2016 October - "Sterkste hand van Nederland" Dutch Comp. - Geralt

[Geralt]

A write up about my first experience in a gripcomp, ‘Strongest hands of the Netherlands’.

Preparations: normal, always grippers first in training, afterwards thickbar or pinch. Trained floorrotations minimally.  Physically: since augustus this year I lost roughly 10kg/22lbs in bodyweight, since I felt my ‘fat’ gut brought me nothing but health problems on long term. Don’t feel that I lost a lot of strength because of that. 

Bodyweight: 98kg/216lbs, length 1.96 mtr / 6,43 feet.
There were no weigh inns or weightclassifications for this comp.

One of the contestants who got second place was a powerlifter who attends the national championships powerlifting. One of the shorter and lighter contestants, but also pound for pound,
I think the strongest that day. There were also two big guys, who attend strongmen comps. There were Roy (RoyZ), Bob(Artee) and me from the GB, and the other contestants also trained grip, although not for very long yet. These guys however do train for years already and have a good resume in allround strengthtraining. Jacques (Ouwe rammer on the GB), who got second place, the same. Older but also no stranger in strengthtraining. He also did very well allround. Nice guy, very focused during the comp, whereas I was blattering around a bit haha

I already wrote on the Dutch forum that Mark (Grind) did a nice job on the preparations and he did good judging. Nothing but compliments for his and his friends’ enthusiasm. Also, during the contest there was a relaxed and friendly vibe going on.

Comp started at 01.00 PM and ended around 05.00 PM and was held outside. Weather was great, although in the end it was getting chilly.

Note: this write up is about my experience, others may differ from that of mine.

My overall result: 8^th place. Can’t say otherwise that I am a bit disappointed in myself, hoped I would finish a bit higher, but the competition was tough. Here’s how it went down.

Round 1: Grippers.

There were about 7 or 8 grippers, starting from 101 lbs up till 162lbs. Ghp blockset, 25mm. As much closes as possible in 90 seconds.

My result: 1^st. Could have picked the 162, felt good, but of course, went for strategic work and choose safe, as I expected I would have a headstart on the other contestants in this implement.

2 x 155lbs (barely missed the third), 2 x 138 lbs, 4x115lbs (last set left hand).  This gave me a good headstart, best below me was a 1 x 147lbs.

Round 2: 2HP (50mm metal block), 15 seconds per lift or you’re out.

This was a block with a fairly rough texture which held chalk very well but, during the contest it cloaked up so it had to be brushed down a few times on request of most participants.

It was last man standing principle and started around 40 or 50kg, with jumps of 5kg first. Everyone was doing very well so this round took a bit longer than expected for most, almost an hour or so.

My result: 4^th @ 85kg / 187lbs.  
It was remarkable to see that the strongmen guys had dropped out at that point. RoyZ took first place with 100kg! Very strong. Between us were the powerlifter, Denzil, and Eduard Knoote. Both also reasonable short guys, so they just seem to grab hold of the weight and lean a bit backwards to already have a lockout. Fascinating, how bodies work different. Still, Roy won, and he’s as tall as me.

Round 3: Inch like dumbbell with thick metal handle 60mm. Four chances, fixed time in seconds per chance and a miss was meaning end of story.

This handle is loadable with plates and with the plates screwed tightly it has roughly the same feeling as the inch would have.

My score: 7^th, I lifted 62,5 kg/137,7 lbs.  Got 64kg hoisted up, but lost it at the lockout. Couldn’t regrip myself to hoist it up again.

Noticed that Denzil, the powerlifter, could cock his wrist so he practically cupped the handle. Again, fascinating. This guy deadlifts I believe almost 3x his bodyweight as he told me, so no surprise he was very strong.  This is where the two strongmen brothers shined, they lifted a whopping 76,5 and 78kg, which means roughly 172lbs!

Round 4: Floor rotations, with Silarukov hammer, 5,5kg.

There was a rope before the hammer, which the hammer wasn’t allowed to touch. Also, the arm and hand couldn’t be off the ground and the exercise needed to be performed completely lying down.

This was a for me dreaded implement. I have practiced it a few times, and all times it hurt afterwards. From 2009 – 2011 somewhere, I have been almost out of the game because of my ‘pullup’ injury which brought me from MRI to echo to finally handtherapy which worked. Couldn’t do curls or whatever and grip was painful. These hit the exact spot. Typing now also with a icecompress.

I lack strength in that department. I touched the rope a few times, and my hand lost touch a few times from the platform. Couldn’t get more than 14 reps. My arm felt blown up and during the evening started to tingle and feel painful. Set me back to the fore last place: 8^th. That sucked. Most guy really did well and blew out up till 30 reps.

Round 5: Farmer holds (2x100kg).

This speaks for itself, I lifted the implements but my back was protesting a bit and was shaky during the hold. I had practiced this with my trapbar, but with these two separate implements it is easier to lift them out of balance. Grip felt good and fought it out till 53 seconds. I ended 6^th, RoyZ won the event with 1.12 seconds.

Round 6: Medley.
This consisted of:

1: Vbar 75kg which had to be lifted to the front on a rubber mat;
2: Rolling handle 60mm  60kg lifted to the front on a rubber mat;
3: Blob 20kg lifted on a platform;  
4: Glob, basically a big Christmas decoration ball with 11kg, to be lifted on a platform;
5: Hub, 22,5 kg, to be lifted on a platform;
6: 24kg kettlebell, bottom up press.

Bob (Artee) was the only one who got the Glob lifted, everyone missed this implement. It was a horrific thing to lift and it ended up being spit at, brushed off, made statically or whatever, but no go for most lol

I finished the medley in a for me good pace, everything went up very easy, only I lost balance 2 twice with the kettlebell when going down on the down signal from the highest position, which cost me time. I think personally the kettlebell shouldn’t have been there, since it is not a real gripexercise, it’s more of a balance thing. But, nevertheless, it was there so it had to be done.

All in all, this is how I got 8^th. No real misses that put me to shame, the competition was tough and I could have been doing more all round work in the past. But that’s how it is.

Hope you guys liked the write up, It was as I experienced it.

[Geralt]

I forgot to mention @M@rcel, also a new member and he did very well for being so new in grip. As I said, comp was tough that day. Keep it up sir. We need you on the GB! 

[anwnate]

Sweet writeup Geralt.

"Bob (Artee) was the only one who got the Glob lifted, everyone missed this implement. It was a horrific thing to lift and it ended up being spit at, brushed off, made statically or whatever, but no go for most lol"

Sounds like fun to me!

I'm super pleased that the Netherlands Grip contests have started.

Looking forward to reading about the next one!

[Grind]

As usual the stuff you write is a lot fun to read. I will also write my experience of hosting and judging my first contest. 

I really hope that the old injury hasn't come back and that it's just a temporary setback. 

[Joefrey]

Great summary of the event.

Sounds like it was a nice but tough grip meet ! Numbers speak by themselves ! The medley is a killer : 22.5 on the hub !!! And yes, the 24kg kettle bell press is maybe a little bit too much  and off context.

[jvance]

Nice write up, fantastic numbers! Very stout competition i see.