Gripmas Carol 2008

[dthor]

You lifted the superblob with an additional 7.5?

Josh, I did +5, only pulled it up about halfway with 7.5#. Jedd lifted it with 7.5.

It wasn't really that difficult as Blobs go.

We did a few other lifts with the Blob. Scott's and I think the other heavy one might have been your's. Double Blob lift with the thumb on the hard side, never tried it before.

[MalachiMcMullen]

Man, sounds like an awesome comp guys!!!! Hopefully in two years I'll be going to college around that area and I'll be there for sure Congrats to all!!! :rock

You planning on OSU?

Nah Univ. of Chicago hopefully (want to be an Econ major). A little bit of a drive but a manageable one for sure. I'd also be able to go to all the other midwest comps like your's

:rock

[dubthewonderscot]

It was good meeting you Weldon, hope you feel better. All of the DB's looked great, better than the Inch's that came from the foundry. Jedd and I pulled up the 184#DB. Hope the owner doesn't mind, but we couldn't resist trying it. Definitely the high point of the night for me.

Fantastic, great job to the two of you. It was a pleasure to meet you guys as well. I just told my wife that you guys got the big dumbbell and she said "well no wonder, those two guys look like they can pick up anything they wanted to!"

You and Jedd certainly made an impression.

Glad you guys were able to do it. I'm sure Chris doesn't mind.

[madss]

As always well worth the trip up to Chris's. The rice's Hospitality is far better then any bed and breakfast.

As for great strongmen go, Chris is truly in the ranks of the mighty atom and Slim. I am honored to have him as a dear friend. Heck It was cool to get beat to a pulp by him.

Chris is an inspiration to all. A true great role model. There was a young girl at that contest that I thought was his grand daughter but after talking to her I found out that she was in High school and Chris was her track coach. (did not know he coached??) it was great to see her look up to him as the superman he is. Thanks Chris for everything as always. I hope to give you more of a challenge next year

[Chris Mathison]

from Bob's report, did someone lift the big DB I made for Mathison? Gracie's older brother? lol

It was good meeting you Weldon, hope you feel better. All of the DB's looked great, better than the Inch's that came from the foundry. Jedd and I pulled up the 184#DB. Hope the owner doesn't mind, but we couldn't resist trying it. Definitely the high point of the night for me.

Hell no! Thanks for giving it a go. I want to know who can do it.

[odin]

I had a great time and Chris did an incredible job planning and running the contest. My full writeup is here. I will try to copy and paste it into this thread after I am done revising it and correcting some of my typos, etc.

Edited December 16, 2008 by odin

[Too Tall]

Looks as though Chris talked the talk and walked the walk :rock

Congrats to everyone too...looks as though there were a lot of PR's

I hate that I missed it

[bigmatt]

Good job to all!!

[Jedd Johnson]

It was a great contest. I have a ton of videos of the after-contest feats. It will take me some time to get them all posted, just hang tight. First one up is Bob Sundin's Two 45's Pinch.

My crush was off for the contest and only managed a 177, putting me in third place right off the bat, so i had to play catch up the whole rest of the contest.

For the pinch, I think my attempts were 230, 240, 246, and 254. So my third was an attempt at the US record and my 4th was an attempt at the world's record. I told Eaton on the way down in the snow and ice that I was going to squeeze the pinch set-up so hard that I was going to snap it in half. And that is what i did every attempt. I squeezed every single attempt so hard my entire torso shook. There was no way an attempt was going to slip out of my hands. So the 246 was no problem. I lined up everything real nice for the 254 but it only barely came off the floor. Not sure what happened there. I think at that point I was .5 or .8 points behind Dave.

The one hand deadlift was next. I felt good about the event because I was consistently hitting 295 in training lefty on a bar with no knurling. However, when it came time to pull on the platform, I just couldn't put it together. Couldn't quite line it up right when I grabbed the bar. I lost some more ground to Dave.

Next was the weaver stick. I hated training for this event, I dreaded having to do it at the contest, worried about the weird feeling I got in my wrist and pinky pad during the event, but ended up loving it in the end because I was able to gain a bunch more ground on Dave with a 13+ pound lift. Going into the final event I was behind by like .3 points.

