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2020 International King Kong Grip Challenge


Eric Roussin

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8th Annual International King Kong Grip Challenge

"The Biggest Grip Sport Contest on the Planet" 

Main Contest Date: Saturday, October 24th, 2020

Multi-City Mega Contest

 

Events:

Flask One Hand Pinch Deadlift (Barrel Strength) – 7.5” Lift
2.25” Crusher (FBBC) – 6” Lift
Grab Ball (FBBC) – 6” Lift
Little Big Horn (IronMind) – 6” Lift

 

Venues:

Ottawa, Ontario, Canada – Eric Roussin

Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada - Brad Provick

Waterloo, Ontario, Canada - Rob McMurren

St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada - Misel Jeddore

Detroit, Michigan, USA – Andrew Pantke

Newbury Park, California, USA - Riccardo Magni and Odd Haugen

Wyalusing, Pennsylvania, USA - Jedd Johnson

Maui, Hawaii, USA - John Oka

Gresham, Oregon, USA - Michael Thomas

Nashville, Tennessee, USA - Gil Goodman 

Carbondale, Colorado, USA - Steve Millard

Fort Worth, Texas, USA - Adam Glass

Lawrence, Kansas, USA - Chad Gustin

Wisconsin, USA - Allen Heineck

Bethesda, Ohio, USA - Mike Saffell

Kendallville, Indiana, USA - John O’Connor

Arendal, Norway - Thomas Larsen

St. Petersburg, Russia - Alexander Andreev

Heinola, Finland - Jesse Pynnönen 

Sumska, Ukraine - Ivan Pupchenko

Germany - Christoph Koch

Austria - Sirko Petermann and Patsy Luxnor

London, England - Lorna Paton and Jenn Tibbenham

Melbourne, Australia - Glenn Hunter

Sydney, Australia - Joe Hodgson

 


NOTE: I will be reaching out to last year’s promoters over the coming weeks and the list of locations will be updated as venues are confirmed. In the meantime, if you are potentially interested in hosting a venue and would like more information, please feel free to reach out to me via private message or by email (eroussin@rogers.com).

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For those who are curious, we decided to move to the 2.25” Crusher this year for a couple of reasons:

  • There will now be a consistent design across all devices (the 2.5” Crusher had undergone minor version updates over the years). The 2.25” also uses bushings, which elevates performance consistency to an even higher level.
  • The slightly smaller size may help smaller handed athletes to be more competitive and may make the results harder to predict (the 2.5” version had been contested for several years now).

Rest assured that we have no plans to remove the 2.25” Crusher from the King Kong lineup in the foreseeable future, so if you purchase one you won’t just be using it in one contest.

 

We went with the new Grab Ball device for this year’s “oddball” lift. I had always liked the FBBC Bomb as an event, but realized the challenges in judging the lift (it can be easy to “cheat”). Andrew came up with a design that maintained the spirit of the Bomb, but made cheating virtually impossible. This makes judging the lift a snap.

The decision to develop the Grab Ball was only made in January, and Andrew and I wanted to wait to announce the full lineup of events until the items were in stock for promoters and competitors to purchase.

Andrew will soon post a video demonstrating the Grab Ball lift.

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Awesome for both. As much as I like silly small implements like the stub it's weird in a multivenue contest where due to random weight fluctuations you have people winning or losing by 1/20th of a pound. These all look fun and not silly. 

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$165 for a 2.25 crusher?  Hard pass, sorry.  I wasn't going to win anyway but that cements it.

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10 minutes ago, 2sweetdadstrength said:

$165 for a 2.25 crusher?  Hard pass, sorry.  I wasn't going to win anyway but that cements it.

While training for the contest with the 2.25" Crusher would be best, using the 2" or 2.5" options would still be very beneficial if you're not interested in purchasing one. 

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2 hours ago, Eric Roussin said:

There will now be a consistent design across all devices (the 2.5” Crusher had undergone minor version updates over the years). The 2.25” also uses bushings, which elevates performance consistency to an even higher level.

I really appreciate that change. Great decision. I love the addition of the grab ball too, it adds the important fingertip support lift that often gets overlooked!

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@John McCarterIf you are hosting a venue again this year I might be able to make it out again.  Also, a KC-area strongman is interested and asked me if you were holding it again this year.  So I'll let him know if you are. 

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Some interesting additions, hub fans everywhere are outraged!

