Gods of Grip elite series

[C8Myotome]

8 minutes ago, Jared P said:

Did they ever clarify if their springs are made in the UK or China?

Who all has ever made their springs outside of China? I'd guess:

IronMind
GHP
Standard
AtomGripz
FBBC
Robert Baraban
Warren Tetting
K2FSI
Silarukov

I think they purposely don't say where their springs are made and give some story about being made in a medieval forge or whatever just to make lore and not say that it's basically heavy grips springs.

I think if they did make their springs they would be able to give technical info about them, and also what a coincidence they have a 7-gripper line up just line heavy grips with nearly identical RGC's, although probably what makes them a bit lighter is that the thicker handles make them not close as deeply, otherwise they would exactly line up with heavy grips data.

They also had/have other gripper lineups that aren't the elite series that look like 50 lb springs as well, I think the elite lineup was just getting different handles.

The level 7 was super easy, I did 3 almost 4 reps, I do like their set block a lot more than the CPW equivalent though just becuase it is thinner and easier to hold it's also textured on one side, and looks nice.

[C8Myotome]

[EmilBB]

7 minutes ago, C8Myotome said:

The block looks nice, the gripper however is possibly the worst gripper to me, 20mm handles and a chinese spring

[Busa]

Why do you think its a  Chinese spring? I'm mainly asking as Tom the owner is meeting up with me next month and I will ask some questions. Other than where are your springs made? Is there anything else worth asking.

[C8Myotome]

6 hours ago, Busa said:

Why do you think its a  Chinese spring? I'm mainly asking as Tom the owner is meeting up with me next month and I will ask some questions. Other than where are your springs made? Is there anything else worth asking.

The 7 gripper line up coincides with the heavy grips 50 to 350 lb gripper line up

The ratings for them are very close to the CPW ratings for heavy grips https://godsofgrip.com/pages/hand-gripper-ratings-data

Keep in mind these have 20 mm springs and they could be mounted differently, I believe they are lighter than the heavy grips line because they do not close as deeply 

My level 7 went from 65 mm spread to 58 mm spread after breaking it in (sounds a lot like heavy grips)

And there is no information about where the springs come from other than a made up story for entertainment purposes

So everything currently leads me to believe they are Chinese springs. They look like them, feel like them, and function like them

It was still fun to do an easier rep based cert and the block is worth the overseas shipping, but I consider them the same as PowerBall, heavy grips etc 

Edited November 3, 2023 by C8Myotome

[Busa]

Yes fully understand what you are saying. Maybe I have too much trust in people. I'm old but not too cynical yet. I will try and get as much info as able. It really would be great if they are manufactured in the UK for the grip community in general possibly opening up more options in the future. If they are China springs it does seem odd that they would go to the trouble of mounting them, themselves as they claim. He's bring me a setting block when he drives over, they do look good.

[C8Myotome]

Ok so GoG took forever to update their leaderboard. Because screenshotting DM's is not allowed here I will copy and paste what I have sent to GoG which will explain what I am talking about but include a screenshot of the now updated leaderboard

 

"So before your leaderboard was updated tiziano certified 3 reps and you were certified with 1 rep. After updating your leaderboard it appears you ranked your own 3 reps higher on your list than tiziano as if yours was done at a previous date. If you want to have a fair leaderboard mimicking the GHP gripper challenge it would really be in your best interest to provide a fair challenge than fudging the data to make it look like you were the first one to achieve reps just because you own the company."

It will be hard for anyone to take this company seriously when the owner tweaks the data to rank himself higher than others who completed the same feat at an earlier date

Edited November 18, 2023 by C8Myotome

[Cannon]

34 minutes ago, C8Myotome said:

It will be hard for anyone to take this company seriously when the owner tweaks the data to rank himself higher than others who completed the same feat at an earlier date

Are you sure that's what happened? Tom seems like a great guy and Gods of Grip is a stand-up small company from what I can tell. They are like British Cannon PowerWorks maybe. It's Tom and his wife just out there working hard. I'm not sure they've earned this harsh of a rebuke. 

[Cannon]

36 minutes ago, C8Myotome said:

Because screenshotting DM's is not allowed here

To clarify, you cannot post GripBoard private messages publicly unless all parties consent prior to sharing. It's just to keep members from airing something like "Look what so-and-so said during a conversation they thought was private."   

