jvance Posted October 26, 2014 Share Posted October 26, 2014 King crusher asked where everyone was on the gripboard in his ccs thread. I didn't want to hijack the thread but I've been noticing it myself. It seems more slow than I can remember before here on the board lately. Not sure why this is, but I've noticed some of the biggest names around here have all but stopped posting... some altogether disappeared from grip. Now I know this has been discussed before with people getting bored or injured and moving on.... But there has only been a handful of new guys that have taken their place and are now competing and improving. As big as this country (and world) is, this board and the hand strength community itself is infinitesimally small in comparison. During my move to Texas I drove through some big cities with a bazillion cars and I thought to myself .... why are there like 20-30 people who regularly post on this board..... shouldn't there be more??? Why are we so few and far between?? Just food for thought. While I'm on this topic, I'd like to give a shout and thank those who have been staying true to the sport and fighting the good fight. People like Jedd and Chris Rice; to name a few here in the US who've been at for the better part of a decade and continue to stay on it. (Jedd, I know we have had our differences on a few occasions but I continue to respect and admire the work you've done for grip). There are too many others to even try to name who contribute a ton of effort to grow our infant sport. On the same token there have been a number of guys who I will not name who had inspired many with their strength and brought many a new guy in... who for whatever reason just up and moved on without a word or two. It just kinda sucks to see so many top guys walk away.... Thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jared Goguen Posted October 26, 2014 Share Posted October 26, 2014 I'm pretty new around here but it seems like with any active there is going to be people dropping out and new people coming in. I hopped trains for years and years and there's only a few hundred people actively doing that out of 317 million people in the States. r/griptraining on Reddit has 11,000+ readers, I wonder why they are not here. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoshW Posted October 26, 2014 Share Posted October 26, 2014 Inspired by Paul knights videos brought me here. I won't be quitting on here. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allen Heineck Posted October 26, 2014 Share Posted October 26, 2014 I was surprised the competition yesterday didn't stir up more posts or threads. I was envisioning live updates and play by plays; only saw updates from Electron. Figured Jon Mc Carter's feats would've have lit the boards up. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony C. Posted October 26, 2014 Share Posted October 26, 2014 (edited) I think it was just a slow week or two for the grip board. I plan on posting my write up for the competition later tonight but I'm busy right now so I cant do it yet. As far as play by play goes, I'm glad there wasn't any yesterday. Everyone at my venue was attentive to the people that decided to come out and compete, and we all had a great time. Rather than everyone burying their heads in a cell phone the entire day and having no interaction with each other like has happened in so many social settings of life Edited October 26, 2014 by Anthony C. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jvance Posted October 26, 2014 Author Share Posted October 26, 2014 I think it was just a slow week or two for the grip board. I plan on posting my write up for the competition later tonight but I'm busy right now so I cant do it yet. As far as play by play goes, I'm glad there wasn't any yesterday. Everyone at my venue was attentive to the people that decided to come out and compete, and we all had a great time. Rather than everyone burying their heads in a cell phone the entire day and having no interaction with each other like has happened in so many social settings of life It wasn't yesterday that I noticed it was quiet..been months actually. Competitions generally are quiet on the board for that very reason. Just seems that a vocal few are the only ones pushing this board along. Seems like a few years ago it was much more active, maybe it's just me. Perhaps the mods could look at some of the data for some perspective? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barbe705 Posted October 26, 2014 Share Posted October 26, 2014 this is pretty normal. things get active, things slow down. it might just be that sometimes you notice, sometimes you don't. it's also a reflection of how busy you are with non grip things. when you only get online 30 min every 10 days or so it seems like a lot more is going on. when you're online every day for a while...not so busy. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billy Jack Posted October 26, 2014 Share Posted October 26, 2014 I think I am a good example of why the board seems dead from time to time. I am always on the board lurking for info, but rarely post much stuff. I hope no one takes this the wrong way, but I am just not the type of person that feels like I need to let other people know what I am doing every few hours almost every day. That's just not my personality. Same reason I am not a big Facebook guy. Honestly, I think that is why a lot of people get burned out and stop posting or stop grip all together. They post every minute detail of everything they do, and I think that even gets old to them. Then, when those people slow down, it kills the board for a little while. When someone goes from posting 15-20 times a day to nothing, that is a huge hit to the traffic on the board. I think it's just cyclical. I am not necessarily talking about those that do training logs because most of them I think are doing that as a recording log. As far as our following, I think it's just the fact that the sport is not a one-on-one or team vs