2006 November - California Iron Grip - Hubgeezer

[Hubgeezer]

Odd Haugen Enters His First Grip Contest  

The California State Iron Grip Championships held Saturday November 11 at Kevin Meskew's Power Palace in Chatsworth California were a blast.

The scoring in the 7 event contest was similar to the scoring in a Track & Field decathlon, "points" on a scale of 1000 for each event. Basically, 900 puts you close to World Record territory, and 1000 is like the human limit, and 800 would be world class. Most of them were Harder's tables or Harder-inspired. They are imperfect but eclectic and fun.

There were 11 competitors, including some newcomers to grip in their first contest.

The first 4 competitors were within 100 points of each other, so it was amazingly close until the very end. There was a drop off for 5th place, and then another drop off for 6th, and then after that they were all over the map.

1. Haugen 4639 points

2. Bussi High 4500s

3. RKlein High 4500s

4. Thor Middle 4500s

5. Hubgeezer 4107

6. Ronnie Casto's friend Mitch 3599

7-11. 3280 down to 2614 (not all events contested in the 2614)

I drove 560 miles today. Left at 4:38 am and got home at 11:13 pm. Good Night.

I think I will break my comments into different postings. The first set of them will be what most of you guys might find the most novel, and that is concerning Haugen.

 

 

Most of us figured he would win, as he is World Class in both the thick bar events, Rolling Thunder and Apollon's Axle. Actually, we thought it would not be close. His numbers in those events were extremely impressive, but not the level we anticipated. He did 252 on the RT; we figured 270 or so. He did an easy 454 opening on the Axle, but we were thinking 550ish.

 

 

The other events? Well, he had not really trained for any of them, and he did better in them than I would have figured.

 

 

How the Gripper competition went was the most unusual format any of us had ever seen. You were allowed to use 3 different types of sets: No Set, Credit Card Set, or Parallel Set. No Set meant you got full credit in points. CCS meant 90% credit, and Parallel meant 80% credit. Odd may have TNS a #2.

 

 

Vertical Bar, he never had touched one in his life, and had barely heard of it. He did 306 and learned Elements of Ripped Skin 101 just like all other newcomers do.

 

 

IM Hub Lift. He did 73 using the "VBar Method". He may have never touched that before either. His strong finger and thumb strength wrapped around the device in such a fashion that it was an easy style for him.

 

 

Plate Pinch. He had never done that before either, got 181, and 186 did not really budge for him.

 

 

Wrist Roller. Prior to last night (it was night time by the time we did that event), in the 3 previous Meskew contests, only Zach Passman had cracked 6 seconds. Three guys did it this time, two of them(Thor & Klein) faster than

 

 

Zach: Thor, Klein, and Bussi. Haugen did it in over 10 seconds his first time (there were two attempts total on this one). Proving he is a bright guy, good student, and fierce competitor, he made adjustments, changed his style, and I think his second one went under 6 seconds as well. One second slower and he probably would have come in 4th, not 1st overall.

 

 

He was intrigued by this stuff, and seemed to have a good time. It is fairly well know that he is a likable guy. He was interested in how contests are usually run, the evolution of the events in Europe, David Horne's plate pinch, differences in Vbars, and most other stuff nongrip people would find inane.

 

 

Here were the event order and how they worked:

 

 

1. Grippers. I mentioned the multiple set and related scoring on them already. There were 15 different grippers, ranging from an IM #1 through IM #4. We rated the grippers to the nearest tenth, and then there were points scored according to the tables for that level of gripper, depending on the set. So, theoretically, there were 45 different scores that one could have hit (3 sets times 15 grippers). My memory, not official, was:

 

 

IM #1 1.0

 

 

PDAsomething 1.5

 

 

BB Master 1.8

 

 

IM #2 2.0

 

 

RB160 2.3 (very hard, unseasoned)

 

 

BB SuperMaster 2.5

 

 

RB260N 2.7

 

 

BB GrandMaster 2.9

 

 

IM #3 3.0

 

 

RB260 3.3 (or was it a 3.2?)

