Newton Sports has introduced a new t-shirt to its Apparel for the Gym product line. The new shirt, available in white, 100% cotton, shows the use of a hook grip, a standard practice among elite weightlifters. The “Get a Grip… a hook grip, that is” depicted in black on the front of the shirt is bound to get attention from lifters and non-lifters alike.

"A recent USAW senior coach course illustrated the fact that some beginning coaches and athletes either don’t know about the hook grip or they simply refuse to use it," says Olympic Coach Harvey Newton. "It’s hard to believe, but even among the many new CrossFit converts to lifting, the simple use of the standard weightlifter’s hook grip is apparently ignored. Who knows why? Maybe the shirt can be as informative as it is entertaining!"

Coach Newton goes on to say, "I first came up with the get a grip idea when at the NSCA in the mid-1990s. Kyle Pierce was the original hand model. Although one female staff member insisted no one, certainly not a woman, would wear such a slogan on the chest, a small run was printed for a national conference."

"And the rest is history: the shirts sold out immediately. For some years I’ve wanted to resurrect this concept, which reinforces the contribution of the hook grip for weightlifting success."

The t-shirt is available in all sizes: small, medium, large, extra large, and double extra large. Priced at $20 (XXL is $22) each and mailed USPS priority to USA addresses free. Foreign orders pay shipping and handling costs. For more info or to order click here.

According to the International Weightlifting Federation web site www.IWF.net, two-time Olympic gold medalist and eight-times world champion, Vasily Alexeev, died in early November. Certainly the one lifter most Americans who came of age during the days of ABC's Wide World of Sports remember, Alexeev, like Mohammed Ali, grew in reputation to be larger than the sport itself.