There were 20 challenges in the medley. I hit 19, which included John Eaton's Inch Dumbbell. The handle on that thing is like glass. I was just too wasted to get the inch up onto the platform, but everything else was pretty easy. That was enough for me to pull ahead, but only a slim margin. Dave and I are closely matched and we seem to just barely edge on another out at most contests. Always a pleasure to compete with him.

Eaton - ability but didn't train for the contest.

Brent Barbe is looking good. He improves every show.

Chris was awesome. He said it was his best grip contest ever.

Foxy did very well. He can pinch a lot more than he did. Probably should have gone with 48 mm. (I hope the guys try the different widths sometimes because 6 mm makes a huge difference in your pinching abilities.)

Zach was very determined all day long. I hope you don't get discouraged man. I could tell you were getting there during the show. Great athleticism after the contest buddy.

Bob Sundin stepped up big time. His numbers are climbing and his name got added to several lists after the event.

It was great meeting Tim, Mr. Carr, Clayton, etc. Keep up the great work guys.

As far as some of the feats that I remember hitting after the contest... I hit the 53lb 10 oz blob - maybe the heaviest blob around??? - with about 7.5-lbs added to it. However, the texture is so rough that it is a very easy blob. I cleaned it and did a double backwards blob lift with it and another fat boy blob. By backwards, I am talking about putting the thumb on the handle side, which is quite a bit harder to do. In fact, I have a blob that I left outside all winter one year and it is as smooth as glass and I have some serious trouble lifting it backwards, but I got the two fat boys pretty easy backwards. I think a lot of the difficulty in blobs is dependent on how smooth the blob is.

Some other things: I snatched the Dragondoor 106-lb kettlebell, the Beast, with a wool glove on. I lifted the 182-lb Gracie bell of Chris Mathison's with a mobster tilt. I think I could lift it level fresh but couldn't pull it up after the show without giving it a huge tilt. By the end of the night, the skin on my fingers and palms was extremely sore. My pinky and thumb pad on my right hand, the hand I used for the weaver, were pretty sore the next day, but after a John Eaton hand massage on the ride back from Ohio, I was good to go and had a really nice workout Monday night. Next contest is right around the corner at Metroflex, so there's no time to rest.

Thanks to Chris and T for letting me stay at their house. To Maryanne for keeping score. You have no idea how much of a contribution that is. To Shawn for managing the electronic spreadsheet, and anyone else who took care of an administrative aspect of the contest, thanks so much! And thanks to my road buddy, John Eaton, who never denies me a trip to a truck stop.

-Jedd-

[Bob Lipinski]

Whew, now I have recovered a little.

Just can't say how great it was to see all my friends and make some new ones. Bob, Scott, and Jeremiah were three of the guys I was looking forward to meeting and had lots of fun with them. As usual, it was a blast seeing Jedd, John (I knew you were bullshitting me the entire time!), Chris, Brent, Stew, Nick, Doc, Jesse, and anyone else I forgot.

Jesse has been coming to the Michigan contests for a while off and one, placed 3rd or 4th at one if I remember right. He will be one of the guys like Barbe and Sundin that will improve alot in the next few events.

Excellent contest Chris! I can tell you are a smart man, you married well and your hostess was fantastic!

Only dissappointment of the day was not seeing Josh. Hopefully we'll get to hang out in May.

[Paul Knight]

Sounds like it was a super contest! congrats to everyone! Jedd - way to pull it off - thats amazing!, I'm sure you'll break the WR on pinch at MM. I'm assuming Geezer=Chris - way to go Chris! I can't believe how strong you are!!!!! congrats on the WR! Thorton: wow! nice gripper close! (and everything else) sounds like you and Jedd were neck and neck. I wish I could've been there! my wife is due any day now - otherwise I would've bought some tickets. super #'s from all!

[odin]

Gripmas 2008

I'm still fatigued and very sore, but here goes my writeup.I first posted this on my blog yesterday afternoon and corrected some typos and errors before posting here, so hope it is halfway acceptable now and Matt Carl doesn't need to eviscerate my grammar. :

What a contest! The depth of the field was GGC-worthy; which was great in a way but I'd rather have had more novices to help teach-the new guys were crazy strong already. This really is the perfect contest for a novice and I hope more come next year. If you love grip and want the sport to grow, please support the sport by showing up and doing your best, you won't regret it.

