bencrush Posted April 30, 2009 Share Posted April 30, 2009 Cool, we calibrated that pretty close- I got 152 I think. Excellent. My numbers seem to be dead even with whoever calibrated Josh's grippers. Ben you have a pm. Got it Derek. It's yours man. Sorry I haven't gotten back to you yet. Had some difficulty with my PM management. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jad Posted May 13, 2009 Author Share Posted May 13, 2009 Just received word from Scott Harris that he AND National Champion AW and owner of Top Roll Elite, Don "Hollywood" Underwood, will be in attendance!!!!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bencrush Posted May 13, 2009 Share Posted May 13, 2009 Just received word from Scott Harris that he AND National Champion AW and owner of Top Roll Elite, Don "Hollywood" Underwood, will be in attendance!!!!!!!! Hell yeah, that's fantastic news!!! Will be great to see Scott again and get to meet Don Underwood. Is Scott competing? I bet he hasn't been training grip, but knowing him - he's probably stronger on the grip stuff now because of all his hardcore AW training. Oh yeah Josh, if you talk to Scott again, will you ask him if we can use all his calibrated grippers in the lineup? If he'd bring his calibration results too that'd be awesome. I don't have the results of his calibrations anymore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jad Posted May 13, 2009 Author Share Posted May 13, 2009 Just received word from Scott Harris that he AND National Champion AW and owner of Top Roll Elite, Don "Hollywood" Underwood, will be in attendance!!!!!!!! Hell yeah, that's fantastic news!!! Will be great to see Scott again and get to meet Don Underwood. Is Scott competing? I bet he hasn't been training grip, but knowing him - he's probably stronger on the grip stuff now because of all his hardcore AW training. Oh yeah Josh, if you talk to Scott again, will you ask him if we can use all his calibrated grippers in the lineup? If he'd bring his calibration results too that'd be awesome. I don't have the results of his calibrations anymore. Will do. He asked me if we needed anything and that's what I told him but I'll ask him again tonight when I talk to him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GetAGrip87 Posted May 13, 2009 Share Posted May 13, 2009 Yeah, I'm going to compete. I should be thrashed during this grip comp because I will be competing at a AW tournament in Wichita on Friday. I haven't been training my grip much at all but I will estimate that I'm about 95% on grippers. I will bring all my calibrated grippers, they still have the cal's on them but I will bring the paper you wrote them on too. I will also bring your AW table back to you Ben. I built my own finally a couple weeks ago. Would you bring my #3.5 with you if you don't need it for training anymore. Looking forward to seeing you guys again on Saturday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Lipinski Posted May 14, 2009 Share Posted May 14, 2009 Scott, good to see you back in the grip stuff! Heard you aren't so little anymore. Hope you can make it to MI one of these days, I know it is a pain in the ass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bencrush Posted May 14, 2009 Share Posted May 14, 2009 Yeah, I'm going to compete. I should be thrashed during this grip comp because I will be competing at a AW tournament in Wichita on Friday. I haven't been training my grip much at all but I will estimate that I'm about 95% on grippers.I will bring all my calibrated grippers, they still have the cal's on them but I will bring the paper you wrote them on too. I will also bring your AW table back to you Ben. I built my own finally a couple weeks ago. Would you bring my #3.5 with you if you don't need it for training anymore. Looking forward to seeing you guys again on Saturday. Fantastic news Scott!!! I'm so glad to hear you're going to compete even though it's the day after an AW tournament. That makes my arm ache even thinking about it. Thanks a lot for bringing all your calibrated grippers too! We need some inbetweeners to bridge the gap between a Trainer and the easy #3 level. I've got your #3.5 all wrapped up nice and tight (leather wrapped) so I'll bring that up with me too. Thanks for the loan on that. It'll be good to get the AW table back too! I keep saying I need to start training...less talk and more action though, right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cberg Posted May 14, 2009 Share Posted May 14, 2009 Hey guys I was wondering if someone could tell me the fastest way to get to the contest from Des Moines, IA. Im going down Hwy 35. Im pretty bad at reading maps and I dont want to add on to the many hours I already have to drive that day. Nothin like waiting till the last minute to get stuff like this figured out. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bencrush Posted May 15, 2009 Share Posted May 15, 2009 Hey guys I was wondering if someone could tell me the fastest way to get to the contest from Des Moines, IA. Im going down Hwy 35. Im pretty bad at reading maps and I dont want to add on to the many hours I already have to drive that day. Nothin like waiting till the last minute to get stuff like this figured out.Thanks Jeez, I wish I could man. I am one of the worst navigators you are likely to EVER meet in your entire life. It's a wonder I'm still alive some of the places I've accidentally drive through at inopportune times. Here's a link to a pic of some of the calibrated grippers: http://goalorientedtraining.wordpress.com/ Caolan, I have the bending kit put together but be forewarned - it's not pretty! I didn't put it together to be pretty visually though. Just a good bit of steel of all kinds of strength levels and lengths crammed in one small plastic tool organizer. You'll love it. It has a face only a bender could love. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cberg Posted May 15, 2009 Share Posted May 15, 2009 Hey guys I was wondering if someone could tell me the fastest way to get to the contest from Des Moines, IA. Im going down Hwy 35. Im pretty bad at reading maps and I dont want to add on to the many hours I already have to drive that day. Nothin like waiting till the last minute to get stuff like this figured out.Thanks Jeez, I wish I could man. I am one of the worst navigators you are likely to EVER meet in your entire life. It's a wonder I'm still alive some of the places I've accidentally drive through at inopportune times. Here's a link to a pic of some of the calibrated grippers: http://goalorientedtraining.wordpress.com/ Caolan, I have the bending kit put together but be forewarned - it's not pretty! I didn't put it together to be pretty visually though. Just a good bit of steel of all kinds of strength levels and lengths crammed in one small plastic tool organizer. You'll love it. It has a face only a bender could love. Well thanks for everything anyway Ben but it turns out Im not going now. Ran into some of the worst shit ass luck a couple hours ago. My buddy that was supposed to drive me calls me at the last minute and tells me his parents decided to take a vacation leaving saturday morning and they need him to babysit his little sisters. I feel like a bit of a dick now for having to cancel out. I was looking forward to meeting some grip guys and taking some bending stock off your hands but I guess that'll have to wait. Good luck at the comp though Im sure it'll be a good one and Im very pissed that ill be missing out Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jad Posted May 15, 2009 Author Share Posted May 15, 2009 Caolan, no worries buddy! I ran into some bad luck last year before Gripmas and had to pull out at the last minute. Hopefully we'll see you next year! Some last minute stuff! -Food and drink (nonalcoholic) will be provided AFTER the contest. I'd suggest you bring snacks/drinks for before and during the contest The plan is to order a bunch of pizzas during the last event and my sister will run up and pick them all up. -The individual with the axle will likely not make it due to some tough personal issues that have recently come up. If Ben is unable to secure the axle from him we'll go with 1 HDL for our horizontal support grip event. Sorry for any inconveniences this may cause. Drive safe and I'm looking forward to seeing everyone at the contest! Josh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bencrush Posted May 16, 2009 Share Posted May 16, 2009 Caolan, sorry to hear you're not going to be able to make it man! Don't sweat it man. There will be more contests somewhere in the general area. Probably some a lot closer to you next year anyway. I may end up sending you some of my bending stock anyway. I don't need it anymore and I was looking forward to giving it to a gifted bender (not that any of the rest of the guys are not...) like you. Josh beat me to the announcement about the Axle. The Axle is a no-go at this point. Tough personal issues with the Keeper of the Axle. We were talking about RT or 1HDL. I thought we might've been leaning more towards RT actually, but could be mistaken as that is my nature, lol. Either way it'll still be fun guys. Drive safe and see you all tomorrow morning! My brother is coming up with me and he's really looking forward to the freak show. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GetAGrip87 Posted May 16, 2009 Share Posted May 16, 2009 NO, NO ROLLING THUNDER EVER!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bencrush Posted May 16, 2009 Share Posted May 16, 2009 NO, NO ROLLING THUNDER EVER!!! LOL I'm pretty easy on the topic of whatever event we put in there. How about 20mm closes with a Vulcan? In addition to our other MMS gripper stuff. Just throwing that out, haha. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bencrush Posted May 16, 2009 Share Posted May 16, 2009 Got a few questions about the bending stock that will be in the lineup. Here's the lineup and the calibration of the steel at 6": -3/16" Round (135lbs) -3/16" Square (210lbs) -1/4" Round (305lbs) -6" G5 (355lbs - easier ones from a previous contest) -6" G5-Diamond (385lbs) -6" G8 (460lbs) -1/4" Square (485lbs) -5/16" Round (varies from 510lbs if we've got the easiest batch ever calibrated - which is doubtful - to 655lbs for the hardest batch ever calibrated - I'm guessing it'll be the 600lb batch) -6" Edgin-JH-FNL (685lbs) -5/16" Stainless (700lbs - this has calibrated as high as 715lbs, but we'll use the lower number if anyone bends this) -6" Edgin-Diamond (745lbs) I'm bringing a digital camera for help in judging the 2" vbar also. Whoever is judging can go to the video if they feel the need to - like the lift was extremely questionable because of tilt or just plain didn't look high enough but was close. There'll be some guys there (myself included probably) who will show basic bending form and techniques to the people not familiar with the zen of bending. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cberg Posted May 16, 2009 Share Posted May 16, 2009 Thanks for being so understanding Josh and Ben. I still plan on going to at least one contest this year... Ben if you want to send me some steel I would be more than willing to pay you something for it. Hope you guys kicked some ass at the contest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Moyers Posted May 17, 2009 Share Posted May 17, 2009 - want to thank Ben and Josh for organizing this event! I also want to give Ben a BIG thanks for helping me with a training program! If he hadn't, I wouldn't be bending or competing. I came in 5th out of 7, but set 4 PR's out of 5 events. I had an awesome time and met some great people! Thanks again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bencrush Posted May 17, 2009 Share Posted May 17, 2009 - want to thank Ben and Josh for organizing this event! I also want to give Ben a BIG thanks for helping me with a training program! If he hadn't, I wouldn't be bending or competing. I came in 5th out of 7, but set 4 PR's out of 5 events. I had an awesome time and met some great people! Thanks again! It was great meeting you Adam! And huge congrats on your big PRs man! You did all the hard work on that training program, so it was a joy. Next year you'll be that much stronger. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jad Posted May 17, 2009 Author Share Posted May 17, 2009 Well, as grip contest always are, this one was a blast. It was great to have guys drive in all the way from KY and I was thrilled to get some good cross-sport participation by having Don Underwood and Justin Rhodes there! Scott Harris was there too and I guess he's an armwrestler now, but I still count him as grip junkie first As I mentioned earlier, Don is a former HW National Champion AW and it you could just see the wheels spinning and he made several comments to Scott about how he was going to have to start incorporating more of this stuff in there practices. Scott and I might end up doing some grip demos before one of his Top Roll promotions or maybe something as simple as bringing a blob and letting spectators try it for a $1/try with the chance to win a tshirt or whatever. Don is going to put up any vids or pics we send him on his AW site. Overall, I was very happy with the way the contest went and I feel we met the objectives we set. We got some cross-sport participation going, we qualified 3 people for nationals, and I believe we had 3 people show up for their first contest and all three had a great time; so we grew the sport some. I know my stepdad is hooked and was out measuring my pinch device so he could fabricate his own at work. Things we could do better for next year: -utilize facebook or whatever is hot to promote it: My sister made the comment that there were a bunch of people from her graduating class that would have shown up if I'd have put it up. -provide chairs -fix the spreadsheet ahead of time -more organization on the bending to speed it up -dedicated