 

 

RB300 easy These 3 went from

 

 

Elite around 3.4 to 3.7

 

 

RB300 hard

 

 

RB330 3.9

 

 

IM#4 4.0

 

 

You had four attempts, and you could go up or down.

 

 

2. Rolling Thunder. 4 attempts, one hand only competing (can switch hands all you want). Rising Bar format.

 

 

3. Vertical Bar. This one was done in the "rounds" approach, not rising bar. All lifters would get one chance, and then you would go on to the next round. Four rounds, only one hand competing, not the total of right and left. You could change hands all you wanted. You could lower the weight if you wanted to from earlier failed attempts.

 

 

4. IM Hub Lift. 4 attempts, one hand contested, Rising Bar format. Any style up, no restrictions on grabbing the device, as long as your fingers stayed on top of the device and weren't reaching under the lip of it. Total weight included the 5.5 pound device.

 

 

5. Apollon's Axle, Double Overhand. Rounds approach, 4 attempts/rounds total. Could lower the weight after a failed round/attempt.

 

 

6. Two hand plate pinch. You were pinching two 45 pound plates with a bar through it secured by collars. The weight of the device was added to the total weight. Kevin Bussi thought that it was more difficult than the Euro-Pinch device; that is, the weights pulled on this rig would tend to be lower than if they were on the standard Euro device. 4 attempts, rising bar format.

 

 

7. Wrist Roller. It is a 3 inch pipe mounted on a heavy duty homemade stand designed for this only. The amount of weight on the gadget was 75 pounds, and you were rolling it from the floor to a height of around 2 meters. You had two attempts, and it was timed with a stopwatch. Evryone stood on a box so that they were not reaching high into the air, but rather shoulder height. The better of the two attempts translated into the points you earned.

 

 

I mentioned there were 11 competitors. Six of them were returning veterans from multiple Power Palace contests from 2005 and early 2006: Kevin Bussi, Mike Corlett (that's me), Ronnie Castro, Rick (Urban Druid), Bill (Fatboy), and Adam (Thor).

 

 

There were 5 newcomers: Odd, Ryan Klein, Mikulich, lone Wolf, and Ronnie's friend Mitch.

 

 

Grippers. I suspect most of the guys did not like the approach that has been described here, but I have not asked any of them. Personally, I liked it. For me, I have never trained with much of a set so all 4 of my attempts were No Set. It was the first time I ever medaled in grippers. Adam and I both no-setted a RB260N. Bussi was the only one who beat us on "points", but I believe Ryan closed tougher grippers than us. I am not sure what Kevin closed, I think it was a RB300 with a parallel set. The group was all over the map. Bussi winning is what we all figured.

 

 

Rolling Thunder. This was a very good contest. Odd opened with 217, did 242, 252, and got 262 around a third up for an easy win. I had been in a Rolling Thunder slump and did 197 easy, went to 207, thinking the kids would not make it, and got 207 half up. This was a little rinky dink regional contest and 197 WAS ONLY 6TH PLACE!!! Maybe it was 5th, I don't remember what Adam got. Ryan pulled 212, Kevin Bussi pulled 207, and newcomer-new-to-grip Mitch pulled 207 (??). Kevin Bussi had never beat me before in the RT, so I guess he is happy, he finally Beat the Geezer. Like I said, I have been in a slump on it, so don't get too cocky about it, Mr. Handgripperman.

 

 

Bill Fatboy should be happy with his RT performance, as hand size is a big thing in this event, and 162 for a 7 Incher is extremely good.

 

 

I think that may have been a PR for Ryan.

 

 

Vertical Bar. Ryan was going to easily win this, and of course everyone knew that, and he did. He opened with 351, and did 386, failing at some bigger numbers. Bussi did 341 and missed 351. Adam did 326 and missed 336. Both Bussi and Adam were happy, as they PR'ed. I went without switching to my right hand until my 4th and last rep. I was very proud of pulling 296 with my left hand for a LH PR, so for my 4th, I switched to my right and PR'ed there with 321. Odd did 291 very easily, and at 306 got a bloody hand (the lift was good) For a first timer, 306 is good, no matter how strong you are.

