For me, hosting and competing often works out better. I spend much less time thinking about my performance, which I think is good because it means I have less time to put pressure on myself. I've noticed the same thing in armwrestling contests that I organize.

Legend in the strength community.  His legacy will persist for generations.

Hey guys, my names Kody and I’ve been serious about grip training (mainly grippers) for about three months now… it’s quickly becoming a serious addiction haha! I am 32 years old, 6’3 and 270 lbs and have been playing sports and weight lifting on and off most of my adult life and can currently close a #2 CoC with both hands after grip focused training. My main goals are to certify on the #3 CoC and to get involved in this great community as much as possible! 

This news completely floored me, and I'm still spinning from it. Eric Roussin allowed me to do a dedication prior to the first event of Day 2 of the North American Grip Sport Championship. Here is the short speech I prepared. "I woke this morning to learn that our Lord needed someone with a strong Grip. He called Richard Sorin.  The man called Pops, the Grip Legend, himself, has passed away. Over 20 years ago, one of the first people I learned about in the world of Grip was Richard Sorin. The first Captain of Crush. The man who coined the term Blob, he the challenged himself to lift a half 100lb York Dumbbell with a pinch grip, and was successful in doing so. Richard was my main inspiration in Grip. He's the reason I fell in love with the practice of developing a well rounded strong grip.  Over the years, any time I accomplished a major goal, he was one of the first I shared the news with. The Double Old School York 45s pinch, the Thomas Inch Dumbbell Clean, just to name a couple. I had the honor of holding the Global Grip Challenge at his facility, Sorinex, in 2006 and I was the MC at Summer Strong at Sorinex in 2011.  Today, as we chalk our hands and take our Grips, remember that Richard Sorin was a pioneer and paved the way for us all. And remember that no matter how well we chalk up, and how good of a grip we think we have, the people we love and look up to can be taken away from us without warning. And now, I ask for a moment of silence as I perform a 10-bell salute to the great Richard Sorin. Thank you."   I then took a Silver Bullet disk and chimed it 10 times.

Here's the email I just sent out to my newsletter lists. Kind of a rundown of how everything went for me, as well as a salute to Richard Sorin, who passed away on Saturday. Over the weekend, my buddy, Luke, and I, made the trip up to Gatinau, Quebec, Canada for the North American Grip Sport Championship.   What a trip and what a contest!  My brain is still cloudy after the whirlwind weekend and getting home at 3am.   Eric Roussin, the Canadian Champion, ran the contest and put in probably the best performances I've ever seen him do in person, which is truly something to be said, given the fact that he moved in thousands of pounds of gear the day before the contest, and ran the entire event through both days.   There were many impressive performances at the event. I was a bit disappointed in the numbers I put up, as I just couldn't seem to put it all together, especially on Day 1. I found myself in a very deep hole when Day 1 ended.   Day 2 started off even worse, as I heard some of the worst news ever, when I woke up.  Luke was already awake in our hotel room, and told me that he had been informed that the great Richard Sorin had passed away.   The news rocked me and I shed many tears.  It was a struggle to get through the morning.  It was labor to get a shower, get dressed, and make my way outside.   While outside, I wrote Eric to ask if I could give a speech regarding Richard before we started, which he said would be fine. I made my way outside and wrote the speech that I gave at the beginning of the first live stream for Day 2.   Here's what I delivered:   "I woke this morning to learn that our Lord needed someone with a strong Grip. He called Richard Sorin.  The man called Pops, the Grip Legend, himself, has passed away. Over 20 years ago, one of the first people I learned about in the world of Grip was Richard Sorin. The first Captain of Crush. The man who coined the term Blob, he the challenged himself to lift a half 100lb York Dumbbell with a pinch grip, and was successful in doing so. Richard was my main inspiration in Grip. He's the reason I fell in love with the practice of developing a well rounded strong grip.  Over the years, any time I accomplished a major goal, he was one of the first I shared the news with. The Double Old School York 45s pinch, the Thomas Inch Dumbbell Clean, just to name a couple. I had the honor of holding the Global Grip Challenge at his facility, Sorinex, in 2006 and I was the MC at Summer Strong at Sorinex in 2011.  Today, as we chalk our hands and take our Grips, remember that Richard Sorin was a pioneer and paved the way for us all. And remember that no matter how well we chalk up, and how good of a grip we think we have, the people we love and look up to can be taken away from us without warning. And now, I ask for a moment of silence as I perform a 10-bell salute to the great Richard Sorin. Thank you."   I then took a Silver Bullet disk and chimed it 10 times.   With the loss of one of my biggest inspirations on my mind, I prepared for the first of the last 3 events of the competition, and set an all-time PR on the first event, with 127.5kg/281.08lbs.  I think it was quite fitting that my only PR at the competition was on the Pinch event, given that Richard was also a mighty Pinch master.   The other events did not go as well, and when it was all said and done, I finished 2nd in the 120kg class and 4th overall.  Not terrible, and not my worst outing ever, but nowhere near good enough for the tremendous gathering of talent at the competition.   A very interesting note - after about 10.5 years of trying, it was the first time Luke finished ahead of me in the overall standings of a competition.  Congrats to him, because he had to battle with some nagging injuries in his right hand and arms. The hostile takeover is complete, brotherrrrrr! Ha ha.   While I live streamed the entire event on my YouTube, I also took separate video of most of my attempts, and I plan on uploading that footage to my channel, as well, so stay tuned for that.   I want to thank everyone who tuned in and commented, although I didn't see many comments as I was just too overwhelmed with battling to overcome the deficit that I had put myself in.   It was tough breaking the news to my daughter that I didn't quite have it this weekend, but I let her know that sometimes you just can't pull off everything you need to be successful, and you just need to get back to work and start looking at the next opportunity.   Please keep Richard and his son, Bert, in your thoughts.  The Grip World lost a very important person over the weekend, but Bert lost his Father, which is even more devastating.   Thanks and all the best in your training.   NAPALM