daniel reinard Posted April 21, 2013 Author Share Posted April 21, 2013 Here are the individual lifts and scores. Jeff, Andrew and Jacqueline had to leave early. Other than those zeros we did not have anyone bomb out. Thank you everyone for your support. And thank you competitors for coming out and making it a fun event to put on. And congrats winners! Also, every competitor went home with a prize due to our generous sponsors. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bencrush Posted April 21, 2013 Share Posted April 21, 2013 Congrats to all the competitors! Nice turnout. And it's always good to see a ladies' class contested. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bwwm Posted April 21, 2013 Share Posted April 21, 2013 Great work folks!!! Makes me want to go out in the garage and break out the 12# sledge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jedd Johnson Posted April 21, 2013 Share Posted April 21, 2013 Great job to everyone! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hubgeezer Posted April 21, 2013 Share Posted April 21, 2013 (edited) Here are some comments regarding the contest. Daniel did a fine job producing it, and there were a good number of participants. I liked it that there were many young people entering their first grip contest. Grip contests can be intimidating for someone to take that first step, and hopefully this was a great starting off point for the participants, as well as readers of the forum to do so in the future. Steve Ruby's sister Cassandra, if she wants, has a "future in the sport", whatever that means. Women are only beginning to get into it, and three females in the same contest was also a good turnout. I hope the sport grows in that department. My son's girlfriend had never touched a Rolling Thunder until Easter Sunday, and I think she had a good experience. Steve Ruby's performance on grippers was REALLY impressive. Sure, he won the contest. But the gripper event was on a different plane than the rest of it. Considering he has not been into it very long, he has potential to be among the best. Daniel, as expected, kicked ass on the Two Hand Pinch. A message to young people, and to young people who think, like NFL Scouts, that your athletic career is over by Age 27: Grip Strength keeps getting better for longer than any of us even comprehend. Slim the Hammer Man, who has observed his own grip strength for 60 years, believes he was at his best from his 40s to his early 50s. At Age 58, I am still tracking PRs. I was surprised by my son's performance. Yes, he is extremely strong, by anyone's standards. But he is not a "grip guy" by any stretch of the imagination. And, his hands are only 7 and one-half inches. Pulling 173 on the Rolling Thunder with that as a background is more impressive to me than his 555 for 5 reps deadlift! The moral of the story is that strength DOES matter in the Rolling Thunder. In 2008, in a Rolling Thunder contest I produced at my Rotary Club, my son pulled 146. Going from 146 to 173 without specific grip training is not something I would have expected. And, as those who attended can attest to, my son is an entertaining guy. Me? I give my contest day a "C". I squeezed 150 lbs. on grippers. For me, B. Two hand pinch of 175 without any pinch training, B. Rolling Thunder of 186 with my dominant hand when I pulled over two hundred with my weak hand just a few weeks ago? C. Sledge Hammer lift of 10 inches away from the hammer head? When I easily did 13 before the contest even started? D. By my math, the whole contest for me averages to a C. But I went to this one with the simple goal of having a good time, and I absolutely did. All told, it was an "A". Thanks for the "free stuff" at the end, too Daniel! Nice touch for everyone! Hubgeezer Edited April 21, 2013 by Hubgeezer 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tex Posted April 21, 2013 Share Posted April 21, 2013 The competition was definitely a great time. Thanks to Daniel, the gym, and all the sponsors and people who helped out. I learned a ton and saw some very impressive feats. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chez Posted April 21, 2013 Share Posted April 21, 2013 Congrats to everyone who competed. Great performances across the board. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricMilfeld Posted April 21, 2013 Share Posted April 21, 2013 Very pleased to hear the contest was such an overwhelming success. Quality lifting, for sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kashtan Posted April 21, 2013 Share Posted April 21, 2013 Congrats to all competitors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daniel reinard Posted April 22, 2013 Author Share Posted April 22, 2013 Again, thanks to all the sponsors and competitors for making it a great event to put on. We had quite the diverse demographic. From age 20 to 58, climbers, cross fitters, powerlifters, gripsters, and a few casual grip competitors. Cassandra and Stephen both are young and strong and have alot of potential in grip. All the first time competitors showed great potential really. It was a strong fresh group. For me, I guess my little report, I tested a couple things out in this comp. I trained 2HP just once for this event and I went up from 58mm to 64mm on the device and found I can lift the same weight. So I decided to try out 60mm, as well as two other guys. We all seemed to like that width. Not knowing what I could lift at that width I went for a 203. It felt solid and in hindsight maybe I should of tried to go for 213 instead. Anyways, now I'll try to make a 60 width and run that for a while. Another thing I did was do alot of Inch to see if it would help on the RT. So I didn't train the RT at all. I trained it last year to help with the #3 cert but that was it. Well the Inch did nothing for my RT. I actually felt weak on it compared to where I was on it months ago when training it for 2 months. Now the RT helped with the Inch, but not vice versa. We'll do another contest in roughly 6 months, the Bay Area Grip Challenge 2. Events are undecided so if anyone has any suggestions go ahead and throw them out there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daniel reinard Posted April 22, 2013 Author Share Posted April 22, 2013 Just a reminder if you took photos: Please post them to the Diablo Rock Gym FB page, the FB event page, this thread or email them to me or the gym! We'd like to compile the photos and share them. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bwwm Posted April 22, 2013 Share Posted April 22, 2013 Daniel - I may have missed it, but do you have the 'final' rules for the sledge event? If I ever do an event here in Phoenix, that will probably be one I'd do, just cuz of the ease of the setup, etc. Did you do a coin lift? or just judge the 'parallel-ness' of the handle? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daniel reinard Posted April 22, 2013 Author Share Posted April 22, 2013 Daniel - I may have missed it, but do you have the 'final' rules for the sledge event? If I ever do an event here in Phoenix, that will probably be one I'd do, just cuz of the ease of the setup, etc. Did you do a coin lift? or just judge the 'parallel-ness' of the handle? Jedd and I got rules drawn up and made it a sanctioned event. It was a front sledge lift onto an 18" platform with a quarter on the head. I'm sure when there is time the rules will get posted to the nags site. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Ruby Posted April 22, 2013 Share Posted April 22, 2013 (edited) Thanks again to everyone who contributed to the contest from prizes to helping to organize and run everything it was really well done. Most of the people competing were either hitting pr's or just missing them which made for a great atmosphere, not to mention everyone was very supporting of each other which was great to see. I think these contests are only going to get better also as we all improve together. I think 5 of us were first time competitors so hope to see few of them again. It was also incredibly motivating to see Mike hitting the numbers he did at his age, I hope I can maintain that level of strength at that age. He also had a ton of knowledge on grip and strength in general which was great to listen too. His entire family did really well actually his son hit a huge rolling thunder lift that looked quite easy and he was also extremely knowledgeable about powerlifting/lifting and a lot of fun to talk to. Very strong family and great to see they all came out together. I was really happy my sister was able to win she has only recently begun lifting with me and only has been training grip for about a month. She was able to close a coc #1 pretty easily and almost closed the harder 84 rgc coc #1 on her last two attempts-about a mm or so one 3rd attempt-. It was a pr none the less as her best close prior was my trainer gripper. On the pinch she could have done a lot more I think the 98lb lift was easy for her which was surprising since she has not done any pinch with me other then two hand pinching 25's at the gym once. She tried to go for the American record on the rolling thunder-109- on her last two attempts but I think she was just a little tired by the end as we both didn't pack food-good learning experience for next contest- She got a minor hover but that was all. On paper it looked like Daniel had a off day but it looked like it was minor technical issues. On grippers he was a mm from 3 finger closing a 164 gripper but just had an issue with his setting which made his pinky come off. I'm sure if he just plays with his grippers a bit he will be hitting big numbers again. The pinch looked incredibly easy for him but it took some time for him to get used to the new width I think, the last lift honestly looked like a warm up. The pinch due to having a lot of various widths took some time so by the time rolling thunder