Michigan Grip Championships 5

[RKlein]

1st. Ryan K.

2nd. Jedd J.

3rd. Dave T.

4th. Josh D.

5th. Aaron C.

I just edged out Jedd for the win. It came down to Aaron and I in the Bending and he edged me out for the $500. I broke the V-bar record (1 hand) by a pound or two. Ton of feats done after the comp.

[smitty]

Great job everyone - sounds like an awesome event with some big numbers!

[Tim71]

Did anyone claim Don's $50.00 for the 80d spike?

I was really curious to this.

Tim

[vikingsrule92]

Did anyone claim Don's $50.00 for the 80d spike?

I was really curious to this.

Tim

Aaron got it DO. Don said that was the first time he ever saw it done DO. Great job everyone. Aaron told me some HUGE numbers were put up in this. Congrats to all! :mosher

Edited July 29, 2007 by vikingsrule92

[David Horne]

A big well done to all the competitors, and a super well done to Ryan.

I'll put the results up on the top 3 list.

Ryan,

Did you follow the training prog all the way?

David

[gazza]

Congrats guys.

Ryan congrats on the win and Aaron congrats on taking the bending an doing an 80d DO style thats an impressive achievement

[The Mac]

Good job all, look forward to seeing the in-depth results.

[FrankyBoy]

Great job everyone!

Congrats to Ryan for the win and AC for the nice extra reward.

[John Beatty]

Congrats to all. Really annoyed I couldn't be there.

[RKlein]

"Ryan,

Did you follow the training prog all the way?"

I took a month off because of a shoulder injury but i followed it most of the way. Thanks again David! I really liked the camber bar one hand deads.

[Too Tall]

Congrats on the win Ryan and congrats to all

[dthor]

Good Contest.

Ryan and Jedd were both on their A game. Very close, Ryans bending went up a few levels, which pulled out the win.

Josh Dale did very well, no weak events and is a threat at any Conest.

Met Aaron Corcorran, great guy, very strong. Tried a KOAB at the Contest and I think he wore himself out. His bending came alive after the Contest and he bent one of Don Larkin's very hard 80D nails. First time Don had seen anyone else do it in 40 years. High point of the Contest.

Congratulations to Ryan on the v-bar pull. He's been capable of it for the past year, and just needed the right conditions.

I tore up my hands again on the v-bar, looking forward to John Beatty's Contest with the 2" vbar.

John Eaton pulled his back bad on the v-bar. Still finished the Contest. He was able to do some unreal stuff with the sledges afterwards.

Scott Styles also got an award, very deserving.

It was great having new people at the Contest. The talent level was very high. A top 5 placing was very good.

Thanks to Jer Larkin, great food, no one went hungry during the Contest.

[madss]

Job well done to everyone. wish I was there to see some of those feats!! WOW!!

I'm looking forward to the final numbers

[egg_uk]

congrats to all who took part

[stew2]

I had a great time eventhough my numbers were in the dumps( think it's time to start training agian I was dead after the second event).I think I might finally have caught on to how to set a gripper to bad it was on the last attempt.Got to put some faces to new names on the board some good guys ( even Jon who decided to beat me with a bad back) glad I got to meet them and see the comp. Most intense bending I've e ver seen at a comp. Aaron in a heck of a bender and I think if he trained some of the other events he would be darn scary.Dave and Jedd were as strong as always neither ever drops off much and I think Ryan has practiced a little since the last time I competed agianst him geeeses . Thanks to Bob , Don, Jerri, and everyone involved was a fun comp.

p.s. next time I won't be 2 1/2 months cold

[SShafley]

The bending was sick. An Edgin bend only gave you 6th place or so.

Phenomenal contest. Jedd and Ryan both put out insane efforts, and the bending was absolutely fierce to watch.

[Jedd Johnson]

Thanks to everyone involved. Bob did a great job with the contest. A couple things I want to use for our contest. excellent work to the loaders and the judges, as well as Bob's wife who took care of the record keeping. You all are so important to the flow and success of the contest.

It was very nice meeting Don Larkin and his wife Jer. Thank you so much for the hospitality. I really enjoyed shooting the breeze with you and hearing about how much you have both experienced in the strength world. Don shared with me tales of strength and mental technique that I will keep in mind. Jer cooked the best venison I ever ate in my life and took unbelievable photos. Just amazing.

Thank you to the sponsors, FBBC, David Horne, Hammar Sports, Dale Harder, Chris Rice and scott george, as well as anyone else who donated to the bending prize kitty that i may not be aware of. having good sponsors behind the contest makes the athletes that much better.

