Preparing For The Bbb Contest

[Scott Styles]

This log is going to chronicle my attempt to get ready for the BBB contest being held at FBBC headquarters on 10/22/05. I signed up for this about a week ago, spur of the moment. That left me with 3 weeks to train. I'm not a serious contendor for any prizes, but it will be fun to meet and learn from the other grips guys in and near IL. I've already made some posts in the contest thread, I'm going to copy those over.

[Scott Styles]

Saturday, 10/8/2005

I tried some of the events today, oh boy am I in over my head. I'd appreciate some ideas for how to prepare for the scale weight lift and an example of how to do the bottle cap bend.

3" dumbell - I don't have one, so I put a piece of 3" pvc over an olympic dumbell. I've got to use a thumbless grip with my wrist cocked to do any damage at all. The most I was able to do is 75lbs, including the weight of the impliment. This was straddling the dumbell and lifting it to crotch height.

Bending - With some new wraps and double overhand I was able to get a piece of 7" 1/4 round hrs. I'm not clear if all fbbc stock will be used or how it will be compared. I know I can hit a 6" piece of 3/16" square or a grade 2 bolt. Not sure if I can hit a piece of 7" 1/4" round FBBC stock. With guys like Gregg thinking 7" 5/16 round or nothing, it might not matter.

Grippers - I left the windows open in my apartment and by the time I got to these, my hands were a little numb from the cold. I couldn't even hit my BBM. I still got my #1, at least. I'm sure I could have done my harder BBSA as well. I've hit my #2 in the recent past, but I don't know if I can be at that level in 2 weeks. Either way, I'm going to bring gloves to wear between events and keep my hands warm.

Block weight medley - The heaviest I can get is my 30lb hex. I've got a 35lb blob but cannot lift it. Not sure what weights this event uses, but I might get one or two blocks loaded.

Plate Hula - After the other stuff, I only managed to get my 2 25s off the ground righty. I just recently worked up to pinching these and they are easy plates, so I'm not sure how I'm going to hula John's plates I have no experience with.

Scale Weight Lift - I don't even know how to simulate this one. I'm not confident I'll be able to get them off the ground. I'd love some ideas on how to test this.

Bottle Cap Bend - I know how to do this with two hands. Try as I might, I couldn't do it with one. Not sure if it is a technuiqe issue or a strength issue.

[Scott Styles]

Sunday, 10/9/2005

After some advice from Dave last night, I managed to bend my one and only bottle cap. It was from a hard cider import from England and very difficult. I found a miller lite cap on the ground this afternoon and bending it was much, much easier. Now that I know that, I think this event comes entirely down to practice quickly putting the cap in the appropriate part of the hand and crushing it without cutting myself. I ordered 2 gross of caps from here:

http://www.homebrewit.com/

It only cost me $7 and they are based out of Indiana, so I should get them quick enough to practice the event 2 or 3 times.

If can just get on the score board for all events, I will be happy. A lap with the plate hula might be feasible for me if the 25s are well chalked, easy ones and I'm worked up. The scale weights are still intimidating, especially if the event is with 2 weights per hand. I don't know if I can take 200lbs from the ground like that.

[Scott Styles]

My Plan to Get Ready over the next Two Weeks

About a month and a half ago I finished my first cycle of KTA. I peaked with another 2 weeks of workouts, doing everything and anything. At that point my hands were the strongest they'd ever been, but also really beat up. I could close my hard #2 and lockout my 2 25s on the pinch for around 10 seconds.

I've taken the last month really easy, but have not fully attended to my recovery factors. As a result, my hands are not fully healed and my strength is noticeably below where I was at after peaking from KTA. I think with some focus over the next two weeks I can get back to my peak with healthy hands. Here's how I'm going to do it:

Daily Activities - My focus here is on recovery, staying well, and hand health.

1. Sleep 8 hours a night

2. Go to bed with gloves on

3. Be sure my diet is supporting joint health and immunity from sickness. I will do this by ensuring I always eat some flax cereal, yogurt, a mixture of seeds, and some beans each day. This will be regardless of my other food.

