. It’s also a particularly fun way to train. Still, there’s always a different way of looking at things. Here’s an excellent example of that – Jedd shows just how a piece of equipment like the TTK can be put to a slightly uncommon use. I’ll let him explain.
From the article Getting the Most out of Your TTK :

Thumb training can be broken up into at least four different types: Dynamic, Static, and Extensor, and Multi-Planar. The focus of this article will be Dynamic thumb training with the Titan’s Telegraph Key, or TTK.

One way to mix things up a bit is to make the Range of Motion longer by adding something underneath the finger-side handle. A catalog is a perfect choice for this. This makes the hand work through a longer range of motion the muscles are not used to. The first time I did this, I was sore for several days from the new stimulus. This technique has worked great for me in my quest for lifting heavier and wider block weights.

A brief demonstration :
Love it.

Unlock Your Hips, Unlock Your Squat

I get a lot of questions regarding the impact of ‘unlocking your hips‘ on heavy squatting. Rick Kaselj goes into it in plenty of detail in the ‘Unlock Your Hip Flexors‘ program; and I’ve also posted a brief video below which demonstrates/explains some of the exercises.
Both (working with Ryan, and Rick’s program) are highly recommended. And as always, we love hearing your feedback – if you sample any of the above exercises or the ‘Unlock Your Hip Flexors‘ program, we’d love to hear about it.

Exercise Of The Week : Band-Supported One-Armed Push-Ups

Virgil Aponte demonstrates a move that slots neatly into the one-armed push-up progression : band-supported one-armed push-ups. After trying these out this afternoon (using a slightly different method to hang the band), I can safely say it’ll take a bit of experimentation to find the perfect band/height combination. The Iron Woody green band (as pictured) feels about right for me at the moment.
Something to keep in mind is that the band only remains in place (around the shoulder) with the hand held behind the back – I initially tried a few standard push-ups with the majority of weight being supported by the non-band arm (just to estimate which band to use), and the band kept slipping. Doing them with the hand behind the back was fine.

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Incidentally, if you’d like to get in touch regarding this or any other aspect of strength, you can contact me here. Look forward to hearing from you.

Fitness Reading/Listening For The Week : ‘How to Stunt in Hollywood: Insight and Advice from World Class Stunt Professionals’ (by Amy Johnston)

It’ll come as no surprise that we discuss a lot of fitness-related books, courses & podcasts; on this site as well as the various networks noted in the sidebar. Amy Johnston’s ‘How to Stunt in Hollywood: Insight and Advice from World Class Stunt Professionals’. A friend pointed me to this one the other day, and it’s a fascinating look at the idea of performing stunts professionally. Dive in. Incidentally, I’m always looking to add to the ‘books to read‘ list. If you’ve come across something which you’d love everyone else to check out, drop me a line. There’s also a list of our all-time fitness suggestions over there. Dive on in.