Jokes aside, like the design of the grip ball, good (and fair) test of fingertip strength

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Hello.  Good new interesting implements!  But.. Because of the global situation,ordering from usa is very expensive now.We have to pay extra customs now.  So if i would like to host king kong this year the cost will be over 500 euros easily. That risk is too much for one person so i am out this year.  We try to organize event under gripsport finland. Lets hope our members say yes for it.  Good training sets for all and stay out from corona 👊. Harri..

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On 3/12/2020 at 12:53 PM, 2sweetdadstrength said:

$165 for a 2.25 crusher?  Hard pass, sorry.  I wasn't going to win anyway but that cements it.

I will use a Rolling Thunder to train the event. It’s the same movement, uses the same tendons, muscles, ligaments, etc., and you can use more on the RT to train. I prefer not to spend travel money for another new implement either. But if you have a 2.5 inch crusher, train on it, the 2.25 will feel like a one inch bar on Contest Day.

Most of the time, I don’t have the actual implements, and use substitutes.The exception is I always buy the latest Weirdo gadget, which, despite my training with it, is a ridiculous disaster each time (I think not one, but FIVE women, beat me on the shallow hub last year,  (and I am a former World Recorder Holder on the IM Hub!)).

I have zero of the actual implements this time, and of course I will buy this year’s latest Weirdo implement (Grab Ball). It’s inexpensive, and is unlike any prior gadget (but similar to the Bomb, which I hated and sold years ago). Maybe this time I will beat all the women on the Weirdo gadget, which is getting increasingly difficult to do as they up their game, and my Medicare Card gets more use.

I usually do best on events where I don’t have the official implement (Flask for example). Don’t let a quarter of an inch on an implement stop you from having a good time.  King Kong is fun, and it’s something to look forward to doing in a post-Corona Virus world in 7 months.

Edited by Hubgeezer
Researched and discovered five women pulled more than I on the 2019 KK Weirdo Gadget
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Grab ball looks really fun - can't wait to try it! 

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On 3/13/2020 at 7:03 PM, Hartsavain said:

Hello.  Good new interesting implements!  But.. Because of the global situation,ordering from usa is very expensive now.We have to pay extra customs now.  So if i would like to host king kong this year the cost will be over 500 euros easily. That risk is too much for one person so i am out this year.  We try to organize event under gripsport finland. Lets hope our members say yes for it.  Good training sets for all and stay out from corona 👊. Harri..

Very unfortunate but I understand where you're coming from, with the replacement crusher and grab ball, we're looking at a $650-750 comp

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Already up to nine confirmed venues with a good geographical spread. Locations are listed in the first post.

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Just got the new equipment in the mail. Looks and feels awesome! Time to go chalk some implements *rubs hands maniacally*

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I broke in my grab ball yesterday and I really like the implement. If you get a chance to, work out on this implement before King Kong. I expected it to be similar to a hub in weight but I was very surprised by what I ended up pulling.

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1 hour ago, Tom Flesher said:

I broke in my grab ball yesterday and I really like the implement. If you get a chance to, work out on this implement before King Kong. I expected it to be similar to a hub in weight but I was very surprised by what I ended up pulling.

Hopefully more than the hub!

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Tips Tester got together with the Bomb over a beer - the result is the Grab Ball :) .  Nice idea Andrew!

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Tested the FBBC 2.25" crusher and FBBC grab ball this A.M. - The 2.25" crusher is an incredibly well-constructed handle,  which  spins very well, has nice texture- truly a GREAT handle! I predict a few men will be over 250lbs. The grab ball is very cool and solid construction - it will be a fun lift and I will say top guys will be over 200lbs. 

Edited by Kluv#0
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I ordered my grab ball a day or so ago -- can't wait to try it.  The 2.25 crusher I will have to defer.  I don't call foul on the pricing, as it may well be an awesome implement that costs a lot to make, but it is too rich for my blood right now so I will have to wait on it.

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1 hour ago, Vinnie said:

I ordered my grab ball a day or so ago -- can't wait to try it.  The 2.25 crusher I will have to defer.  I don't call foul on the pricing, as it may well be an awesome implement that costs a lot to make, but it is too rich for my blood right now so I will have to wait on it.

There's value in training on a thicker bar anyway, at least for a while.

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On 3/12/2020 at 3:22 PM, Eric Roussin said:

We went with the new Grab Ball device for this year’s “oddball” lift.

Wait, was this pun intended?

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The confirmed venue list keeps growing... (see first post)

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