Interest In Grip Sport?

[Eric Roussin]

I'm wondering what percentage of board members currently compete or plan on competing in grip sport contests (assuming contests were held within a reasonable distance). If not interested in grip sport, I'd like to know why members are interested in grip strength. To improve performance in another sport? For personal strength goals?

[bubba29]

i attempted to create a similar poll but obviously am not as technically savvy as you. i'd like to know why gripboard members don't compete if there are contests within a reasonable distance. most of them would probably beat my ass in a competition yet for some reason more of them are not getting involved. i go for the camaraderie and hopefully get PRs. call me a loser but i don't go with the goal of winning because i would get dejected pretty quickly.

[canthar]

I don't compete simply because grip work is what I do for fun. I typically train twice a day normally as is and want to keep it as enjoyable with no stress of pressure. Which yes I know would basically be coming from myself.

[climber511]

This can quickly get me fired up depending how things go. I don't care if people choose to compete or not but ............... if you believe in grip as a sport - there are things you could do at a contest to help out that can make a real contribution.

Years ago there was a show called West Wing on TV - one of the sayings on it was "The world is run by those that show up" and sports are the same way. Showing up on a forum isn't showing up in my mind. Showing up means competing, promoting, sponsoring, making/selling the equipment, being a volunteer or loader, scorekeeper etc etc - running one's keyboard isn't the same thing. We can all play a role in different capacities - but to make any real kind of difference - one has to "show up".

[canthar]

I completely agree. I get chance I would help, right now most efforts are going towards olympic team support.

[Electron]

Planning to compete for the first time on March 9th. Can't come soon enough.

[EricMilfeld]

I believe there's no small number of guys who simply fear they aren't "strong enough". I guess this sort of reasoning would apply to most any sport. Fear of failure. I've been able to convince a few guys over the years that the cliche' about "it's not whether you win or lose" is actually true, and none of them regretted competing.

[acorn]

I certainly am interested in competing. Along these lines I happened to create a SQL script to work against the gripsport performance database last week to determine number of unique Athletes that posted results with a timeframe. In 2012 there were 213 unique athletes that I have results for in the database. If you expand that out to 2011 and 2012 that number goes up to 286 unique athletes out of the total I have in there which is 323. I found that very interesting. I'm sure there are lots of people that compete in this sport who do not frequent a forum.

- Aaron

[Matt Brouse]

I mostly compete when Adam tells me to. Sometimes not even then. When I'm good on the AW table it's because of grip strength. I've never failed on a strongman or lifting event because of grip. But it doesn't have the same arousing nature it once had.

Feed me a cat.

[Jones1874]

for me personally, the competition is with myself. like NBranson said, i just do it for enjoyment. ive never been in competition with others thinking back as far as i can remember. plus, im just going with the flow. id like to think that ill always train grip from now on, and i do believe i will if i dont have any injuries. but if im not gonna lie to myself, sometimes stuff happens in life and things are put on hold, that, or you just take an interest in something else.. and thats just the way it is.

Right now, im enjoying training grip. but my passion will always be lifting weights. grip training for me, is a way to make lifting bigger weights easier, aswell as making everyday life easier.

Edited February 13, 2013 by alexjones234

[hellswindstaff]

Didn't respond to the poll bc it's not a black and white issue for me... I love grip strength and training grip. I would go to a contest if there were one in my area, and maybe even help with it, but competing in gripsport isn't really a top priority for me. I think that if I were to fly across the country to go to one then it would basically be to set some type of record just to have it on the books[not that I am anywhere near that at this point]

[David Horne]

My quick thought on this is if you are not interested in competing, not a problem, and have great fun with the hobby.

Now if you are thinking of competing, in any of the miriad of grip contests on offer now, do it as soon as possible. This is the same thing I tell everyone wether it be grip, armwrestling or strongman. Get out there and start to learn the sport. Oh and by the way, you will have an awesome time!

[Justin Matney]

I would love to compete, too embarrassed though.

[Stephen Ruby]

I am interested in competing in grip contests, hope to learn some pointers and set new prs to improve upon. I think competition is not only fun it will help you achieve your goals quicker. I don't think its a coincidence that the best grip athletes have all competed-many frequently if not in pure grip in some strength sport like strongman/arm wrestling which both require a lot of grip strength-.

[indiladhar]

I'd probably wait until I'm stronger before competing. I understand its all for fun but when you're lifting weights less than 50% of what others do, it's going to be off putting

[Billy Jack]

I'd probably wait until I'm stronger before competing. I understand its all for fun but when you're lifting weights less than 50% of what others do, it's going to be off putting

You never know what you may learn at a competition that may help you gain that strength that you feel you need to compete at a higher level. I seriously doubt that any other competitors will care how little weight you're lifting, other than how they feel they can assist you on making it stronger. I have only been around this board for a little while, but I can sense that most everyone here is pretty humble and always willing to help and not make fun of anyone. I would be willing to bet that anyone who would do this at a well-known competition would be called out for it.

I have not had a chance to compete yet, but I plan on doing so some time on the future. I am just very limited by my geographic area as their are not any within a few hours of me.

I look at grip training this way: I am not embarassed that I do not lift as much as the top 75-100 percentile of people that have been in this sport longer than me. Kind of like I did not go in to my new job on the first day and expect to be working side-by-side with the CEO of the company. He has been their, done that, and has more experience and probably is smarter than me at this job. But that didn't stop me from going to work every day. Does that analogy make any sense?

People have their own reasons for competing or not competing, but I hope that embarassment or lack of skills is not the determining factor. I have been around sports at several levels all my life and I know that I have always been made better by those around me who share the same goals.

Edited February 15, 2013 by Billy Jack

[Shoggoth]

Competitions are an excellent learning and teaching environment. Gripsport is so small and niche it's very interesting to meet a few like minded individuals as well and put some faces to names. I've never encountered anything but the greatest in hospitality in this sport and I'm pretty sure that'd be a similar sentiment for most everyone. Come out, compete, laugh, learn and have a great day.

[daniel reinard]

The best tips, tricks, and training ideas I've ever recieved were at grip contests. The exchange of information is 10x what the forum is, just to put things into perspective. That should motivate anyone to get to a comp IMO.

Edited February 16, 2013 by daniel reinard

[Jeremy C.]

I'm getting back into grip but several years ago I competed in a grip contest, and it was great. Everyone was very helpful and supportive. I would recommend everyone compete in a contest no matter what your level.

Grip contests=knowledge,motivation and personal records

[xvx]

I'm definitely interested in competing, for the experience. As a lot of people have already stated, it's the best way to learn and the competition mindset helps you push yourself. I haven't ever trained grip with anyone, and rarely train with other people in general, so it would be a lot of fun. Even if there wasn't a novice class, I would go into it knowing that even though I won't do very well comparing to other people, I'll still do my best.