It was great meeting all the guys for the first time such as Bob Lipiski, Ryan Klein, Steve Shafley, Jeff Flynn, Matt, Scott Styles.

Cool seeing Stew and chewing the fat. Hung out quite a bit with Ben Edwards, Josh Dale and Aaron Corcorran. Great guys. Nice getting to know you a bit. Aaron, thanks for letting us crash in your hotel. Sorry that eaton stores in 3 different octaves.

Love competing with Dave Thornton. he always brings my game up. I was "on" enough to finish just ahead of him.

And definitely, big thanks to John Eaton for coming in on the trip at the last minute. Always a joy to ride in a car with, John showed me that it is possible to enjoy a drive through the wilderness land of the New York Southern Tier. Hope your back feels better, and when it does, start preparing for GGC!

I know I am forgetting people, but I am exhausted. John Eaton made me drive the whole way home with barely any breaks - only when he got hungry or had to pee. As I get the chance, I will write more on the contest.

Thanks again everyone.

Jedd.

[JS27]

Congrats Ryan!

[acorn]

Man, I sure had a blast! It was great to meet everyone and put faces with names. Thank you so much for the hospitality Don and Jer. Also a very big thank you to the meet organisers Bob and Ryan, the loaders and everyone who donated for the prizes, especially the bending cash prize! I gave it everything I had and was wiped well before the bending. I had some great PRs but made a few strategic weight choice errors that didn't help. I was really hoping to bend some huge stuff during the bending but there wasn't anything left in the tank by the time we got there and it was a gut check with me on the verge of hurling from the effort and overheating most of the way, even skipping round 3 to recover some more.

Here is my run down. Grippers I closed the Hard BBE in the 2nd round, missed by 1/8 or so on the 3.5. Thin Pinch, I got 170 in the 2nd round pretty easy and made the jump to 185 but it was a little too much and it came out near the top of the pull, taking some thumb skin with it. After that it was trying to get it to stop bleeding and glue it back together for the 4th round. I think I tried 175 or 180 next and dont believe I pulled it. vbar, pulled 225 lefty and 300 in plates righty for a nice PR. I skipped round 4 to recover some more and not shred my hands any more. 1Hand DL I think I pulled 250 in the 2nd round really easy. Tried to make the jump to 285 but it came out 3/4 of the way up taking enough out of me to miss at 270 on the 4th attempt. Like I said I was wiped before the bending started, and with only 2 groups of benders the 5-6 minutes between rounds was really tough. I opened with an edgin, then made the error and tried to go for broke with a KOAB. I totally blew my wad trying to kink it, going to my knees several times. For my effort I got a 1 penny kink. Skipped 3rd round. 4th I did a 6.5 edgin just to tie break with all the guys who got edgins. It just so happened that Ryan got one too. We rested 10minutes which was like a little teaser for me and both went all out for the 6" G5. I can't believe I didn't hurl. It was so close both of our bends were right around 90deg with mine just past and maybe 3-5degrees more than Ryans for the win. You could actually see the head marks from the bolt in my crush pad and it just about went thru. After 20 minutes or so of rest we started playing and attempting some feats. I got the 2 45s almost half way up. I did manage to pull 3 25s. Broke the inch off the ground a few times even cleaning it a couple times 2 hands. I think cleaned the 70 or 76# anvil from the back, did a slim style 12# front lever and played with all the great toys. I also bent a 12" spike and made a couple chain links out of some hard 60ds for Don. We played with the smaller blobs and things for so long my skin is still pink and raw. Bending Don's tough 80ds was definately a highlight. I came back into the room after doing some feats and Stew was trying to move one that AP had started. It had a 15-10deg kink in it. Stew asked me if I wanted to finish it, so I said sure. I did it DO fairly quickly with a few people looking on. I had no idea that no one had gotten one of these in 40+ years but Don told me later. I had to do another one for Don since he missed the first one and besides I had not started it. After a little rest they gave me what he said was a very hard one. I wrapped it up and started it DO. It took a long iso push before it finally started moving some. after I got it moving I knew that it was gonna go down. Unfortunately it was at least 2" off center. That made it harder but I finished it to about 1.5" I think. It looks like a nice J now. We really had a blast and a few of us stayed till about 1am playing with stuff and listening to stories. got back to the hotel around 1:45, ate went to bed around 2:15. Finally got to sleep sometime after 3am, then alarm went off at 4am for me to get up and head to airport to come back.

