2003 September - Battle for Grip Supremacy - Rick Walker

[Rick Walker]

You Want It? You Got It!

I woke up this morning cramping everywhere-and I am running on 4 hours of sleep and some MEGA caffeine. But I see everyone is drooling for the results so I am here to bring the noise !

First let me say this:

This was by far the greatest grip contest talent wise on US soil, and I thank all of you who competed-and to all the wives for giving your all, 110%-NO QUIT! You guys will always be world class to me and you all have my respect! All 11 of you have open automatic invites to BFGS II next year. You guys are my brothers. Thanks again. Oh, and Napalm-thanks for the BEEF bro.

The best of the best came out to play-and I am telling all of you big dogs of the GripBoard that there is SO MUCH young talent out there to carry on the grip tradition-it is SCARY!

So-here we go!

12:00 sharp started the grippers.

1st place and 6 points went to Tommy Heslep with his hold of 8.87 seconds with the BBE

2nd place and 5 point went to Big Dave Morton with a hold of 6.37 seconds with the BBE

3rd Place and 4 point to "Junior" Rob W. Vigeant with a 5.42 second hold with the BBE

4th place and 3 points to Big Steve with a BBE close

5th place and 2 points was shared. Both these guys were a hair away from Elite closes as well and gave it 100% so I did not make them time hold. Sharing this spot was Jedd Johnson and Rob F. Vigeant with a close of Tommy H.'s CRAZY HARD #3

6th place and 1 point to Bad Boy Dan C. with a 13.90 second hold with my single stamped #3.

7th place-0 points to Rick Walker with a 11.52 second hold with single stamped #3

NOW I ASK YOU-HOW CAN YOU HOLD A #3 SHUT FOR 11 AND A HLAF SECONDS AND COME IN 7TH????????????? TALENT FILLED?

8th Place-0 points to John Mannino with a close of the PDA 387

9th place was shared with Jonathan McMillan and James smith with a cut #2 close

10th place went to min steve-15 year old Tommy Wilkins with a #1 close. He was mm from a #2.

4 BBE closes and 8 #3 closes??? Unheard of!

10 minutes of rest and we start the 2-hand pinch.

1st Place and 6 points to big Rob W. V. with a 2-hand pinch of 212 pounds.

2nd and 5 points was shared by Big Steve and Tommy H. with a pinch of 207 pounds.

3rd and 4 points to Rob F. V. with monster pinch of 198.25 pounds (Can you believe this guy has 7 inch hands????)

4th place and 3 points shared by Jedd J. and John M. with pinches of 197 pounds. John M. made a huge ump to 227 but just couldnt get it done. Good Effort!

5th and 2 points to Dan C. who WOULD NOT GIVE IN with a 192 pound effort.

6th place a 1 point shared with Rick W. and Dave M. with a pinch of 177 pounds.

7th place went to Jonathan McMillan with a go of 172 pounds, Eh!

8th place to Tommy Wilkins with a pull of 132 pounds.

9th place to James "Smitty" Smith with a pull of 127 pounds.

10 more minutes and we went to 2.5 inch DB deads-TIME TO SEPERATE THE MEN FROM THE BOYS?????

1st Place and 6 big more points to "Junior" Rob W. V. aptly named MONKEY PAWS with a pull of 180 pounds!!!! What? 180 pounds. Yeah-no joke. He is 23.

2nd place and 5 points to Big Steve who jacked up 165 pounds

3rd place 4 points to Dave M. with a pull of 160 pounds

4th place and 3 points the man WHO WOULD NOT QUIT Jedd J. with a monster pull of 157.5 pounds. The Inch is in your near future bro.

5th place 2 points to Tommy H. who gave 155 a ride

6th place 1 point to Big John Minnino who got 150 pounds.

7th place Rick Walker with a pull of 147.5 pounds.

8th place was shared with Rob F. V. and Dan C. with a pull of 140.

9th place Jonathan M. with a pull of 130 pounds

10th James Smith who jacked 120 pounds

11th to Tommy Wilkins with a 90 pound pull

TIME TO PULL OUT ALL THE STOPS. TIME TO TAKE IT TO THE LIMIT-TO GET DIESEL AND LEAVE NOTHING TO DOUBT. NO REGRETS!!! TIME TO BEND SOME FREAKIN' STEEL BABY YEAH!!!!!!

1st place and 6 bad boy points to who else but big Steve M. who gets his strength from our Lord and Savior. Blue nail cut to 4.25 inches LIKE BUTTER and a 100-110 degree bend of the RED. Oh yeah-it was ALL unbraced.