4. Contrast Baths, 3 cycles

5. Finger Extensions

6. Dexterity Balls

7. Stretch and move my shoulders through a series of exercises to promote healthy range of motion. I've got a jacked up right shoulder that is very sensitive to doing too much.

8. Keep my hands and upper body warm while outside

Workout Plan - I just need to practice to peak my strength and get used to the impact of doing the exercises in the same day.

I will train on Tues 10/11, Fri 10/14, Sun 10/16, and Wed 10/19. This gives me 4 more chances to practice the events. My bottle caps should be here by Friday. The workout will copy the order of the events and look as follows:

1. Open my windows and sit with my gloves on for 5 minutes.

2. Do grippers. 1xT no set, 1x#1 cc set, 2 max attempts with parallel set. Probably my BBM and easy #2.

3. Warm up with sledge, then bend double underhand. 3 attempts max. Probably will start with a 7" piece of 1/4" round zinc plated.

4. Place holder for exercise to simulate scale hold. Currently I have no ideas.

5. Plate pinch - Attempt to lockout my 25s lefty and righty twice. Then try the hula once. The hula bugs my shoulders with light plates. Haven't done it with 25s yet.

6. 3.5" pvc dumbell dead: 4 attempts lefty and righty - 55lbs, 75lbs, max, max

7. Attempt to load my block weights onto my bench in medley format, twice per hand. I've got a 20lb hex, 25lb hex, 30lb hex, and 35lb blob. I can't do the 35lb blob.

8. Max bottle cap bends in 60 seconds. 1-2x per hand. I need to get the skill down.

[Scott Styles]

Monday 10/10/2005

Did everything but my contrast baths. For some reason by the time I went to do them last night I had a splitting headache and was sick to my stomach. The sad part is I think it was caffeine withdrawal. I recently started drinking a lot of iced tea and didn't have any yesterday.

Tuesday 10/11/2005 - My first organized practice for the contest:

1. Warm up: the gloves helped and will be key to good gripper performance

2. Grippers: 1xT, 1x#1, 1xBBM, 1x#2 miss; I've lost a bit here righty. Pleased to nail the BBM lefty. I need to practice holding the gripper at the set so someone can see it.

3. Bending: DU fail on 7" 1/4 round zinc plated, twice. Switched to reverse style to finish it both times. I'm not going to DO at the contest, so I'm probably looking at a 6" piece of 3/16" square or a 6" grade 2 bolt. I'll be suprised if I can hit the 7"x1/4" FBBC round.

4. Scale Weight Hold: Went with double overhand lockouts from just below the knees with my 2.5" thickbar. 1x85, 1x155 Fail, 1x155, 1x155. I learned chalk makes PVC harder to lift. PVC is also harder than the finish on my 2.5" metal dumbell. I've locked that out with 90lbs of plates on it. Good to know for the 3" dumbell dead at the contest.

5. Plate pinch: 1x25s off ground, 1x25s lockout, plate hula - 0.5 laps. I realized today that if I move my body right I don't have to pinch the 25s with 1 hand for more than a second or two at a time. That was enough to get the plates trapped behind my back so I had to drop them. About 3 seconds later I heard my downstairs neighbor pounding on the ceiling. I need to be more careful.

6. 3.5" dumbell dead: 55lbs, 75lbs, 75lbs fail, 75lbs fail - By this point, I'm more tired than I anticipated. I just didn't have the strength to keep my wrist cocked.

7. Block load medley:

20lb hex: L, R, L, R

25lb hex: L, R, L, R

30lb hex: X, X, X, R

35lb blob: X. X. X. X

Fresh I can do the 30lber lefty. Pacing myself will be critical. Using up all attempts on each lift may be to my disadvantage overall. I will need to be careful not to waste energy on things I cannot do.

8. Bottle Cap Bends: My fiance found two on the ground for me. 2 righty. This was really hard. My thumbs were shot and it made it so that I had to position the cap with my other hand to get it in the sweet spot for bending. Bottle caps also vary a ton. I would've thought something like that was standardized. Guess not.