I'm pretty sore today, but it was worth every bit and looking forward to my next chance to meet up with all the great people I met on this trip. See you guys next time and big congrats to Ryan for a fine showing and the win.

- Aaron

Edited July 30, 2007 by acorn

[EricMilfeld]

Looks like some phenomenal performances took place! Congrats Ryan and Aaron on your wins, and to all those who gave it their all!

And please notify me if any bends outside the contest itself qualified for the top 20 lists. Thanks.

[stew2]

Just to put it into perspective for some of you that 80d I gave Aaron Jeff started and didn't have anything left to finish so I told him I'd give it a try. I tryed to post it on top of my leg in my hand and ab crush it like I do all my brace stuff I think it moved barely though and I stopped because of the crushing pain on my lower hand. My hand is bruised and was swelled up till today. I've never had anything I couldn't crush that way till now. Aaron finished it DO I'll Jeff and I coulf say is wow! and I'm sticking with that statementWOW!

[jad]

I had a BLAST! I don't have the time to give my full write-up right now but I'll do what I can

Grippers: I think Jedd and Scott Styles were the only ones that were happy with their gripper performance, but I'm not sure. I know Aaron and I both wanted the 3.5 and we both missed. It was pretty big jump from the hard elite. The #2 was stiff and that was definetly a solid #3.

Thin Pinch: I don't remember who won but I want to say it was like 180 or 185. I only pulled 150 and was pretty disappointed with my performance on this. I trained it with too much emphasis on pinch and not enough on the fingers/plate curl style. I tried to make the adjustment at the contest but couldn't get comfortable. Don and I were talking after the contest and he said he saw me trying get optimal hand position and that he thought I was never really close to doing that. The thing that I remember most about this event was Aaron absolutely ripping up 170! I remember thinking he'd be good for at least 190.

Vbar: Ryan Klein, Ryan Klein, Ryan Klein!!!!!!!! I can tell you that the fact that I got to watch him break the WR, in person, made the whole trip worth it. I had no idea he was so freakin big! I was thinking he was like a 220lber. He introduced himself at the contest and it didn't even click with me at first that he was Ryan Klein. I heard him say Ryan and by the size of him just assumed he was one of Bob's powerlifting buddies, then I got a better look at him and recognized him. He's awesome to watch to the vbar. He gets psyched up and then just rips it up like he's trying to snatch it or something. Don was telling me that comes from his deadlifting experience and was telling me about this energy visualization technique he taught Ryan and Dave. Dave also pulled some huge weights on this and put some huge rips in his hands and true to form, his demeanor didn't even change. If I hadn't seen the rips, I would have never known. I don't know what happened on this with me. My warmups felt AWESOME and my goal was 350 and I felt like I was going to get it. I thought I'd be safe and open with 300 and I barely got it...no clue aside from the obvious "get stronger". Ben Edwards pulled some big numbers for someone whose shoulder would barely stay in socket.

more later...

[jad]

1HDL: John "I never train" Eaton wrenched his back on the vbar and passed for the rest of his attempts. You could tell he was in some serious pain. I figured he'd be out the rest of the contest and I was just hoping he'd be good for the aftershow, which is always the best part of the contest. With no training and a torqued back he gets up there and pulls 270! I was pretty much disgusted. This event was another serving of disappointment for me but it was so much fun watching the freaks that I really couldn't be mad. Ryan pulled something stupid like 320 and Jedd and Dave were somewhere around 300. Aaron pulled 250 so fast it looked like he had to slow it down so he didn't embed it in his groin. My favorite part of this event was Bob pulling conventional while drinking a beer .

Bending: Acorn won it as many predicted but Ryan gave him all he could handle. The last bolt they bent was a 6" Edgin, the hard brand (BL?). Neither finished it but Aaron was closer and just barely. Aaron showed me his crushdown pad afterwords and there was a serious divot in it and he said the logo was pressed in there at first. The bending event was sic as promised. I think 6 people bent Edgins and Aaron and Ryan both bent 6.5" Edgins. I THINK Ben bent one of the Edgins, which considering his shoulder is just ridiculous.

more on the post-contest craziness later...

Edited July 31, 2007 by jad

[JS27]

Sounds like an excellent contest!

[climber511]

Can't wait to see the complete results! As I expected, just some crazy strength exhibited by everyone. Really sorry I missed it but making my 2 year old grand daughter cry was not an option! Awesome fellows - just awesome!

Edited July 31, 2007 by climber511