[C8Myotome]

8 minutes ago, Cannon said:

Are you sure that's what happened? Tom seems like a great guy and Gods of Grip is a stand-up small company from what I can tell. They are like British Cannon PowerWorks maybe. It's Tom and his wife just out there working hard. I'm not sure they've earned this harsh of a rebuke. 

I am awaiting a response but i knew what the leadeboard looked like before and after the update. Tiziano had 3 reps, Tom had 1. After the update, Tom placed his own apparent 3 reps above Tiziano's name. There are not numbers or dates listed next to people's names but there is an order the names are entered in and Tom chose to put his own name above Tiziano who had already long prior held a cert for 3 reps. There was absolutely no reason for the owner of the company to place his own name at the highest spot for those who had done 3 reps, when he was very clearly not the first person to do so.

Between that, the very probably trying to cover up that these are Chinese grippers, and looking at some of the other grip genie-esque resin style stupidly shaped loading pin implements, it is very difficult to take this company seriously. I am thinking of selling my GoG gripper because I don't have an interest in participating in a challenge where the owner will purposely skew the results to try to make himself look better. I'm not making anything up, I am stating all things that happened, it is what it is, if it looks like a duck...

[C8Myotome]

16 minutes ago, Cannon said:

To clarify, you cannot post GripBoard private messages publicly unless all parties consent prior to sharing. It's just to keep members from airing something like "Look what so-and-so said during a conversation they thought was private."   

I would rather let people know what happened because they are a very new company so probably nobody else would have noticed this except maybe me and a couple other people instead of being fed some BS excuse to try to make it seem like something other than what very clearly happened. If he really wanted to be above Tiziano's name he could have done 4 reps with some integrity

[Cannon]

14 minutes ago, C8Myotome said:

I am awaiting a response but i knew what the leadeboard looked like before and after the update. Tiziano had 3 reps, Tom had 1. After the update, Tom placed his own apparent 3 reps above Tiziano's name. There are not numbers or dates listed next to people's names but there is an order the names are entered in and Tom chose to put his own name above Tiziano who had already long prior held a cert for 3 reps. There was absolutely no reason for the owner of the company to place his own name at the highest spot for those who had done 3 reps, when he was very clearly not the first person to do so.

Between that, the very probably trying to cover up that these are Chinese grippers, and looking at some of the other grip genie-esque resin style stupidly shaped loading pin implements, it is very difficult to take this company seriously. I am thinking of selling my GoG gripper because I don't have an interest in participating in a challenge where the owner will purposely skew the results to try to make himself look better. I'm not making anything up, I am stating all things that happened, it is what it is, if it looks like a duck...

We don’t have to agree, but I see practically everything you said differently. This seems like a total non-issue and Tom hasn’t even replied yet. What order do you want Tom’s undated list to have? Maybe running a self-employed store during the holidays is heckin tough and he’s working 12 hour days and the list is for fun and it doesn’t matter? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I don’t know him, I’m just spit-balling here. 

My grandma always talked about “If you can’t say something nice…”  

[C8Myotome]

6 minutes ago, Cannon said:

We don’t have to agree, but I see practically everything you said differently. This seems like a total non-issue and Tom hasn’t even replied yet. What order do you want Tom’s undated list to have? Maybe running a self-employed store during the holidays is heckin tough and he’s woking 12 hour days and the list is for fun and it doesn’t matter? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I don’t know him, I’m just spit-balling here. 

My grandma always talked about “If you can’t say something nice…”  

If the list was for fun and didn't matter I would have never purchased a 50 lb gripper with 20 mm handles I otherwise have no use for.

I'm not trying to post to "say not nice things". I am posting to say what things happened.

I waited about a month for my cert to be added to the list and was expecting to be under Tiziano. Had Tom put his name above mine that would have been fine. However he decided to undermine Tiziano by putting his own name above someone who previously already achieved the 3 rep cert

I am not sure how you are not seeing any of the dishonesty about this

At this point an updated list wouldn't matter because he already chose to update the list in the order it was updated in to give himself special treatment, so I can't really take it seriously anymore. 

Let's say some day I cert 4 reps then a year later Tom certs 4 reps then puts his name above mine. Can you seriously tell me that you don't see anything fraudulent about this?

What if people who ran GHP or CoC lists put their own name at the top after being the last person to compete an achievement to undermine those who competed it first? What if Mash monster was ran that way? Is there any competition to this or are certs just jokes that don't actually matter?

Edited November 18, 2023 by C8Myotome

[Cannon]

2 minutes ago, C8Myotome said:

Let day some day I cert 4 reps then a year later Tom certs 4 reps then puts his name above mine.

