One of the best exercises I find for building grip and pulling strength is towel pull-ups.

Unlike regular pull-ups on a bar, you have to REALLY squeeze the towel in order to prevent your hands from sliding off.  At first, it hurts your hands, but just like anything else you’ll get used to it over time.

You can drape a towel over a chin-up bar or a support beam (I’ve read you could use a sturdy tree branch too), grab each end of the towels, and start cranking out some pull-ups.  I find that I have to grip the towel harder if I use a thicker towel over a thin one, giving me better results.

They’re a lot harder than regular pull-ups, and you’ll find that your pulling and gripping strength will be a lot stronger when applied to any sort of grappling or clinching situation.

I used to be a member of a Muay Thai kickboxing/MMA club (I’ve moved to another city since then), and we would regularly get people coming in and checking out the gym.

One time, this guy comes into the gym with his chin up and chest sticking out. He was about 5’7”, probably around 160 lbs, but didn’t have an athletic build.

He was trying to look all “bad-ass” and mean looking. He ended up watching about 5 minutes of a Muay Thai kickboxing class, and somehow I ended up bumping into him and talking with this dude (I think I went for a drink after a few rounds on the heavy bag or something).

He looked pretty curious, so I asked him, “Hey, what’s goin’ on man? What do you think about the class?”

He raised his chin higher and stuck his chest out more and said, “It’s OK…I think I can do well in this kickboxing…”

Me: “Oh ya? Have you trained in any martial arts before?”

Him: “Well, I’m a Street Fighter man. I fight punks in bars and in the streets!”

At this point I started to roll my eyes back in my mind, but heck, maybe he’s for real, and he sounds interested in training, so I continued to help him out.

More on The one about the Street Fighter who was too “tough” to train seriously…

On Saturday, February 4th, 2006 Captain America “Randy Couture” will face off against The Iceman “Chuck Liddell” in what is to be their third encounter in the UFC Octagon.

Who’s going to win?

More on UFC 57-Captain America Vs The Iceman

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Mirko Crocop Vs Aleksander Emelianenko
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to watch an MMA fight with Street Fighter sound effects (and graphics?)

Now here’s something you don’t see everyday…

I’ve always heard of cultures that regularly dines on dog meat (and other domestic animals), but I’ve never heard that it actually has a performance enhancing effect. I wonder how it compares to the popular MMA supplement “Xyience”:

The Korea Times : World’s Strongest Fighter Gives Thumbs Up for Korean Dog Meat Dish

The world’s strongest fighter enjoyed the food he believes enhances stamina just before wrapping up a five-day visit to South Korea. It was a dish of dog.

In the fourth day in Korea at the invitation of the Korea Sambo Federation, Fedor Emelianenko, current heavyweight champion at Pride FC, with K-1 one of the major mixed martial arts
sports, grabbed the chance to eat traditional Korean dog soup, or “posintang,” on Saturday after the federation ordered it at his request.

The dish was delivered to the Olympic Gymnasium in southern Seoul where the 29-year-old Russian fighter was preparing for an exhibition game to introduce “sambo,” a Russian martial art that has helped him join the K-1 World GP champion Semmy Schilt on the world’s best fighters list.

“It’s unique. It tastes different from other meats,” Emelianenko was quoted by Yonhap News Agency as saying on trying the meat…

…Emelianenko asked the federation for a chance to taste dog meat, saying he had always wanted to try it after hearing it is good for stamina.

Yummy!