2017 June - NAGS Championship - Tanner Merkle

[Boulderbrew]

This past weekend I attended my first Grip nationals. Previously I had only done Aaron's Cactus Grip Shootout, so my competition experience was very limited. I had an idea of what to expect, but if I am honest I did not want to get my hopes up too high and before heading out to Tennessee, I told myself to just have fun and most of all meet a bunch of cool like-minded people.

The drive from my home in Dallas to Nashville took just under 10 hours. The drive went by remarkably fast (thanks to "Last Podcast on the Left".....check em out if you are into true crime and dark comedy) and Friday night I arrived in Nashville. After a delicious dinner at the Sunflower Cafe, I laid down in my hotel room for bed. I work nightshift and often find it difficult to sleep at night on my off days like a normal person.....unfortunately Friday night ended up being a near sleepless night (an hour at best), and I lied awake restless as dawn set in. I abandoned the idea of resting any further. Despite feeling sluggish and groggy, I turned on my Metallica playlist and For Whom the Bell Tolls was the first song that played. If you ask me, it's impossible to feel tired and weak while Lars Ulrich pummels you with kick drum. I have a pretty extensive history of competitive in rock climbing, and there is something we call flipping the switch. Flipping the switch is when you go from trying hard, to trying to squeeze water from the rock. I poured myself a big cup of coffee and knew that today would be a day I had to flip the switch.

The Southern Squeeze gym sits among a strip of shops and restaurants about five minutes from my hotel. I parked and walked up to the gym. I was quickly greeted my Tim, John, and Aaron. I had recently seen some videos of Tim's, so I knew he was a big fella......but my god is he big in person. It's funny how this sport can bring together people of many different backgrounds. Needless to say, I was the only person who was barefoot and wearing skinny jeans (I can assure you the rest of the thighs in this room would have busted right through a pair like mine haha). To my surprise Paul Knight was in attendance. Paul started rock climbing in the Dallas area like myself, it was inspiring to talk with someone so accomplished who got started in gripsport with rock climbing, the same way (and city) that I did. Everyone mingled for about another 45 minutes, and then Gil stood up and announced that we would be getting started shortly.

The first event was right hand grippers (4 attempts). Phil Khoshaba was in my weight class and I knew from competing against him in AZ that he can close grippers above his body weight of 175lbs. If I was to stand a chance, he would need to slip up on Grippers because I have never block set anything above 165lbs. I believe my first attempt was 160. I have a less than ideal lump of callous on the side of my hand that makes setting the gripper in my right hand slightly awkward. Regardless, I closed the gripper but it was slow and I had to wrap my thumb over the top to finish it off. This was a bit discouraging and I could tell that my CNS was not firing on all cylinders as it should. I noticed Andrew Pantke doing barbell squats to get hyped up in the back corner, and John McCarter contorting his face as he stared down the gripper he clearly was fixing to annihilate. Reality set in, and I knew I needed to flip the switch and try a whole hell of a lot harder if I expected to do well. After all, everyone else around me was psyched out of there mind...what was I doing just nonchalantly trying to shut grippers, this was NAGS 2017 Championship and I didn't drive 10 hours to b**** out. On my second attempt I grabbed the 165 gripper, determined to hate close it...unfortunately I set the gripper so hard and aggressively that my setting hand slipped and I punched the gripper, busted open three fingers and was bleeding a little bit. I decided to give this gripper another shot (thank god I was not tired anymore, my mindset had changed). I squeezed the 165 as hard as I could and I thought for sure the handles were mashed together....but Paul Knight (my group's judge) was still focused on the gripper as if I needed to keep going, I surged one last time and set the gripper down. Paul told me I could not have been any closer to shutting the gripper. On, my last attempt, I tried the 165 but failed again. It was time to move onto left hand grippers (4 attempts). Phil and I were caught off guard, embarrassingly both of us had forgotten that left hand would be contested as well. This was a great relief for me. While most people's hands seem to be VERY disproportionate on grippers, mine are actually dead even and I knew this would give me an advantage. My first attempt at 150 was very easy and I felt I had more in me. 155 was hard, but it closed on my second attempt. Third attempt, I gabbed the 160 knowing it was a shot in the dark, but I had 2 more attempts and nothing left to try other than 160. I considered just skipping out on my last two attempts, but ultimately decided to give the 160 a squeeze and two my surprise I closed the gripper and skipped my fourth attempt. The grippers felt REALLY stiff and everyone seemed to be having trouble, but all was fair as we were in the same boat. To my astonishment I ended up winning the overall on hand grippers due to everyone being caught off guard at the difficulty.

