US Grip Nationals 2011 Review

On Saturday I competed in the 2011 US Grip Nationals (formally known as Global Grip Challenge) held in Crooksville Ohio. I trained and prepared for this competition for nearly 6 months.

This was a really fantastic day for me for many reasons. I do not know if I will be able to properly express myself for this post, but here we go.

Nationals was awesome. I achieved a number of personal records, I got to meet up with a few good friends, and I made many new ones. I learned a lot, I was able to teach some people some stuff which will change their life. I was able to get Jedd out of pain for the competition and moving on a pain resolution strategy. I witnessed Jedd break the two hand pinch world record (again) and got to compete against two of the best grip athletes in the World.

Performance.

Nationals had 5 events: Grippers with a 20 mm block set, Two hand pinch on the European Apparatus, A HUGE Medley, the Wrist roller, and finally the one hand deadlift on the plateau buster.

I have been training my grippers and pinch almost every single training day, which comes out to 5-6 days a week. I switched over to doing most of my work with a setting block to get comfortable with it in early May.

For grippers I closed a 165 lbs barbaran 260, then a 175 BB Elite, then a 182 COC 3.5. That is a 3 lbs contest PR for me, and the hardest COC 3.5 I have closed with a block. My previous best was 179 Elite in the Movement Minneapolis Grip Decathlon in May.

For the two hand pinch, I switched over to a 50 mm setting on Chris Rice’s recommendation. I am REALLY glad I did too.

I opened with 215, went to 223, then 230 lbs (contest PR of 8 lbs) then went to 240 lbs. Successfully lifting 240 lbs was my high light of the competition in terms of performance. This puts me at the #9 spot on the World Wide Two Hand Pinch list, and is the 4th heaviest pinch done in a USA competition, behind Jedd Johnson(#1 in the World), Chad Woodal (#5) and Aaron Corcorran (#7). 240 lbs is an 18 lbs contest PR from my 222 pinch in May at the Decathlon.

The winner for the Pinch event was Jedd Johnson who broke his World Record of 262 lbs with this 264 lbs lift

On to the Medley. Here is a video filmed of Jedd explaining the events.

All in all there were nearly 65 events for points in the 4 minute time limit.

My medley video

The very first thing I am lifting there is the Thomas Inch dumbbell. Doing that in a contest was a goal of mine this year.

My wide pinch strength was shot. I missed a lot of the blob lifts. Once i missed a few of them I felt myself get frustrated and I tried to slow things down again. I flat out forgot to try a few things and missed a lot of easy points. With that said I am still please with this performance. Everything is a data point for future improvement.

Andrew Durniat dominated the medley with a 51 point total, successfully loading all the power stairs and lifting a great majority of the challenge items including both Inch Bells and most of the blobs.

The next event was the wrist roller, which is absolutely BRUTAL. A 60 ft cord was attached to a 100 lbs sled and placed in a gravel parking lot with a mild grade incline. On the start of the event you had to turn the bar to pull the sled uphill. There was a 60 second time limit. Here is a video of my friend Mike Rinderle going ape shit for 38 ft pull.

I pulled 40 ft and a some inches (have not looked at the score sheet yet) which put me behind Andrews 44 ft pull.

Our last event was the Strongergrip Plateau buster one hand deadlift. This event won Andrew and I the Diesel Dual award as we went head to head for the heaviest lift. I opened with 530, then got 560, then missed on 600 (did lift, maybe 2 “) and then missed and tore my hand badly on 605 lbs. Andrew won the event with an amazing 600 lbs pull lifted with great confidence.

At the end the scoring for Elite class was Andrew Durniat in first place, myself in 2nd place, Jedd Johnson in 3rd place. Andrews performance was dominating, he had no weakness as he tackled the 5 events. This was a tremendous contest for me to go head to head with these two World Class grip athletes. Taking second place was a true high light of my year.

The top position in the open class was fiercely contested for. The top 3 were Tim Struse, Brent Barbe, and Josh Dale. Tim’s performance was exceptional, with a 191 lbs gripper close and a 230 lbs pinch. I think the open class position shuffled every event right to the end.

The People

Many of the people at the contest are folks I have interacted with for years online. It was great to finally shake hands and put faces to names.

The community of Grip Sport is truly one of the best parts about it. It is a great group of men who come from all back grounds in strength training. Many of the competitors were there on their 6th to 15th contest, and old rivals were burning along with new ones. Before any attempt you will see a man run to the guy about to lift and tell him “Do it!” and immediately afterwards he is cheered. The community is all about Sportsmanship and class. There was no trash talking, bad mouthing, or anything remotely resembling that.

The aftermath

As I have done in the past post contest, I reflected on my performance, my improvements, and my weaknesses.

Grippers: At Metroflex (Jan 2011) my best close was 165. The Decathlon (May 2011) was 179. Nationals saw a 182.
Pinch: At Metroflex best pinch was 211 lbs. Decathlon was 222 lbs. Nationals 240 lbs.
Medley: At metroflex I missed the inch and missed a lot of one hand pinches. The Decathlon medley I missed a one hand pinch, this one I missed a lot of one hand pinches. I know what I need to do.

For the wrist roller I think my strategy for training worked ok, but I know a better strategy for the next contest.
On the plateau buster DL I am fairly pleased with it. The wrist roller trashed my hands, I knew I would be down on poundage. Tearing the hand was not very cool.

Whats next?

Worlds Strongest Hands begins next month. Vulcan gripper with 20 mm block, Two hand pinch, and griptopz. I will be looking to place in the top 5 for this series, and specifically I will be shooting for a 250 lbs + two hand pinch and setting the World Record on the Half Penny pinch. This years series will be even bigger than last year, and we are expecting over 120 total participants.

After the series is the November 2011 Movement Minneapolis Grip Decathlon.

In December there will be Gripmas 2011 in Crooksville OH.

In Jan 2012 Metroflex Mayhem IV in Ft Worth TX.

So my season has just begun. Much work to do in the coming months. Before the next 6 months is over I will demonstrate conclusively to all that I am one of the best grip athletes in the world.