The Spinning Toe Hold Meets the Spinning Pull-up!

Hail to the Dinosaurs!

If you're  a fan of old-school professional wrestling, you're probably familiar with the world-famous spinning toe hold used by Dory Funk, Jr. and his brother Terry Funk. They learned it from their father, Dory Funk, Sr.   

It was a great hold. Dory Funk, Jr. used it to win the World Championship from Gene Kiniski in a famous match in Tampa on February 11, 1969. I was 11 years old when I read about that match in the wrestling magazines, and I still remember seeing photos of the finish. Wow, what a hold! Almost as good as the figure-four leg lock. Heck, maybe even better.

I was reminded of the spinning toe hold because of an email that shared a new exercise. I'm going to call it the spinning pull-up. And it comes to you courtesy of one of our many Australian Dinosaurs. 

In response to yesterday's email with training tips for building a King Kong grip, I received the following email from Jim McAllister. Jim is a former Australian powerlifting champion, and one heck of a strong and powerful man. And he has an interesting new exercise for you -- one that I think you're really going to like: 

"Hey Brooks,

One day I was at a picnic ground, back in 1985. They had a physical fitness circuit thing there consisting of an obstacle course, rope ladder, a thick chin up bar and a couple of other things.

The one thing that stuck in my memory though was the chin up bar. It spun when I tried to use it. I had exceptionally strong hands from powerlifting but that spinning bar really sorted me out, let me tell you. I actually got a pump in my forearms from a set of ten wide grip pull-ups! The first time I tried it my hands just spun straight off! I had to hang on for dear life to make ten reps. On a fixed bar I could do 18 pull-ups at 250 pounds bwt. They were "nose-ups" not chin-ups though because of the size of my arms.

I went home and devised a way to incorporate something like that into my training that very day! At the top of my power rack it's flat, with two one-inch bars each side for doing parallel grip pull-ups. Plenty of room up there to position a one-and-a-half-inch-thick round bar that I found at the scrap metal dealer years before and bought because I knew it'd come in handy one day.

I set it up so that it'd roll from front to back and grabbed hold of it and hung on for as long as I could. I used it for years for timed holds. Weighing 250 pounds, I could hang for nearly two minutes before my grip gave out, with months of training. I actually had to not only just hang but keep my forearm muscles contracted hard to stop my hands from rolling off the bar because it wanted to spin under the weight of me hanging there.

Marvelous forearm and grip developer.

Best wishes,
Jim McAllister"

Jim -- Thanks for sharing that new twist on thick bar pull-ups and timed holds. The spinning pull-up sounds great. I'm sure some of our fellow Dinos will give it a try and report back in with their findings!

As always, thanks for reading and have a great day. If you train today, make it a good one!

Yours in strength,

Brooks Kubik

P.S.  We're in the middle of the big pre-publication special for my new book, Dinosaur Dumbbell Training. Go here to reserve your copy:

http://brookskubik.com/dinosaur_dumbbelltraining.html

P.S. 2. Save major clams on shipping and handling by ordering two or more Dinosaur Training goodies at the same time. You can find eveything right here at Dino Headquarters:

 http://www.brookskubik.com/products.html

P.S. 3. Thought for the Day: "Never underestimate the power of persistence." -- Brooks Kubik