Second event was the 2HP. I was not looking forward to this event, as my rock climbing training did not seem to transfer to this type of strength very well (I do better at wide pinch and thick bar). I opened with about 81kg  which came up no problem. Second attempt at 86.38 came up slow and I felt that I did not have much more in me. Next I (unwisely) tried to pull 91.18kg in accordance with what Phil was trying. Phil has a stronger 2HP than I do, but I wanted to try and keep pace. I set up for the pinch and heard Jedd yell "Don't be a b****" I was fired up, but ended up failing twice at this lift and was beaten my both Phil and Mike Rogowski in the 83kg class. Side note: Aaron was unbelievable here. He pinched 113.68kg on his third attempt, easily winning the event. Then on his last attempt he casually muttered to himself "sure hope someone is filming" as he was about to set a PR! I reached out and grabbed his phone from him to film the attempt. Aaron crouched above the Euro and with two hands outstretched in the claw position, his arms began to quake as he engaged his forearm flexors and psyched himself up for the lift. Everyone cheered as Aaron grasped the Euro and began moving the mass off the ground, about halfway to the crossbeam, the weight slipped. Regardless, I was very inspired, the NAGS Euro was not highly seasoned.

Third event was Double Overhand Axle DL. I knew this would be a humbling event. Thickbar is usually my strongest lift, but I do not lift weights because I do not want to get too heavy for rock climbing. Consequently, I regret to say that leading up to Nationals, I could not Squat much over 250lbs and deadlifting 315 for triples felt kinda tough. I opened with 330lbs and was pleasantly surprised by how easy it felt. I don't recall my 2nd and 3rd attempt numbers, but they both felt fine in my hands, but I was approaching my deadlift max. I decided to try 358lbs on my last attempt. I set up above the bar and pulled with the most egregiously offensive form. I looked out across the crowd  of horror struck faces. Most seemed shocked that I had not snapped myself in half by doing what must have looked like a 358lbs Romanian Deadlift or good morning. Needless to say after the competition, many helpful people offered me tips on how to deadlift with better form, and with any luck, not become a paraplegic in the process. While I am not a fan of this event, I was very impressed by Gil, and Eric. Both pulled 187.5kg. When the axle hit the floor, the thunderous shake assured me that this was some serious weight...I'll leave the deadlifting to the big guys haha.

Last event was the medley. the medley consisted of 10 lifts. Each lift had a Women/Junior version, an open version, and an elite version. I was so excited for this. I had never done a medley before, and from what I had heard, things get pretty hype! Maria read off a list of people who were randomly selected to go first, but energy was so high that people began volunteering to go. I wanted to get an idea of how to strategically run the medley, so I sat back and watched as some of the more experienced guys tossed around really impressive implements like a 180lbs steel inch, a 128lbs anvil with 40lbs attached, and a stout 54.1lbs fatman blob. I jumped in and volunteered (probably a bit premature) and began my run. I shocked myself by very quickly hubbing a 45 plate with 10lb attached, lifting the 180 inch, lifting the fatman, anvil, and some more. In the end I was proud for having lifted some of the more difficult items, but I was irritated at myself for not completing all 10 categories (I failed on the pronation/supination as time ran out). Tim Fox ran the medley shortly after I did...the bull in a china shop analogy seems appropriate here. Tim barreled through implements with impressive agility for such a stacked dude. In the end I just squeaked out the overall victory in the medley despite only securing 9/10 items

The contest finished up, awards were given out. I ended up winning the 83kg class and the overall. I was very pleased with myself despite the fact that my win was in part due to some injuries and mishaps from others. Still, first nationals, I did my best and had a BLAST! After awards the shenanigans began. Eric, Jedd and I all rowed the steel inch a couple times. I did one arm pull ups on anything I could find (including the door frame to the Southern Squeeze......sorry Gil and Maria. It was SOLID i checked first haha). Gil and Eric both did a double Inch lift. I missed Gil's lift because I am an oblivious mouth breathing flat foot who is not attentive enough for world class feats. 

The event wrapped up and about a dozen of us walked down the street to a Mexican restaurant  for some well deserved dinner and margaritas. Gil and Maria graciously invited the group over to keep the party going. Phil, Annette Mike, Aaron, and I are all masochists, so we drove to the house to keep training. Gill took us down into his grip dungeon where we all became pretty aware that we were very gassed out and could barley do much more. Regardless we had fun and decided to do some bending. I got to see the "bending retired" Aaron bend for the first time in five years (his words). 

I certainly left something out, but I had such a good time in TN. Thank you so much Gil, Maria for putting this competition on. Thanks to the sponsors for the badass prizes. As I am still new to the grip world, it was encouraging to see how supportive and genuinely psyched everyone is for one another.  Hope to see all you fellas and fillets (best female version of fella I can think of) again soon!

Tanner Merkle

 

   

 

[bwwm]

Congratulations Tanner!!!  Can't wait to see the great things you do next!!!

[Boulderbrew]

@WestSlope @bwwm Thanks Guys!

[Daniel Fleming]

Amazing job, dude.   I can't wait to meet and compete with you someday!    
You're a force to be reckoned with!

[Kashtan]

Congrats Tanner! Very good article!

[Fist of Fury]

Very nice write-up. I enjoyed reading it, and congrats to the victory.

[Boulderbrew]

10 hours ago, Daniel Fleming said:

Amazing job, dude.   I can't wait to meet and compete with you someday!    
You're a force to be reckoned with!

Thanks Dan! We have a really competitive 83kg class. All of us seem to have our own specialties. Pretty cool.  Hope to see you soon!