team sport like football, basketball, etc. The same reason that bowling or golf is not as big as the other sports. No one other person is trying to throw the ball by you or trying to tackle you. It's just you and the weights. Most people in our society today do not have the inner drive or patience for these type sports anymore. You don't always get immediate results, etc.. people want and often expect immediate results or at least immediate competition with others. The same reason you always see the new overzealous grip trainee saying they just closed a COC 1.5 first try and all of a sudden their goal is to close the #3 by the end of the year. You can almost always know the guy that will stick with it because he will usually say that his goal will be to close the 2.5 by that same time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John McCarter Posted October 26, 2014 Share Posted October 26, 2014 I was surprised the competition yesterday didn't stir up more posts or threads. I was envisioning live updates and play by plays; only saw updates from Electron. Figured Jon Mc Carter's feats would've have lit the boards up. What I did yesterday at King Kong, I felt it is not my place to post what I've done, I'm leaving it alone until the final results are view-able to everyone here on the board. I think there may be a few talking points about what I did with the hub. I made for certain that my lifting was legal in every sense of the word before I began; if it wasn't, I would have defaulted on all of my lifts for the hub. I am expecting many different reactions from people. Did I break 100 lbs officially, the answer is no, I started out too low on my 1st attempt, missed my 2nd attempt, barely made the 3rd attempt but that is what was passed and I am happy about it; on my 4th attempt, I become sick because my shirt got caught under my thumb and prevented 100+ lbs from becoming real. I did make a few attempts with 102-115 lbs (give or take) for unofficial lifts and was able to lift them, but that was only after my official attempts were done. I'm not going to make any excuses for why I did not lift 100 lbs officially, I was having an off day and way too much pressure was on me mentally. There will always be another day to attempt what I did yesterday. King Kong was my first contest for grip and I had a blast with everyone there and what we did. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
king crusher Posted October 26, 2014 Share Posted October 26, 2014 Grip will always be a niche thing. And even less of those post online probably. I've been on here a decade but went prob 6 or more years without coming on here. Life brings ppl different places 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Natural Posted October 26, 2014 Share Posted October 26, 2014 There are lots of guys in the world who care about developing and having strong hamstrings. But I doubt that many would take interest in a HamstringBoard or competitions that consist of five different events designed to test hamstring strength. Such a focused interest on hamstrings would be anomalous because most guys care about strong hamstrings only in relation to sports and activities that test the entire body. The same is true of grip strength and grip competitions. Most guys who care about grip strength participate in combat sports, football, baseball, strongman, powerlifting, rock climbing, etc. They do not post on the Gripboard for the same reason that they do not post on the Hamstringboard. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
king crusher Posted October 26, 2014 Share Posted October 26, 2014 Link to hamstring board please. I wanna join ASAP. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hubgeezer Posted October 26, 2014 Share Posted October 26, 2014 They do not post on the Gripboard for the same reason that they do not post on the Hamstringboard. You may be correct, but obviously they did not read the seven year old article in the New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/09/magazine/09handshakesex.html Not everyone understands the key to longevity and sex appeal. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave murray Posted October 26, 2014 Share Posted October 26, 2014 They do not post on the Gripboard for the same reason that they do not post on the Hamstringboard. You may be correct, but obviously they did not read the seven year old article in the New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/09/magazine/09handshakesex.html Not everyone understands the key to longevity and sex appeal. less posts for a simple reason. grip is BORING. easy, you learn to set whichever brand of gripper you have , and close it. not rocket science. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Natural Posted October 26, 2014 Share Posted October 26, 2014 They do not post on the Gripboard for the same reason that they do not post on the Hamstringboard. You may be correct, but obviously they did not read the seven year old article in the New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/09/magazine/09handshakesex.html Not everyone understands the key to longevity and sex appeal. Yes, Rich WIlliams and Brian Shaw make women swoon wherever they go. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Piche Posted October 26, 2014 Share Posted October 26, 2014 In reality, there has never been more simultaneous people constantly reading every day (I look at real data). Plus, it has been the summer months and people tend to be outside doing stuff. Grip stars of the past have been replaced by new stars. Such as Vano Sukhashvili to name one. We never had the activity we do now in feats being performed and the sheer number doing it. Bending has taken an uptick due to more people getting involved as well. There constantly are MM certs going on (or so it seems). No such certification existed many years ago. We now have the GHP cert and of course still have what started it all, the IronMind COC cert. There are world records being kept and broken now in multiple grip feats. No such thing truly existed (maybe David H was not sure but it was not like it is today). I just looked at your profile. You've been here just under 3 years. Look under mine. It is nearly 14 years and this forum actually pre-existed prior to that as well. There has been a huge growth in this time period in what will always be a niche aspect of strength training. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Electron Posted October 26, 2014 Share Posted October 26, 2014 If anything, I think the following is getting bigger at a higher rate than ever Look at the number of people actively pursuing and encouraging each other to go for the MM0 right now. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikael Siversson Posted October 26, 2014 Share Posted October 26, 2014 I don't post much these days but I still train grip and harder than ever. I just don't have anyone to compete with here in Perth. Pity I could not compete last weekend as the comp included some of my pet lifts. Rather than being a boring odd segment of strength training I think it is, my a mile, the most fun. It is one of extremely few sports where age is not a major handicap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jvance Posted October 27, 2014 Author Share Posted October 27, 2014 In reality, there has never been more simultaneous people constantly reading every day (I look at real data). Plus, it has been the summer months and people tend to be outside doing stuff. Grip stars of the past have been replaced by new stars. Such as Vano Sukhashvili to name one. We never had the activity we do now in feats being performed and the sheer number doing it. Bending has taken an uptick due to more people getting involved as well. There constantly are MM certs going on (or so it seems). No such certification existed many years ago. We now have the GHP cert and of course still have what started it all, the IronMind COC cert. There are world records being kept and broken now in multiple grip feats. No such thing truly existed (maybe David H was not sure but it was not like it is today). I just looked at your profile. You've been here just under 3 years. Look under mine. It is nearly 14 years and this forum actually pre-existed prior to that as well. There has been a huge growth in this time period in what will always be a niche aspect of strength training. Well you certainly have a better view, having been running this board for so long. I'm really not saying yay or nay on whether its a downturn in activity; I was just curious since I can only go off my limited time here and my limited access to the hard numbers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony C. Posted October 27, 2014 Share Posted October 27, 2014 In reality, there has never been more simultaneous people constantly reading every day (I look at real data). Plus, it has been the summer months and people tend to be outside doing stuff. Grip stars of the past have been replaced by new stars. Such as Vano Sukhashvili to name one. We never had the activity we do now in feats being performed and the sheer number doing it. Bending has taken an uptick due to more people getting involved as well. There constantly are MM certs going on (or so it seems). No such certification existed many years ago. We now have the GHP cert and of course still have what started it all, the IronMind COC cert. There are world records being kept and broken now in multiple grip feats. No such thing truly existed (maybe David H was not sure but it was not like it is today). I just looked at your profile. You've been here just under 3 years. Look under mine. It is nearly 14 years and this forum actually pre-existed prior to that as well. There has been a huge growth in this time period in what will always be a niche aspect of strength training. Well you certainly have a better view, having been running this board for so long. I'm really not saying yay or nay on whether its a downturn in activity; I was just curious since I can only go off my limited time here and my limited access to the hard numbers. It definitely does feel less active now than it was when I first joined a little over a year ago, I'll say that much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Piche Posted October 27, 2014 Share Posted October 27, 2014 Let's pull some real stats. For the last 3 months the total posts: 6984 For the same period last year: 5426 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrassMaine89 Posted October 27, 2014 Share Posted October 27, 2014 That's an encouraging statistic... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
king crusher Posted October 27, 2014 Share Posted October 27, 2014 One thing I like now days is how video is so easy to share on the board. Ten years ago almost no one posted videos. It was much more difficult and there was no youtube and all that jazz. I remember having to drive to another members house to get a video done to post in one of the controversial #2 for reps threads lol. The good ole days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
king crusher Posted October 27, 2014 Share Posted October 27, 2014 I like your post Tommy but powerlifting has a way bigger following than grip. The pl sub forum at bb.com is always busy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hubgeezer Posted October 27, 2014 Share Posted October 27, 2014 They do not post on the Gripboard for the same reason that they do not post on the Hamstringboard. You may be correct, but obviously they did not read the seven year old article in the New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/09/magazine/09handshakesex.html Not everyone understands the key to longevity and sex appeal. Yes, Rich WIlliams and Brian Shaw make women swoon wherever they go. That's right. That's why they did the article on them in ESPN Magazine in 2011. Thanks for reminding me. It was the chicks... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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