Last week’s Grip Strength Challenge for the Wild Card Spot at Nationals was the Medley. What’s a Medley, you might ask?

Medley
from Wictionary.com

medley (plural medleys)
1. (now rare, archaic) Combat, fighting; a battle. [from 14th c.]
2. A collection or mixture of miscellaneous things. [from 17th c.]

As you can see from the definitions above, the Medley is like Grip Strength Combat, testing a variety of disciplines and finding the most well-rounded Gripster.

In order to find the most well rounded Grip Athlete, last week, the Medley was used. Below is the list of feats to be attempted in the medley and the point value for each feat:

Smooth Sides Out Pinch
2-25′s – 1 point
2-35′s – 1 point
2-45′s – 2 points

Hex DB Lift
30 – 1 point
40 – 1 point
50 – 2 points

8-lb Sledge 30″ Handle
Nose Lever – 1 point
Slim Lever – 1 point
Deadlift with coin – 2 points

Grippers with Blocks
1 – 1 point
2 – 1 point
3 – 2 points

Hubs
25 – 1 point
35 – 1 point
45 – 2 points
(You can add weight to a lighter plate to get the heavier plate

Towel Pull-ups
1 rep – 1 point
2 reps – 2 points
3 reps – 3 points

BW or Heavier Straddle Deadlift
1 rep – 1 points
2 reps – 2 points
3 reps – 3 points

The key to winning a medley is being well-rounded so that you can perform a variety of feats and challenges covering all disciplines. You never know what will be in a medley at an actual competition. It is also important to use your time wisely and not leave points “on the table.” One of the biggest errors is to not attempt easy lifts. Also, if you are a One Armed Bandit and can only lift things with your strong hand, you will tire out, so you have to be good with both hands.

Here are the submissions:

Mike Turpin

10 Points

Mike sent in the most humorous submission yet again this week. Bastard. I now have to use my compressed air to blow the snot out of my keyboard from those plate curls at the end. Comic genius.

Mike got the #1, Nose Lever, 25′s Pinch, 30 and 40 Hexes, 25 and 35 Hub and all three Towel Pullups! Great job. Keep working that wide pinch and your grippers and you are going to do well brother.

Scott Goguen

12 Points

Scott got the 25′s Pinch, 35′s Pinch, the 30 and 40 Hex, the 25 Hub, Nose Lever, all three Towel Pull-ups and all three BW One Hand Deads. I did not count the BB Gripper because it had to be a #1 for this challenge. First submission all year and he did a fine job!

Scott, on that Slim Lever, don’t leave any part of the handle hanging outside your hand. It makes it way harder! Looking forward to more submissions – great intensity!

Paul Tompkins

13 Points

Paul did great, getting the #1, Slim Lever, Nose Lever, 25′s, and 35′s pinch, 30, 40 and 50 Hex Lift, and the 25, 35, and 45 Hubs. Not sure if you got the #2. it looked close but I didn’t hear a click so i could not pass it. Still, a fantastic showing. Great job!

Jason Steeves – WINNER!

14 Points

Jason got the #1, #2 and came close on the #3 but I could not tell for sure so I did not pass it. He got the Slim Lever, Nose Lever, and pinched the 25′s and 35′s. He was able to lift the 30 and 40 Hex and hub the 25, 35, and 45. Plus he got all three Towel Pull-ups. Great job brother. You are qualified for Nationals. It’s time to make flight plans and get your passport ready!

This week’s feet will be a One Hand Deadlift, and I hope to have the video ready and posted on the site by tomorrow.

Thanks for all the great submissions. Looking forward to hundreds more.

Jedd

DIESEL UNIVERSE – Time to vote for the best video. This week’s feat was Pinching a 35-lb Dumbbell by the head without using the text/numbers for grip. Large dumbbells ARE ALLOWED if the athlete does not have access to a 35.

Leave a comment below!

Matt Hunt

Josh McIntyre

Paul Tompkins

Thanks and all the best in your training!

Jedd

Right now, I guess you could say it is the Grip Sport Off-Season, if there is one of those.

We just got done with the World’s Strongest Hands Series in November. I have been told by the head promoter of that series, David Horne, that there will indeed be a WSH next year in the Fall, but there will be 3 Legs instead of 4, and there will be more like 5 events per Leg instead of just 3.

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Very early on in my Strength Coach career, I heard the legendary Strength Coach, Buddy Morris, speak at one of the first seminars I ever attended.

During that seminar, Buddy said something that I thought were very profound and have stuck with me for years.

He said, “EVERYTHING works.”

Essentially what he was saying is that all programs will work for a certain time, and he was urging those of us at the clinic not to just dismiss tactics because they seem strange or if they do not fall in line with what we were currently doing…

Flash forward several years to this past September 2010, at the RKC Certification. This is where I met Andrey Patenko.

At a break, he and I spoke about our other training interests and he said he had much experience in training special forces and I told him that I bent nails and competed in Grip Contests. When he found out about the sport of Grip, he immediately wanted to know more and we talked about it for the rest of the break.

Then, just before the end of the break, he began telling me about this tool he had been using for his Grip and Forearms – the Bison 1M. He said he thought the Bison 1M would be very beneficial for Grip Athletes and I told him I’d be very interested in checking one of them out to see what I could do with it.

Andrey recently sent me one of the Bison 1M’s to review. I used it the day after receiving it and got a very good workout from it.

After a couple of workouts, I did a short review video on it, which I have posted here.

For me, the Bison-1M will be most used for high volume work, deloading, and working on flushing the wrist and forearms with blood. In the workouts I have done so far, it has shown me it is very effective in this sense.

Will the Bison-1m help you close a big Gripper or Pinch the World Record? Probably not, but as far as a sporting application like baseball or tennis, yes I think it can be useful.

I have read speculation that the Bison 1M would break if used by a serious Gripster. I do not see how someone could break one of these things unless they either tried to do so on purpose or if they unscrewed the shell too far and somehow ended up bending it or ruining the threading inside the body. The device is actually pretty heavy and seems to be made out of some pretty good quality metal.

I will also say that the resistance on this thing goes really high. For some movement patterns, the resistance can actually be TOO HIGH. However, changing between resistance levels is pretty easy and only involves rotating the body of the device.

After reviewing the Bison 1M, I am reminded of that quote by Buddy Morris, “EVERYTHING works.”

Especially in the case of the Bison 1M, I think you have to approach things with an open mind. I am glad I did that with this item, and I hope you do the same if you ever have the chance to try one out.

I want to continue working with the Bison 1M, and report back again later on. It practically takes up no room at all to store it and I can work it into my forearm training circuits with ease.

If you’d like more information on the Bison 1M, you can check out the website for the device at Sotsky.net, or check out TheGripAuthority.com to view Part II of my initial review that covers my training with it in a bit more detail.

Thanks and all the best in your training.

Jedd

P.S. I have no monetary affiliation with Sotsky.net, Andrey Patenko, or the Bison 1M. All I received for doing this review was the Bison 1M itself.

Today, Chris Smith breaks off another piece of knowledge and shows us how to make some homemade equipment that will let you get your grip training on!

Home Made Thick Grips

Fitness can be an expensive thing, especially if you want to have your own equipment. Sometimes even a very well equipped gym can be lacking a piece of equipment that you really need or, more likely, want.

READ THE REST OF THIS KILLER POST AFTER THE JUMP (more…)