I am on track to hit all of my recovery factors tonight as well. Looking forward to the contrast baths. My hands hurt, though not as bad as on KTA. I could probably try harder while practicing, but I'm trying to think through the events. Relying on brute force will get me nowhere.

[Scott Styles]

Wednesday 10/12/2005

Took care of all my recovery factors except sleep. Stayed up too late playing We Love Katamari.

Thursday 10/13/2005

Did terrible on the recovery. My company had a business partner from South Africa in on a visit. I spent the evening out in Chicago with him and a couple of coworkers, then didn't get to bed until 1. I'd do it again too.

Friday 10/14/2005

I'm on track to hit all my recovery factors today. Bottle caps came in while I was at work, just in time for me to play with them all day long at my desk. An open bag of bottle caps is like a bag of chips, you keep going back for one more. Also practiced for the contest this evening:

1. Warm up: Gloves 5 minutes

2. Grippers: 1xT, 1x#1, 1xBBM, 1x#2 miss; Dominated the BBM righty, might get up to easy #2 level by the contest.

3. Bending: DU 7" x 3/16" round, 6.5"x1/4" threaded, Reverse 7x1/4" round zinc plated. I'm just not at the same level double underhand as reverse style. I'd like to be though and will keep practicing.

4. 2.5" Thickbar Partial Deads: 1x85, 1x135, 1x185 fail, 1x185 fail, 1x185 fail, 1x135, 1x85 with one hand - partial lift. I also did 2x185 with an alternate grip, just to confirm I could lift the weight.

5. Plate pinch: 1x25s lockout, 1x25s lockout, plate hula - 0.5 laps; I'm just not able to get them from behind my back.

6. 3.5" dumbell dead: 55lbs, 75lbs, 75lbs fail, 75lbs fail - Again, tired by here

7. Block load medley:

20lb hex: L, R, L, R

25lb hex: L, R, L, R

30lb hex: X, R, L, R

35lb blob: X. X. X. X

I'm almost getting the 35lber off the ground righty. My blob is rusty and has a lot of friction though. Not sure what the ones at BBB will be like.

8. Bottle Cap Bends: Bent my new Hooch bottle caps with a doubled over rag between my thumb and finger:

Right hand - max in one minute: 6

Left hand - max in one minute: 1

These were easy at my desk earlier today. After going through all the events, I just didn't have the strength anymore. I think the block weights are what did my thumb strength in here.

[bencrush]

Looking good Scott! Can't wait to meet you at the contest!

[bencrush]

Just thought of something that might help you get that #2 again.

Have you tried setting faster? Make sure you spend the least time under tension as possible while setting. That way you will have just that little tiny bit extra to SQUEEZE THE #2!

[Scott Styles]

I've actually been setting slower, to be sure I can show the set to someone at the contest. I'll skip the BBM attempt during today's workout and try replacing it with a fast set on the #2.

[Starkmann]

looks tough man. Stay after it, you'll get it. I look forward to hearing how you do in the comp.

One thing, forget the whole "I won't place" thing. That kind of thinking can kill you. Focus on your max effort, whatever that may mean for you.

[Scott Styles]

Thanks for the support guys. The last time I participated in a competitive athletic event was my one and only 8th grade track meet, where I came in last in the mile. I definitely need to learn the proper mentality. Good reason to do this. I also have a theory if I expose myself to people who are stronger than me, I will learn how to be stronger.

I figured out the car rental and directions this weekend as well. Looks like I'm going to leave the car rental place at 9:30am and should get to Pesotum with my fiance around 12:30. I'd like to leave earlier, but the soonest I can return the rental car on Sunday is 9:00am. I can't justify paying for a 2 day car rental just because the rental place opens late on Sunday mornings.

Saturday 10/15/2005

Did pretty well on the recovery factors. Hit everything but the bowl of flax cereal. I chose to eat deep dish pizza instead. It was good.

Sunday 10/16/2005

I'm on track to hit my recovery factors today. Also was a practice day for the contest. I only had 2 days of rest in since the last session, but I decided the extra practice was more important than the recovery. I also switched up the event order to match what John mentioned in his workout thread.

