Grip Rules

[Bob Lipinski]

Of course, this is no final list, but I have tried to write down a general consensus of what acceptable rules are for grip events. I have looked through various rule sets and copied them.

This will evolve of course as discussions continue.

If anyone sees anything glaringly wrong or missing however, let me know! Also it might be helpful to point out anything that needs to be clarified.

http://www.powerandbulk.com/ushandstrength/id2.html

[Jedd Johnson]

Bob, why would the quality specs for a pinch lift change between a normal lift and a record lift? The lift says it has to be lifted to a predertmined height normally, but for records, it must come up a foot.

Would double overhand be allowed in a Grip contest? The reason I ask is one would not need a superb grip to bend a hard length of steel in all cases. With enough wrapping and advantageous technique, a strong push bender will beat out another who is not as good at push bending in many cases. Or would the fact there are 3 or 4 other events displace the advantage the push bender has?

I think everything else is very clear. Just wanted to bring up those two points.

Thanks.

-Jedd-

[Kurt Lane]

Way to much text for somthing so simple. I thought we wre trying to come to a world wide acceptance of rules for comps , not seprate?

[smitty]

For record lifts, the bottom of the plates must be lifted at least 16.5 inches above the ground.

For all US / European 2 Hand Pinch events, the top of the 2" pipe in the US Standard / Euro Standard Pinch apparatus setups must contact a marker set at the standard 16.5" height.

[bseedot]

Kurt- I think that there are a couple of main things going on in competitive grip right now. One, you have a small group of people spread throughout the world, who are really strong in grip, and have connected through the internet. These people want to work toward knowing who among them is the best. So it's natural for these guys to try to narrow down details and rules so that a meaningful comparison can be made over the physical distances that separate them. That's on a worldwide level. The other thing going on in grip today is, in the U.S., to try to expand the sport so that there are not such vast physical distances between contests and to expose and attract more people to the sport. This aspect doesn't require having all contest formatting, equipment, and events uniformly nailed down. We're generally following the world for the actual performance rules, but we're being flexible on the contest format rules and some of the equipment used.

The point is to try to promote and grow the sport of grip in the U.S. That's the focus of U.S. HandStrength for now. Personally, nailing down every competition detail is less important to me than making people aware that there is a competition there. For many years I've wanted to see grip be more recognized as a sport in itself, and not just something you whip off at the end of a regular workout.

The people exist to tighten up worldwide standards and the people exist to promote the sport (and many do both). I don't see why these two things need to be viewed as something separate or adversarial.

BC.

[David Horne]

Great post Brian, also great to see everything ticking along well. I like the inclusion of 1 lift grip events associated with strongman comps to gain more recognition in the strength world for whats going on 'hand wise'.

Keep it up,

David

[Bob Lipinski]

Thanks guys!

Yeah Kurt, this is pretty wordy, but hopefully most of what I am doing is pretty inclusive- I *think* that these are mostly rules that people are already doing.

Thanks for the clarification Dave. I will measure and fix it.

Jedd- For the pinch lift, I was thinking of some block setups where a loading pin is used, the lift may not be able to travel a foot or more till the lifter is locked out. Didn't want to necessarily invalidate those implements (such as IM+FBBC pinch blocks), but I wanted to make it clear that it wasn't the standard pinch setup. Does that make sense?

As for bending- I was just putting down how things are done now. I agree with your points, and if bending evolves I will change the rules.

[Mikael Siversson]

As for bending- I was just putting down how things are done now. I agree with your points, and if bending evolves I will change the rules.

←

As I mentioned in a PM, we have different bending rules for the Euro competition. For next year, there will only be the kink component with tea towel wrapping or similar soft fabrics (as everyone at this years Euro was stronger in the full bend than in the 60 degree kink event).

[Kurt Lane]

I just dont want to see grip turn into somthing like powerlifting is today. I rather it be more of a underground sport, but the masses will decide as they always do.

I also like to see the US grippers and all the other countries having a little healthy compitition against each other to capture the world records in various lifts. Thats why I think we need at least 6-7 Events with completly standardized rules so theres no if, ands, or buts if someone breaks a record.

[Jedd Johnson]

kURT,

tHAT IS WHAT WE ARE TRYING TO AVOID, EXACTLY. i AGREE WITH YOUR POINT.

tHANKS FOR THE EXPLANATION, bOB.

-jEDD-