The prize packages were first class all the way. I won some great items, including the Geezer Award (for best sportsmanship and competitive spirit, anonymously selected by the competitors' votes), some Gazza short bends (wow!), Chris Rider notched cards, straightened horseshoe and a t-shirt. and an Ironmind Captains of Crush book (very hard to put down, great info) and a CoC Key. The scroll I received got a ton of attention and admiration from my co-workers and clients. I also won some online kettlebell coaching from Andrew Durniat's Optimal Performance Training! I don't have a kettlebell, but this is a great incentive to get one.

The class system worked out great overall; body weight seemed to be an acceptable proxy for hand size.

First off, let me apologize for not talking enough to everyone to get enough of an impression to write much; especially Joey Carr and Tim Karwatske who both represented themselves well with performances that would have placed highly in many past contests. I was "in the zone". which was good performance-wise, but led to tunnel vision and not noticing everything.

HW

Jedd struggled a bit (for him), but made no excuses and eked out an emotional, hard-fought and well-deserved victory. He always takes time to answer my questions patiently and thoughtfully. Both he and Dave killed the fatman Blobs after the contest, even lifting them "the hard way" (thumb on cut side) and with extra weight.

Dave Thornton narrowly missed 1st place despite having no weaknesses. I was very impressed w/ his 1HDL and how he is so strong with both hands. Shouts of "nice guy power!" were heard frequently from the contestants and spectators during/after his lifts. Dave was kind to me and gave me some tips I will incorporate in my Inch DB training. Dave and Jedd were killing the Inch and related DBs afterwards.

John Eaton was a bit off the top of his game as he had trained even less than usual, but still got 3rd. He is as good-hearted as he is brutally strong. His Weaver Stick performance was great, but I thought he might get even more weight. I ribbed him mercilessly out of "tough love" as did others and hope he is inspired to train more. I shouted: Hey, John, how much more did you 1HDL than me?

Brent Barbe is poised to be an "Eaton-killer". He trains hard and has improved by leaps and bounds since last year. I saw him lift the Blob for the first time during the medley, pinch five dimes and 3x25 after the contest.

Clayton Gellatly, a Highland Games competitor and first-time grip contestant (if I remember correctly) shook my hand before the contest and his hand felt like metal, bionic. He was quiet and cool, took care of business and did great despite his lack of event experience. He was real focused, so I didn't talk to him much.

Jesse Reimann was another focused competitor who didn't talk much. He seemed to do well on most every event. I don't know how much contest experience he has, but he's obviously done his share of grip-related training.

Nick Rosendaul is a seasoned grip competitor who always represents himself well. He is bull-strong, low-key and very humble despite his abilities. Nick showed solid improvement over GGC. I always look forward to seeing the Brothers Rosendaul.

Jeremiah Fox was crazy strong on the Weaver Stick. I believe he has the largest traps I've ever seen in person; they look like they start at his ears and fan out and look as rugged and solid as an upside-down, 150-pound anvil. He did a set of 20+ dips after the show like nothing despite being one of the biggest men there. It seemed like I was in "tunnel-vision mode" every time I was near him and didn't chat as much as I intended, sorry Foxman!

LW

Chris Rice had a monster contest. He deserves to be as well-known as the past grip legends; the things he is doing at an age when many are in a rocking chair are astonishing. 182 # choked gripper, 226 pinch, WR masters Weaver Stick record, almost completing the entire crazy-hard medley and pinching 2x45 for the first time after the contest; winning his class and 3rd overall-are you kidding me!

Bob Lipinski was someone I'd always wanted to meet and it was great to finally make it happen. He reminds me a lot of Eaton with his levering ability and wrist strength. He is highly intelligent and has a great sense of humor; it was a blast to finally meet him. He was a great competitor and will be a consistent top-five finisher if he can get his Euro pinch #s up. The things he can do with perhaps the smallest hands I've seen in a contest are nothing short of astonishing.