 

 

IronMind Hub. It is a boring event. However, it was perhaps the most entertaining part of the contest, as we were having lots of fun. It was probably the best Hub competition done by anyone to date. Most of the newcomers were switchin around between traditional/claw and "vbar" method. Nobody did poorly on it. I have seen where strong guys go out in the 30s, but not yesterday.

 

 

Hubgeezer was 4-1 going into it yesterday, having only been beat 63 to 58 in November of 2005 by Kevin Bussi (Hbgzr had a sore tendon that day). In April of 2006, Geezer came back and beat Kevin 65.5 to 60. Meanwhile, Adam/Thor has become the best any style hub lifter in practice that anyone has ever heard of, going over 90 using a vbar technique. The last 4 guys in it were Bussi, Haugen, Hubgeezer, and Thor. Bussi went out in the low 60s. Hubgeezer started low, was using his left hand, and after 3 attempts had 63, all left handed. Adam did 70.5, and had one remaining. Haugen had only taken two attempts at that point, including a low opener that I talked him into taking. I convinced him that a zero would give Bussi or Ryan an Empty Win, so he needed to take a shot at I think it was 53. He lifted it practically to his shoulder, held it there, and then turned around at looked at me, his face saying, "and why am I bothering with this piddly thing?" The whole gym laughed hysterically. I still say it was good advice. Oh yeah where was I, yeah 70.5. So I said, "I only have one try left, be my guest". Odd pulled 73 fairly easily. I said something about Kevin Costner in the movie Tin Cup and his opponent "aiming for second", and then used my last attempt on 73. It was good. I have only exceeded that one time at home, and that was a few weeks ago at 74. Adam and Odd agreed to attempt 80.5 for their last attempt. Adam got it. Odd didn't. Adam was rightfully happy. I was happy. Everybody was happy. It was fun.

 

 

Apollon's Axle. Odd opened with 454, very easy. Ryan opened with 379, very easy. Neither of them bested those lifts. Mitch the newcomer? He did 364. Hello? A NEWCOMER DOING 364? Kevin Bussi definitely wins Most Improved on this, as his best in competition before Saturday was 294, and he did 324. I had never missed a lift or failed to PR in this event the previous 3 contests, but that streak ended yesterday. I went from 309 to 329 and failed on two attempts with it. Got it to my knees 3 times, but it just wasn't quite under grip control. I was bummed. Sorry, I don't have any more notes than that. Ronnie did 309, but he is capable of so much more. Not a good day for him.

 

 

Plate Pinch. Odd seemed more interested in this compared to most of the other grip events. He did 181 and missed 186. Adam and I both did 181(a PR by 11 pounds for me), and Adam/Thor got the medal as he weighed less than Odd or Geezer. Ryan came in second with 186, and he missed 196. Kevin Bussi had a great PR and win with 206. That is one damn good performance.

 

 

I think I already described the Wrist Roller and what happened in it. A number of guys did very well on it. Ryan won, Adam second, Bussi 3rd, I think Haugen 4th on that one. Bill M/Fatboy had a respectable time. I did not. This was my third time on it. The first time was in March of 2005 and I was horrible. The second time was November of 2005 and I did well (7 seconds). Yesterday I did poorly, ensuring that my chase of the lead pack left me hundreds of points behind them and hundreds of points ahead of the nearest competitor Mitch.

 

 

If Clay Edgin was there, he would have won. He would have won either one event (grippers) or no events, but he would have won. However, it would not have been a runaway win. Bussi has improved tremendously. Unheralded Adam continues to improve and is a solid performer with no weak spots. Ryan Klein is a Vbar Animal and is a super solid perfomer. He was only edged by the smallest of margins by Bussi. Then again, if Odd decides to pursue grip...

 

 

Mitch the Newcomer had some good performances and has lots of potential. The other newcomers all had a good time (I think they did). Ryan's grandparents were there. His grandmother, who is a stereotypical nice grandmother (that means nicer than your own real one) said something kind to me, something like, "I like the way you encourage the others and help them". Thanks grandma! Ryan is a very nice young man, very polite, low key, intelligent.

