North American Grip Sport Rankings

[Kluv#0]

Kinda off topic- IMO,  ideal contest lineup 

1. Grippers (20 mm block set)

2. Wrist Wrench

3. 2HP Original Saxon Bar

4. Tips Tester

5. 15-25 item Medley

[Vinnie]

1 hour ago, Kluv#0 said:

Kinda off topic- IMO,  ideal contest lineup 

1. Grippers (20 mm block set)

2. Wrist Wrench

3. 2HP Original Saxon Bar

4. Tips Tester

5. 15-25 item Medley

I do like that lineup -- I find the wrist wrench bafflingly hard, but worthwhile, and medleys are just freaking fun, as long as they are not too heavy on one particular thing.

[Vinnie]

Just now, Vinnie said:

I do like that lineup -- I find the wrist wrench bafflingly hard, but worthwhile, and medleys are just freaking fun, as long as they are not too heavy on one particular thing.

And grippers and 2HP are probably my two personal fave grip events of all time.

[Kluv#0]

14 minutes ago, Vinnie said:

And grippers and 2HP are probably my two personal fave grip events of all time.

No doubt Vinnie, you are an excellent all-around gripster and those 2 areas of grip you do extremely good

[Chez]

2 hours ago, Climber028 said:

If anything it's only a problem for people like Chez. If a tiny new guy came in competitors are always pouring on helpful advice, but he's so strong that everybody might just assume he doesn't need any advice or warning or word of caution. 

 Because of my size this actually happened. I went to a AW practice and a super experienced guy flash pinned me. I saw it in his eyes and just let it Happen without resistance. I have seen it in AW before. Someone experienced goes way to hard with someone new and hurts them. AW is not the same as weights because you are up against an opponent and have no idea what he will do and his experience level 

Edited September 16, 2021 by Chez

[Chez]

No one holds back in a competition with the adrenaline and crowd cheering you on. We all go for it when we compete. And AW and weight lifting and strongman have been around for decades. Everyone knows those events. They are super easy to research. Our sport, only our small community knows 

Edited September 16, 2021 by Chez

[Chez]

2 hours ago, climber511 said:

It's human nature to "go for it" at a comp in front of a bunch of people - the added excitement helps us to "turn off the governor" so to speak.  that said the more catastrophic injuries usually happen to the strong experienced people - they simply have more ability to get close to a muscle or tendons absolute limits.  Weaker people "tweak" stuff - strong people "rip that sucker".  

This! The stronger you get. The easier is to get hurt. I hope mike doesn’t take offense to this but he doesn’t have a lifting background so it’s way harder for him to hurt himself 

[Chez]

1 minute ago, Joe Sullivan said:

It’s the same concept of a resistance with possibility of injury. As with anything physical. Can happen either way and to limit something for the possibility of injury would limit many things....

I have to disagree with you. Weight lifting is super different. If you practice a lift and how to warm up it’s the same basic movement. In AW. The guy you are against can do a number of things and it’s just way more dynamic 

[Chez]

1 minute ago, Joe Sullivan said:

Every lift needs to be learned or there is a possibility of an injury. Just because strongman, weightlifting, powerlifting or arm wrestling have been around doesn’t mean someone knows how to do them and can hurt themselves. It is what it is and would limit a lot if we said no because of an injury possibility. You injure yourself all the time on grippers.... you don’t stop doing grippers.... that’s your choice. Same for the events in a competition. Choose to do or not do.  

Joe the difference is the lack of knowledge about grip events. I bring grip stuff to my commercial gym all the time and people always come up to me like “what’s that?”. And yes we do have the ability to pick what we compete in. But if you run a comp with a dangerous event, which very few people know about you should go over the risk and over proper technique cause this stuff isn’t well known to the general public 

[Climber028]

I do have a lifting background, I also have immense experience with climbing injuries and have helped dozens of people treat theirs. I've also been studying strength and fitness for more than half of life. 

The reason I don't injure myself is because I know that tendons strengthen slower than muscles and account for that in my training. It also helps that I don't have an ego and know when something is plausible to cause injury, I simply won't do it and no crowd or adrenaline or competition is going to change that. 

Each person is responsible for their body, and that's it. I don't see how it could go any other way. 