Scott George: I've been getting to know Scott more over the last year or so as he lives about 30 minutes from me; we drove up together. I had a lot of fun talking with him during the many hours in the car. He is quiet but has the subtle swagger of a friendly assassin (oxymoron, but sounds right to me) who knows he has what it takes to win. His contest experience really showed in the medley as he was able to kill me in that event despite me holding my own up to that point. After the contest, Scott high-pulled Josh Dale's SLICK50 fatman blob and easily lifted five dimes despite an aching back. Scott has one of the very best CCS-width crushes out there; I could see him certing on the 3.5 in the not-too distant future.

Stew Rosendaul claimed to train very little over the past year, but he's one of the more impressive guys out there and weighed in around 185. After the contest he easily pulled and held three 25s for an eternity (over 10 seconds it seemed) until someone could photograph it for his cert. He did multiple upside-down Rolling Thunder pullups while poised precariously over Blobs, plates and anvils while we cringed and hoped for the best. All that was merely a warmup for several good Dinnie Stone trainer lifts!

Zach Coulter will be a force if he can be patient with himself. Can you imagine doing a Dinnie Stone trainer lift of any kind or bending horseshoes and big steel at his age? This young "colt" Coulter is no one-trick pony! He is determined and clearly showed he has been aggressively addressing his weaker areas.

Doc was a great official as always and kept things running smoothly. I hope he's ready to return to the sport next year.

Mary Ann was a great scorekeeper and seemed to be patient with all of our quirks yet firm and fair.

Josh Rice did great computer work; we were able to look at our current scores between events and see where we stood. I hope he can post here or tell Chris because he had some interesting stories about the spectators and their reactions to the competitors. He was not feeling well at the end of the day, so I hope he's back to 100% now.

Teresa Rice provided a loving warmth that provided needed balance to the sometimes over-the-top raucous, rowdy, fun-loving atmosphere that was Gripmas 08. Thanks for everything; the food was great!

For you "fence-sitters" out there who didn't go, what are you waiting for? It is rumored that John Eaton Action Figures will be given to all newcomers next year, so please show up. If you didn't go, you need to drop a Blob on your foot as penance or take a Weaver Stick caning and promise to go next year.

Here is my event performance:

Choked Grippers: 165 & 182 (3.5s) and a hair away w/~188.9 SE. (tied 1st LW; I think only Thornton in the Open Class closed that gripper; which was the toughest closed that day).

Pinch: 180 and broke ground 2x w/190.

1HDL: got 265 on my 2nd try with that weight. (tied Lipinski and Stew in LW, Thornton had 298 to win HW). I liked the knurled bar.

Weaver Stick: 9.6 lbs. (could have used another attempt, wrist strap helped a lot). I was still in 3rd LW after this event). At first, I thought it would be a rather Monty Pythonesque event, but was actually pretty fun after all was said and done; seemed to be a crowd pleaser and it was exciting to see if the athlete could finish their lift.

Medley: had to go 2nd and could have used more rest, no real "gimmees" here. Pretty cool selection of items, should have used "tilt" when needed, but I seem to be wired to try to keep lifts level. Scott passed me here for 3rd LW.

Edited December 16, 2008 by odin

[gman]

It was a great event I had a lot of fun and learned a bunch, Odin said that I was “quiet” that’s funny, the first time I have every been told I was quiet . I was trying to learn as much as I could. Thanks Chris for putting on a first class event. And thanks for everybody that helped me. Brent and Zack your going to have to show me how to bend a horseshoe. I f you tell an outsider “I can do 210 lbs in the europinch” so what? but if you bend a horseshoe you’re a super freak!!! Im sure Ill be doing some more grip events.

-Clayton

[MalachiMcMullen]

It was a great event I had a lot of fun and learned a bunch, Odin said that I was “quiet” that’s funny, the first time I have every been told I was quiet . I was trying to learn as much as I could. Thanks Chris for putting on a first class event. And thanks for everybody that helped me. Brent and Zack your going to have to show me how to bend a horseshoe. I f you tell an outsider “I can do 210 lbs in the europinch” so what? but if you bend a horseshoe you’re a super freak!!! Im sure Ill be doing some more grip events.

