Hubgeezer Posted July 12, 2009 Share Posted July 12, 2009 It was a good contest. It had been 26 months since I was in a contest, so it was especially fun for me. Robert and his wife Gloria were very good hosts. As I was walking towards his house in the 100 degree San Bernardino heat, I thought for the first time "oh my God I am in a grip contest in a garage with no air conditioning in July in San Bernardino, what the heck was I thinking?" As soon as I got near the garage, my concern vanished and was quite impressed with how Robert had dealt with it. The overhead garage door was open, and a nice canopy/almost tent shot off of the garage, with pvc piping and cool mist coming down into the area. There was a back door to the garage that was open and several large fans were blowing lots of air through the garage. Pretty economical, practical, effectve and clever setup that he had to make it work very well. Lawn chairs for the observers and participants as well. Good food for lunch with a long break and a killer tasty salsa to boot. Thanks much to both of them, that was really nice! And, I see our former fearless leader Kevin Meskew has commented and talked about a contest at the Palace? Hey Kevin, we thought you vanished, glad to see you back! I bet lots of us would be interested in getting together there. We thought that it n'existed pas, so Robert filled in the gap. I did not take the kinds of notes I used to. I guess it was because I brought a friend with me. Jackie Lee, who is on the Gripboard as TG ROK, is someone I used to work with. He was the scorekeeper, brought a laptop, and BROUGHT A PRINTER AND PAPER! I bet this was a Grip Contest first where the particpants left the contest with sheets of paper containing the final results. That was awesome. Thanks Jackie! Both Bill and Robert continue to improve. Shipp has a rock climbing background and this was his first contest. When you consider this was the first time he touched much of the stuff, he did pretty well. What I got out of my first grip contest in 2004 was that I neeeded to work other body parts besides the hands, and learn to work the back to strengthen it and protect it against injury. Gripzilla, who attended most of the contest (arrived after 3 of the 7 events) is now the same age that I was when I entered my first contest. He was complaining enough about different body parts that I hope he is reading this and expands his scope, as he has some real talent that just needs developing. At 6 foot 7, his Board Name is a good name for him. Events in order: Grippers. Robert had calibrated grippers, around 5,000 of them. A bit of an exaggeration, but not much. Four attempts, maximum closed, MMS, one hand contested. Vertical bar. Used a Fat Bastard One Inch, four attempts, one hand contested. It was my bar. IronMind Hub. Four attempts, one hand contested, Bill McCaslin's device. It had a rough finish to it compared to any IronMind Hub device known to Man. Fingers did not slip, they stuck to it. Two hand plate pich. Used some milled York 45s as the pinch device. Not adjustable, but I think comfortable enough for everyone. Apollon's Axle. It was mine that we used. A few years ago, my son used to chalk his hands to the max before using it, and I never wiped the bar off. So, where you place your hands the bar does not have the super smooth nontextured Apollon's Axle feel to it. Instead, where you place your hands the bar seems to be to be custom designed with a combination of rust, chalk and general seasoning to make people happy. Medley. No time limit on it, as everyone knew none of us were cabable of doing everthing. There were 21 or 22 different items to pick up. Some of them were worth 1 point each. Some had progressive points on them (example: leveraging an 8 lb. hammer was 1 point, leveraging a 10 lb hammer was 2 points, 12 lb was 3 points). There were 5 Blobs, 4 plates to hub, 2 decks of cards to tear, a couple of grippers to table no set, 3 different sledges to leverage, etc. Most points wins. Possible there could be fewer items winning, depending on what one picked up and did not pick up sucessfully. Wrist Roller. 75 pounds, fastest time up wins. Two attempts on the 3 inch roller, traditional last event for the Southern California crowd. My own performance: Overall, okay. I did not have the mental focus that I usually do at these things. Usually I feel like I go into a deep zone, but this time, it felt more casual for me. Not sure why that was. Grippers. Never a highlight for me, this time it was. I closed 3 straight Number 3s, sure the first two were easy (147 lbs and 149.5 lbs) but I got the 3rd one, which was the 154.24 that I missed on my Certification at the AOBS one month ago. Aahhhh, vindicated! That does not happen often! Vertical Bar. I wanted a PR, but I got 310. Seeing as I missed it (310) when I tried it for my 3rd attempt, I was very happy to salvage it for the 4th attempt, barely. I wanted 326, my best was 321 in November 2006. I'll take 310. Hub Lift. After my 66 plus, I had it loaded to 74 for a contest PR. No go. Two hand pinch. Got 165 on my second attempt very easily. On 3rd attempt, 175 only went half up. On the 4th attempt, it did not budge. Yeah, disappointed on that one. Apollon's Axle. I have lost 30 pounds of weight in 2009. In December, I did 330 in my garage for a PR. I have lost strength since. 