2018 February - Finnish Grip Nationals - Jesse Pynnönen

[Mywor]

My best lifts, including Silver Bullet #4 WR

 

Finnish Grip Nationals 2018, Iisalmi, 3.2.2018

Finnish Grip Nationals 2017 was my very first competition in grip, and since then I´ve been hooked. All the small details in the programming for grip gains are way harder to comprehend compared to any strength sports I have trained for before. Some how I crushed my training for the WHEA Worlds 2017, but for the 2018 Nationals I had no Idea how well I was going to do. In fact, 3 weeks before the competition, I COULD NOT SET #4 gripper for silver bullet.  

I was not too worried though, since I knew I had the strength. In my attempt to Silver Bullet a GHP 10, I had started setting up against my thigh, but for some reason it was not working at all for me anymore. So, for the last three weeks, I started building up from #2 all the way to #4, just setting it up for a second instead of attempting long holds. I didn´t really work on any other event, because I was in the middle of peaking phase for powerlifting / pull-ups.

In the competition, four lifts were allowed in each event and you had to call your weights after each lift just like in powerlifting. This worked out perfectly and made the contest so much smoother and interesting.

FIRST EVENT – AXLE DEADLIFT 50mm to max

Finns are quite well known for having great Hub, Pinch and (60mm) Rolling handle. There is something that we are not that great at though, and it´s the 50mm Axle Deadlift. Every top Finnish gripster agrees with me on this one and improving 50mm Axle is no doubt on everyone’s “goal list” for 2018.

BUT we ARE improving! Arto Joronen and Harri Tolonen hit their meet PR’s @185kg/410 pounds. They are one of the very few Finns to break the 400lbs barrier AND it was their second attempt for the weight. Both of them missed their first attempts, but after some back slapping and “DO SOMETHING” by Arto, both of them hit it with ease!

SECOND EVENT – Silver Bullet

3 weeks ago I could not set up #4 gripper, and in the same training session Jouni held the same #4 for 20 seconds… TWICE! I must say the lower bodyweight guys are getting insanely good at this event. We had at least 6 guys with +30 seconds time and Miika Lappalainen hit over 45 seconds with the #3. Everyone was expecting Jouni Mähönen to FINALLY break the WR in #4, but again he “failed” in the competition, holding the #4 for 3 seconds. This put a lot of pressure on me since I´ve never really trained #3 silver bullet, and I knew Harri would beat me in the event if I didn´t get the #4. I´ve never been a big fan of long holds in training, and I rather just learn how to do a perfect set-up and leave holding to competitions. As you can see from my fat face, I gave it my all and got 19.x seconds for the (now official) World Record.

THIRD EVENT – The Hub

After the first two events, I was tied for first place with Harri Tolonen, and he has been the King of Hub for the past 12 months. My goal was to hit all my four lifts and hopefully get second or third place after Harri and Arto. My starting weight wad 30.00kg which was surprisingly easy, but I stuck to my game plan and called for 32.5kg. This is where four attempts came to play. All of us (Harri, Arto, Jouni and Harri) lifted 32.5kg easily, but they all went before me and called for huge jump to 37.5kg. Instead of following them I called for 33.75kg and got it easily and same for 35kg. I was all out of attempts, but even though 37.5kg should be a joke for Harri he missed it twice and so did Arto. The winner of the event was Jouni Mähönen from -93kg class with 37.5kg Hub lift.

FOURTH EVENT – IM Little Big Horn

At this point, I was sure I would win the competition if I didn´t make any stupid mistakes. My starting weight was 90kg which was 5 kilos higher than anyone else, which made me skeptical about my game plan. To my relief, 90kg came up easily, and so did 95kg, 97.5kg and 100kg (which was surprisingly easily); this was a meet PR for me. I ended up winning the event with Arto coming very close with easy 97.5kg, but just missing 100kg.

LAST EVENT – Wrist Roller 70kg

This was a new event for me, but I had tested it with SAWO grip group three weeks ago so I knew it was all about speed for me. I had quite decent lead already, but I was not about to go easy on the last event. So, with some rock music before my attempt and willingness to give it my all I had the weight up with the fastest time winning 3 events out of 5 in the overall competition and 4 out of 5 in open/+93kg class.

Overall, I think the competition was really well organized by Jouni Mähönen, World Heavy Events and the local gym. I´m sorry for mostly talking about “fat guys”, but that was my main focus that day. Finnish lower weight class males and females are from another level with huge lifts made by everyone.

Lift of the day was for sure by “Power” Mervi, who broke the IronMind World Record with 26.xkg lift. I´m sure Becca is going to be in trouble when Mervi gets more training experience.

Edited February 6, 2018 by Mywor
Syy

[Kluv#0]

Congrats on the WR #4 silver bullet and the overall win. 