2nd place 5 points to Rob F. V. who took everyone by surprise with a bend of a 4.5 inch blue nail. He gave a 4.25 everything he had-left it all on the platform-but it wasnt to be. Dont worry Rob. The Red is in your future to.

3rd place and 4 points to Tommy H. with a complete "U" of a 4.75 inch Blue.

4th place and 3 points to Rob W. V. with a 90 degree of a 4.75 Blue

5th place and 2 points to John M. with a "U" of a 5 inch Blue

6th place and 1 point to Dave M. with a 5 inch blue a little less than John's

7th place Rick Walker with a 5 inch blue-tips 2.25 inches apart.

PLEASE TELL ME IN WHAT CONTEST YOU CAN BEND A 5 INCH BLUE, UNBRACED, AND COME IN 7TH FREAKIN' PLACE?????????

8th Place-Jedd J. 5.75 inch Blue

9th place and a tremendous job by James Smitty Smith-who has never bent in HIS LIFE-he nailed a Blue nail!!!! Right on brother.

10th place witha 6.25 inch yellow nail was Dan C.

11th place Jonathan McMillan with a yellow on his second try. LEAVE NO DOUBT EH?

12th place big young Tommy W. with a 4.5 inch green

I CANT EVEN PUT WORDS TO THE INTENSITY OF THE BENDING. BOTH ROB'S, TOMMY H., DAVE M., AND STEVE M. ALL TRIED A RED WITH EVERYONE ATLEAST KINKING IT AND STEVE DAMN NEAR PUTTING IT AWAY. EVERYONE TOOK THEIR FULL 2 MINUTES-VEINS WERE POPPING OUT OF HEADS, BLOOD, BLISTERS, SCREAMS OF ABSOLUTE AGONY, PAIN, AND SUFFERING. NO ONE LEFT THE PLATFORM WITHOUT GIVING 110% AND THAT IS WHAT IT IS ALL ABOUT! Right now as I type my left thumb pad is black and blue and doubled in size-but I BENT A 5 INCH BLUE-UNBRACED!!!!!!!!! I am so stoked!

Going into the final event the points looked like this:

Big Steve: 19

Junior Rob W. V.: 19

Tommy H.: 17

Rob F. V.: 11

Dave M.: 11

Jedd J.: 8

John M.: 6

Dan C.: 3

Rick W.: 1

Jonathan M: 0

James Smith: 0

Tommy Wilkinds: 0

Do you think the deadlift and hold was important??? Mind blowing how close it was.

So-we warm up and it is time to rock and roll 310 an arm for as long as you can hold on!

1st place a 6 big points to the man who came out of the wood work and beat me, at my house, at MY %#@$@% EVENT! Dan C. held on for 43.06 seconds-YOU ARE THE MAN IN MY BOOK BRO. AND YOU HAVE ALL OF MY RESPECT Mark my words though-we will meet again in this event-and I will get my revenge my friend-and it will oh so sweet Remember bro-you have been training this event-I havent

2nd place and 5 much needed points to Rick W. with a 38.58 second hold.

3rd place and securing the win with 4 points-Big Steve who held on kicking and screaming for 37.40 seconds.

4th place and 3 points securing the second place position was Rob W. V. with-get this, 37.36 seconds. YES-.04 SEPERATED 1ST AND 2ND PLACE. WOW!

5th place and 2 points to the major under dog Jonathan McMillan who suprised us all by picking them up by himself and holding on for a whopping 32.94 seconds.

6th place and 1 point to Jedd J. with 28.20 seconds. Good on you bro. WHO'S DIESEL NOW?!?

7th place to Dave M. 28.00 seconds-first time he has even touched this kind of weight.

8th place to John M. 26.16 seconds

9th place to Robert F. V. "Midget" with a 26.16 seconds

10th place Tommy H. with a 5.10 second hold

11th place James Smith with 2.26 seconds

12th place to Tommy Wilkins, 15 years old, .84 of a second.

FINAL STANDINGS:

1st place and all the loot: my brother, Big Steve M. with 23 points

2nd place: "junior", and soon to have the strongest hands on the planet: Robert W. Vigeant with 22 points.