 

 

I like Meskew's contests. He is not a "grip guy", but he has produced more contests than any grip guy, as he has been doing contests for decades, including Muscle Beach productions involving huge numbers of participants. So, like I said a little ways back, it was an eclectic blend, but done in such a way that a good time was had by all.

 

 

The End

 

 

rHubgeeze

 

 

 

 

 

[Bob Lipinski]

Very cool stuff. Looking forward to full results.

Nice to see that top level grip competitors can more than hang with Odd.

[Bob Lipinski]

I am also guess, but I could be wrong, that a top level strongman would be hard pressed to take a contest like the Europeans, with less thick style implements, and win without specific training.

Hahahaah, I was rooting for Ryan Klein to beat Odd, but it was very damn commendable for Ryan to come close.

[RKlein]

Thanks Bob. Odd killed us pretty bad on the axle and hit a new american, possibly world record on the axle. The hub killed me, knocked me from first to fifth place for a while.

Kevin B. beat me by four points. Kevin reminds me of Dave Thornton, great person.

[David Horne]

Well done to all. I'll get the Top 3 in the list.

David

[DAN PRAYDIS]

The California State Iron Grip Championships held Saturday November 11 at Kevin Meskew's Power Palace in Chatsworth California were a blast.

The scoring in the 7 event contest was similar to the scoring in a Track & Field decathlon, "points" on a scale of 1000 for each event. Basically, 900 puts you close to World Record territory, and 1000 is like the human limit, and 800 would be world class. Most of them were Harder's tables or Harder-inspired. They are imperfect but eclectic and fun.

There were 11 competitors, including some newcomers to grip in their first contest.

The first 4 competitors were within 100 points of each other, so it was amazingly close until the very end. There was a drop off for 5th place, and then another drop off for 6th, and then after that they were all over the map.

1. Haugen 4639 points

2. Bussi High 4500s

3. RKlein High 4500s

4. Thor Middle 4500s

5. Hubgeezer 4107

6. Ronnie Casto's friend Mitch 3599

7-11. 3280 down to 2614 (not all events contested in the 2614)

I drove 560 miles today. Left at 4:38 am and got home at 11:13 pm. Good Night.

Hubgeezer

congrats guys and especially you hubgeezer for hanging with all that young blood i know your tired but later on how about a good write up on the contest lift by lift thanks dan p ps haugens not from this planet

[Bill Piche]

I just approved a member using Odd's name. We'll assume it was him I just approved since he used his real name for signup.

[Mikulich]

I just approved a member using Odd's name. We'll assume it was him I just approved since he used his real name for signup.

That was definitely him because he mentioned at the contest that he had tried to sign up that morning and was waiting for approval.

[climber511]

I can't wait to see the whole breakdown for everyone!

[dthor]

Another close contest with a lot of talent. Congratulations to all!

[climber511]

Congrats to all - geezers first and fifth - how about that? We've got to get all the east coast and west coast (and in between) guys together for a big blowout sometime this coming year.

[FatBoy]

It was another great grip contest put on by Ironwarrior, and I would like to thank him for giving all of us a place to come and show off.

West coast grip contests are becoming a very scary place full of very strong people. I was very shocked and amazed all day long. The lead in the meet changed hands all day long form event to event , and it all came down to luck in the end. Odd won but at any point Handgripperman, Thor, RKlein, Hubgeezer, and even the newcomer Mitch could have walked away with it. All day long everybody kept raising the bar, stepping up to the challenge, and kicking a$$ and taking names.

Things that amazed and shocked me were Odd pulling 454 lbs. on the AP, Handgripperman almost closed the COC#4, Thor pulling 80 lbs on a slippery HUB, Rklein pulling 380 lbs plus on the v-bar, and Hubgeezer's continuous improvement on all of his lifts. The most shocking thing to me was Lonewolfs pinch strength. I believe he pulled over 150 lbs and he only has a 7.25 inch hand with a little tiny thumb (about 1 inch in length).