-Clayton

You ever find your way to southeast MI and I'll be happy to help you out You blew me away man!!

[The Natural]

Big congrats to Jedd for a new American 2HP record. Should be no time at all before he owns that list.

-Rex

[foxyj75]

Some other thoughts.....

Bob Lipinski-- I really enjoyed meeting and competing with him, and Thanks again Bob for swapping grip stuff!! Man, Bob is one of those guys that may not be ginormous in size(don't get me wrong, he's not small by any means, Bob is built like a brick....uhhh,......well you know. ) but is like a powder keg ready to blow; compact, but packs incredible force and strength. During the comp, it seemed he would be calm, and then.........BOOM! He would explode into his attempt! His hands amazed me, they were pretty short, but, I think his pinky is thicker than my thumb!!! Nothing but muscle! :blink Good to meet you Bob, and hope to compete with you again in the future.

Clayton Gellatly-- Whew! This guy is BIG and STRONG! He made everything look incredibly easy. He looks like the kind of guy that could toss a sub-compact out of the way if it was blocking him at Wal-Mart!! I see him doing awesome in grip if he keeps training it, and rocking comps as well. Look for Clayton in top 5's at a comp near you.

Stew Rosendaul-- Funny guy, and surprisingly agile and strong. Always smiling, and cracking jokes. Stew's one of those guys that could take a blob, a fat kettlebell, a chain, and a monkey and make some amazing feat out of it.....and make it look easy.

Nick Rosendaul-- Nick reminds me of a bulldozer; solid, super strong, and almost unstoppable. Nick did great in this comp,(and at BBB), and has the tools to keep doing just that. He can do just about anything, and do it well. I talked to Nick a bunch at BBB and at Gripmas, and really enjoyed meeting and competing with him again.

Jesse Reimann-- Big, strong, and reserved. I can just picture Jesse on a farm tossing cows across a field. He surely has the strength to do it. Nothing looked hard for him, and I see him going a long way in grip for as long as he pursues it. Jesse would surely place a the top of any contest he entered.

Scott George-- Was glad to meet Scott, and enjoyed competing with him. Scott is quiet until he gets to know you; pretty much just like I am! He has brutally strong hands, and this was evidenced by his pulling of the fatman blob as if it was routine. Good to meet you Scott!

David Thornton-- I bet Dave would do anything for you if you asked him. Super nice guy, and SUPER STRONG!!! Dave is the elite of the elite in the grip world, but is as humble as he could be. "Nice guy power" must be in full force, because Dave was rocking everything at the comp. He would be pulling some huge weight on something, and when asked if he wanted to attempt that weight, would just casually look up and say(as he is STILL holding the huge weight) "oh no, I think I'll wait for the next weight. I was just warming up." :blink :blink I really like Dave, he is friendly, personable, and truly one of the good guys in grip. Nice Guy Power!!!!! :rock

Jedd-- Last year was the first time I had met Jedd, and honestly, he intimidated me! Big ol' longhaired dude with hands like catcher's mitts, and a scary intense focus at times. I talked to him later that comp, and found that while all the previous was true, he was also very friendly and willing to make a newbie feel welcome. This year, I got to talk to him a ton more and found that he is a blast to hang with, and is, in the off season in PA, obsessed with "monkey bubbles" ! Jedd has it locked down in any comp, if he's having a bad day, he might get second. Maybe. I would love to have a weaver stick duel with Jedd next year if he's up for it. Jedd, I hope to meet and compete with you again soon buddy.

Zach Coulter--Nature Boy!!!!! Zach, as I'm sure some of you know, hates shoes. He draws his superhuman grip powers from magnetic fields within the earth, and his shoeless feet are a conduit for it. He is also Captain Planet's third cousin.(Wheeler says hi!) But seriously, Zach is gonna start climbing the spots at comps at a very rapid rate. I can tell he has a true love for the sport, and the work ethic to bring him over any hurdle and right to the top. I love watching him bend shoes, as he is all like calm and stuff, and then WHAM!!!! He just slams it in gear and is pushing his guts out. With all that force all of a sudden, you would think his bones and tendons would snap. But they don't. Because he's Captain Planet's cousin, and his bones are made of Nerf. I wanna see your Planeteer ring next time Zach. I bet it has a big foot on it-

for the power of shoelessness!! :D JK! Good to see you again buddy.