3rd place: Tommy Heslep with 17 points

4th place: Dave M. with 11 points

5th Place: Robert F. Vigeant with 11 points

6th place: Dan Cenidoza with 9 points

7th place: Jedd Johnson with 9 points

8th place: Rick Walker with 6 points

9th place: John Mannino with 6 points

10th place: Jonathan McMillan with 2 points

11th place: James Smith 0 points

12th place: Tommy Wilkins 0 points

That took 7.5 hours. But the night was young. We moved to the garage where "junior" Rob W. Vigeant and Rob F. Vigeant put on a circus like show of strength. Rob W.: 2-blobs at once, waist high Inch lift, clean and pressing the blob with ease, 2-finger blob lift, 1-arm, unbraced pullups with ease, almost broke the ground with the 50 BY THE FACE, and cork screwed a horse shoe. "midget" Rob F. Vigeant jumped from my bench and cuaght himself in a rafter pinch

Steve broke a Craftsman wrench with ease, and bent a ton more shoes, spikes, toyed with the Blob etc. Tommy H. scrolled in his teeth-

Jedd Johnson put on a show of strength-blob clean and presses , anvil lifts, etc. etc.

I cant even begin.

We have close to 100 pictures and 8+ hours of film.

It wrapped up at 1 am-oh yeah-12+ hours of grip

I cant even remember a lot of it-damn beer -all I know is I was throwing Dave's homemade 55 pound DBs by the face through the air and catching them back and forth. We all were.

Great time-you guys are the best and I cant wait to do it again next year.

Hey, Monkey Paws, I want to see the most amazing things out of you next year.

Thanks again to all involved-

Rick Walker

[don of tha new grip]

No #4 attempts?

Let me say that must have been an awesome night I am so jealous I wouldn't have placed or anything but to see 12 monsters at work would have been.....quite simply

Edited September 7, 2003 by don of tha new grip

[amaury]

Awesome !! A battle of giants !!

Thanks Rick.

[Bill Piche]

Wow, what a contest!

Steve the Ramblin Wreck McGranahan was my guess who would come out on top after I saw that Pinch with 45's on the tape I clipped.

The depth of grip strength is evident for sure just based on the first event. Nothing against other contests, but this has to be the "best" contest EVER from a depth standpoint!

[SilentDude]

Man just reading about it all has got me so pumped. Expect to see me there next year. theres gonna be one next year right ?!?!?!!?

Great Job to Everyone

[Rick Walker]

Thanks guys.

Bill-I agree 100%. In how many contests do 8 out of 12 guys U a blue and 6 of them were 5 inches or shorter???

200 pound 2 hand pinches????

180 pound 2.5 inch lift.

Hey guys-Junior, Rob W. Vigeant has only been training grip about 4 months

This guy will own the strongest hands in the world in a very, very soon.

He laughs at 3-25s, 2-45s, the Inch, the Blob, blue nails, 6-10s, RT around 260 first time he ever touched one, horse shoes, etc. Most of the above he did after a couple hous of drinking!!!

My head is still swimming and I cant wait to see the tape!

Rick Walker

[Bill Piche]

Rick, can you provide a list of the completed feats witnessed per our stats forum? Thanks!

[Bill Piche]

Thanks guys.

Bill-I agree 100%. In how many contests do 8 out of 12 guys U a blue and 6 of them were 5 inches or shorter???

200 pound 2 hand pinches????

180 pound 2.5 inch lift.

Hey guys-Junior, Rob W. Vigeant has only been training grip about 4 months

This guy will own the strongest hands in the world in a very, very soon.

He laughs at 3-25s, 2-45s, the Inch, the Blob, blue nails, 6-10s, RT around 260 first time he ever touched one, horse shoes, etc. Most of the above he did after a couple hous of drinking!!!

My head is still swimming and I cant wait to see the tape!

Rick Walker

How old is Rob and how big?

[Rick Walker]

He is 23 years old, height probably 6'2", 6'3"-weight of 210

Hands-8 3/4" And his fingers are like sausages.

I am predicitng the future here guys-he will be the man to beat in 2004 and beyond.

Rick Walker

[EricMilfeld]

Wow! Truly amazing performances, and one truly great contest Rick! Congratulations to all, and a big thank you for providing us all with a boat load of inspiration. Steve's the man!

[bballdad]

Congrats to Big Steve on the win and all the other competitors.

Can't wait for the pics and the video clips.

[Rick Walker]

Bill,

What I saw myself out of Robert W. Vigeant and this was all done AFTER the contest:

2-Blobs full deadlift

Inch to full deadlift and more

5-10s-had 6 to almost lockout and lost them (around midnight and lots o' beer)

#3 and BBE closes

2-45s pinch

I missed a lot of what he did as I was talking to everyone etc and just heard about it afterwards. He took a go at the Inch and the Blob at the same time but I missed what he did with them-I just heard the shouting.

