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Brian Shaw cut from Arnold Strongman Classic in 2020 - Enter Grip?


DAVE101

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Being edged out by Martins Licis in the Arnold USA this weekend, Brian Shaw has missed his last chance to qualify for the Arnold in Columbus, Ohio this year. He has not won the Classic since 2017, World's Strongest Man since 2016, and didn't place at either comp last year. Brian will be 38 this year, and yes, Big Z (Zydrunas Savickas) won his final Arnold Classic after 40, but he did not have the playing field that Shaw now has. I don't think Brian is getting weaker, but he certainly isn't getting stronger, and it's going to be hard for him to keep up with these 29-31 year olds.

Could this be the end of Brian Shaw's Strongman career? And if so, will he dive deeper into the grip world and start dominating this sport?

 

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I know @SarahChappelow joked that since won't be at the Arnold Strongman, maybe he should lift for the Arnold Armlifting. That would be a hoot.

Maybe a guest appearance?

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Dave,

I highly doubt it.  There is barely any incentive for him to seriously get involved and invest the time and money it takes to get involved  in a sport that has absolutely  no money or sponsorship  at all in it outside of a “free griplement” or a bucket of protein powder here or there. Otherwise  we would see more retired strongmen doing it. Would be cool if he did, though.

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41 minutes ago, Joseph Sullivan said:

Dave,

I highly doubt it.  There is barely any incentive for him to seriously get involved and invest the time and money it takes to get involved  in a sport that has absolutely  no money or sponsorship  at all in it outside of a “free griplement” or a bucket of protein powder here or there. Otherwise  we would see more retired strongmen doing it. Would be cool if he did, though.

2X on this ^ 

I would imagine a WWE shot or even something more direct in acting/entertaining. With that said even when he dabbles in grip its interesting to see the result 

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1 hour ago, devinhoo said:

I know @SarahChappelow joked that since won't be at the Arnold Strongman, maybe he should lift for the Arnold Armlifting. That would be a hoot.

Maybe a guest appearance?

A month ago I would have said No Way, but after Mark Felix signed up, I guess you never know what could happen.  

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Just now, SarahChappelow said:

A month ago I would have said No Way, but after Mark Felix signed up, I guess you never know what could happen.  

Big difference. Mark has been involved in grip contest for years and is not on the same level as Shaw strongman wise. 

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9 minutes ago, SarahChappelow said:

A month ago I would have said No Way, but after Mark Felix signed up, I guess you never know what could happen.  

Mark has always “dabbled” in grip. He is one of the very very few.

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I wouldn't be surprised. Sometimes people do things that they like. It is clear that Shaw really enjoys grip stuff. Very low likelihood that he will injure himself competing in grip at the Arnold, so why not?

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It all comes down to the incentives. Especially at that level. He’s probably not going to spend money to do it. I could be wrong and it would be interesting if I am, but I just don’t see it happening unless he happens to be at the place that’s having one doing something else. 

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I think there is a better chance when Shaw is towards the end of his strongman career. 

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21 minutes ago, Joseph Sullivan said:

It all comes down to the incentives. Especially at that level. He’s probably not going to spend money to do it. I could be wrong and it would be interesting if I am, but I just don’t see it happening unless he happens to be at the place that’s having one doing something else. 

I wasn't sure if he might be have obligations to his sponsors that might have him in Columbus anyways.  Like for meet and greet purposes at the expo. 

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I know there's no money in grip, but I doubt any of us do it for the financial incentive. I'm sure he probably got into strongman initially because he was good at it and because he enjoyed it. What's to say he won't (eventually) get more into grip too?

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3 minutes ago, devinhoo said:

I know there's no money in grip, but I doubt any of us do it for the financial incentive. I'm sure he probably got into strongman initially because he was good at it and because he enjoyed it. What's to say he won't (eventually) get more into grip too?

Yes, he actually talked about that in a recent video.

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9 minutes ago, devinhoo said:

I know there's no money in grip, but I doubt any of us do it for the financial incentive. I'm sure he probably got into strongman initially because he was good at it and because he enjoyed it. What's to say he won't (eventually) get more into grip too?