I was not impressed with my performance. I had a very bad day, but I will not complain. I did manage to get two new contest Pr's. My RT went up 10 lbs. to 162.5 lbs and my wrist roller went form 7.19 seconds to 6.49 seconds. The wrist roller time gave me the lead for all of about a minute before Thor and Rklein decided to shatter the Power Palace gym record. As for the rest of the events and my performance I will not comment or make excuses.

All of the gripsters, young and old, in CA have made some serious strength gains since our last meet, so I'm off to start training again 'cause man do I have some catching up to do.

Edited November 13, 2006 by FatBoy

[lone Wolf]

Hey Fatboy

Let's get the facts straight my thumbs are 1.25"

This was my first contest too and I came away very satisfied got 3 new pr's 211

lbs LH on the v-bar, 48 lbs. RH on hub lift first time ever trying it (thanks kevin

for the advice on the grip), and 151 lbs 2HP I dont really train for this lift either

but I do plenty of single hand pinches allmost 2-35s each hand. But just like you I need

to work on the other events. Still can't believe how easy Odd got 454 on the AP. and

Rklien getting some air with 401 on the V-bar . Had a great time. Can't wait till the

next contest

Edited November 13, 2006 by lone Wolf

[oldtimer]

Continuing report of yesterdays' contest.

Here were the event order and how they worked:

1. Grippers. I mentioned the multiple set and related scoring on them already. There were 15 different grippers, ranging from an IM #1 through IM #4. We rated the grippers to the nearest tenth, and then there were points scored according to the tables for that level of gripper, depending on the set. So, theoretically, there were 45 different scores that one could have hit (3 sets times 15 grippers). My memory, not official, was:

IM #1 1.0

PDAsomething 1.5

BB Master 1.8

IM #2 2.0

RB160 2.3 (very hard, unseasoned)

BB SuperMaster 2.5

RB260N 2.7

BB GrandMaster 2.9

IM #3 3.0

RB260 3.3 (or was it a 3.2?)

RB300 easy These 3 went from

Elite around 3.4 to 3.7

RB300 hard

RB330 3.9

IM#4 4.0

You had four attempts, and you could go up or down.

2. Rolling Thunder. 4 attempts, one hand only competing (can switch hands all you want). Rising Bar format.

3. Vertical Bar. This one was done in the "rounds" approach, not rising bar. All lifters would get one chance, and then you would go on to the next round. Four rounds, only one hand competing, not the total of right and left. You could change hands all you wanted. You could lower the weight if you wanted to from earlier failed attempts.

4. IM Hub Lift. 4 attempts, one hand contested, Rising Bar format. Any style up, no restrictions on grabbing the device, as long as your fingers stayed on top of the device and weren't reaching under the lip of it. Total weight included the 5.5 pound device.

5. Apollon's Axle, Double Overhand. Rounds approach, 4 attempts/rounds total. Could lower the weight after a failed round/attempt.

6. Two hand plate pinch. You were pinching two 45 pound plates with a bar through it secured by collars. The weight of the device was added to the total weight. Kevin Bussi thought that it was more difficult than the Euro-Pinch device; that is, the weights pulled on this rig would tend to be lower than if they were on the standard Euro device. 4 attempts, rising bar format.

7. Wrist Roller. It is a 3 inch pipe mounted on a heavy duty homemade stand designed for this only. The amount of weight on the gadget was 75 pounds, and you were rolling it from the floor to a height of around 2 meters. You had two attempts, and it was timed with a stopwatch. Evryone stood on a box so that they were not reaching high into the air, but rather shoulder height. The better of the two attempts translated into the points you earned.

Hbgzr

Hub, What was the highest gripper that anyone managed to close and with what type of set? Looking forward to seeing the complete results later on. Also, I assume that Odd could have gone much higher with the do bar but knew he had won and was tired? Does this sound about right?

[Hubgeezer]

Hub, What was the highest gripper that anyone managed to close and with what type of set? Looking forward to seeing the complete results later on. Also, I assume that Odd could have gone much higher with the do bar but knew he had won and was tired? Does this sound about right?