Well, that's about it. If I haven't mentioned you in this, or my previous posts, I probably didn't talk to you enough to get an impression, or missed talking to you because I was busy trying to fish treats out of my gym bag. I look forward to seeing everyone again next year, and having another great comp! Later!

Foxy<><

Edited December 17, 2008 by Foxman

[climber511]

Gripmas 2008

Putting on a contest as a promoter is both a lot of work and a lot of fun. You finally get to do it your way – your choice of events – a short commute to the contest – your date – etc etc. But you also get to do all the work of setting up and cleaning up (nine straight hours worth of clean up). It’s worth every bit of it – at least to me.

This year we had fewer competitors but the quality was real high I think – some real nice numbers were put up and the after comp feats of strength were unreal.

As usual the battle between Jedd and Dave was too close to call. Dang but they put on a show for us. It all came down to the medley with Dave getting 18 and Jedd getting 19 for the win in the medley and the contest. I finally stopped Jedd and Dave in the medley but in doing so I think I made it a little too much. It’s a hard thing to balance between the two goals. I lightened up several items the day before the contest – it was heavier the week before and heavier still 3 weeks out. You all should have tried it earlier!

I thought the whole thing ran very smooth with Mary Ann and Sean Dockery doing a great job of keeping it going – start to finish was 6 hours for the whole event – awesome!

I don’t know where to start on all the performances by everyone – it seemed every time I talked to someone it was another PR event for them. The mojo must have really been flowing in my gym that day. Even guys who have trained grip and competed on a regular basis turned in PR days.

The after show was a blast – everywhere I turned someone was doing a feat of strength that 3 or 4 years ago was considered world class. Three 25s, five tens, and two 45s fell to several people (including me, first time I ever managed the 2-45s). The little girl I train and Zach had some good battles going on – but she totally shut him down with the back flip into a split – Zach surrendered on that one. Zach tried everything in the gym – the guy was like the energizer bunny. Zach won the standing long jump, beating my girl by an inch and me by two inches (my girl is only 5’ 1” tall). Zach and I tied on the hop over the bar at around 40” (I took a one step start) – which was as high as the thing goes, I think he could have done a little more. Then at 19 years old and somewhere around 185# or so – he had both Dinnie Stones (trainers of course) off the ground for just an instant – and this doesn’t even mention all the steel he mangled.

Jedd and Dave – different styles but sick strong – I doubt there was anything in the gym they couldn’t lift. Well that crazy Inch of Eaton’s maybe.

My buddy John Eaton – I’m starting to get upset with John – he is so naturally strong that he doesn’t see the need to train but he could be (and should be) winning a contest overall if he worked half as hard as the very few guys who beat him every time.

Brent Barbe (spelled correctly there buddy) has obviously been working hard – his strength just keeps coming up each and every contest – plus he’s losing weight and looking good – and he has forearms that rival Eaton!

Clayton Gellatly – I have done a couple Highland Games with Clayton and he is a strong dude for sure who just needs some specific grip training to do well – he kept wanting to hook grip the one hand DL from his HG experiences, kind of funny watching him set up, catch himself – then readjust. I hope he comes back.

Jesse Reimann – looked to me like he had lost some weight since Michigan – he had a strong meet even though he said he wasn’t feeling well – a super nice guy – wish we could have visited more – a regret I have with everyone there.

Nick Rosendaul – heck, what can I say, Nicki is my bud. Bull strong but doesn’t train contest specific too much but killed everything in the after contest stuff.

Jeremiah Fox – God, he has a back like a silverback gorilla, and says he wants it even bigger – I may have to let him in through the garage door next year. He doesn’t like steel I think because if it’s straight, he bends it and if its crooked, he straightens it. The guy looks like a shiny force of nature. He also popped off 20 dips like nothing at all – looked good for a hundred and 20!

Joey Carr – Joey had been sick for a week before and has lost over 60# lately doing Weight Watchers, causing him to be a lot weaker than normal.

