2009 May - Michigan Grip Championship - MalachiMcMullen

[MalachiMcMullen]

Alright, a proper write up. I'll try not to steal anyone's thunder.

Grippers- A lot of people must've had a bad day here and managed to do it on one of my strong days. Several guys failed on the easy and hard #3's and not many went above them. I managed to get the narrow SE, not sure of calibration but it was 160+ for sure. Dave, Andrew and Brouse all tried the 182 Super Elite and failed. Dave and Andrew were CLOSE. Andrew must've held the SE at a hair for almost 8-10 seconds and don't worry, he was breathing the whole time so no blackouts.

Hub lift- Once we got past 65lbs on this, it started getting complicated. Before you read the following weights, just remember that a lot of tilt was allowed, a lot of it. Some lifts were entirely vertical but it was more for fun and to change up the pinch event than to actually set records anyway. Stew, Andrew, Dave, Jeff Flynn, Dan Sweeney's friend Russ, and I think a few others got 70lbs+. A few guys, including myself, tried at 70 a few times and failed. Dave won the event with 80lbs and he only stopped there because we couldn't figure out how to load an extra 40lbs in platemates, 5's and 2.5's ontop of the 45. I think Andrew got 72.5-75 with Stew right there at about the same weight.

Vbar- I sucked at it as usual. Bob, the Vbar weighs 24.6lbs, that's where the "6" came from that I kept wanting to say. Andrew pulled 305+(pending further counting by Bob) and Dave couldn't quite manage it. Brouse was close behind with a good 295 that slipped out at the top leaving him with 280. I was stuck back at 215 and I think only Stew and Brent were able to pull 250+.

The Hammer Medley- For starters, I tied for 1st with Brouse, and beating Dave out by .5pts. Quite a few guys actually managed to slim lever the 16 and far more front levered the 8 to one of the platforms than I thought would. I was right in guessing that a 10lb front lever would win it for me and I was right. Only myself and Matt got the 10 to the highest platform and I believe Dave got it to the lowest. All 3 of us were stopped by the 18.5 slim lever, same for almost everyone save for one person who I don't remember. Vic, a friend of Sweeney's, did very well here getting the 8 to the low platform and slim levering up to the 16. He came with something on the fly, laying the hammer head on its side so it doesn't torque out of your hand on the way up, that no one thought to try because we all saw whoever went first do it the regular way and just followed suit. From that point forward everyone used the "Vic technique"

The Rim lift hold- This was a beast. The heavyweight was 335 and no one went over 30 seconds. I got 3 seconds, Andrew got 17 or so with 3 fingers on one hand and a few went over 20. The lighter weight was 195 and I think 2 guys used it and went for some good length holds 3 seconds was enough for me.

I ended up coming in 5th overall, shaking up the early top 5 predictions and 1st in the LW's.

The usual shite went down afterwards with Stew and Dave messing with 3 25's, myself breaking ground with them ever so slightly. I kept trying to do 5 10's with the harder, rounded edge plates and kept failing. Everyone in the room proceeded to lift them... bassturds. My best was MAYBE 1" of air on one of my first attempts. Very annoying. Flynn and myself got into some human flag action afterwards with a few 1+ second holds for Jeff and maybe a 1 second hold at one point for me. Several others tried, no one succeeded. Jeff Flynn, Brouse and Admunsen all pressed the Inch overhead with Brian nearly getting 2 reps. Don jumped in for the Rim lift hold on the lighterweight when we were finished and managed to get I believe 59.5 seconds I don't remember much after that.

Thanks to Chris Rice for the climber curl I now possess and to all the sponsors and especially to Don and Jerri!!!

Edited May 10, 2009 by MalachiMcMullen