I believe it was Bussi with a RB300 parallel set.

Regarding Odd on the Axle, and for that matter, Ryan on the Vbar, the "rounds" approach was probably used on those two events to accommodate them. By that, I mean because they were both in their own class on those two events, it did not seem fair that if it were rising bar, it would be a matter of them taking attempt after attempt, when the only one taking the attempt would be them. Odd opened with 454. Everyone else would be out of it, so there would not be much rest between attempts for him. With the "rounds" approach, he got as much rest (as did Ryan on the Vbar) as everybody else.

He jumped from 454 to 504, but did not get it. He went down some, didn't get it, then I think he passed on the 4th attempt. Ryan opened with 351 on the Vbar, but then jumped to 401 and did not get it. He went to 386 and got it, and then missed at 391.

As I said earlier, an eclectic blend for a contest.

Mike

[climber511]

Great contest report Mike - sounds like a great day for all!

[Hubgeezer]

Just in case anyone missed it, Ronnie Castro (Supermagnamon) posted the full results in this section called 2006 California State Iron Grip Championships.

It gives each individual's name, weight, weight class, performance in each event, and the number of points awarded for each event, as well as final totals.

Edited November 14, 2006 by Hubgeezer

[THOR]

Hub once again a great write up . It was an awesome competition, fatboy, kevin and myself are already engaging in the pain of training for the decathalon, (I think i might give kevin a run for his money hehe) ya right he's going to kill on the next comp. ... Well ill see the grip world later and once again thanks kevin (meskew) for providing the gym.

I LOVE THIS $H!T

Edited November 14, 2006 by THOR

[handgripperman]

It was a great contest !!!! thanks again Kevin. Everybody got PRs in everything. It was so close the whole way. I thought that Odd was just going to destroy everyone in the contest. But no. There was only 200 points difference between 4 people. I can't beleive how srong Adam is. He sure doesn't look it and Ryan klein was amazing. I was shocked to hear when he said he was going to open with a 351lb Vbar . Odd calls for a 454lb open with the axle It's alway's nice to see the amazing hubgeezer, alway's shocks me with how strong he is 70lb+ Hub, 200lb+ RT,330lb+axle 320lb+ Vbars. amazing I alway's love to see fatboy. He has so much heart when he comes to compete. Ronnie Castro was drunk off of one of my beer's It was great to see lonewolf again (a.k.a) world's smallest thumbs. He shocked me with his pinchng abilities. The contest wouldn't be nearly as fun without Rick. He alway's cracks me up. He is alway's the most improved from contest to contest. He would be one tough guy to beat if he keeps it up.

Kevin told me the next contest should be around late march. I'm gonna work on totalling 6500-7000 pts. I'm gonna have to make Odd come for that one Chris Rice (climber511) said he might come to this contest. I hope to see him there. .Chris told me about that chalk bag that everybody really enjoyed using at the contest Chris has helped me soooo much with everything Thankyou , and once again kevin, thank you for the contest. Can't wait for the next.

[Too Tall]

Congrats to everyone

[Florian Kellersmann]

Congrats, guys! Sounds like an awesome contest. Great to see that Odd Haugen competed in a grip contest!

[RKlein]

Just for fun and for my ego, (lol) if strongman scoring was used

Ryan 67, Kevin, 66, Adam 61, Odd 59

Great Contest! I thought the scoring was a little too subjective but that's the way it goes. Hope to see everyone their again.

[Hubgeezer]

Just for fun and for my ego, (lol) if strongman scoring was used

Ryan 67, Kevin, 66, Adam 61, Odd 59

I figured if scoring was done objectively, I would have won.

Hubgeezer

[RKlein]

Mike, i was impressed with your performance. You and Adam could easily be on top next comp.

[lone Wolf]

Just for fun and for my ego, (lol) if strongman scoring was used

Ryan 67, Kevin, 66, Adam 61, Odd 59

I figured if scoring was done objectively, I would have won.

Hubgeezer

No matter how many times I remeasure my thumbs still 1 1/4"

Maybe if I fold the tape a little bit?