Bob Lipinski – Bob and I are friendly rivals at every contest we do together – this was the first time I’ve beaten him – I doubt it will happen again any time soon. I did however beat him handily in the standing long jump .

Scott George – I had picked Scott to win the light weight class as he was healthy this time around. Scott is like Nicki to me – just a really close friend, shame he lives so far away.

Bob “the giant killer” Sundin – if this guy weighed 200+ - he’d be unstoppable. He trains super hard and has an amazing intensity but has a couple weaknesses that time will fix for him I’m sure. The top four of us in the lightweights all closed a 182# gripper – amazing!

Stew Rosendaul – another “bud” - very close friend and the only guy to actually lift and hold up 734# of Dinnie Stone trainers. And he hasn’t trained for months! A great friend with an awesome family – his kids are the cutest.

Zach “nature boy” Coulter – not too well known now maybe except for being one of the top horse shoe benders in the country but give him a few years and everyone in grip is going to know this boy’s name – at 19 he’s just started on his strength development – if he decides to gain a little bodyweight – he’s going to be a real handful.

Tim Karwatske – mister nice guy #2 along with Dave T. This was Tim’s first ever grip contest – closed a 175# gripper, pinched 165# and had nice 1 HDL and Weaver stick numbers – the medley killed him. If he goes home and broadens out his training base look for a quite different result next time.

I hope everyone had as much fun as I did – if you have any suggestions on how to make it even better next time – let me know please. Oh I want next years medley much harder – don’t say I didn’t warn you!

Edited December 17, 2008 by climber511

[foxyj75]

Gripmas 2008

Putting on a contest as a promoter is both a lot of work and a lot of fun. You finally get to do it your way – your choice of events – a short commute to the contest – your date – etc etc. But you also get to do all the work of setting up and cleaning up (nine straight hours worth of clean up). It’s worth every bit of it – at least to me.

This year we had fewer competitors but the quality was real high I think – some real nice numbers were put up and the after comp feats of strength were unreal.

As usual the battle between Jedd and Dave was too close to call. Dang but they put on a show for us. It all came down to the medley with Dave getting 18 and Jedd getting 19 for the win in the medley and the contest. I finally stopped Jedd and Dave in the medley but in doing so I think I made it a little too much. It’s a hard thing to balance between the two goals. I lightened up several items the day before the contest – it was heavier the week before and heavier still 3 weeks out. You all should have tried it earlier!

I thought the whole thing ran very smooth with Mary Ann and Sean Dockery doing a great job of keeping it going – start to finish was 6 hours for the whole event – awesome!

I don’t know where to start on all the performances by everyone – it seemed every time I talked to someone it was another PR event for them. The mojo must have really been flowing in my gym that day. Even guys who have trained grip and competed on a regular basis turned in PR days.

The after show was a blast – everywhere I turned someone was doing a feat of strength that 3 or 4 years ago was considered world class. Three 25s, five tens, and two 45s fell to several people (including me, first time I ever managed the 2-45s). The little girl I train and Zach had some good battles going on – but she totally shut him down with the back flip into a split – Zach surrendered on that one. Zach tried everything in the gym – the guy was like the energizer bunny. Zach won the standing long jump, beating my girl by an inch and me by two inches (my girl is only 5’ 1” tall). Zach and I tied on the hop over the bar at around 40” (I took a one step start) – which was as high as the thing goes, I think he could have done a little more. Then at 19 years old and somewhere around 185# or so – he had both Dinnie Stones (trainers of course) off the ground for just an instant – and this doesn’t even mention all the steel he mangled.

Jedd and Dave – different styles but sick strong – I doubt there was anything in the gym they couldn’t lift. Well that crazy Inch of Eaton’s maybe.

My buddy John Eaton – I’m starting to get upset with John – he is so naturally strong that he doesn’t see the need to train but he could be (and should be) winning a contest overall if he worked half as hard as the very few guys who beat him every time.

Brent Barbe (spelled correctly there buddy) has obviously been working hard – his strength just keeps coming up each and every contest – plus he’s losing weight and looking good – and he has forearms that rival Eaton!