1. Warm up: Gloves 5 minutes

2. Grippers: 1xT, 1x#1, 1x#2miss, 1x#2 miss; I'd like to say trying a fast set with the #2 helped, but it didn't. I did notice I'm not paying attention to getting my pinky on the right spot just at the end of the handle. I'm going to watch for that on Wednesday. I'll also start with the BBM on Wed. Fact is I hit the #2 when I peaked after 10 weeks of dedicated gripper training on KTA. It's probably unreasonable to expect to keep it all.

3. Bending:

Warm up with sledge.

DU: Fail on 7x1/4" round zinc plated;

Reverse: 7" x 1/4" round zinc plated, (right hand acts as anchor)

Reverse: 7" x 1/4" round kink (left hand acts as anchor)

My wrist strength isn't there for double underhand. I'm going to go with reverse style at the contest. I think I can get that 7" 1/4" round I kinked Wednesday. Reverse style is hard on my thumbs.

4. 2 25s Plate pinch: - weights actually felt heavier doing them before the deads

- Break from ground L and R

- Lockout L and R

- Plate Hula: Fail - I decided to try leading off with my left hand, and it was nasty. I missed my pillows totally when dropping the plates, so 50lbs smashed into the floor. About 15 seconds later I heard my downstairs neighbor pounding on the ceiling (*boom* *boom* *boom*). I think he works nights, so I really feel like a jerk about this and will stop training it after Wednesday.

- Plate Pass: Passed the pinched plates back and forth about 5 times.

5. 3.5" dumbell dead: 55lbs, 75lbs fail, 75lbs fail, 75lbs fail - I'm not sure what's going on here. I don't know if the fail on 75lbs is because it is too heavy or because my wrists are tired from Friday. Will try again on Wednesday and think I can get it on the 3" metal dumbell at the contest.

6. 2.5" Thickbar Partial Deads: 1x85, 1x135, 1x155 fail, 1x135, 4x135

Hands were chalky. Did the set of 4 stop pause style, repositioning each time. I have no idea if this will carry over to the scale weights.

7. Block load medley:

20lb hex: L, R, L, R

25lb hex: L, R, L, R

30lb hex: X, R, L, R

35lb blob: X. X. X. X

I'm really close to the 35lber righty. It almost comes off the ground. For some reason I am stronger in the second set of loads. I also need to focus on stepping up to the block weight, squeezing hard once, and just pulling it to the top of the platform. It's easy to waste strength over lifting or holding too long onto the blocks.

8. Bottle Cap Bends:

Right hand - max in one minute: 14

Left hand - max in one minute: 3

Did much better here. The practice is helping, but I also handed the caps off with the other hand and focused on just bending the bottle cap, not tacoing it as much as possible. I'm not sure what constitutes a legal bend. Doing it my way, I expect to see the big guys hitting upwards of 30 caps in a minute, especially if their skin is tough enough that they can do this event without a cloth.

[Scott Styles]

Monday 10/17/2005

Did all my recovery but the contrast baths and full nights sleep. I just don't like going to bed.

Tuesday 10/18/2005

Did all my recovery in anticipation of Wednesdays workout.

Wednesday 10/19/2005

Last workout before the BBB. I normally work until 6:30pm. I left at 5:10pm today because I knew I needed to get this workout in and I could tell I was drained. I was right. We had meetings with a client that was in the office today and that takes a lot out of me. I can do it well, but am introverted, so it is tough on me.

1. Warm up: Gloves 5 minutes

2. Grippers: 1xT, 1x#1, 1x#BBM Lefty Miss, close righty, 1x#2 miss; The #2 miss righty was close. Not sure if the adrenaline of a contest setting would be enough for me to hit it. I know I can get the BBM.

3. Bending:

Warm up with sledge.

Reverse: 7" x 1/4" round - got a good kink (left hand acts as anchor)

Reverse: 7" x 1/4" zinc plated round (right hand acts as anchor)

I _think_ I could hit a piece of 7" x 1/4" round with a little more adrenaline. I know I can hit a 6" piece of 3/16" square. I can probably hit a grade 2 bolt.

