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New #4 Close (cracked The Handles Together)


Paul Savage

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I thought perhaps I had misread the topic since I apparently was mistaken about what was occurring.

To quote Paul: "Ok so finally got confirmation on exactly what's happening with the cert and to my surprise, my request has been rejected."

Sounds exactly like what I thought. It appears from this text that he is being denied his August date. I am not in support of the rejection in this case. That is being derailed in my eyes. As Arturo and several others have mentioned, peaking is a common practice in the strength world.

The reason that the same stuff appears to get asked over and over is because the basic questions aren't being answered. For example, my original two questions were never given a straight answer, they were traversed. I repeat the questions:

If Paul said "Yeah, I'm ready to do the certification," would you let him? Suppose he said "I have never closed a #4 with a credit card set, but I will be able to by the certification date, and I want to proceed with the certification." Would you allow him to attempt the certification?

It seems like the answer to those questions is "no." So, it appears that Paul is being denied the ability to peak and attempt the gripper in August like he wanted (ie derailed)...and my own opinion of that is negative. That is all. That seems straightforward and logical to me. I'm entitled to my opinion, and I believe I've interpreted the situation correctly, so enough of trying to make me feel like I can't read the topic and don't understand the responses.

Further, it is a fact that IM and all other brands of grippers vary. Many people who own two of the same # of gripper (e.g., two IM #3's) could tell that without even calibrating the grippers. Trying to dodge that fact is just foolish. The cat got out of the bag on that a long time ago...about the time that I put the boogie man in a sleeper hold and sent him to live under a different bed.

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Further, it is a fact that IM and all other brands of grippers vary. Many people who own two of the same # of gripper (e.g., two IM #3's) could tell that without even calibrating the grippers. Trying to dodge that fact is just foolish. The cat got out of the bag on that a long time ago...about the time that I put the boogie man in a sleeper hold and sent him to live under a different bed.

Priceless!

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Further, it is a fact that IM and all other brands of grippers vary. Many people who own two of the same # of gripper (e.g., two IM #3's) could tell that without even calibrating the grippers. Trying to dodge that fact is just foolish. The cat got out of the bag on that a long time ago...about the time that I put the boogie man in a sleeper hold and sent him to live under a different bed.

Priceless!

Yeah, i can understand being protective of the brand etc but nobody is saying anything is wrong with Ironmind or questioning the grippers quality, it's just a fact. These are extreme cases but the lowest 4 rgc i can recall of iswas 3.6 and I've felt one that would fall inbetween my BBP and BBWC which would be somewhere around a COC #5. That would be what, 130lb difference as far as ironmind rating goes?? I trust my hand more than i trust rgc but whichever way you go about it, they vary.

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This is my take on things. When I contacted IronMind about certifying on the 3, I was asked how many times I had closed a 3 prior to contacting them. I informed them that I could close a number 3 on demand, at any time, using their guidelines for what constitutes a legit close. They accepted my request and set me up with a ref without any further inquiry. I can probably no set close a WEAK 3.5 on a good day, am I ready for a certification?? No, not at all. Now, I am no where near the grip athlete Paul is, he is VERY STRONG...but can Paul close any 4 using a CCS at any given time? This is what IronMind is looking for before they move forward with a certification.

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This is my take on things. When I contacted IronMind about certifying on the 3, I was asked how many times I had closed a 3 prior to contacting them. I informed them that I could close a number 3 on demand, at any time, using their guidelines for what constitutes a legit close. They accepted my request and set me up with a ref without any further inquiry. I can probably no set close a WEAK 3.5 on a good day, am I ready for a certification?? No, not at all. Now, I am no where near the grip athlete Paul is, he is VERY STRONG...but can Paul close any 4 using a CCS at any given time? This is what IronMind is looking for before they move forward with a certification.

Possibly this is what they do now...but it seems to me that Ioan Puscasu was afforded an attempt without said mastery of the #4 (at least TWICE).

With the "possible" exception of Nathan Holle, no one in the world can CCS a #4 at any given time.

All in all, this is kind of silly. Paul is over the top strong and should sign up for a #3.5 cert, BUT... they should send both grippers.

Paul does his warmup by certing the #3.5 and then does his #4 attempt.

Unless Paul is super borderline to begin with, I doubt that a #3.5 close will prevent a #4 cert.

http://www.ironmind.com/ironmind/opencms/Articles/2010/Dec/Ioan_Cristian_Puscasu_Certifies_on_the_No._3.5_Captains_of_Crush_Gripper.html

http://www.ironmind.com/ironmind/opencms/Articles/2012/Aug/Ioan_Cristian_Puscasu-Close_But_No_Cigar_on_the_CoC_No_4_Gripper.html

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From what i've been told/understand it's the other way around, he said he was ready via the rules etc and they gave him a shot after him saying this and a strong performance on the 3.5. It was only 1 official attempt though. I don't think it's silly, they are simply standing by the rules they set out, which i feel we should respect.