 

[Climber028]

2 minutes ago, Chez said:

Joe the difference is the lack of knowledge about grip events. I bring grip stuff to my commercial gym all the time and people always come up to me like “what’s that?”. And yes we do have the ability to pick what we compete in. But if you run a comp with a dangerous event, which very few people know about you should go over the risk and over proper technique cause this stuff isn’t well known to the general public 

I agree with you that going over safety is a good idea, and I see that done often with the weird lifts. I only disagree that there is such a thing as a dangerous lift, or that anybody is responsible for your body except you. 

It would have to be an extreme example like a pull up style event where the rack collapses, obviously that's not your fault and the promoter has the responsibility in that case. 

[Chez]

3 minutes ago, Climber028 said:

I agree with you that going over safety is a good idea, and I see that done often with the weird lifts. I only disagree that there is such a thing as a dangerous lift, or that anybody is responsible for your body except you. 

It would have to be an extreme example like a pull up style event where the rack collapses, obviously that's not your fault and the promoter has the responsibility in that case. 

Whenever I go to the gym and bring my grip stuff, someone wants to try and I see some really weird stuff. People try to curl the crusher or lift it over their toes etc. I stop them immediately and go over proper technique. It’s the right thing to do. I wouldn’t just throw a newbie to something without going over it And that is a super basic lift

Edited September 16, 2021 by Chez

[Climber028]

1 minute ago, Chez said:

Whenever I go to the gym and bring my grip stuff, someone wants to try and I see some really weird stuff. People try to curl the crusher or lift it over their toes etc. I stop them immediately and go over proper technique. It’s the right thing to do. I wouldn’t just throw a newbie to something without going over it And that is a super basic lift

Yea, again you're not wrong that safety is a good idea to discuss. I just still hold the user responsible, in this and in all circumstances. If you don't know how to scuba dive, don't do it, and if you choose to do it it's you're fault when you die. 

Nobody is responsible for your health except for you. Nobody is forcing you to do any lift, event, competitor, or activity, those are all choices. 

[Chez]

Just now, Climber028 said:

Yea, again you're not wrong that safety is a good idea to discuss. I just still hold the user responsible, in this and in all circumstances. If you don't know how to scuba dive, don't do it, and if you choose to do it it's you're fault when you die. 

Nobody is responsible for your health except for you. Nobody is forcing you to do any lift, event, competitor, or activity, those are all choices. 

Scuba diving.....everyone knows you can die from that. There is even a certification for it. Problem with grip is the weights are so low, people outside our sport think you canT get hurt. My training partner has competed in Powerlifting for 40 years. He heard about the weights on our events and thought it was a joke but then I had him try them and he was shocked 

[Climber028]

It doesn't matter what it is. It's up to you to evaluate the risks on any activity you're about to complete. 

I know we live in a society that has to label toasters to tell people not to use them in a bathtub, but that is stupid. 

[Climber028]

7 minutes ago, Chez said:

Scuba diving.....everyone knows you can die from that. There is even a certification for it. Problem with grip is the weights are so low, people outside our sport think you canT get hurt. My training partner has competed in Powerlifting for 40 years. He heard about the weights on our events and thought it was a joke but then I had him try them and he was shocked 

Sure, but I can go buy scuba equipment right now and hop in a lake without anybody stopping me. If I do that, and I die, it is 100% my fault. 

I had the choice to learn, or ask, or do research, but I chose not to and instead caused my own death. 

[Tommy J.]

Personally, aside certain rules of certain lifts I find to be un practical (like the hilt), I don’t think “safety” is a particularly strong angle to debate from. A few tried that angle with the axle over the years and i single handedly steam rolled every debate that attempted to cite safety in an attempt to boycott the axle.

it’s actually a lot more solid of an angle to simply say “I just don’t like the lift” or “I don’t think it should be in a comp because I’m not good at it.” Those angles at least appear honest…

[Tommy J.]

11 minutes ago, Joe Sullivan said:

YESSSSSSSSSS!!!!!

That’s not to say I’m defending seemingly abstract implements tho. I still say things should stay simple implement wise. But safety of a said implement itself will never be a leverage for me. I will contest rules of a said lift tho. Example- no plate movement on hilt. I hate that. It’s dumb on multiple levels. And it’s a rule derived from someone who isn’t good at VBAR style lifts. And instead of just skipping it, they want to change something about it so they can win.

which brings me full circle back to my previous post… if you don’t like the lift, just say so. No one will judge that angle. Not with any substance anyways.

here’s an example. I don’t like yellow vehicles. …now attempt to debate me about it.

you see what I’m saying? You can’t make me like something.. now what if I’d have said “I don’t think yellow vehicles are safe”. in that case you’ve got all kinds of angles to invalidate my claim.