4. 2 25s Plate pinch:

- Fail L and R

- Fail L and Lockout R

- Plate Pass: Passed the pinched plates back and forth about 3 times.

I really tried hard on the 1/4 round when bending. Coupled with my off day, it killed my plate pinch. Didn't see a point in attempting the hula and pissing off my downstairs neighbor again.

5. 3.5" dumbell dead: 55lbs, 75lbs off ground, 75lbs off ground, 75lbs off ground

That 75lbs just rolls right out of my hand.

6. 2.5" Thickbar Partial Deads: 1x85, 1x135, 1x145 fail, 1x135, 1x135, 1x135

I could feel the tiredness here. 135 was tough.

7. Block load medley:

20lb hex: L, R, L, R

25lb hex: L, R, L, R

30lb hex: X, R, X, R

35lb blob: X. X. X. X

Annoyed the 30lber didn't come up lefty

8. Bottle Cap Bends:

Right hand - max in one minute: 14

Left hand - max in one minute: 11

I tried this even with athletic tape today. It worked just fine. Afterwards, I picked up my 30lb hex lefty and righty with ease. The residue the tape left on my fingers made hoisting the block much easier. It almost felt light.

[Scott Styles]

Selecting my weights for the contest

This whole contest thing is new to me. I'm not really sure whether when competing I should go all out on each event trying to exceed my training performances or select my lifts to match them. I do know that going all out on certain events may kill the ones that follow. Here's what I'm thinking for the contest:

Event: Starting Lift / Goal Lift

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Grippers: BBM / #2

Bending: 6" x 3/16" square / 7" x 1/4" round

Plate Hula: 0 / 0.5

3" Dumbell: 55lbs / 75lbs (more?)

Scale Weights: 0 / Lift and hold for a few seconds

Block Medley: Load 30lbs and under / Load 35lbs and under

Minute Cap Bend: 10 / 15

None of the goal lifts except the block load would be a PR for me, but doing them all on the same day would be the most well rounded my grip strength has ever been.

I'm excited to see what happens at the contest. I hope at least someone else around my level shows up and competes. I'll have fun either way, but it would be motivating to have someone to chase.

I'm also looking forward to getting some expert opinions on my grippers. I'd be interested to see how where I think my #2, BBSM, BBGM, and #3 rank compares to how guys who can close them all think they rank.

[Starkmann]

I might misunderstand the lift but I would think you could get at least one on the scale weight. From what I recall from the FB website it is a 50lb scale weight for time.

You'll do well. Best of luck.

[Scott Styles]

My understanding is the scale weight lift is 2 50lb scale weights facing each other, handle sides pressed together. You have to grab both handles with one hand and squeeze really hard when picking the pair up. Due to my hand size, this event could hit my pinch really hard, which isn't that strong.

Depending on the handle thickness on the scale weights, I think it may be similar to picking up a 100lb 2.5" dumbell. I've never used the impliments before though, so I can't really say. I do know that if it is similar to a 2.5" dumbell, the most I've ever lifted is 90lbs off a bench.

I should probably not think about the weight and just try to pick the things up. There could be enough friction on the handles to make it a feasible lift for me. Maybe I can convince everyone that we should do the bottle caps first

[bencrush]

I'm also looking forward to getting some expert opinions on my grippers. I'd be interested to see how where I think my #2, BBSM, BBGM, and #3 rank compares to how guys who can close them all think they rank.

Great work Scott! Tmmicklabs and I will be driving down together to the contest.

We'd both be more than glad to test your grippers for you... If you'll let me use them as warmups, then I'd be more than glad to test them when I'm fresh.

I'll be bringing my gripper collection too. Also my Jamar dyno, some block weights (hex), Turk, 1 and 1/8" rolling handle, and possibly my 1" and 2" vertical bars. Whew! I got tired just listing all that crap.

[Scott Styles]

Sounds good Ben. If this #3 is as hard as I think it is, you might not want to use it as a warm up. It's one of the new 2005 ones, never been seasoned or anything, 3" spread. I bought it to use for my severe negatives on KTA, but I'm not capable of getting the handles to touch in any way. The last #3 I had I could at least chest crush. Much harder than my BBGM.

