GrassMaine89 Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 Ironmind just contacted me tonight; the cert is official. I wanted to sort of document my experience on the forum (in part to help people who are curious about the cert procedure, but mostly to commemorate a special day). The night before the cert we almost canceled; my referee had something come up and could no longer meet me halfway. My wife and I made the decision that we would just drive the 4 hours; there was no way this was getting put off any longer. The following morning we were running massively late. I was able to eat breakfast and load the car. My printer crapped out on me so I had to scramble to find a way to print the referee form. I finally got that figured out and we headed out. The entire ride I was attempting to visualize the bend. Every once in awhile my anxiety would sneak an image of me attempting the kink and just getting nowhere. As we got closer the nerves started to kick in; I knew I could bend it but the fear of getting a freak nail or something going wrong was there. After over 4 hours in the vehicle we arrived at the referee's house. His child was having a party of some sort and the kids asked me if they could watch the cert; which of course I was okay with. We all went down to his basement (me, my wife, the ref, his 2 kids, and 3 other kids. I did a series of shoulder dislocations with a broomstick. I then did 1 warm up bend, which was a 7x5/16 HRS. At that point I began to wrap the red. As soon as I selected one of the three nails mailed to the ref the adrenaline just began to flow. I almost couldn't control the shakiness of my hands wrapping it. I wrapped it up;discussed the filming and measuring with my wife and ref; and then it was time. I took a big whiff of the smelling salts and began the attempt (minus a minor struggle with the rubber bands). As soon as I hit it once I knew it was mine; it felt like nothing. From that first hit adrenaline began flowing. All technique went out of the window; I ended up hitting it with micro hits. I think in my primitive mindset I was just trying to destroy it. I try to hit nails with long controlled hits; this was a savage beat down approach. The nail ended up being bent to under an inch and a half. With my short term episode of technique amnesia I ended up with a badly uneven trophy, but in the end it fell and I couldn't be more thrilled. This was certainly a dream come true and long over due. I truly appreciate everybody on the Gripboard who has helped me with answering questions, technique critiques, and all of the support. Time to tackle the KOAB. The announcement from Ironmind: http://www.ironmind.com/news/Joshua-Grass-Certifies-on-the-IronMind-Red-Nail/ The video: 17 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joefrey Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 Huge congrats man! I've just read the article on the IronMind website. Very nice bend ! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acromegaman Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 Congratulations on having the patience to deal with Ironmind and a great bend 😁 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baz59 Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 Congrats dude. Well done. 😊 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gerryg Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 Congratulations! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony C. Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 Congrats man! Great to finally see you up on the roster! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrassMaine89 Posted January 18, 2017 Author Share Posted January 18, 2017 Thank you all. Was an exciting moment for me for sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Sharkey Posted January 19, 2017 Share Posted January 19, 2017 Congrats dude 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cemery Posted January 19, 2017 Share Posted January 19, 2017 Congrats! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anton.Torrella Posted January 19, 2017 Share Posted January 19, 2017 Big congrats on a big milestone! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh O'Dell Posted January 22, 2017 Share Posted January 22, 2017 Nice job on joining us rednailers! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alawadhi Posted January 26, 2017 Share Posted January 26, 2017 Well done! Now yes go to the KOAB!!! The kids too had a good show. Btw, what is shoulder dislocations? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billy Jack Posted January 26, 2017 Share Posted January 26, 2017 2 hours ago, Alawadhi said: Well done! Now yes go to the KOAB!!! The kids too had a good show. Btw, what is shoulder dislocations? Great excercise for bending flexibility. Make sure you go slow however. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Pizzo Posted January 26, 2017 Share Posted January 26, 2017 Congratulations man, very nice! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
camz Posted January 27, 2017 Share Posted January 27, 2017 Nice! Congrats! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrassMaine89 Posted January 27, 2017 Author Share Posted January 27, 2017 Thanks guys. And the shoulder dislocations are what helped me so I could comfortably get the bar up under my chin. I now use them as a stretch and a warm up. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Matney Posted February 26, 2017 Share Posted February 26, 2017 Congrats dude. Awesome Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wobbler Posted February 26, 2017 Share Posted February 26, 2017 Congrats on the cert, and thanks for that shoulder video. I've been doing something similar with a belt, do you think having a rigid object is important? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buccos1 Posted February 27, 2017 Share Posted February 27, 2017 Congratulations! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vankovich_Kirill Posted May 9, 2017 Share Posted May 9, 2017 Congratulations!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NealB Posted May 9, 2017 Share Posted May 9, 2017 Congrats man, huge accomplishment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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