As for me, i may or may not do the other grippers, have gone back and forth on the idea. Of course yes a 3.5 close is not going to make much difference if your dominating a 4, but you never know what level of gripper your going to get and it would be pretty crushing mentally to be labeled as a 3.5 closer if you were dominating an average 4.

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From what i've been told/understand it's the other way around, he said he was ready via the rules etc and they gave him a shot after him saying this and a strong performance on the 3.5. It was only 1 official attempt though. I don't think it's silly, they are simply standing by the rules they set out, which i feel we should respect.

As for me, i may or may not do the other grippers, have gone back and forth on the idea. Of course yes a 3.5 close is not going to make much difference if your dominating a 4, but you never know what level of gripper your going to get and it would be pretty crushing mentally to be labeled as a 3.5 closer if you were dominating an average 4.

Ah...my comment stemmed from the hubub regarding this. I'm in agreement that rules are rules and should be respected.

From the article I linked, I was led to believe that at Ioan's #3.5 certification, IM Referee Bill Collins offered him a opportunity to close the #4 and he missed. Although it does not specifically state that this was a new #4, I believe this to be implied. That would make the 1st of 2 official attempts. Anyone privy to that specific info, is welcomed to speak up.

I can imagine it would be crushing blow to fail on the #4, and have to join a list with only 12 others in the world. ;) It's an interesting perspective, but if you get hit by a truck tomorrow, you will go down in history as someone who "might" have certified on an IM list. A more likely scenario for a #4 chaser is that they get injured and never get an opportunity to cert.

But again...heck of a close.

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Even tho he was a fake, did silverback have an official cert in place for the Arnold classic?

This is a negative thread towards Ironmind.... It always comes back to gripper variance, or them screwing someone.

I think accomplishing the goal is first, then you make it official by certifying. They don't give you a drivers license because you read the book... They don't set up certs if you can't do it.

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Even tho he was a fake, did silverback have an official cert in place for the Arnold classic?

This is a negative thread towards Ironmind.... It always comes back to gripper variance, or them screwing someone.

I think accomplishing the goal is first, then you make it official by certifying. They don't give you a drivers license because you read the book... They don't set up certs if you can't do it.

Nothing negative about gripper variance, just a fact, they all vary no matter who makes them. I do agree that you have to accomplish the goal and be proficient at it before attempting or setting up a cert, otherwise you are out your time and the company is out time and money.

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Well, yeah, you can't get them perfect... But I like the way they are. You just can't bring it in to the fight with Randy EVERYTIME - maybe stand on another leg for once.

Ironmind is going by their rules, and that may rain on Paul's parade, but its for the good of this process. He was asking for a cert a little bit back when he wasn't even doing what he can do now.

For some to say Randall is derailing Paul, is shenanigans. Paul is the one setting himself up for this. And some are falling for it.

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From the article I linked, I was led to believe that at Ioan's #3.5 certification, IM Referee Bill Collins offered him a opportunity to close the #4 and he missed. Although it does not specifically state that this was a new #4, I believe this to be implied. That would make the 1st of 2 official attempts. Anyone privy to that specific info, is welcomed to speak up.

My Referee had a new unopened 3.5 with him and offered me the opportunity to attempt the 3.5 cert immediately after I certed the 3, I declined because I knew that it wasn't possible.

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Well, yeah, you can't get them perfect... But I like the way they are. You just can't bring it in to the fight with Randy EVERYTIME - maybe stand on another leg for once.

Ironmind is going by their rules, and that may rain on Paul's parade, but its for the good of this process. He was asking for a cert a little bit back when he wasn't even doing what he can do now.

For some to say Randall is derailing Paul, is shenanigans. Paul is the one setting himself up for this. And some are falling for it.

I'm not sure i understand what your saying? I discussed a possible cert for end of last year, I'd got my medium #4 (about 207lb rgc) to 1mm ccs prior to this, i then asked for a cert in may of this year for bodypower expo, both of these plans ended up going to nothing for reasons that were out of my control. Following this i said august (simply the next time i had off work). As i have previously stated, it was my fault for not knowing the rules. For whatever reason my thoughts were that they preferred you do the gripper multiple times before but i didn't realize it was actually in the rules of closing. I guess i'd never heard of anyone being turned down a cert. Also i, foolishly it would seem, thought Tex Henderson had attempted the 4 cert, as well as Ioan 3 times as seen on youtube videos, when they hadn't mastered the gripper. Reality was far different. If i was aware of the rules prior i would never have requested a cert.

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Okay Paul. Fair enough. Just saw where Randall wasn't the bad guy here, just wasn't time yet. I'm sure you'll get it soon.

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