[Chez]

32 minutes ago, Tommy J. said:

That’s not to say I’m defending seemingly abstract implements tho. I still say things should stay simple implement wise. But safety of a said implement itself will never be a leverage for me. I will contest rules of a said lift tho. Example- no plate movement on hilt. I hate that. It’s dumb on multiple levels. And it’s a rule derived from someone who isn’t good at VBAR style lifts. And instead of just skipping it, they want to change something about it so they can win.

which brings me full circle back to my previous post… if you don’t like the lift, just say so. No one will judge that angle. Not with any substance anyways.

here’s an example. I don’t like yellow vehicles. …now attempt to debate me about it.

you see what I’m saying? You can’t make me like something.. now what if I’d have said “I don’t think yellow vehicles are safe”. in that case you’ve got all kinds of angles to invalidate my claim.

Tommy we go back a long way but this isn’t about being bad at something. Many people on this forum will remember I always competed in the axle with super bad ankle issues for years (Generic issue I finally got fixed) and limped around all comp due to the event putting stress on the ankle and never said anything about the axle. It’s a deadlift and light one so it’s not the same 

[Chez]

I remember the axle thread and the people complaining about it either didn’t lift or had underlying injuries. Very different 

[Tommy J.]

I’m still chomping about the hilt… lol!

is the hilt inherently unsafe?.. I think it’s not. So long as you stay pronated or pronate as you lift. Deleting hand rotation and plate movement during the lift I guess sort of does add a danger factor, only IF you pull supinated. Which I haven’t seen anyone do in person.. but it could happen. I just don’t like the rule. So I passed not only on the lift, but the whole comp.

[Climber028]

I've watched people pull supinated on Vbars and excaliber type lifts like the hilt or the anvil and it's definitely scary to witness. 

[Chez]

I see people pull pronated on that stuff all the time cause it actually ups their numbers 

[Tommy J.]

13 minutes ago, Chez said:

Tommy we go back a long way but this isn’t about being bad at something. Many people on this forum will remember I always competed in the axle with super bad ankle issues for years (Generic issue I finally got fixed) and limped around all comp due to the event putting stress on the ankle and never said anything about the axle. It’s a deadlift and light one so it’s not the same 

No no, I hope I didn’t come off like I was implying you are bad at the lift. That is “a” factor for some to boycott tho. For sure. And likely a very common reason. I believe your concern is legit. You did indeed get injured on the implement. So there is no confusion on my end as to why your not a fan of it.

I only point out the debate angles in general. It’s too difficult to win a debate on safety. And is much easier to win by simply saying “I hate that event” or something similar. When promoters realize people aren’t showing up because of events, they will change it up, or stop promoting in general, depending on the individual.

for the record, I’m with you on the tips tester over all. I don’t like it. (Sorry Chris!). I don’t like a lot of abstract implements to be honest, albeit actually being good at a few of them!

And I’m not traveling hundreds of miles to contest an event I don’t even like. My stance could come off as smug to some.. but they can’t really say anything about it. Not anything meaningful anyways.

I mean if they tried it might go something like this “what’s the matter Tommy? You scared I might beat you in my 13lb pinky behind the back lift?” …..and my response to that might look like “um….. yeah bro.. totally scared someone might think your pinky behind the back lift game shits all over me…. ”

Edited September 16, 2021 by Tommy J.

[Tommy J.]

Personally, as far as grip I’m only impressed with big thickbar lifts, big pinch lifts of various widths, big crush feats, big plate curls when done strict, and am somewhat partial to VBAR style lifts. And any of those variations as it relates to BW. Like for example a heavy ass rolling handle pull-up or pinch pull-up. And also still got a lot of love for steel bending.

beyond those, the only other arm/hand feat I care to participate in is arm wrestling.

everything else (grip wise that you might train) only has merit if it applies directly to what you do outside of grip. Like the tips tester. Invented by a climber, FOR climbers. In that environment I believe it and other lifts I may consider abstract (no offense!), may be great implements to train.

but for grip comps? Skip those.

 

btw I want to piggy back of joes sentiments on arm wrestling. Arm wrestling is dangerous. Even people who don’t pull regularly sense danger there. Yet it’s more popular than ever. Proving that debating from a safety perspective is almost a non point. In fact, there are actually a ton of sports out there where the danger factor is actually the only factor that makes them appealing. Rodeos, auto racing, sky diving, prize fighting, you name it.