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2018 February - Hands On Grip Games - Lucas Raymond


Lucasraymond

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To start my day I woke up at 3:40am with my anxiety at an ultra high level for this contest with expecting the largest group of competitors that I’ve been part of running and eager to compete at the same time. To add to the stress we had two spinlock collars break in the middle of the 2HP requiring a trip to tractor supply for bolts to replace the wing nuts which I then broke the second collar after tightening it down so we were down to two collars after starting with four. All of the stress made my blood pressure and heart rate elevated and for the 2HP and Napalms Nightmare I felt very dizzy and lightheaded when trying to lift.  After about 2.5 hours of this it dissipated and felt much better for the last 3 events. It was a great turnout with 20 total,  9 new competitors including 5 junior lifters and 4 new adult lifters; including two arm wrestlers Adam Culver and Storm Chellino (who if he trains consistently people need to watch out). It was nice to see some other gripsters including John Stepien, Mike Rinderle, Joe Sullivan, Ryan Thomas, Chris and Ace Andrade, Don Smitley,  and Matt Lane. 

 2HP - In training I had been consistently been hitting 227-231 lbs including doing 217 for multiple doubles the past 3 training sessions. After missing my first lift at 214 and then coming back to get it second attempt, then missed 220 the last two attempts. This was right after having the whole broken spinlock collar issue and not feeling the greatest, overall not unhappy but not to the level that I expected on this event either. 

 2" Napalms Nightmare- this is the first time this has been contested and being the fabricator I was eager to see what some people were able to pull being from a higher height and only being a 6” lift as I was hoping it would be a little easier on the low back for people. It was good to see some of the younger kids pulling close to double bodyweight and I was going to be happy to fall in somewhere north of 400lbs and finished with 407 on my third lift and attempted 417 on my fourth and was unable to get it off the ground. After I was done it was time to sit back and watch the big boys start lifting; Joe Sullivan ended at 436 and three people still hadn’t even started; Storm, Jedd, and John. All 3 had successful lifts at 460 and then John hitting 480 being the first to go putting pressure on the other two which both Jedd and Storm missed on their 3rd attempts. Jedd came back to get 480 on his final attempt while Storm came about 1” short before it came out of his hand. 20lbs more add and Big John Studd to attempt 501#; which he was able to get to height but immediately came out of his hand so the current record is at 480lbs.

 Ironmind Little Big Horn- the event I was waiting for all day as I felt good about my chance to move myself from 67th on the NAGS list to the top. During warm ups I felt good on this, going into the back and practicing on ~200lbs and it feeling light. After Joe and John finished up at 188 with their last successful lift I took  my first attempt at 198 which came up easy so the second attempt I was able to lift 208. The NAGS record was at ~214.5 so we loaded up 215.1 to make sure there was no issue. I was able to get the weight off the ground but drifted forward slightly and I was unable to full lock it out so no good. With the last and final attempt I made sure the texture on the horn was what I wanted,  did my pre-lift routine, got my grip and stepped forward and pulled it up and with a lockout and down call by Mike Rinderle I had set my goal for the contest.

 Inch Pinch- another item that I fabricate and has never been contested but interested to have an alternative to the stub (although Stub is Lift) while still testing key pinch. The Inch pinch is a 1”x2” piece of steel that is 3” total length. Based on a few people having these and our personal lifts I expected the record to come in somewhere between 75-80lbs. This was probably the most fun event of the night due to the all the friendly trash talking that was happening in the room.  First Adam, who I train with decided that he would take his first 3 attempts at very easy weights and thought a 13lb jump on it was a good idea; however, it didn’t even move off the ground. It got interesting at around 75lbs when myself, Jedd, John, and Storm were still in the game. Jedd was first to lift 78lbs and I went second and couldn’t quite get it to the crossbar, John Stepien and Storm both lifted it. Next went on 80lbs with both Jedd and Storm lifting it and the banter started and Jedd yelled out “throw on 88lbs” with Storm being the first to go and was able to lift it no problem and talking trash to Jedd while holding it at lockout, unfortunately Jedd was unable to lift it and finished in second. For an unofficial attempt we put 100lbs on but wasn’t happening today for Storm.