film/camera person -I have a bada$$ t-shirt design in my head if we could get more people to commit earlier next year I'll get the scoresheet up once I figure out how to post an MS excel document. The scoring system worked great but we didn't account for the extra columns we'd need for both hands for vbar, grippers, and rt so it screwed up the formulas. We recorded all the results, then after the contest, blanked out the LH results and figured them manually, and then added the totals back in. It was a good learning experience and must-have knowledge if you're trying to interpret the spreadsheet when I post it I'm waiting on some pics from my Step-dad and then I'll get them posted. Even-wise: not my best day but not my worse either. I killed the 173 elite, missed the 195# twice but one was less than 3/16" and my warm-ups told me it wasn't going to be a superday on grippers, and then on my final attempt I closed the Heavy Elite which is the SE from Ostlund's contest and it went 183.2. I'm going to stick with my gripper plan and the 195 is going down! 2HP was big disappointment. I've done 209 to full lockout in the basement and missed 204 at the contest. I never really felt locked on to the device: who knows, friction lifts are a such a science experiment. I was THRILLED with my RT lifts and have no idea how those have gone up so much. Probably the AW and high rep sets I do as a finisher after AW practice. 2" vbar went good. I was glad to get 275 but a little disappointed that I've only gained 5# since last year and I've actually been training on the real thing since Christmas. Maybe I should go back to the IM pin The bending was a shocker. I've done maybe 3-4 "workouts" a homemade wrist developer and other than an occasional G5 in a towel, haven't reverse bent since Gripmas 07. I destroyed the 6" 1/4" square and put a nice kink in a huge bastard. Must be all the top rolling I've been doing. Some of the highlights I remember Grippers: -Ben KILLED the 158# custom GM Lefty! Remember it's got the chromed steel handles so it doesn't set worth a crap and wants to squirt out of the back of your hand and it's a legit 3" spread. -5/7 competitors closed a #3 or better -My step-dad was pumped to finally shut a #2. 2HP -Billy Howell put up a strong pinch of 164.8 in his first ever contest. He decided to compete on the spot and considering 170 was a qualifier last year, I was impressed, especially since I felt the device wasn't exactly optimal that day. RT -There are no highlights and I'm ashamed I had to use it in a contest I helped promote 2" vbar -Adam and Roger both pulled 208# here, nationally qualifying lifts in their first contest! Bending: -Ben took down a Huge shiny in less than 40 sec -Roger, was dead in the water with a G5 and I started coaching him and the seemingly unmoveable metal just folded. It was great, especially since it was his first contest and now he's hooked. Will talk about after contest feats later, I'm head off to the Mother-in-law's for dinner! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jad Posted May 18, 2009 Author Share Posted May 18, 2009 There wasn't very many after contest stuff because most people had to get on the road but here's some stuff and some impromtu stuff tha went down during the contest. -B-rad mangled a stupid amount of spikes and horseshoes. Hopefully he'll go into detail on which ones. He broke an 8" spike WTH?? He also tore a STL phonebook as kind an afterthought on his way out and managed to bring sexy back with his kumite winner t-shirt. -Don Underwood's hands are ridiculously wide and thick. His hand covers the entire gripper handle and the webbing between his index and thumb flaps over the top edge. If he wants to be good at closing grippers I think he'll definitely need to be a three finger closer because his index sits up even with the top which makes it about useless. He finally managed to wedge one of his hands through the bale on the RT and did a modified version of the Brzenk RT lift with 120 or 140. Here's the cool part: he squatted down and locked his arm at 90 degrees and then stood up with 120 or 140, keeping his arm locked Thanks again to John over at Fat Bastard Barbell for supporting our contest and I hope to see more of you out there next year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MalachiMcMullen Posted May 18, 2009 Share Posted May 18, 2009 Congrats everyone! Sounds like an awesome time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gumpster Posted May 18, 2009 Share Posted May 18, 2009 Congrats to everyone who participated! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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