Robert F. Vigeant closed an extremely hard #3 with ease

Jedd Johnson took 2 blobs for a complete deadlift ride as well as mashed the heck out of a very hard #3.

John Mannino-full deadlift of Inch and more. Full deadlift of Blob.

Dave Morton stood up completely with the Inch

More when I can think of them-

Rick Walker

[OldGuy]

Rick, did any of the guys try the 3'' loadable dumbbell handle?

[Tom of Iowa2]

Thanks for the excellent report Rick and an awesome contest.

Reading your post....... i felt like I was there.

Excellent!

Incredible lifting by all.Congratulation to ALL contestants and congratulations to everybody else that has put it on the line and ACTUALLY competed in one contest or another this year.

Sounds like there will be a new sheriff in town! But right now it's big Steve.Six guns blazing......Always like to hear about the freaks and the 'newbies'though.Again,just an awesome job Rick.Really- just words- aren't enough.

Just 'inhuman'accomplishments by newbies Rob W.Vigeant and John Mannino...

(I also sort of expected big Steve to win this one and Steve has always impressed me)

WOW!Just awesome!

Edited September 7, 2003 by Tom of Iowa2

[gazza]

Well done to RICK for being a great host and puttin on a 1st class contest

Well done to the Big Man,Big Steve

Well done to all the other contestants

Well done to everybody who set PB,s

Well done to the Inch and Blob lifters

Well done to all the great Benders

You are right Rick what a display of grip strength,to u shape a Blue cut and still be blown away .WOW Awesome competition between awesome Grip bros

[pexter]

Thanks!!! Rick for all you done for the contest!!!All I can say is trully amazing!!!

What a bunch of great,wonderful guys man!!!All encouraged,and coached one another,what a display of sportmanship.Just an Idea,maybe next contest you can split it up to 2 days,just like some powerlifting meets are held.

Iam going to soon order an Inch replica,so I train on a full clean & press.

Lookin, forward to the York Barbell adventure,is it Sept.27th?

[bseedot]

The depth of grip strength is evident for sure just based on the first event... this has to be the "best" contest EVER from a depth standpoint!

Without a doubt! Great job to all. Rick, you put on an awesome contest! Three loud cheers for the sport of grip strength!

BC.

[Jonathan McMillan]

I just watched the little taping Sandi got with our camcorder....she had a difficult time capturing the action so she ended up taping a few gripper attempts from various people, all my attempts at the pinch and inch events, Rick's pre psych up routine....as big Steve said that was worht the price of admission alone , and everyone's deadlift hold. I missed the reactions during the contest as I hid in the back while everyone went ahead of me. Ended up watching it a few times while trying to record the cam tape to VHS -I'm so technically illiterate it can get embarassing at times. Quite the faces everyone made!!! The batteries were pretty crappy so that pretty much drained it so hopefully the Diesel crew's cam and whoever else was taping got better footage.

I guess I'll have to compete in the "eh?" class next year eh Rick?

And no...I didn't get the body cavity search crossing the border back to Canada

Jon@han

[underdawg]

great job everybody, that's some seriously impressive stuff. way to go big steve, all the congrats in the world to you man.

[Bill Piche]

Hey, Rob V closed a BBE and yet isn't certified as a COC?!

Did I get that right?

[the swiss]

Extremely impressive.

what else can I say?

congrats to all!!

david

Edited September 8, 2003 by the swiss

[Rick Walker]

Bill-

Yep-Rob W. Vigeant (Monkey Paws!) smashed the BBE and Midget, Rob F. Vigeant, smashed the #3-neither are certified.

Also-Jedd J. took care of the #3 and he s not certified either.

Dan C. hoisted the Blob.

Rick Walker

[Guest Harlan Jacobs]

Awesome job guys !!!!!! Sounds like alott of fun. All the lifts,bends, and crushes where amazing. BUT, when I read ( "midget" Rob F. Vigeant jumped from my bench and cuaght himself in a rafter pinch ) To me, that is scary !

[gazza]

Harlan

I 2nd that

[Tom Page]

Rick

Great job in what sounds to be just an incredible day for everyone who attended. Congrats to Steve for winning and everyone who competed. Rick a tremendous thank you for sharing all of the events with us on this forum. It was truley great and fun reading about it:rock