 Pinch Block Curl- at this point everyone was getting tired and the enthusiasm was fading but for most this was a new event as it was only contests at NAGS 2015. Being a strict curl it was required to keep your butt, shoulder, and head in contact with the wall throughout the lift makes it much more difficult.  I knew that I finished at 37.5lbs at NAGS and knew I would have a good chance to beat that by a lot I felt good about it. Using a slightly different technique with some lateral trunk flexion I was able to work up to 49lbs which was a huge PR and attempted ~52lbs but it was not even close. 

 Trying to host and compete in a contest is fun if everything goes well but when it doesn’t the stress levels increase significantly. After the contest I went online and bought two more sets of spinlock collars so that it will never happen again. Next up is the Philly Fit Expo, really wishing the LBH was one of the events!!

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Dude you came back after feeling down at the beginning of the comp and DESTROYED IT! Way to go brother! You dug down deep and succeeded. “In the warriors code there’s no surrender.... though the body says stop... the spirit cries NEVER”.

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11 minutes ago, AKJV1769 said:

Great job Luke! Do you make the pinch block curl device?

Dude the pinch block device is AWESOME. It can be used for so many other things beside curls  to. Like pinch deadlifts, holds for time, hand to hand transfers, wrist curling, lateral and front raises, hand to hand tosses, hulas etc etc! The texture on it is great for chalk and it will build wrists and fingers of steel man! Fingers that won’t buckle under pressure. It’s one of my favorite workout finishers. Highly recommended. 

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Just now, Joseph Sullivan said:

Dude the pinch block device is AWESOME. It can be used for so many other things beside curls  to. Like pinch deadlifts, holds for time, hand to hand transfers, wrist curling, lateral and front raises, hand to hand tosses, hulas etc etc! The texture on it is great for chalk and it will build wrists and fingers of steel man! Fingers that won’t buckle under pressure. It’s one of my favorite workout finishers. Highly recommended. 

Wow! Thank you Joseph, I had not thought about all the other applications you mentioned. Gotta get one of these. Thank you!

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1 minute ago, AKJV1769 said:

Wow! Thank you Joseph, I had not thought about all the other applications you mentioned. Gotta get one of these. Thank you!

No problem my brother in Christ! 

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8 minutes ago, AKJV1769 said:

Also Joseph congrats on your lifts at this contest. Very impressive!

 

Thank you brother. I was happy for my 2nd competition. Hope to get better and better with time.... God willing!

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9 minutes ago, AKJV1769 said:

Man your 2nd comp and you are pulling those kinds of numbers! Amazing!

God has been very good to me in the physical strength department. I have always been very strong, especially with grip and lifting heavy things off the ground. I love this sport! 

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Just now, Joseph Sullivan said:

God has been very good to me in the physical strength department. I have always been very strong, especially with grip and lifting heavy things off the ground. I love this sport! Started gripping a little over 2 years ago 

 

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Great job!  LBH is quite impressive!!

We'll see what we can do about changing the Nightmare record at Clay's contest in a few weeks...there are at least 5 people that are going to make some big lifts.

You make quality equipment that I enjoy using.

Looking forward to meeting you in person soon.

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Nice Write-up!  

(LBH =  Luke's B**ch Ho.)

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14 hours ago, WestSlope said:

Huge congratulations on you LBH record. And, congrats on using your implements in a comp for the first time.

Thanks...yeah I was pleased with the numbers that were achieved also; bunch of strong dudes at that comp. 

13 hours ago, AKJV1769 said:

Great job Luke! Do you make the pinch block curl device?

I do make it but it is Jedd's implement so its a split device. 

 

1 hour ago, anwnate said:

Nice Write-up!  

(LBH =  Luke's B**ch Ho.)

Thanks Nate...my first write up, felt overly wordy

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13 hours ago, Joseph Sullivan said:

Dude the pinch block device is AWESOME. It can be used for so many other things beside curls  to. Like pinch deadlifts, holds for time, hand to hand transfers, wrist curling, lateral and front raises, hand to hand tosses, hulas etc etc! The texture on it is great for chalk and it will build wrists and fingers of steel man! Fingers that won’t buckle under pressure. It’s one of my favorite workout finishers. Highly recommended. 

Says alot from a guy who can lever a hammer from a bench. You might be the billy mays of wrist strength.

 

But wait theres more!!! 

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