This weekend is the 2009 United States Grip Strength Championship.
Athletes from all over the country will be traveling to Bradford County Pennsylvania to test themselves in 5 grueling hand, finger, thumb and wrist strength events to see who is the United States Champion in 2009.
Here are the events:
Grippers – Parallel set. All grippers have been calibrated and range from 127 lbs (BBSE) and 209 lbs (IM#4).
Two Hands Pinch – Variety of widths used to accomodate hand size. Will the record fall?
Axle Deadlift – Double Overhand Deadlift with the IM Axle. Will a new record be lifted?
Weaver Stick (Rear) – Weight will be hung from a stick and lifted parallel to the floor
Medley Menagerie – 20+ mystery implements will be lifted, loaded, dragged and destroyed.
On June 20th, I went to Athens Georgia for the First Annual Woodall Grip Strength Challenge.
Below are some of the video clips from the contest.
Two Hands Pinch
The most common test of Pinch Strength is the Two Hands Pinch. The Two Hands Pinch is two 6 mm steel plates with rubber inserts between them.
The inserts are 6mm and 10mm and can be used to vary the thickness of the implement to allow the competitors to use widths that compliment the size of their hands.
There is a hole inside of the plates and inserts to allow for extra weight to be added on.
The objective is to grab the implement with both hands in a pinch grip and lift the implement high enough for the pipe to touch the cross bar 16.5 inches off the ground.
Here, I pinch 230, 240, and 245 pounds (on the second try).
This was by far the most I was ever pumped for a grip contest. The crowd was into it, the competitors were behind me, and I was feeling surprisingly well considering the woes I have been experiencing due to my thumb injury.
The next event was the Axle. The highlight of this event was Andrew Durniat breaking his own world record with a lift of 460+. He then went for 470+ and got it to knee height!
Next was the Rolling Thunder. Steve Gardener, Chad Woodall and Andrew Durniat all lifted ridiculous weight in this event.
The last event was the medley and it was sick. I had a rough time, but Chad got all but one implement, the shallow 45-lb hub. What a spectacle to watch.
After the event, we tried a few feats of strength. I did not do much because my back was killing me, but I did try my hand at the number 4 gripper that Aaron Corcorran brought. It is on the lighter end of the spectrum, but it still has a #4 stamped on the bottom, so getting it as close as I did gave me a good rush.
In this clip, several dudes try the number 4, but Steve Gardener actually closes two of them. Both Aaron’s and John Eaton’s which came out at 199 lbs. on a calibrator.
This was a great contest. I have more clips so make sure you sign up for our Feedburner email notifications so you don’t miss out when I post them. That is right up at the upper right hand side.
I recently traveled to Arlington Texas, where I competed in the grip contest called Metroplex Mayhem at Metroflex. For those of you who may not know, Metroflex Gym is one of the last hardcore gym in the nation, and also it is where Ronnie Coleman trained for years and where Branch Warren trains these days, along with some other freaking huge monsters.
In this video, you’ll see me trying to load all of the implements in the medley at the Gripmas Carol. I got all the implements, with the exception of the inch dumbbell, which I tried several times, but didn’t have enough left to lift this very hard inch replica.
Chris Rice lifts 215 and 225 pounds, both excellent numbers, in the Two hands Pinch at the Gripmas Carol contest on December 13, 2008. Also, he lifts 5 ten-lb plates and two 45-lb plates following the contest, both excellent feats of grip strength.
![[del.icio.us]](http://www.dieselcrew.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/delicious.png)
![[Digg]](http://www.dieselcrew.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/digg.png)
![[Google]](http://www.dieselcrew.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/google.png)
![[LinkedIn]](http://www.dieselcrew.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/linkedin.png)
![[StumbleUpon]](http://www.dieselcrew.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/stumbleupon.png)
![[Windows Live]](http://www.dieselcrew.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/windowslive.png)
![[Yahoo!]](http://www.dieselcrew.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/yahoo.png)
![[Email]](http://www.dieselcrew.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/email.png)
