2019 February - Canadian National Grip Sport Championships - Eric Roussin

February 25, 2019

Yesterday I had the pleasure of hosting the fifth annual Canadian National Grip Sport Championships. The event has steadily grown over the years: the 2019 contest had more than twice as many competitors as the first one in 2015.

Almost all of the top gripsters from the eastern half of the country made the trip to Ottawa, including the entire crew that attended the 2018 NAGS Championship (with the exception of Tom Bryson who lives in Alberta). I knew some big weights would be lifted. I was particularly interested in seeing how Yves Gravelle, a 66kg elite climber, would do because his training lifts leading up to the contest had been insane!

The contest was run using a last-man-standing format, with the weight moving up in pre-set increments. Each competitor could choose to attempt a given weight or pass and wait for a heavier weight. 60-second trips to the platform, with unlimited attempts during each trip. Once a lifter failed at a given weight, he/she was out of the event.

Up first was the two-hand Flask, with weight moving up in 5kg jumps. I had done very little training with the Flask, because my thumb webbing would tear each session (my webbing seems to tear more easily than most). So most of my pinch training was dynamic with the Titan’s Telegraph Key. I also occasionally trained with my Sorinex Saxon Bar, which features more rounded edges. I had never maxed out on the Flask, so I didn’t really know what I could do. I was hoping to lift at least 200 lbs. I made it up to a hair under 217! At that point, I was the last man standing. I could have attempted 228, but decided to save my energy for the other events. Yves, who happens to live five minutes away from me and has become a regular training partner, made a costly error. In training, he had lifted more than 230 lbs, so he was very confident. He got an initial lift in at 150 lbs, but then passed several times until the weight was over 200 lbs. And when he was up, he just wasn’t properly warmed up. He got the weight off the ground several times, but couldn’t get it up the required 7.5”. A lesson learned for next time.

Next up was the 2 3/8” Napalm’s Nightmare, with weight moving up in 10kg increments. I expected to do well in this event, because I’d been doing a ton of axle work. I would have been disappointed with anything less than 425 lbs, but I went way beyond this. I managed to lift 454+ lbs, and felt like I had even more in the tank. This time, I was very tempted to go for the next weight of 477. Would I have gotten it? Probably not, but with the way the 454 felt, I wouldn’t have been surprised to get it off the floor. But, I decided to hold off on the temptation to push myself to the max. I hope to do this next weekend at the Arnolds. Yves lifted an incredible 388 lbs, which I suspect will remain the 66kg world record for a long time (until he breaks it again ). Big Justin Major was also in great shape, lifting 432.

The Silver Bullet was up next. I’m still not confident that I can set my #4 and get a two-second minimum hold with it (the requirement for this contest). So I went straight for the 3.5 and managed a good hold of 16 seconds. I was very satisfied with this.

On to the IronMind hub, with weight moving up in 2kg increments. I was aiming for 64 or 65 lbs, a weight I’ve lifted in several contests. But on this day I fell a bit short, lifting 60. I’m not a big fan of hubs. Mark Lacina, on the other hand, loves the hub and he demolished his Canadian record with a lift of just under 78 lbs.

The Wrist Wrench, on the other hand, I like. I feel it’s a great test of wrist flexion strength – the type of strength that is a major requirement in armwrestling. Weight was going up in 2.5kg jumps. I knew we would all be chasing Justin on this one. Last year he lifted 127 lbs. On this day he didn’t quite reach this level. He lifted 117 and I was fortunate to tie him. A PR for me. Matt Smith, a lightweight armwrestler, once again lifted over 100 lbs, as did Yves.

For the Dub Cube Coin lift, I expected Mark to be the favourite. He won the Dube Cube Bearing lift at last year’s contest, and the Coin is very similar. This year, I managed to lift 35 lbs. Mark lifted this weight as well, but stopped millimeters short of the crossbar. 1kg jumps on this event.

Finishing off the contest was a 40-item medley. Four-minute time limit. Full lockout wasn’t a requirement. Demonstration of control was. So no dropping was allowed. I was very confident I’d do well in this event. I figured if everything went perfectly for me, I could get 39 of 40. I wasn’t even going to try to rip a deck of cards. (I’ve successfully ripped full decks before, but it always required a significant amount of effort and took a long time.) The other item that I thought might stump me was the Blob50, which I cannot lift consistently. Turns out it was my day. I completed 39 challenges and had 30 seconds to spare. I could have used the time to try the deck of cards, but I hadn’t even taken the time to unwrap a deck prior to my run, so I decided to forget it. Andrew Dube and Rob McMurren both tore decks in their medley runs. And Yves lifted the Inch!

In the end, I was able to find my way to the top of the overall standings once more.

Thank you to all of the competitors who made the trek, and to Andrew Dube and IronMind for donating prizes.