Maybe list is sorted by newest? You’re talking about fraud here? I’m sorry this has cut you so deep. It looks like a non-issue. I don’t think I can help. 

 

[C8Myotome]

4 minutes ago, Cannon said:

Maybe list is sorted by newest? You’re talking about fraud here? I’m sorry this has cut you so deep. It looks like a non-issue. I don’t think I can help. 

 

If it was sorted by newest my name would be above Tiziano's. So that can be ruled out.

I don't need your help, I just wanted to let others that may be contemplating buying these grippers know that it occurred, before I get told "oh it was just an accident"

[C8Myotome]

here is their bs response as expected: "I believe Tom actually did 3 on his first certification attempt but put the number as 1 when the list was first created. This was done prior to the release of these hand grippers so it will have been considerably before any one else."

So the whole time this list has been up with Tom's entry as 1 apparently had done 3 but entered 1 anyways and decided not to update it until now, putting himself in front of others that had already done 3, supposedly

[dubyagrip]

Do four and see how he responds.

[Busa]

They are not that new a company. They are trying their best to promote grip within the UK. Its not really the same as the US but over here traveling 4 or 5 hours to promote grip events is a big deal. They have traveled all over the country doing arm lifting events at least one per month now. They are pushing the sport much further than Grip Genie as for the grippers I said I will get the info to hopefully put everyones mind at rest. If you have an open mind to start with.

I can understand your frustration but like when Tiziano closed grippers maybe you are being a bit harsh.

 

Edited November 18, 2023 by Busa

[Harrison]

Don't mind me. Just reading the board with my popcorn. 

[C8Myotome]

4 hours ago, Busa said:

They are not that new a company. They are trying their best to promote grip within the UK. Its not really the same as the US but over here traveling 4 or 5 hours to promote grip events is a big deal. They have traveled all over the country doing arm lifting events at least one per month now. They are pushing the sport much further than Grip Genie as for the grippers I said I will get the info to hopefully put everyones mind at rest. If you have an open mind to start with.

I can understand your frustration but like when Tiziano closed grippers maybe you are being a bit harsh.

 

I also asked about this and they told me they are "manufacturered in the UK"

I just find it unprofessional to hold a presumably active leaderboard and then wait literally years to add a years old attempt to it, when that person also owns the company it just looks bad overall. The only worse thing I've seen is barrel strength who doesn't update their leaderboards at all and doesn't respond at all. Why would I buy equipment from a company to compete with who can't be bothered to update a leaderboard for years if ever at all

[C8Myotome]

2 hours ago, Harrison said:

Don't mind me. Just reading the board with my popcorn. 

Very original comment, maybe if you ever get a single gripper cert, how it's listed will be relevant to you

[Busa]

1 hour ago, C8Myotome said:

I just find it unprofessional to hold a presumably active leaderboard and then wait literally years to add a years old attempt to it, when that person also owns the company it just looks bad overall.

I will ask him about this as well when I see him. Everything I have seen from the guy is someone who is doing their very best to promote every aspect of Grip Sport in the UK working long hours to make it happen.

 

 

 

[Busa]

I chatted with Tom this morning he had come over to help promote an event. At present he is running one every other weekend up and down the country.

Okay so I'm not really tall around 5'9" boy is he tall must be getting close to 6'4" I would think. Very nice and softly spoken which is odd as hes from Liverpool area if you are from the UK you would understand.

I firstly thanked him for helping to promote all things grip in the UK. I think its a big deal as we have been struggling for a while very much on the fringe of everything but with "Strongman" type gyms now cropping up its moving forward.

He does look at it as a fun sport not mega serious with the exacting standards some place on grippers on here, he mentioned how hes trying to get full families involved in the sport mentioning Children taking part at grip / arm lifting events.

Anyway on to Grip. The springs are from a factory not so much a workshop environment was not clear where from sorry. I imagine the Tettings and Standards maybe also the GHP, Baraban, are from more a smaller workshop. The reason behind assembly himself was the lack of quality when placing the handles on the grippers. Which can also be a problem with China / anywhere made grippers as we know. This could explain why they lower in spread so much when used not looked into the spring trade myself.

Wish I had more but that's it for now.