Because he’s big time and used to a certain level of perks and notoriety  that don’t come from a grip competition.

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I agree with the above and the others who said he would most likely set his sights on something lucrative. Maybe he will play around with grip for his YouTube like Juji does from time to time but doubtful he will do more. And I also agree he is winding down and will never regain his top form now. Time waits for no one and to compete at the upper echelon only happens for a relatively short window. 

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If he’s gonna move on to a smaller sport, I’d like to see him go to arm wrestling or powerlifting over grip. I’d especially like to see what he could do in geared powerlifting. Would be way more fun to watch, imo. Brian has hinted at going to arm wrestling after he retires from strongman. And given his size, height, long arms, should he heavily pursue arm wrestling, he will without a doubt be a force to be reckoned with. Plus, in the event he goes to arm wrestling, I have no doubts he could still make a decent living. Obviously not as lucrative as something like WWE. But still, a comfortable living.

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I tend to think Brian needs to figure out of he can get into better condition overall.  I get the impression he is getting beat purely because of this fact.  Brute strength. No.  

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2 minutes ago, Wannagrip said:

I tend to think Brian needs to figure out of he can get into better condition overall.  I get the impression he is getting beat purely because of this fact.  Brute strength. No.  

I agree. It appears that most of the events he loses are simply on his lack of speed compared to the other guys.

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Just now, Tommy J. said:

I agree. It appears that most of the events he loses are simply on his lack of speed compared to the other guys.

Speed and conditioning. 

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He's busy doing those 20,000+ calorie meals :D 

All that effort could go to actually improving as a strongman instead.

 

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Grip is just too small a game for them to “seriously” get involved. By “them” I mean worlds strongest man types that are now used to getting big money prizes, incentives and sponsorship etc etc..... Until people start caring, meaning more than just the few hundred we know of, that is not gonna happen. Even the general public that knows nothing about strongman or even powerlifting seem to care somewhat about it. You mention grip to the average person and even the average gym goer, they glaze over and don’t get it until they try it. The bottom line is, money and incentive for these guys, and for the general public, seeing 100 pounds lifted on a pinch block or 200 on a rolling handle or shutting a big gripper just doesn’t have that “wow factor”... because they can’t relate to it. I remember the first time I saw videos of Grip I was like “ what the heck is this stuff, and it doesn’t look hard at all”. And that was as a person who knew his way around the gym. Just imagine what the general public thinks. That is why it doesn’t grow more. No one can relate and the ones that can don’t care enough to do. 

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3 hours ago, Wannagrip said:

I tend to think Brian needs to figure out of he can get into better condition overall.  I get the impression he is getting beat purely because of this fact.  Brute strength. No.  

Brian actually did just that for this comp.  He hasn't been in this kind of shape in 6 or 7 years.  He looked much quicker on the live stream.  Almost worked.  He was one bag fumble away from beating the reigning WSM.  Still only lost by a point.  Now he gets to concentrate on peaking for the big show, while Thor and Licis get to peak twice.

While I think the window is closing, I wouldn't quite count him out yet.  Definitely not the favorite, but if he continues to improve his conditioning and his glass hamstrings hold up...

00 00 Screenshot_20200121-091100_YouTube.jpg

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9 hours ago, Tommy J. said:

If he’s gonna move on to a smaller sport, I’d like to see him go to arm wrestling or powerlifting over grip. I’d especially like to see what he could do in geared powerlifting. Would be way more fun to watch, imo. Brian has hinted at going to arm wrestling after he retires from strongman. And given his size, height, long arms, should he heavily pursue arm wrestling, he will without a doubt be a force to be reckoned with. Plus, in the event he goes to arm wrestling, I have no doubts he could still make a decent living. Obviously not as lucrative as something like WWE. But still, a comfortable living.

Agreed.  I think he could make a big splash in PL.  Unfortunately, he'd probably have to bulk back up and healthwise, probably not the best idea.  He's a strength and power guy.  Not so much a speed guy.  It would be all kinds of fun to see how much he could total weighing in at 500 lbs on that 6'9" frame.  I think he could definitely have a shot at Bennie's raw DL record if his hamstrings held up.  His learning curve wouldn't be all that great either.  If he hired Josh Bryant to coach him on the bench, he could probably get to a reasonable number there with those long arms and relative lack of experience.  That would be his weakest lift by far. 