Clayton Gellatly – I have done a couple Highland Games with Clayton and he is a strong dude for sure who just needs some specific grip training to do well – he kept wanting to hook grip the one hand DL from his HG experiences, kind of funny watching him set up, catch himself – then readjust. I hope he comes back.

Jesse Reimann – looked to me like he had lost some weight since Michigan – he had a strong meet even though he said he wasn’t feeling well – a super nice guy – wish we could have visited more – a regret I have with everyone there.

Nick Rosendaul – heck, what can I say, Nicki is my bud. Bull strong but doesn’t train contest specific too much but killed everything in the after contest stuff.

Jeremiah Fox – God, he has a back like a silverback gorilla, and says he wants it even bigger – I may have to let him in through the garage door next year. He doesn’t like steel I think because if it’s straight, he bends it and if its crooked, he straightens it. The guy looks like a shiny force of nature. He also popped off 20 dips like nothing at all – looked good for a hundred and 20!

Joey Carr – Joey had been sick for a week before and has lost over 60# lately doing Weight Watchers, causing him to be a lot weaker than normal.

Bob Lipinski – Bob and I are friendly rivals at every contest we do together – this was the first time I’ve beaten him – I doubt it will happen again any time soon. I did however beat him handily in the standing long jump .

Scott George – I had picked Scott to win the light weight class as he was healthy this time around. Scott is like Nicki to me – just a really close friend, shame he lives so far away.

Bob “the giant killer” Sundin – if this guy weighed 200+ - he’d be unstoppable. He trains super hard and has an amazing intensity but has a couple weaknesses that time will fix for him I’m sure. The top four of us in the lightweights all closed a 182# gripper – amazing!

Stew Rosendaul – another “bud” - very close friend and the only guy to actually lift and hold up 734# of Dinnie Stone trainers. And he hasn’t trained for months! A great friend with an awesome family – his kids are the cutest.

Zach “nature boy” Coulter – not too well known now maybe except for being one of the top horse shoe benders in the country but give him a few years and everyone in grip is going to know this boy’s name – at 19 he’s just started on his strength development – if he decides to gain a little bodyweight – he’s going to be a real handful.

Tim Karwatske – mister nice guy #2 along with Dave T. This was Tim’s first ever grip contest – closed a 175# gripper, pinched 165# and had nice 1 HDL and Weaver stick numbers – the medley killed him. If he goes home and broadens out his training base look for a quite different result next time.

I hope everyone had as much fun as I did – if you have any suggestions on how to make it even better next time – let me know please. Oh I want next years medley much harder – don’t say I didn’t warn you!

Bring the weaver back next year!!!! Maybe 2'' V-bar?? IM axle clean to shoulder?? Whatever it has, I'll be there!

[barbe705]

Bring the weaver back next year!!!! Maybe 2'' V-bar?? IM axle clean to shoulder?? Whatever it has, I'll be there!

I say 2" v-bar and weaver to the front.

[MalachiMcMullen]

Bring the weaver back next year!!!! Maybe 2'' V-bar?? IM axle clean to shoulder?? Whatever it has, I'll be there!

I say 2" v-bar and weaver to the front.

These I like, at least I'll know how to hold onto the darn weaver stick without it moving about.

Thanks for the kind words guys!!!

[The Natural]

Would someone be kind enough to tell me what a weaver stick is?

-Rex

[Jedd Johnson]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuxNj_vS6sU

There you go Rex.

[bencrush]

More great writeups guys.

Chris, are you planning on publishing the overall results of all the competitors? And will you be deciding on contest events far in advance like usual?

[nickr104]

http://farmstrength.wordpress.com/ Stew Dinnie Stone replica lift after the gripmas comp. The full 734 lbs. At a body weight of 185 lbs. Nice big bro!!!!!!!!!!!!

[climber511]

http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pUx...E5new&hl=en

Let's see if this works - my computer skills are kind of limited - like REAL limited. I want to check all the numbers again but I think everything is right except the 2 HP may need revised - somewhere in my garage (which is now quite clean) is a sheet of paper with my notes on the pinch - as soon as I find it - I'll check my memory.

If you click the tab at the bottom - you can see how the results would have come out if we did not use the open and light weight classes but just had one class.

I already did Ben but you must have missed it - here it is again.