 

[Charlie Hayes1]

Apart from Pro Bodybuilding and top level Strongman, there doesn't seem to be much money in strength sports in general. Grip is even more niche, so I think it is perfectly fine for someone to suggest that its fun and the lists don't matter. Obviously, getting a ranking matters to those who do it, but it is still just a name on a list somewhere and only matters to those in the club. Almost every sport started as "recreation" - that is refreshment through fun activity and not as a paying sport. In the vast scheme of things being the winner in the pub darts team isn't everything. I am not saying, btw, that money makes sports more valid, not at all, just that it matters to someone if their income is affected - losing your place in a top professional team is not the same as losing a game of monopoly.

If you look at professional sports, there is honest sport, corrupt sport and the use of steroids, the fact that some do wrong doesn't put the majority off the game and certainly not off their enjoyment of the amateur game.

More generally, I find the tone of the criticism off-putting and there is a tendency to ascribe the worst motives to people even when they explain. The explanation may not be entirely satisfying, but to call it bs is tantamount to calling someone a liar. None of us is perfect and there may be reasons for the change - even wanting to be (belatedly) honest about 3 reps. Maybe 1 rep was initially posted just to get the thing going? I don't know, I am just saying. Certainly, my  experience with the company was they couldn't be more helpful, even though my order was very small and I had some questions. I think people have to establish a pattern of wrong behaviour before we make a final judgement and should not be assumed guilty based on one unclear incident. If the person who is accused of wrong refuses to respond to the person they offended and won't reply to others, then you have the right not to deal with them. But, unless their actions caused you real harm or financial loss, criticising them and by implication their products, risks causing them real financial hardship. As far as I know, none of us has been forced to buy any gripper from anyone.

Finally, the "Don't mind me" comment was probably an attempt to lighten the tone. What has a lack of certification got to do with an interest in grip or even certification? That implies that the only people who can understand the issue or even talk about it are the already certified and perhaps they are the only ones who should be allowed to certify or even train. As far as I am aware, this is not a board only for the elite and if it were, perhaps someone will decide that only some certifications and boards are acceptable. In reality, all of us will have experienced unfairness/cheating/fraud and most of us know when to pursue it and when to let it go.

 

[DoctorOfCrush]

12 minutes ago, Charlie Hayes1 said:

More generally, I find the tone of the criticism off-putting and there is a tendency to ascribe the worst motives to people even when they explain. The explanation may not be entirely satisfying, but to call it bs is tantamount to calling someone a liar. None of us is perfect and there may be reasons for the change - even wanting to be (belatedly) honest about 3 reps. Maybe 1 rep was initially posted just to get the thing going? I don't know, I am just saying. Certainly, my  experience with the company was they couldn't be more helpful, even though my order was very small and I had some questions. I think people have to establish a pattern of wrong behaviour before we make a final judgement and should not be assumed guilty based on one unclear incident. If the person who is accused of wrong refuses to respond to the person they offended and won't reply to others, then you have the right not to deal with them. But, unless their actions caused you real harm or financial loss, criticising them and by implication their products, risks causing them real financial hardship. As far as I know, none of us has been forced to buy any gripper from anyone.

Finally, the "Don't mind me" comment was probably an attempt to lighten the tone. What has a lack of certification got to do with an interest in grip or even certification? That implies that the only people who can understand the issue or even talk about it are the already certified and perhaps they are the only ones who should be allowed to certify or even train. As far as I am aware, this is not a board only for the elite and if it were, perhaps someone will decide that only some certifications and boards are acceptable. In reality, all of us will have experienced unfairness/cheating/fraud and most of us know when to pursue it and when to let it go.

 

A lot of this falls under Hanlon's Razor: Never attribute to malice what can be adequately explained by incompetence.  That random guy in traffic didn't cut you off because he wants to start a blood feud; he probably wasn't paying attention because he was thinking about a billion other things just like everyone else. In my life, that clinician didn't order some cumbersome test that isn't appropriate because he wants to waste my time; he just didn't have the time to think through why it doesn't make sense because he has a whole bunch of other things to think about too. That is probably the case here too. A busy guy whose top priority in life was not updating this list. 

On your last point, I find this is a very common rebuttal in strength sports and athletics. Instead of taking into account the context of comment or taking a critique at face value as a point upon which to reflect, the response is simply "What have YOU done? That's what I thought. Shut up."  As someone of only average-at-best strength, I have been on the receiving end of such comments. I have learned to just shrug and move on. You don't have to look very far to find world class coaches/commentators/paradigm-shifting theorists who were not once at the top of their respective sports, but detailing such people in this kind of situation is a waste of breath/typing.