With all the equipment everyone is bringing, plus all John's stuff, it sounds like I'm going to be in a lot of pain by the time I leave. Good thing my fiance is driving.

[Scott Styles]

Saturday 10/22/05 - Back from the contest

Just got home from the contest. Holy crap it was fun. I was grinning from ear to ear the entire time. There were so many cool things. I'm going to write down what I remember so I don't forget:

1. First I was able to recognize John's place by the 2 giant tires sitting outside. His yard definitely looks like that of a pro strongman.

2. John's training room / workshop is awesome. He's got all the coolest toys and loads of space. Even with 15 people in the room there was space to run a contest.

3. I got to meet a bunch of the grip guys. Every single one of them was considerate enough to not try to crush me when shaking hands. I can't say the same for some businessmen I've worked with.

4. I saw so many world class efforts in person. 3 different guys closed a #4 - Big Steve, Dave Morton, and Josh (JAD on the board, I think). Big steve bent a 5.5" piece of 5/16" FBBC stock. Double Underhand. I saw Steve, Dave, and Josh all lift the Blob 50. I saw both Dave and Big Steve lock out the 154 inch.

5. I got my grippers tested and found out I have a hard #2, easy BBGM, and really hard 2005 #3 (like a 3.3). These guys were closing this #3 AFTER the contest! I think I saw Josh, Dave, Steve, and Ben do it. I also tried an easy #3 Ben has that was like 2.7 or 2.8. Grippers really do vary.

6. The intensity of the competition spurred me on to my best performance in almost every event. I got last place but met or exceeded every grip PR I had. I also got a great tip from Big Steve on creating the best grip for friction based lifts.

7. Clouds of chalk. Every time someone put in a good effort and people started cheering and clapping, chalk dust went everywhere. It was like a fog over the room. Awesome. I knew we were having fun. When I got home and blew my nose, chalk came out. Hah!

8. The one of a kind FBBC products. 4" wrist roller, 4" crusher, and 4" dumbell. It's a good thing Big Steve got them. I could barely hold on to the crusher empty. I also saw some of the latest FBBC kit. It is sweet. Dave won an adjustable v-bar that has got to be one of the most innovative pieces of equipment I've seen.

9. So much cool equipment. I got my hands on blobs of all sizes. An inch dumbell. A metal cone. Scale weights. York 25s. An easy #3. Bent pieces of 5/16" stock. It was hard to wait for the contest to be over so I could play with the rest of John's toys. Hand size is not what keeps a guy like me from lifting the blob. It's strength.

10. Big Steve. The man is incredible. He's down to earth and funny. Then when it comes time for the events, he just mans up. It doesn't matter what the event is. On the plate hula, I could hear his shoulder cracking from across the room almost from the very start. Yet he toughed it out and won the event. On the bottle caps, he was bending them faster then I ever though possible. Reflexes like a cat. Somehow I didn't make the connection that the stuff he does on his DVDs he actually does in person. Awesome. He also took the time after the contest to take a picture with my fiance and entertain her a little bit. I apperciate that.

11. Gregg is the bending guru. I didn't keep count, but he helped a number of guys hit PR bends. I saw John go from 1/4"x7" square to a piece of 7" x 5/16" round. Gregg even gave him a pair of pads. I saw Travis get a grade 5 bolt and a huge kink in a grade 8 bolt. His old PR was a blue nail. The focus Travis was generating going after that grade 8 bolt was awesome too.

12. The intensity on some of these guys in the scale weight hold. Talk about mental will power and variations in strategy. John looked like he was becoming one with the blocks. Josh went for total disassociation. It was cool to see people reach so far inside themselves for the strength needed in this event. It really demonstrated what seperates the best and makes a true strength athlete.

13. The events were really unuiqe and fun. A lot of them just couldn't be trained for and really tested your ability to master a new impliment and do some damage with it. I really like the scale weight hold and the blob medley. There was a great selection of blobs for the medley, including a 42.5er that seemed to give the guys a harder time than the blob 50.