came around I think a lot of people were hitting little under what they could do. Yet daniel was still a inch or so from locking out 190 despite not touching the event in his prep which was still impressive. As far as my performance I felt good at the start of the contest just from the natural adrenalin of first contest and the atmosphere. I hit 175 on my 2nd attempt for grippers but missed some close attempts on a 185 gripper. The setting was throwing me off a bit and something I should have practiced more but was still a 12lb pr. Pinch felt a lot better with 60mm compared to 54 I tried first time on the device--might try between 54 and 60 next- missed 213 that tore my thumb up, still was happy since I have neglected two hand pinch. On rolling thunder I under performed I felt but was feeling a little tired by this time-minor caffeine crash and lack of food- Its definitely a tricky event as it could feel super easy sometimes then impossible on the next attempt. Sledge felt good 18 felt really easy but missed 20, hovered it after my attempts.-would love to full lift this eventually- Sorry for the essay I rambled a bit but it was a great learning experience + a lot of fun and hope to compete again and improve. Edited April 22, 2013 by Stephen Ruby 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KRC Posted April 22, 2013 Share Posted April 22, 2013 Stephen, you and your sister did a phenomenal job at the comp. As people here online and at the comp have been repeatedly saying, you both have almost unreal potential in this sport. To think you closed a 175lb 3.5 with minimal set technique is mind boggling. Your other lifts were equally impressive. You WILL get that full 12lb deadlift. The 18 you did was childs play; it just takes time with your hand on the implement, which at 23, you have a lot of, lol. It was a pleasure meeting, talking and competing with you and I really look forward to seeing where things take you in grip and in lifting. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wojo Posted April 22, 2013 Share Posted April 22, 2013 Congrats everyone and way to go Ruby! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acorn Posted April 22, 2013 Share Posted April 22, 2013 Nice job everyone! I tried that 12# sledge Front DL yesterday during the training session to see how that was. That's a tough one! - Aaron 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tex Posted April 23, 2013 Share Posted April 23, 2013 I'll have photos up here soon. My girlfriend came with me and took several photos over the course of the event. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Roussin Posted April 23, 2013 Share Posted April 23, 2013 That 12-lb sledge lift is a great idea for a grip contest event! No fiddling around with weights, and minimal technique involved. It must have been quick and easy to run it. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KRC Posted April 23, 2013 Share Posted April 23, 2013 I thought it was really fun too, and I suspect others did as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daniel reinard Posted April 23, 2013 Author Share Posted April 23, 2013 Awesome Brian! It would be great to see what photos she was able to get. Eric, it ran really fast. That was part of the goal with the event choices. We wanted to test the major aspects yet not take forever to run the event. And man is that front lift humbling. No BW to get behind this wrist event. You either got a strong radial deviation or you don't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bencrush Posted April 23, 2013 Share Posted April 23, 2013 Congrats on the win Stephen! You have my old Rolling Thunder, right? If so, how does it compare with the one you used at the contest. Poundage-wise. And was the one at the contest a brand new handle? On rolling thunder I under performed I felt but was feeling a little tired by this time-minor caffeine crash and lack of food- Its definitely a tricky event as it could feel super easy sometimes then impossible on the next attempt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brett Aved Posted April 23, 2013 Share Posted April 23, 2013 I thought it was really fun too, and I suspect others did as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brett Aved Posted April 23, 2013 Share Posted April 23, 2013 I think the sledge was the most exciting event by far! There was some really good fights with it(the people love a good fight)! Reminded me of a powerlifting meet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robby Sparango Posted April 23, 2013 Share Posted April 23, 2013 Fellas... that was awesome. I think I PR'd on motivation and inspiration. Looking forwad to the next one fa' sho! pleasure meeting every last one you. Stephen I was gonna hit the roof if your sister pulled that rolling thunder, she was sooooo close dude!!!!!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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