318.50 is okay. It will be tough to get to 350, which is what I would like to get to. Medley. I was pretty bad in it. Not much more to say than that. Wrist Roller. Not good for me. I had done some training with a Fat Bastard thick roller, and thought I had improved. I did go 3 seconds faster in my second attempt than my first, so that was some consolation. Always good to see guys improve and get happy to hit PRs It was a good group and a good time was had by all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gripzilla Posted July 13, 2009 Share Posted July 13, 2009 It was great contest. Robert and his wife, Gloria, were wonderful host. Everyone there- Robert (Lonewolf), Mike (Hubgeezer), Bill (Fatboy), John (Ship), Jackie (TG ROK/scorekeeper) and the wives were great. Everyone had a great time. Though it was pretty hot out there, Robert had the perfect set-up as Mike previously mentioned. All the contestants were just killing. Bill wouldn't just DL that axle, he'd clean the sucker. Mike and Robert were going hard on that 2-HP. John was doing really well also. I never would of the thought of this being his first contest. He was going at it like a pro. Mike goes at that axle like a madman- a strong man. There was a great sense of camaraderie amongst all the contestants and others in attendance. It was a great experience. My thanks to everyone for allowing my son and I to play with some of cool items they had there. This was the first grip contest that I'd ever attended. Though I was on the "injured reserve" I had fun playing with the grip toys they had there. Robert, thank you for convincing me to try some of the GB certs. I was surprised that my RH hubbed the 45# hub as I don't train RH. Don't ask me why; it was a silly experiment. Go figure. I hear you Mike. As soon as I go through my prescription of muscle relaxants, I'll hopefully be able to get my back straightened out. I have to learn to lift sooner or later . I'll toss in some work for the RH as well. Once again. thank you everyone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
climber511 Posted July 13, 2009 Share Posted July 13, 2009 It was great contest. Robert and his wife, Gloria, were wonderful host. Everyone there- Robert (Lonewolf), Mike (Hubgeezer), Bill (Fatboy), John (Ship), Jackie (TG ROK/scorekeeper) and the wives were great. Everyone had a great time. Though it was pretty hot out there, Robert had the perfect set-up as Mike previously mentioned. All the contestants were just killing. Bill wouldn't just DL that axle, he'd clean the sucker. Mike and Robert were going hard on that 2-HP. John was doing really well also. I never would of the thought of this being his first contest. He was going at it like a pro. Mike goes at that axle like a madman- a strong man. There was a great sense of camaraderie amongst all the contestants and others in attendance. It was a great experience. My thanks to everyone for allowing my son and I to play with some of cool items they had there. This was the first grip contest that I'd ever attended. Though I was on the "injured reserve" I had fun playing with the grip toys they had there. Robert, thank you for convincing me to try some of the GB certs. I was surprised that my RH hubbed the 45# hub as I don't train RH. Don't ask me why; it was a silly experiment. Go figure. I hear you Mike. As soon as I go through my prescription of muscle relaxants, I'll hopefully be able to get my back straightened out. I have to learn to lift sooner or later . I'll toss in some work for the RH as well. Once again. thank you everyone. Get yourself healed up - if you do all that hurt - we want to see what you can do healthy! :rock Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lone Wolf Posted July 13, 2009 Author Share Posted July 13, 2009 I want to thank everyone for coming out here for the contest . It was good to see Mike Corlett after all this time still as strong as ever . Bill came beat -up as uaual but still does well in all his contest. Ship I haven't seen him snce the last contest in Az. last year but he's making steady improvements him and bll really pushed me to well . I would hate to see what Fernando aka Gripzilla could do when he's healthy he lifted my York deep dish 45 very easy for him. I would like to thank Jackie for being the scorekeeper you did an outstanding job. I was hoping it wasn't going to be that hot and the last couple days it cooled down a bit. the grippers was prtty much Mikes and Bill show I just missed the Bill's 130 IM 2.5 and Ship was just behind me. The show was how 3's was Mike going to close. The next real battle was the IM hub I had come to the contest with the mindset of getting 60 lbs. but after seeing Bills hub I figured I get a little bit more. Me and Bill both ended up within 5 lbs. to Mike I would have never I could been this close to him . For the wrist roller this was most improved of all the events this one is uauslly the Bill and Adam & Steve showI dont know were I pulled the 7.93 sec. from but I know from all the encouragement form all me friends i could not of done it. I'm looking forward to doing it again maybe in May it should be a little cooler . I'm glad everyone had a good time Robert Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acorn Posted July 13, 2009 Share Posted July 13, 2009 Congrats to all the competitors! sounds like you guys had a great time! - Aaron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lone Wolf Posted August 4, 2009 Author Share Posted August 4, 2009 I just wanted to thank everyone again for attending this contest this year looking forward to having another one next year . I hope Kevin gets going on a contest in Dec. in Chatsworth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.