Under the Spotlight - Grip Profile - VINNIE RIVELLESE

[Vinnie]

Sorry for yet another late one!  Once again, not really my fault.  This time, I was able to reach the previous month’s profilee’s nominee, and he said he was interested and would send me the questionnaire, but he has not yet supplied the questionnaire (he is welcome to do so and he will be the next profile if/when he does).  Anyway, I was aiming at not missing any months and it is getting late early because February is a short month (even though it is leap year, we are about done).  So I decided to go with someone who hasn’t been profiled yet, and who would answer the questions immediately, so that I won't miss February.

I believe that I am the only one I know who has not been profiled yet and will respond to my invitation like, today.  Because I am me.

So here goes.

1. What are your stats?

    GripBoard name: Vinnie
    Age: 54
    Height: 5’6”
    Weight: 180
    Dominant hand, and hand size: Right hand, 7.5” from middle finger to wrist crease
    Country/City: Ronkonkoma (Long Island), NY
    Relationship Status: Living with my girlfriend
    Children: Vincent (17)
    Occupation: Assistant District Attorney in New York City (Bronx)

2. Why did you start training grip (and how long is it now)?

I started training grippers on my own about 8 years ago (in 2016 I think), a while after I discovered grippers at an arm wrestling competition in 2015.  I had no real experience arm wrestling other than that I routinely beat people (in social situations, not competitions) who looked like they should beat me.  But none of us was actually any good at arm wrestling.  So at the comp I got trounced, badly, by guys my own size who DID know how to arm wrestle.  But, they showed me grippers, and I closed a 2, and they were impressed.  I liked the grippers more than the arm wrestling and bought some, and I never really got into arm wrestling.  I got myself up to a 2.5 a few months later, and eventually I started looking online for a community.  In 2017, I found this community!  Within days of finding the Grip Board, I was invited to Queens to work out with Anton, Anthony, Jose, and Chez, and I went to train grip at Anton's almost weekly from then until 2021 when Anton's daughter was born and he had to stop hosting.

3. What are you most proud of accomplishing in grip already, and what is/are your grip goal/goals?

Easily, my biggest accomplishment is getting the IM certification on the COC 3.  When I started, I thought I would never close a 3 by any means.  My own 3 was pretty stout -- rated later by Cannon at 153 -- and it was 5 years from when I bought that gripper until I could CCS close it.  I got there slowly and steadily from my first MMS close of an easier 3 in 2018 to my first CCS close of an easier COC 3 in early 2021, and when I finally CCS closed my 153 in late 2021, I signed up and did the cert that November.  Only having my son was a bigger deal to me in my life.  Sounds crazy but that's how it adds up for me.

Close behind the IM cert was beating Tim Butler at the Stronghold Grip competition in October of 2023.  Tim is way stronger than me, but I had a great day (closed a 170 RGC gripper with a 20mm block, 2nd best comp close in my weight class ever), and Tim wasn't feeling great, and the other events were pinch-heavy which is my best area besides grippers.  So he and I were neck and neck and it was as close to a tie as it could be, but somehow I pulled that one off.  

As for goals:  I would like to do Cannon's new gripper cert as far as I can go; I think 170 RGC or thereabouts would be a nice milestone, but I'll pursue whatever is the one after I achieve.  I would like to set the weight class world record on Euro, if I can do it before someone else does:  I am currently 3rd (213 pounds), but 10 more pounds would put me on top.  I would like to say that lifting the Inch and/or doing crushed to dust would be a reasonable goal, but I am not sure I have the discipline and constitution to train up to either of those.  I'm not close to it.  Double body weight axle might also be cool, but I think losing my potbelly is more likely to get me there than increasing my deadlift/thick bar strength.

4. How do you currently structure your overall training/how do you incorporate your grip training?

I don't train much, other than grippers.  With grippers, I generally train twice a week, usually in my office.  I do light warmups with a trainer, then a couple of reps with a light COC 3 or GHP 7, then single reps approaching my max until I get tired.  I often spread these closes out over an hour or more, in between working.  I don't have a formal regimen or system and go mostly by feel.  I often stop for a couple of months when I am stressed with work, but not for too long, and I can usually get back to where I was in a few weeks and then make another little gain or two.  Shout out to @Chez, who has always been my go-to gripper expert for questions and informal coaching.  He certainly has helped me progress.

I am one of the rare folks who believes that grippers DO transfer to other grip strengths.  In particular, pinch.  My pinch has improved steadily without separate training.  Some of this is learning better form, such as when Chris Rice helped me out on Euro and got me 20 pounds over my previous PR.  But I also notice strength improvement there over time, and I think staying vigilant with grippers has to be related.  Even Chez has noticed a correlation with pinch and grip, as he told me he sometimes trains pinch a little the day before grippers and finds some benefit there.  I don't see why there wouldn't be some correlation, albeit not precise because there are different muscles involved.  But some must be useful in both disciplines.

5. What hobbies (other than grip/bending/lifting) do you enjoy?

I am pretty into word games and board games, and at one time I collected antique tube radios and learned a little about repairing them, although that has stagnated since I got divorced and have less space for the radio collection and time for the hobby.

6. Do you have a personal anecdote, topic or thoughts you'd like to include in your profile?

I discovered this community right around when I was getting divorced.  Grip (and the great, great people involved in it) has become a central feature of my life.  It has added to my social life, my happiness, and my health.  I hope to stay involved until I die.

7. Whose Grip profile would you like to see next?

@devinhoo is on deck whenever he gets me his questionnaire, but I'd say it would also be cool to see @C8Myotome up here.  

Edited April 11 by Vinnie

[IROC-Z]

Very nice to see somebody else who is the same age as me and still training hard.  Keep up the great work Vinnie!

[PinchByPinch]

Greetings from a fellow 83kg class competitor.

With a 185lb 2.25" crusher lift it doesn't sound like Crushed to Dust would be too lofty a goal.

[Vinnie]

4 hours ago, PinchByPinch said:

Greetings from a fellow 83kg class competitor.

With a 185lb 2.25" crusher lift it doesn't sound like Crushed to Dust would be too lofty a goal.

I'm not sure it is beyond possibility, but RT is thicker and harder than 2.25 crusher.  My RT PR is 167 I think, and you need 198 (90kg).  That's about 20% shy.

[climber511]

Nice "interview" by a nice guy!

 

[Vinnie]

2 hours ago, climber511 said:

Nice "interview" by a nice guy!

Thank you, kind sir!