[Guest]

19 minutes ago, Mywor said:

My best lifts, including Silver Bullet #4 WR

 

Finnish Grip Nationals 2018, Iisalmi, 3.2.2018

Finnish Grip Nationals 2017 was my very first competition in grip, and since then I´ve been hooked. All the small details in the programming for grip gains are way harder to comprehend compared to any strength sports I have trained for before. Some how I crushed my training for the WHEA Worlds 2017, but for the 2018 Nationals I had no Idea how well I was going to do. In fact, 3 weeks before the competition, I COULD NOT SET #4 gripper for silver bullet.  

I was not too worried though, since I knew I had the strength. In my attempt to Silver Bullet a GHP 10, I had started setting up against my thigh, but for some reason it was not working at all for me anymore. So, for the last three weeks, I started building up from #2 all the way to #4, just setting it up for a second instead of attempting long holds. I didn´t really work on any other event, because I was in the middle of peaking phase for powerlifting / pull-ups.

In the competition, four lifts were allowed in each event and you had to call your weights after each lift just like in powerlifting. This worked out perfectly and made the contest so much smoother and interesting.

FIRST EVENT – AXLE DEADLIFT 50mm to max

Finns are quite well known for having great Hub, Pinch and (60mm) Rolling handle. There is something that we are not that great at though, and it´s the 50mm Axle Deadlift. Every top Finnish gripster agrees with me on this one and improving 50mm Axle is no doubt on everyone’s “goal list” for 2018.

BUT we ARE improving! Arto Joronen and Harri Tolonen hit their meet PR’s @185kg/410 pounds. They are one of the very few Finns to break the 400lbs barrier AND it was their second attempt for the weight. Both of them missed their first attempts, but after some back slapping and “DO SOMETHING” by Arto, both of them hit it with ease!

SECOND EVENT – Silver Bullet

3 weeks ago I could not set up #4 gripper, and in the same training session Jouni held the same #4 for 20 seconds… TWICE! I must say the lower bodyweight guys are getting insanely good at this event. We had at least 6 guys with +30 seconds time and Miika Lappalainen hit over 45 seconds with the #3. Everyone was expecting Jouni Mähönen to FINALLY break the WR in #4, but again he “failed” in the competition, holding the #4 for 3 seconds. This put a lot of pressure on me since I´ve never really trained #3 silver bullet, and I knew Harri would beat me in the event if I didn´t get the #4. I´ve never been a big fan of long holds in training, and I rather just learn how to do a perfect set-up and leave holding to competitions. As you can see from my fat face, I gave it my all and got 19.x seconds for the (now official) World Record.

THIRD EVENT – The Hub

After the first two events, I was tied for first place with Harri Tolonen, and he has been the King of Hub for the past 12 months. My goal was to hit all my four lifts and hopefully get second or third place after Harri and Arto. My starting weight wad 30.00kg which was surprisingly easy, but I stuck to my game plan and called for 32.5kg. This is where four attempts came to play. All of us (Harri, Arto, Jouni and Harri) lifted 32.5kg easily, but they all went before me and called for huge jump to 37.5kg. Instead of following them I called for 33.75kg and got it easily and same for 35kg. I was all out of attempts, but even though 37.5kg should be a joke for Harri he missed it twice and so did Arto. The winner of the event was Jouni Mähönen from -93kg class with 37.5kg Hub lift.

FOURTH EVENT – IM Little Big Horn

At this point, I was sure I would win the competition if I didn´t make any stupid mistakes. My starting weight was 90kg which was 5 kilos higher than anyone else, which made me skeptical about my game plan. To my relief, 90kg came up easily, and so did 95kg, 97.5kg and 100kg (which was surprisingly easily); this was a meet PR for me. I ended up winning the event with Arto coming very close with easy 97.5kg, but just missing 100kg.

LAST EVENT – Wrist Roller 70kg

This was a new event for me, but I had tested it with SAWO grip group three weeks ago so I knew it was all about speed for me. I had quite decent lead already, but I was not about to go easy on the last event. So, with some rock music before my attempt and willingness to give it my all I had the weight up with the fastest time winning 3 events out of 5 in the overall competition and 4 out of 5 in open/+93kg class.

Overall, I think the competition was really well organized by Jouni Mähönen, World Heavy Events and the local gym. I´m sorry for mostly talking about “fat guys”, but that was my main focus that day. Finnish lower weight class males and females are from another level with huge lifts made by everyone.

Lift of the day was for sure by “Power” Mervi, who broke the IronMind World Record with 26.xkg lift. I´m sure Becca is going to be in trouble when Mervi gets more training experience.

Great performance brother! Looked like you had a great time! And broke a record in the process! Congratulations 

[Lucasraymond]

Congrats on the records man!! Strong lifts. 

[riccardomagni]

Great job...and to think that you are just getting warmed up!

Congratulations!!

[Bill Piche]

Congrats!

[anwnate]

Congrats!  

Nice breakdown of events.  I felt like I was there with you.