14. The guys helping John run the contest were cool to have helped out. I believe their names are Jerry and Justin. On top of competing they pitched in and made sure everything ran smoothly. Jerry also donated his time welding the prizes for the contest. That was classy.

15. Even though I was in the lowest ranks of the competition, I got just as much support as the guys duking it out for first. Dave helped me with wrapping my bends. Ben gave me tips on doing the 3" dumbell. So did Big Steve. Not once did I ever feel like just because I wasn't the best I didn't have the right to compete.

16. Neil decided to compete at the last minute. I was really glad about this. It gave me someone a little closer to my level to chase. That is, until he got to the scale weight hold. He just broke away from me there, landing square in the middle of the pack. He then finished it off with performances on the block weights and 3" dumbell that a couple notches above my level. A friend of Greg's named Tom also came down. I wish he had competed with us too.

17. My fiance is also awesome. She drove me down and back in the rental car, a 6 hour round trip. She made a gripfaq.com T-shirt to wear to the contest. She sat through entire contest with me, supporting me. We stayed until I was ready to go. I couldn't of asked for more.

18. When guys are really exerting themselves, their entire head turns beet red. It's like the ultimate way to measure how hard someone is really working.

19. These guys can eat. When I saw all the food John brought out at the end of the contest, I had to chuckle. It seemed that absurd. Within about 40 minutes, it was gone. Just destroyed. I don't know the numbers, but I'm glad I wasn't the one footing the bill to feed them.

20. In the moment of the comptetition, it's hard to focus on all the things you want to do. I brought my camera but never even though to take any pictures. I imagine you get better with experience. Ben was able to keep a redundant score sheet going and take pictures while doing the comp.

21. I met two pro strongmen. John via competition, and Steve via profession. It was cool to hear John's stories about the other pro strongmen.

22. I was able to get a v-bar with no shipping costs.

23. John's obviously done this contest thing a few times before. The proof? He knew enough to rent a port-a potty and keep the mob of chalk covered guys out of his house. Really, really, really smart. I think even my rental car is covered in chalk.

24. I saw John doing something that if I ever have kids, I hope I can emulate. In the middle of running and competing in this contest, he still took the time to be a great dad. Pretty much no matter what he was doing, if his son or daughter came in looking for his attention, he made a point to make them feel special. My fiance also noticed this and mentioned it on the car ride home.

25. The only reason not to compete at a contest is injury. The support and motivation is awesome. I learned more in a day than in months of talking about gripping on the internet.

[Scott Styles]

Sat 10/22/2005 - My results

I'm very pleased with my contest results overall. I did or tied my PRs in all lifts on the same day. Hard to complain about a last place finish with a day like that. No where to go but up. The guys who beat me definitely deserve it.

I do think I could have done better at certain points with more experience. Now is the time to write down what I did and identify the points where easy improvement is available. If this contest is held next year, it is likely I will do it.

1. Warm up: Wore the gloves on the car ride down. Glad the contest started in the afternoon. I'm always stronger in the afternoon.

2. Grippers: 1xHG200; 1x#2 fail, 1x#2 (Ties PR), 1xRB180 fail; I hit my max goal of a #2 on my third attempt. I think I missed it on the second attempt because I was not fully warmed up. Support from the crowd helped. Not the hardest #2 I've closed, but good enough.

3. Bending:

Reverse: 6" x 3/16" square - opened with something I knew I could get

Reverse: 7" x 1/4" round - hit my contest goal with a good kink reverse style to start

Reverse / Double Overhand: 6" x 1/4" round (PR) - I couldn't help myself. I got a little kink reverse and decided to continue the bar double overhand. Probably not the best idea for my shoulder, but a PR by a full inch. I really had to fight for this and almost lost it at the crush down. Then a remember the trick I've seen Eric do where you hold the bar like a gripper with your strong hand and squeeze like heck while doing the crushdown. That was enough for me to get the last bit. I need to get my reverse or double underhand bending up so I am not tempted by this in the future.

