How to Train for a Grip Competition: Prepare for the Movement Minneapolis Frostbite Grip Challenge

On the 28th of Feb 2012 Movement Minneapolis will host the Frostbite Grip Challenge. This contest will give you an opportunity to qualify for the 2012 US Grip Nationals, a chance to your might and grit, and guarantee you an afternoon to hang out with some outstanding people. You will have fun, or else.

I know people want to be prepared for a contest, but many are not sure on how to prepare. A few of my friends asked me to give them some tips, I will do you one better. I will tell you how to get in the best possible condition for this event, and what you need to know about each event.

The events again- The Bearhug deadlift, The Rolling Thunder Lift, Torsion Spring Grippers for maximum reps, a maximum strength medley, and the dreaded endurance medley.

Breaking down the events

The Bearhug deadlift

This has become a staple of my program since I first jumped in to the virtual contest with grip master David Horne who lives in the United Kingdom. It is a movement used primarily as an assistance movement to improve stone lifting.

This event will be done with two “Cap” 45′s sandwiched between two slotted “Fitness Gear” plates. That doesn’t really matter, all you need to know is I have tested all of the plates at the gym, this combination works best for this lift.

To train it, you will need at least 4 plates of the same size, and a 2″ diameter bar with collars. A loading pin and one collar works well, except it can be a pain in the ass to add more weight. You will want the apparatus evenly loaded on both the north and south side to avoid tilting.

The rules of the bear hug deadlift are simple. Lift the weight until the cross bar passes the lifters knee cap. From there it is lowered. The set up is simple. The lifter will straddle the loaded bar, and grasp the sides of the plates. You may not put your hands directly under the load. You may not interlock your fingers. You may not grip the face of the plates with your thumbs.

How to get the most of your bearhug deadlift- practice it!

Anyone can train this one, at home or at the most pussified globo gym provided they have a 2″ pipe and collars.

Some people asked- “Can I train with rubber plates or bumper plates?”

Absolutely you can. Just remember the rubber gives you extra friction which will not be there when you grip up on the steel plates.

For a bit of inspiration, here is a video just filmed last night in the UK. Professional stuntman and all around strongman Nick McKinless pulling an amazing 400 lbs bearhug deadlift. I believe Nick weighs in around 230 right now. Incredible lifting.

The Rolling Thunder

This lift is done with the popular Rolling Thunder hand, manufactured by Ironmind. The Rolling thunder was first designed as a trainer for the Inch Dumbbell. It is actually a shitty way to train for an Inch, but it is also a great event in and of it’s self to test fatbar strength and open hand lifting.

The lift is done by straddling the weights, which are loaded on a loading pin. The handle is attached to the pin by either a hook or a spring loaded “D” clip. You grasp the handle in the center and attempt to lift it until your legs and back are straight. The range of motion is very short, this is not a test of back or leg power, but of grip. For the Frostbite challenge you may use either a full grip or a thumbless grip.

Technical pointers: Your hands need to be as dry as possible. You do not want any sweat or moisture on them, because the handle sleeve is made of plastic. You also do not want too much chalk. Only a very light amount of chalk on the palm, thumb webbing, and finger tips. Too much chalk will act like a thousand little ball bearings on the handle, and will reduce your total.

On the stance, you do want to be in a power position. This is a one hand lift. You will lift more weight from a staggered stance then from a symmetrical stance. You want the lift to occur as vertically as possible, if the weight stack swings it will reduce your total.

Gripper for reps:
You need to understand how to set a gripper. No matter how strong your hands are, you will do poorly with the TSG if you set it incorrectly. Watch this video to explain how to properly set the gripper. It was made by the master of torsion spring grippers, Paul Knight.

Strength Medley:
A wide variety of challenges. There are basically two kinds of medleys- one kind where you get to choose what events you tackle, and one where the events are on a track. The strength medley is the first kind. You select what challenges you attempt, and what order you try. To this end, there are four kinds of challenges in a medley

- Things you can easily do, and that do not tax you
- Things you can usually do, but some what tax you
- Things you maybe able to do, provided you are in the right state
- Things you can’t do, no matter what state you are in

For example, I can close a #2 Captain of Crush gripper literally any moment of any day. I can close a #3 on any given day, but it does take a measurable toll. I can usually close a COC 3.5, as long as I am rested, and my hands are not too tired. In the beginning of a workout probably, but not at the very end. I can’t close a COC #4, not yet at least. It doesn’t matter what I have done or haven’t, this is not happening right now.

When you first survey the medley, you are looking to break up all known items in to these areas. This is where you have to flex some mental miracles. You are going to want to prioritize your attack. Start with the toughest challenges you know you can do. KNOW, not think. From there go after an easy one or two then start nailing down the ones which are harder, but doable.

What I often see from people; they walk over to a challenge they have never done, and struggle with it over and over. Failing again and again. From there they stumble to something else, maybe something they usually could get. They fail again. They are too tired, and more importantly they are mentally defeated.

This is all wrong.

When you tackle a medley in the correct way, you will get energize. Your success will pump you up as you progress.

This medley will feature qualifying events for US Nationals. These are not easy things to do, but you can get any of them if you train for them. To qualify, you need two of them. Only two.

1″ Vertical Bar – 325
2″ FBBC Vertical Bar – 200
Gripper – Close Level 13 Gold on the Vulcan or 150# Gripper Close (parallel or 20-mm Block Set)
Wrist Developer Level 5 Gold
IronMind Axle Deadlift – 325
Euro Two Hands Pinch – 200
One Hand Deadlift on Olympic / Powerlifting Bar – 250
50-lb Blob to Lockout
Rolling Thunder – 180
Two 45’s Pinch to Lockout

In my opinion, the easiest two is the 2″ V Bar, and the one hand barbell deadlift. I think you can probably get those with just a little bit of dedicated effort.

Do not worry if you don’t get any of them. There are a lot of other challenges in the medley to tackle.

How to best train for a medley? Do a lot of shit, in a rapid time frame.

The Endurance Medley

This medley is done on a track. You will do one thing, then another, then another in a specific order.

The good news is this makes it easy to train for. Try the specific events in the specific order.

How to make the best progress

#1 Use the testing model from the Gym Movement Protocol
#2 Avoid maxing out
#3 Train the contest movements often
#4 Avoid the elements of effort
#5 Make the grip events a training priority
#6 Give yourself enough rest. The hands can do a lot of work, but if you over train them your entire program will suffer
#7 Have fun

There is one change to the contest which I have to share now. The promoters have decided in 2012 we will stand up a 100kg weight class. This is great news, especially for me being that I am always below 100kg now. As such we will recognize the new weight class in this contest. Therefore weight classes will be 82.5 kg (181.87 lbs), 100kg (220.46 lbs) and open.

Trophies are being hand crafted by Rollin Marquette, the famous metal artist known for his creative structural art pieces. This will be something different for him to craft smaller items, his usual pieces take up an entire room.

I’m looking forward to the turn out for the contest, it will be a great time.

Movement Minneapolis Grip Decathlon 2011