AW would be really fun as well.  He could even lean out more than he is and still have a size advantage over almost everyone.  400 lbs with that strength and those long levers... he would definitely be in the mix as a top 10 heavyweight within a couple years.  Too late for him to be the best I think, but he could definitely be more than just competitive and make a few bucks.

As for grip, I just think it is too small to even be on his radar at this point in his life.  Guy is driving around in a $100K pickup truck.  He makes more money on youtube or one sponsor deal in a month than the value of all grip contest prizes ever given out.  He might show up to a contest here or there as fun, or to get content for his youtube page, but I can't imagine him ever taking it seriously.  Obviously he would be one of, if not the, best ever within a very short period of time if he did.  I just think it's a grip guy pipe dream.

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1 hour ago, Mike Rinderle said:

Brian actually did just that for this comp.  He hasn't been in this kind of shape in 6 or 7 years.  He looked much quicker on the live stream.  Almost worked.  He was one bag fumble away from beating the reigning WSM.  Still only lost by a point.  Now he gets to concentrate on peaking for the big show, while Thor and Licis get to peak twice.

While I think the window is closing, I wouldn't quite count him out yet.  Definitely not the favorite, but if he continues to improve his conditioning and his glass hamstrings hold up...

00 00 Screenshot_20200121-091100_YouTube.jpg

 

59 minutes ago, Mike Rinderle said:

Agreed.  I think he could make a big splash in PL.  Unfortunately, he'd probably have to bulk back up and healthwise, probably not the best idea.  He's a strength and power guy.  Not so much a speed guy.  It would be all kinds of fun to see how much he could total weighing in at 500 lbs on that 6'9" frame.  I think he could definitely have a shot at Bennie's raw DL record if his hamstrings held up.  His learning curve wouldn't be all that great either.  If he hired Josh Bryant to coach him on the bench, he could probably get to a reasonable number there with those long arms and relative lack of experience.  That would be his weakest lift by far. 

AW would be really fun as well.  He could even lean out more than he is and still have a size advantage over almost everyone.  400 lbs with that strength and those long levers... he would definitely be in the mix as a top 10 heavyweight within a couple years.  Too late for him to be the best I think, but he could definitely be more than just competitive and make a few bucks.

As for grip, I just think it is too small to even be on his radar at this point in his life.  Guy is driving around in a $100K pickup truck.  He makes more money on youtube or one sponsor deal in a month than the value of all grip contest prizes ever given out.  He might show up to a contest here or there as fun, or to get content for his youtube page, but I can't imagine him ever taking it seriously.  Obviously he would be one of, if not the, best ever within a very short period of time if he did.  I just think it's a grip guy pipe dream.

I agree with every word in both these posts. And I had not considered Brian getting a break before worlds by not having to compete in the Arnold. Now that you point that out, he may be smarter than we think!.. 🧐 it had to of crossed his mind that “if I win this, Arnold next. But if I don’t, I get more time to be 110% for worlds.” Seems like a legit gamble. Albeit one that eliminates possible purse from the Arnold.

if that’s what he’s doing, I could definitely see him taking the win at Worlds. And if that’s the case, I think it would do his retirement a justice ($$$!) through many different possible avenues if he left right after one more worlds win. It would also officially, no question about it, lock him in forever as one of the greatest strongmen that ever lived. He already technically is, but he’d have the multiple world titles to back it. That would be kind of cool!

i do admit though I’m not a die hard Shaw fan. I mean I dig that he’s from the USA and represents. I’m more of a Team Pritchett guy though. He’s has the blue collar background thing going on that us blue collar guys can better relate to. Would love to see him (Jerry) win at just 1 worlds, and or beat Eddies DL record. Jerry is my guy. No gayway. 

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Btw, looking at Brian’s pics above, some of the podium finishing guys are pretty darn lean for 400lb + dudes.. I’m betting he’s in the high 20% body fat here. As is Thor. Which is incredible lean given their size!

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