4. Plate Hula: 2 laps (PR) !!! - John's plates were perfect for this. Flat york 25's with a matte finish and relatively smooth edges. I'm really pleased about this one.

5. Blob Medley

22.5lb blob: R

27.5lb blob: R

30 or 32.5lb blob (not sure): X

Lack of experience got me here. Right before the event I deadlifted the 32.5 blob (PR). After the contest was over, I deadlifted the 32.5lb blob (PR). In the event, no go. I attribute this to four factors.

5.1 Instead of waiting and refocusing after I failed the first time, I just kept trying to lift it. That was stupid.

5.2 Limited practice with actual blobs left me not understanding the nuances of lifting this shape of impliment. I was trying to figure out where to grab the block for best leverage during the event.

5.3 Lack of understanding how to create the most friction with my hand against a block. My solution was chalk. It's not the best one. Later I learned you chalk your hand, wet is slightly, then rub it until it feels sticky.

5.4 I do better on the blocks after attempting them all for a round, then resting. I should have done more during warm up, but I opted to "save" my hands.

I now know better for next time. I also wonder if once I recover I can use the trick in 5.3 to get my 35lb blob.

6. Scale weight hold for time: 1.7 seconds (PR). This suprised me. I went into the event not really expecting to pick the scale weights up. When I did and all of the sudden I was standing there holding them, I didn't know what to do. I hadn't prepared myself for it mentally and dropped them almost immediately. I need to either go into a lift with confidence or step back from it until I can. I think failure to eat as the contest was proceeding also hurt my ability to focus and motivation. Looking back, all the top guys were eating bars and drinking water by this point. I was feeling apathetic and not really sure why.

7. Bottle caps: 11 (PR). Turns out I was training this wrong. I was bending the caps against my closed fist with my thumb. That was illegal. You had to bend them with your pointer finger and thumb straight. Much harder. I'm very happy with 11 this way, especially considering no practice. I really should of clarified the rules ahead of time. There's no excuse for having the impliment and not training on it correctly.

8. 3" dumbell dead: 60lbs (PR), 70lbs fail, 70lbs fail, 70lbs fail

!@#$. Again I screwed myself over here. I didn't bother to find out that a thumbless grip was not allowed on this lift. I just assumed it was and practiced thumbless. When I had to use my thumb, I couldn't handle it. After my last fail, I did lift the 70lbs with a thumbless grip, just to prove I could. This was the first time I did any sort of serious non-thumbless attempt on a dumbell over 2.5", so I guess it's a PR.

[Kurt Lane]

Glad you had a good time and gained experience. To me doing a compitition just brings somthing out in you that helps you with you push yourself and gain in grip for months to come after a contest. You really do learn so much in a short amount of time.

[Starkmann]

sounds awesome, congrats.

[tmmicklabs]

Awesome summary report Scott.

Great meeting you and your girl.

You did awesome and got a ton of new PR's.

I will be watching your log and expect more PR's in the near future from you.

Good Times my friend.

[John Beatty]

Scott-

The Scale weight story is great! I did something similar at my first PL contest about 15 yrs ago. I puled my massive 465 opener on DL & stumbled off the platform backwards because it came up so fast. Never ever go into something thinking you can't do it. Go full out KNOWING you'll do it. 9 out of 10 times, you will. As to my kids (& wife), I am lucky to have them & lucky they get a kick out of the nutty stuff I do. Great meeting you-

John

[bencrush]

Great stuff Scott! You kept very good records yourself it seems. I have been called a bit goofy for keeping records like that. But it also helped me to know what I needed to place 5th in the contest.

Nice meeting you and your fiancee.

You will be 50% stronger next year with the focused training that I know you're doing. And we're all glad you competed. Nothing like it, is there?

[Scott Styles]

Thanks for the support guys. This has definitely rekindled my motivation to train grip.

And Ben, am I really that predictable? I started writing up my new workout on the train to work this morning. I couldn't think about anything but gripping all day today. Finally this afternoon I decided to just finish writing up my plan so I could empty my head:

http://www.gripboard.com/index.php?showtopic=16150&hl=

I think I can finally get to work now.