"Let the strong man remember that 'a chain is as strong as its weakest link.' ... Often I have been very surprised to find that weight lifters with world-famed names have been possessed of very ordinary grip power. I imagine it was the realization of this which led me, even in my very early days, to deliberately develop my gripping power, feeling I would more or less have the field to myself if I could gain a huge forearm with gripping power in proportion. And it may be encouraging to the beginner who happens to have a light skeleton, i.e. small wrists and hands, etc., to know that whatever success I achieved was in the face of never exceeding a seven-inch wrist. For years I stayed around the 140 lb. mark, having light legs and bones on the small side. But eventually I worked up to being a real heavyweight (210 lbs.) with a 50-inch chest, 17 neck, 19 biceps, 15 inch forearm (measured with a STRAIGHT ARM, not a bent arm - this is important), 27 thigh and 17 inch calf. So don't allow yourself to become downhearted if you haven't heavy bones. I perfected a set of movements which definitely assisted forearm development and I will describe them for the readers' benefit because no matter what sport or game you may be interested in - golf, tennis, cricket, boxing, rowing, fencing and particularly WEIGHT LIFTING, you will be much handicapped if deficient in grip and helped considerably if you have a 'grip of steel.'" - Thomas Inch This is a restored and re-formatted edition of Inch's 1930 classic. Visit our website and see our many books at PhysicalCultureBooks.com
"Let the strong man remember that 'a chain is as strong as its weakest link.' ... Often I have been very surprised to find that weight lifters with world-famed names have been possessed of very ordinary grip power. I imagine it was the realization of this which led me, even in my very early days, to deliberately develop my gripping power, feeling I would more or less have the field to myself if I could gain a huge forearm with gripping power in proportion. And it may be encouraging to the beginner who happens to have a light skeleton, i.e. small wrists and hands, etc., to know that whatever success I achieved was in the face of never exceeding a seven-inch wrist. For years I stayed around the 140 lb. mark, having light legs and bones on the small side. But eventually I worked up to being a real heavyweight (210 lbs.) with a 50-inch chest, 17 neck, 19 biceps, 15 inch forearm (measured with a STRAIGHT ARM, not a bent arm - this is important), 27 thigh and 17 inch calf. So don't allow yourself to become downhearted if you haven't heavy bones. I perfected a set of movements which definitely assisted forearm development and I will describe them for the readers' benefit because no matter what sport or game you may be interested in - golf, tennis, cricket, boxing, rowing, fencing and particularly WEIGHT LIFTING, you will be much handicapped if deficient in grip and helped considerably if you have a 'grip of steel.'" - Thomas Inch This is a restored and re-formatted edition of Inch's 1930 classic. Visit our website and see our many books at PhysicalCultureBooks.com
