CT: I Love You & Your Fatbar Support

Bigger Stronger Leaner Christian Thibaudeau Coaching
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I’m one of those jerks who’s a knowledge kleptomaniac, which leads to eclectic training for me. I mix it up, and it works well enough. When I first saw the I, Bodybuilder videos I noticed your trainee’s hands not wrapping all the way around the bar.

At first I thought his hands were tiny. Then I realized the bar was huge.
Invested in some fat gripz, and I have to say my wrists haven’t felt so healthy in ages. In the last year, the ONLY injury I’ve had was a strained right wrist - over and over. Within a short period (a month) of consistent fat bar use, my wrist feels thicker and far more solid.

My QUESTION for you, Mr. Thibaudeau, is what exercises would you NOT “fatten?” For instance, I don’t know if anyone can heavy deadlift with a fatbar… or dumbbell kickbacks, things like that.

Thank you in advance if you actually get to this post, fat bars made lifting friggin’ fantastic (again.).

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I’m interested in this topic too. I recently got a pair of fat gripz, and while its says you can use them for EVERYTHING, I think there exercises which really get a lot of out of the fat bar, and those which don’t. I’m still in the early stages of trial and error with them, so I’m curious on Thib’s opinion of the best exercises which utilize the fat bar.

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I’d like to hear CT’s opinion as well, I want to try and order a pair soon.

Judging from the videos for I,BB I would think that anything they use wraps on you could get away without using the FatGripz. I don’t see the point using the fat Gripz AND Wraps, just my 2cents.

I’d like to hear the opinion of someone who has worked extensively with fat bars.

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[quote]steelechris wrote:
I’m interested in this topic too. I recently got a pair of fat gripz, and while its says you can use them for EVERYTHING, I think there exercises which really get a lot of out of the fat bar, and those which don’t. I’m still in the early stages of trial and error with them, so I’m curious on Thib’s opinion of the best exercises which utilize the fat bar.[/quote]

x2. I’ve found most exercises that involve moving the bar vertically unless you’re pressing it is pretty tough, or impossible, to do with anything reasonably heavy. Definitely a big fan though.

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I like to use the Fat grip on the early (lighter) sets of a pulling or curling exercise (I always gradually build up to my max weight) then switch to a regular grip for the heavy sets. There is a neurological phenomenon happening which makes you stronger once you switch to a regular bar.

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^ I’ve also noticed that with bench press and the OHP. With 5/3/1 I do my warm-up sets using the fat bar, and then the following sets, the BB feels like a toy.

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One of my favorite Fat Grip moethods is to use them on Final Burner or rep effort sets. For example after my clients Bench press i like to get a set in of 60-70% for about 15-20 with the fat grips. This works great for the ones that bitch about not “feeling” their chest.

-chris

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[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
I like to use the Fat grip on the early (lighter) sets of a pulling or curling exercise (I always gradually build up to my max weight) then switch to a regular grip for the heavy sets. There is a neurological phenomenon happening which makes you stronger once you switch to a regular bar.[/quote]

That’s exactly how I have added 15lbs to my max curl in the last 6 weeks

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[quote]IamMarqaos wrote:

[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
I like to use the Fat grip on the early (lighter) sets of a pulling or curling exercise (I always gradually build up to my max weight) then switch to a regular grip for the heavy sets. There is a neurological phenomenon happening which makes you stronger once you switch to a regular bar.[/quote]

That’s exactly how I have added 15lbs to my max curl in the last 6 weeks[/quote]

Monster biceps :slight_smile:

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coach,

is this neurological phenomonon post-activation potentiation? i saw Poliquin write about it aswell but I just thought it was him exaggerating?

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[quote]richiemccaw wrote:
coach,

is this neurological phenomonon post-activation potentiation? i saw poliquin write about it aswell but I just thought it was him exaggerating?[/quote]

Charles never really exaggerates. But he only uses the extreme (and rare) cases as examples.
For example, a method might lead to an average gain of 15lbs on a movement but one oddball gets a 50lbs boost. Obviously if you want to give credibility to a technique you’ll only emphasize this oddball case. It really did happen, and the technique really does work, but understand that the example given is always at the upper echelon of humanly possible results and that it is not a typical one.

Heck, most strength coaches (myself included) are guilty of using this technique from time to time. Especially those working with high level athletes.

Take a pro hockey player for example. The season starts at the beginning of October and the ends anywhere from the end of April up to the end of june depending on how far in the playoffs the team goes.

During those 7 to 9 months, the players do little strength training, they are on the road most of the time so they can’t respect an ideal meal schedule and they are under a lot of stress. Most players will lose anywhere between 10 to 20lbs of muscle mass during the season and gain some fat.

A player might start the season at 215lbs and 10% body fat and ends at 200lbs and 12%.

During the first month or so of the off-season it is not unusual to see these players gain 15-20lbs of lean body mass and lose fat. At the end of the 10-12 weeks of their off-season training cases of guys gaining 20-25lbs in muscle mass and losing 10-15lbs of fat is not outside of the norm.

But really most of these gains, especially those from the first month of training, are simply regaining lost muscle. Not to mention that you switch from a situation of little training, bad nutrition and lots of stress to a period focused on training, great nutrition and close to zero stress. Under these circumstances, gaining that much size isn’t a miracle.

But it does sound good when you say that player X gained 20lbs of lean mass and lost 10lbs of fat in 4 weeks of training.

It’s not lying. It’s not exaggerating. It’s presenting a fact in such a way that it looks more impressive.

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thanks Christian, yeah that makes sense. Poliquin just seems to do it a bit more so i think he loses a bit of credibility there.

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[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
I like to use the Fat grip on the early (lighter) sets of a pulling or curling exercise (I always gradually build up to my max weight) then switch to a regular grip for the heavy sets. There is a neurological phenomenon happening which makes you stronger once you switch to a regular bar.[/quote]

what about pressing movements? do you prefer to use fat gripz (or a fat bar for that matter) on ALL your pressing sets (including the heavy ones)?

EDIT: also when you say you use them on the lighter sets, when ramping does that mean once you start with 60% 1RM you take them off?

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I gotta get some of those fat gripz. . . I would imagine they are useless or even counterproductive on squats and front squats.

Where is the best place to order just the fat grips? (I can’t afford a fat bar)

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Fatgripz has a website, but I heard you can get them for the same price from Elite or something without the $7 shipping

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[quote]toots27mkc wrote:
I would imagine they are useless or even counterproductive on squats and front squats.[/quote]
correct

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so the consensus is they ARE worth the 45 bucks…?

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[quote]MAF14 wrote:
so the consensus is they ARE worth the 45 bucks…?[/quote]

No question

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[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:

[quote]MAF14 wrote:
so the consensus is they ARE worth the 45 bucks…?[/quote]

No question[/quote]
Translation - Yes, they are very worth the 45 bucks. Durable, useful, comfortable.

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[quote]BARDUKE wrote:

[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:

[quote]MAF14 wrote:
so the consensus is they ARE worth the 45 bucks…?[/quote]

No question[/quote]
Translation - Yes, they are very worth the 45 bucks. Durable, useful, comfortable.[/quote]

haha thanks both of you. im always hesitant to buy stuff online but ill be sending in my order tonight. sometimes i just need a little nudge :slight_smile: