Worlds Strongest Hands 2012

Today, I received the official announcement from David Horne on the 2012 Worlds Strongest Hands Series, the 3rd annual installment. Below is the information regarding specifics of the contest.

Information on 2012 Worlds Strongest Hands

Date: Saturday 18 August, 2012
The 2012 WSH is a one-leg event this year. In 2010, it was 4 legs, and in 2011 it was 3 legs, but with the proximity to the Worlds Strongest Hands Gathering and other scheduling issues, it was decided to make it a one-leg event only.

Events:
1. One Hand Vulcan Gripper (V2) – 20mm block close
2. Wrist Developer
3. Adjustable Thick Bar (one hand) – GripTopz
4. Stub Lift (one hand) – GripTopz

Classes: Open, Women’s and 93k class.

We recently added a variety of weight classes to the world grip sport rankings for the men. In past years, the split between the men’s class happened at the 82.5-kg mark, but this year, the divider will take place at 93-kg.

Venue: All around the world.

I will be holding my leg in Wyalusing, PA. As more locations in North America are confirmed, I will do my best to post them here. For sure, there will be one venue in Wooster, Ohio, and in past years there have been venues to compete in Minnesota, Michigan, and Arizona. I ahve also been told that there might be a competing venue in New England.

Entrance fee: £20 GBP ($32 dollars, 25 euro)

Trophies: There will be trophies for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd in each class.

Rules: Video to follow

All of the individual contests within Worlds Strongest Hands take place on the very same day. However, some countries participate earlier than others due to their location on the globe. In order to allow no unfair advantages, results are not shared between promoters. All results are sent to David Horne for tabulation and then he puts out the results after the contest.

As I receive more information, I will post it here on this thread.

Additional Information on Worlds Strongest Hands

I get a lot of questions about Worlds Strongest Hands from people who want to know more about the event and the equipment used in the competition, so I want to put them here as they come in, to make this a good post to reference.

I know some questions are more common than others, so I will go ahead and put them down right now, but if you have additional questions, post them in the comments section and I will add them in and update the post.

What is the Vulcan or V2 Gripper?

This is a large, steel gripper, sold by David Horne / World of Grip, with a straight coil spring, that can be adjusted across various strength levels. The gripper is used similarly to a Torsion Spring Gripper, first setting it, then swiping a 30-mm block, and finally closing the handles of the Gripper together.

It was originally called the Vulcan Gripper, but the design was re-worked for a cleaner look and the spread between the handles was increased, so the ones that are sold now are called V2, as in Vulcan 2 or Version 2.

What is the Wrist Developer?

Wrist Developer

This is another steel device that is manufactured by David Horne / World of Grip, with a mobile straight coil spring that can be adjusted for various strength levels.

What is a 20-mm Setting Block?

Think of the 20-mm as a gauge that is used with Grippers. For instance, the gauge in the Two Hands Pinch is a horizontal bar that is set at 16.5 inches in height that must be touched with the loading bar of the Euro Pinch Device. In Grippers, we use the setting block to make sure everyone is being judged with the same set width. So, the athlete is allowed to set the handles, and then he/she must pass the 20-mm block between the handles to show a legal set depth. This effectively takes hand size limitations out of the equation with Gripper Contests, because everyone is permitted to get an advantageous set, by pre-positioning the handles with the off-hand, then they pass the block through, and then they make the attempt at the close.

What are the Grip Topz?

The Grip Topz are another series of Griplements from David Horne / World of Grip. They are all used with the same base, which serves as the loading pin for weights. Then, on top of the loading pin base, attachments are hooked and gripped by the competitor. There are many different Grip Topz attachments that test a variety of hand strength disciplines. They are very handy for accomplishing a wide range of Grip Training challenges and goals.

The Grip Topz events utilize the same gauge that is used in the Euro Pinch Two Hands Pinch Lift event, which is set at 16.5 inches.

What is the Adjustable Thick Bar?

The Adjustable Thick Bar is a new item in the Grip Topz series, which is a thick bar handle. It is has multiple thick handles that will be used based upon the hand size of the competitor. This event tests Open Hand Strength on a round device. So it is not pure support strength (static finger strength), but rather a hybrid challenge combining support and thumb strength.

David Horne has a video demonstrating this lift:

What is the Stub Lift?

The Stub Lift is one of the items from the first Grip Topz series which was used in last year’s Worlds Strongest Hands 2011. The Stub Lift is a steel bar which juts out of a flat steel plate, which you must grip with your index finger and thumb and try to lift. This event tests Key Pinch, and surprisingly enough hits the wrist a bit as well.

As time allows, I will shoot some videos showing the various pieces of equipment in action, so that you can see them and understand them even better.

How to Buy Vulcan V2′s & Wrist Developers:

Many people have written in asking about when I would be getting more Vulcan V2′s, Wrist Developers, etc.

Now that the contest is announced and the events are official, I would like to know who is interested in getting a Vulcan V2 or Wrist Developer. Please leave a comment below or email me.

Wrist Developer Training Info: I released a DVD on how to train with the Wrist Developer in February. It has gotten lots of good feedback.

From: Frank Deluca: “Jedd – I watched the vid today and it is awesome. This is one of your best instructional videos in my opinion and I have bought many of yours. Nice job.”

From: Karl M. Skjelvik: “Great stuff, Jedd. I learned a lot on technique and different ways to train with the WD. Tomorrow is a training day, and I’m gonna try it out.”

If you want to kick ass in World’s Strongest Hands in the Wrist Developer, or if you simply want to improve how you perform on the WD in your own training, then this is the DVD for you – pick it up today by clicking the image below.

Again, if you need any other information, please leave a comment below, or feel free to email me or hit me up through Facebook or Twitter.

All the best in your training,

Jedd

Crank Your Wrist Strength Up a Notch with the Wrist Developer DVD

Mighty Mitts 2012 – Part II

Getting ready to lift both Fatman Blobs

As I posted yesterday, Mighty Mitts was an absolute honor for me to be a part of and it is truly a pinnacle of the sport of grip. Being up on that stage, in front of all those people performing, when they could have done ANYTHING with their time, but they hung around to watch us – it was my honor to put on a show for them, and that is exactly what I aimed to do.

As you’ll see in many of my videos, I tried to engage the crowd by pumping my arms and circling my hands to get them going a bit. And the fact that the Day 2 events were much more my specialty gave me increased confidence that I could do well and prove that I deserved to be there.

Day 2 Events

Medley

The Medley is an event that is commonly held in Grip contests. Because I knew the challenge items that would be in the medley, I only trained them a few times. Primarily, I worked on the Hub Deadlift, Circus Dumbbell (I trained using a similar device) and the Anvil High-Pull, but I only hit them a couple of times because I was mostly focused on bringing up my thick bar strength.

The Basic Rules

The way the Medley was set up, there were 9 challenge items, each listed below in order.

We had 2 minutes to complete all the challenges.

The main difference between this and other Medleys I have competed in was that once you went past one of the challenge items, you could not go back. You could try as many times as you wanted to lift the item, but returning was not permitted.

This gave the event a very interesting twist because in other competitions, we have always been able to go back and try items again, although very, very rarely are you able to successfully lift something upon going back. So this increased the strategic level of the event, and made it very cool.

Also, the time would stop once you finished the final challenge, the Phone Book Tear. If there were ties, the leader would be the person who finished the phone book first. This also made things very interesting and in the end played a huge role in my scoring.

You might know, the three challenge items I trained on the most, (Hubs, Circus Bell, and Anvil) I ended up failing on in the actual event.

Here is a rundown of each of the challenge items and how I did on them.

1. Circus Dumbbell (Miss) – This is one of the challenge items that I worked intently on during my Medley item training days, because I recognized it as a weakness. Richard Sorin announced it to be in the Medley very early on, and I knew that in the past I had never lifted it, so I put the time in on my very thick 4-inch loadable handle. The handle of the Circus Dumbbell was very well knurled, so slickness was no excuse. I just simply could not maintain my grip on the handle as I tried to pull it to the height of the platform. Looking back, I might have been able to pull it a bit higher had I braced the rear head of the dumbbell against my forearm, however, it never crossed my mind to give it a try.

2. 100-lb Pinch – This was a one-handed pinch lift to a full deadlift. Normally, a 100-lb pinch on plates or on the Euro would be a fairly challenging lift, but this plate had a rather prominent indented rim around the outside of the plate, making it much easier to lift. As a result, I think everyone was able to lift this item, meaning I was unable to make up any points by lifting it myself – drat!

3. Globed Leverage Bar / Weaver Stick Lift - This was an interesting piece. The handle was oval-shaped, similar to a sledge hammer, so you had to make sure that you got your grip on it right or else it would try to wobble out of your grip. The weight was in the neighborhood of 13- to 15-lbs I believe. You had to either deadlift it parallel to the ground or you could stand upright and lever it strictly to the parallel position. Either way, handle had to be kept right near your thigh or it would not count. I think everybody got this one too. Drat – no points against these beasts!

4. Hub Lift – This was done on a rather slick 45-lb York Barbell Plate with the characteristic sloping flange, which makes gripping it much more difficult than today’s more common tube-shaped hub designs. The dial grip was permitted instead of just the claw grip, which was good because I am not sure I would have been able to break that plate off the ground by the hub using the standard grip. I ended up pulling the plate up to nearly the height of the loading platform, but for some reason every time I tried changing directions and moving it toward or over top of the platform, it would slip right out of my hand. The platforms were a bit higher than normal, but I actually like a higher platform because it requires more endurance and skill in the loading process. The height was not the issue – my strength on hubs was. I could have really used the point for the hub lift, as it would have put me into sole ownership of first place in the event when all was said and done.

5. Fatman Style Blobs – Two Fatman Blobs had to be loaded on top of the same platform as the hub and same height as the Circus Bell. I had no fear going into this one, as my Blobs are off the charts right now. In prep for MM, I was able to lift Josh Dale’s Fatman with no warm-up, something I have never been able to do. The way this challenge was scored is you had to do one with your left hand and one with your right, and if you did both of them simultaneously, you would get a bonus point. I was the only one in the body of competitors who got both at the same time, although some did get both separately. So I was able to pick up a valuable extra point.

6. Anvil – Next was an Anvil that naturally weighed around 170-lbs and also had a chain wrapped around it for extra weight. In warm-ups, I tested this piece and the horn felt like sand paper, so I was feeling golden to rock this one with no problem. Once I got to it and hit like 5 tries between my left and right hands and it still wasn’t on the platform yet, I was getting pissed, but maintained my cool. Another item that I prepared for hard, felt good on in warm-ups yet failed to load to the 8- or 10-inch platform. And also, mor emuch needed points down the drain. Undaunted, I continued to the next apparatus.

7. Sorinex G-Rex - The G-Rex was loaded with four 45-lb plates and the objective was to grip the handle with both hands and squeeze it until the two handles met, at which point a light would illuminate on the device. I was actually intimidated by this because the fully opened spread on the G-Rex is pretty damn wide, but to my enjoyment, once I got my firngers all the way on there, it came up pretty easily and with a little fishing around at the top I was able to light all three lights. In this case, three red lights was a good thing!

8. Millstone – Richard Sorin feels this Millstone is liftable, but I think in order to accomplish it, it will take some specific training to do so. In my estimation, the stone is about 5 inches thick and in the neighborhood of 120-lbs (just estimates), so it is a very large and heavy object to pinch with one hand. A two-hand lift has been done by many, including my good friend, Chris Rice, who did so in 2006 and got an awesome picture of it, to boot. I gave it a pull with at least my right hand, and maybe my left, but I did not waste a lot of time because when I spun around to check out the time that was left, I was under 30 seconds of time to go before I was done, so I scooted ahead to the last item.

9. Phone Book – The last item in the line was the phone book, more or less 1200-pages, supplied by Nick Rosendaul. It is just hard to believe how many people had a hand in making this contest a success. Awesome! I can usually finish a phone book like this in about 5 seconds, but in this case it took me a bit longer because I don’t normally tear a phone book after lifting and trying to lift so many other things, so I was a bit spent, but finished it before the time limit expired and let out a big scream of excitement to the crowd, which many returned back to me.

Since I knew I was close on many of the items, I took extra time in order to take a couple of extra attempts on things like the Hub and the Anvil, but what this ended up doing is hurting me a bit because in the end I had 7 points for the event, and so did Tex Henderson, but since he made his way to and through the phone book quicker than I did, he grabbed first place points. I am not sure how much first place in this event would have helped me since I finished so poorly on day one, but it would have been cool to make some bigger jumps up the standings.

Here is the video of me going through the Medley.

Medley

I have tons more video clips of the other competitors’ medley runs up on my YouTube channel. I words them all similarly, so I am hoping they show up once that video ends. But just in case, I have also put together a playlist of all the videos I have uploaded from Mighty Mitts 2012. <= Click that link to view the playlist.

If I got the chance to speak on the Mike, I wanted to make sure to work in there some words of recognition and appreciation to the Sorins and their crew for all that they had done, and I got my chance after the Medley. Here is my little nod to them.

Shout Out to Sorinex’s Crew

Wrist Roller

The last event of the contest was the Wrist Roller. These guys really out-did themselves with the Wrist Roller this year, making it both a challenging lift for the contestants, and also a pretty visually appealing lift for the audience as well. A strap was connected to the wrist roller, and a series of weights including chain and other odd objects were lifted upwards, getting heavier and heavier as the distance increased. Thankfully, for safety’s sake, they thought to make the wrist roller a ratcheting device so that if your grip slipped, it didn’t all just roll backwards on you. The perfect balance between function, look, and challenge, if you ask me.

This sucker got really heavy on me towards the end and I had to get crazy near the end of the run. I just shut my eyes and kept digging hard, and even ended up going further and longer than I had to. I was so focused on completed the wrist roller that I could not hear Bert saying I was done and I could not see Cyborg tapping on the device telling me I was done.

While I don’t have all my stats, points, etc., I do know that I finished 7th, and I was damn happy to climb out of the cellar, after a dismal day 1.

DIESELS, I can’t tell you how awesome of an experience the entire Arnold / Mighty Mitts weekend was. It was truly an honor to be a part of it and it was a spectacle to behold. I still have tons of video to upload and once I get caught up, I am going to post a video right below here of the crowd surrounding the stage – what an awesome site to witness – literally hundreds of people gathered around for a Grip Contest – AWESOME!

When I think back to a year ago and realize that I was “suffering” from the worst finger injuries I ever had, wondering if I would ever be able to return to form, I am truly thankful to have gotten this opportunity one more time.

Thanks for your support, and all the best in your training.

Jedd

Mighty Mitts 2012 – Part I

Preparing the Hands for Battle with the Inch Dumbbells (Photo: Bill Piche)

For my 2nd time in the last 3 years, I made the trip to Columbus Ohio and the Arnold Classic in order to compete in Mighty Mitts. Mighty Mitts was organized and held by Richard and Bert Sorin.

I can’t say enough about how well these gentleman, their company, and their crew supported us competitors this year. It was unbelievable. I felt like royalty. I can’t really put into words how nice everyone was.

Mighty Mitts is a huge opportunity for Grip Sport. The platform of the Arnold Classic and the chance to get events in front of so many people is amazing, and I hope it brings more people into the sport. I truly appreciate everything that Sorinex has done to help Grip grow.

Never a dull moment in my Grip life, the trip to Mighty Mitts started out an interesting one. I spent about 30 minutes on Wednesday cleaning out unnecessary junk, removing the baby seat, and loading it with everything I needed for the trip. All the while I was blasting the coolest Johnny Cash DVD that I bought recently at Dollar General, so it was an awesome time.

Unfortunately, I must have had the doors open, lights on, and music blaring for a little too long because when I tried to start up to get on the road, the battery was dead. Just my luck.

I called my fiancee and she came home from work to give me a jump start. While I was waiting for her, I figured I’d take a moment to check and fill the fluids, so I raised the hood up and got that done. I noticed there was some rust on the clamp-thing that holds the hood down, so I also grabbed some WD-40 and sprayed that to try to keep it moving right.

When I tried to clean of the excess oil, I activated the clamp and it closed down. I went back inside the vehicle and pulled the release to open it back up again, and I thought I saw it working, so I thought I was in good shape. Unfortunately, I was mistaken and after jumping my battery, I went to close the hood back down and I think I damaged the clamp-thing.

Unable to close the hood down, I was forced to move everything out of my car and into the fiancee’s car, forgetting my car charger, ibuprofen, and a bunch of other stuff that I had thrown into a plastic shopping bag (dramatic foreshadowing here)

Eventually I got on the road and 8 hours later, I was in Columbus and on the shuttle bus to go meet Arnold.

Yes, I said meet Arnold - the man himself. We actually got to site in a press-conference type of scenario and Arnold addressed us and the Strongman Crew. It was a crazy opportunity. I got a bunch of pics and there was even a big photo taken of our entire group with Arnold. Totally blew me away.

The next thing we did was check out the equipment and go over the rules for the Mighty Mitts events at the actual event center. It was good to see everything and get to put my hands on it to see how it felt and to have an idea of the difficulty. We were able to ask questions about the rules and then we were back to the hotel for nice dinner in the restaurant.

Left: Me with “The Iron Tamer” Dave Whitley. Right: Me with Mike “The Machine” Bruce

During dinner, I got to meet guys like Dave Whitley and Dennis Rogers again and even met Mike “The Machine” Bruce for the first time.

Day 1 Events

I knew going in that Day 1 was going to be the harder of the two days for me. With both of the events being thick bar, my nemesis, my work was cut out for me. At this point, I knew I had trained as absolutely hard as possible for these events and began focusing all of my thoughts on successful attempts.

Double Inch Dumbbell Farmer’s Walk

In my training, I had worked up to taking several steps with two Inch Dumbbells, but these were dumbbells with rather rough handles on them. Whenever I tried picking up my slicker-handled Inch, it gave me problems. In fact, I was only able to deadlift my slicker Inch dumbbell one time. That was several weeks prior to the contest, so at the time I thought I was seeing some gains, but it wasn’t meant to be as I failed to lift them on the Mighty Mitts stage.

I put a tremendous amount of effort into this event. Some would say that it was all a waste, since in 2010 I was not able to deadlift them either, but I don’t see it that way, exactly, because during the time I worked so hard on the inches, my Axle numbers improved greatly. I have some plans in mind for modifying my training in order to get some better results on the Inch Dumbbell, after speaking with my Mighty Mitts roommate, Chad Woodall, so I am looking ahead, and not looking back.

Sorinex Monster Bell Deadlift

Squeezing as hard as I could and my eyes are nearly popping out. (Photo: Sorinex Facebook Page)

The Sorinex Monster Bell is a 500-lb Axle Bar. The handle region is well knurled over the majority of the gripping surface, which helps with the grip a bit, but the sheer weight of 500-lbs combined with the fact that the globe heads of the dumbbell act very similarly to the Inch Dumbbell made the event very challenging for me.

Although this year I felt I had much better control of the Monster Bell, I still did not complete any full repetitions. Whereas two years ago, as soon as I began lifting up on the barbell it seemed to pop right out of my hand, this year, I was able to pull it to my knee height before dropping it to the floor again.

As you can see in the video above, I tried primarily the sumo stance, as this is the stance I used in training. I did try one repetition with the conventional stance, but that did not go so well, so I went back to the sumo position in order to try to muster up enough strength for a full repetition. Unfortunately, it just wasn’t meant to be.

At the end of Day 1, I found myself at the very bottom of the standings, with a lot of work ahead of me and a great distance to overcome in order to reach the leaders.

I was so upset, that even thought I had just met Mike Bruce, I slapped a sleeper on him and put him down for the count.

There’s no extinguishing the power of Napalm’s Sleeper Hold

In truth, the image above was staged by Mike himself and I was not upset either. Although I would have been happier with better performances on the day’s events, I knew that the Day 2 events were my events, and I looked forward to the challenge.

Stay tuned, because Part II will be up as soon as I can get it finished.

All the best in your training,

Jedd

Hello DIESELS!

This holiday weekend, Labor Day Weekend, I am on a Mission to spread the word of Grip Strength.

On this Sunday Morning, I will be traveling to Ottawa, Ontario, Canada to assist with the running of the Canadian National Hand Strength Challenge, which is being run in the same locale as the Canadian National Armwrestling Championships.

In many chats, David Horne has told me that he always thought arm wrestlers would be a group that would really excel in Grip Sport. I am gearing up to see about that this weekend!

Details about the event are below, but what I am asking today is for you to take just a couple of minutes and help me promote this event via Facebook, Twitter, and any other forums and miscellaneous platforms you might use.

On top of running the challenge, I will also be speaking to the arm wrestlers about Grip Sport, how Grip Training can improve their game at the arm wrestling table.

If you could help me spread the word about this, it would be great. For Facebook and Twitter, I already have tools installed on the post in the upper right hand corner, so you can use those. For other sharing methods, you can simply copy the address of this specific post.

Thanks for the help. Check out exactly what we will be doing, below, in this excerpt sent to me by Eric Roussein, who is organizing the entire event.

On the evening of September 4th, in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, the inaugural Canadian National Hand Strength Challenge will be held.

This will be a medley-type event, in which competitors will try to complete as many challenges as possible among the 35 on hand.

A variety of objects will test different aspects of grip strength, which should keep things interesting for both athletes and spectators.

Participants will compete one at a time and each have six minutes to accumulate as many points as possible (each successfully completed challenge will earn 1 point).

Two separate divisions are offered: a small hands division (hands measuring 7.75″ or less from wrist to tip of middle finger), and a large hands division (hands greater than 7.75″ in length).

There are nice trophies for the top three finishers in each division. In the event of ties, gripper strap holds for time will be used to determine the winners.

The event is being held in conjunction with the Canadian National Armwrestling Championships, which should expose grip sport to many people who already have strong hands and wrists.

The action will take place following the armwrestling tournament in the ballroom of the Albert at Bay Suite Hotel in downtown Ottawa.

This competition is open to all Canadian residents. Interested participants can register at the event venue between 8 PM and 8:45 PM on the Sunday night (cost = $20). The challenge will start at 9 PM. Jedd Johnson will be driving up to officiate the event.

Event Venue:

The Albert at Bay Suite Hotel
435 Albert Street
Ottawa, Ontario

For more information, contact Eric Roussin at 613-837-1724 or eroussin@rogers.com

So, if you are in the neighborhood, I hope to see you there!

The top three performers in each category will also be featured in David Horne’s Top 3 that he maintains at his World of Grip website.

All the best in your training.

Jedd

Hello DIESELS.

This Fall it is time to BLOW UP the Grip Sport participation in North America and especially within the continental United States.

Starting in August is the Annual Worlds Strongest Hands Series 2011.

Starting August 13th, 2011, there will be contests going on all over the world at essentially the same time using the same exact events and tools in order to crown the overall champion.

The head promoter in all of this is David Horne. He has sent the equipment to all of the promoters and now we are just waiting for the drop of the hat to get underway.

I will be running my legs of the WSH II here in Bradford County Pennsylvania, and I welcome all to attend and give it a try.

Admission into the contest is only $15, and you can pay all the fees at once for a total of $40 as well.

In addition to the overall standings that will be tabulated as we march through each stage of the series, we are also throwing around the idea of having Regional Champions here in the United States. There will be one Regional Champion at all the venues, which look something like this:

• Arizona: Southwest Region

• Michigan: Great Lakes Region
• Minnesota: North Region
• Ohio: Central Region
• Pennsylvania: Northeast Region
• Texas: Gulf States Region

If you are interested in attending, live in one of the areas, and would like to attend, then please go to the Grip Sport Promoters Page and find the contact information for your Local Grip Sport Regional Promoters.

EVENTS

If you are wondering about the specific events for each leg, here is the information…

• Two Hands Pinch on the adjustable European apparatus
• Vulcan Gripper from a 20 and 30 mm set position
• Hub Lift
• Penny Pinch
• Stub Lift

***Each leg will feature the two hands pinch, the gripper, and two grip top events***

Below is a picture of the Grip Topz…

From the top left and going clockwise, is the Penny Pinch, Rim Lift (not being contested), Stub Lift and the Hub Lift. All of these items attach to a loading pin and must be lifted so that a marker on the loading pin touches the height marker set at 16.5 inches off the ground (the same one used for the Two hands Pinch event) and then set back down under control.

World’s Strongest Hands 2011 Schedule

Leg 1 will be 13 August 2011
Events will be Vulcan with 20mm set, 4 attempts. Two hand pinch deadlift, 4 attempts. Half penny pinch lift, 4 attempts. Shallow hub lift, 4 attempts.

Leg 2 will be 10 September 2011
Events will be Vulcan with 30mm block set, 4 attempts. Two hand pinch deadlift, 4 attempts. stub lift, 4 attempts. Half penny pinch lift, 4 attempts.

Leg 3 will be 8 October 2011
Events will be Vulcan with 20mm block set, 4 attempts. Two hand pinch deadlift, 4 attempts. Shallow Hub lift, 4 attempts. Stub lift, 4 attempts.

One thing that was added this year is a could of new Divisions. In total, there will be 3 classes. Check them out…

• Mens open
• Mens light weight (82.5 kg / 181.5 lbs and under)
• Womens open

The events this year could potentially be the most non-hand-size-dependent events ever and here is why…

• The Vulcan Gripper is being done with a set – none of this no-set stuff that caters to the large-handed
• The Penny Pinch is extremely narrow – again no hand-size favoring
• The Hub Lift is actually, in my opinion, something that is easier for smaller-handed individuals
• The Stub Lift, is, again, very narrow
• The Two Hands Pinch is fully adjustable, so you can use the size that fits best in your hand

These events are going to make this series very very interesting. I am expecting some upsets to take place across the nation and around the globe. In fact, I have been trying to train my ass off on this narrow stuff because I SUCK AT IT!!

So essentially, you could show up here and hand me my ass on three separate occasions because I am just that damn bad at these events.

BUT I am competing anyway, because I love it!

The Biggest Call-Outs Grip Sport Has Ever Seen

So, these are some of the guys I am looking forward to seeing here at my place for all three legs of the WSH Series, that came up last year for one or more legs.

• EJ “Hematoma” Livesey – Member of TheGripAuthority.com – He has been emailing me about this for months, chomping at the bit
• “Mayhem” Mike Puchalski – Another member of TheGripAuthority.com who has been working very hard on Grip and Strongman in the last year and making awesome improvements
• Kevin “The Great One” Greto – Showed promise and dtons of interest when he was up here last year. Showing much improvement in the Grip Strength Challenges
• Rick Walker – As far as I am concerned, this guys is the Father of East Coast Grip Strength. Ran Battle for Grip Supremacy in 2003, my first Grip Competition. Just got major surgery in the Spring and is now repping out 375 in the deadlift and pulling 550 with ease, so he is on the mend. His wife, Cheri, is also very strong and could do well in the World Rankings against the best here in the United States and abroad.
• Mike Rinderle – Rindo has proven the long-held myth wrong that you will lose Grip Strength if all you do is bend. After more than a year of next-to-no grip training and all bending (non-braced, braced, short, long, horse shoes, etc), he grabbed a 3.5 and was a couple millimeters from closing it and had an awesome showing at Nationals.
• John Mannino – This brute continues to bend and scroll stuff week in and week out. He is no longer doing Strongman competitions, so he needs some form of competition in his life. This guy lifted the Inch Dumbbell first time he saw it and hasn’t done a Grip Competition since 2005, as far as I know. Tons of talent that needs to be put into action.
• John Eaton – Lifted the Inch, Blob, and multiple loose pinch combinations, all by applying technique modifications and very little dedicated training. Again, tons of talent being wasted. Very knowledgable guy who could help many new gripsters learn, but refuses to dedicate himself. Also has a small posse of Grip Partners in his area of Upstate New York that could come with him to compete, as well as an older daughter Kelly who has competed in Grip before and a younger daughter Erika, who I am sure by now has done more Grip Training in the last year than her dad. The only question is how much ribbing it will take to get John Easton to compete???
• Dan Cenidoza – Good friend of mine for years and fellow RKC. We have battled at Strongman in the past and he could never muster the last bit of strength to take his Maryland’s Strongest Man title from me while I was still competing. He has hung his hat on the fact that he beat me in my first ever Grip Contest, which was an all out technicality.
• Tommy Heslep – Professional Strongman Performer with a sick, sick grip. This guy has serious potential as well. Could possibly take the World Title in the lighter Division if he steps up to the challenge. Once claimed he’d be the first man to Pinch 300-lbs on the Euro Pinch. I’d like to see that one, in person, here at my gym!
• Eli Thomas – I used to train alongside Eli many times per week, kicking his ass time and again, and rubbing his face into the dirt. He got a stable job, started training his ass off and now he kicks my ass every time we meet. Never trains grip and always beats me on any Pure Support event we try. Guarateed he can still close low-end 3.5′s today, if I handed him one. He needs to get his butt down here, do the contest, and then drink beers and eat brahts afterwards because it’s been too damn long since the last time we did that.
• Brad Martin – This dude is another long-time training partner of mine. Might just be the lightest and smallest-handed individual to ever lift the Blob, which i am sure he could stroll into the gym today, chalk up and lift again. With some dieting (dude is freakin’ beefy) he could do EXTREMELY well in this series, and I would not doubt him to set a world record on the Hub Lift. Dude hubs like no other man I have ever trained with. I don’t think I have ever drunk a cold beer with this son of a gun since he turned 21 and that is as much my fault as it is his.
• Joe and Pat Hashey – From Synergy Athletics, these guys love Grip. Joe’s workload and family keeps him from being able to visit as much and the same for me. His brother, Pat, has actually tied me in Grip lifts on a couple of occasions. I think both of these guys could do very well. These guys also train and work with a bunch of crazy bastards who will try anything in their training and generally out-lift my ass in all body lifts, so they have the strength engines to build the power with, they just need to refine, practice and put it all in action
• Matt Hunt – This guy trained his ass off with me at my gym over the winter. After I showed him some technique stuff on Grippers, he went from struggling to close a #3 to closing #3.5′s. This young Grip aficionado has the skill, potential, and drive to kick all of our asses. I really hope he chooses to make the trips this Fall.
• Parris Janusek – Dude lives in PA, less than three hours away and never has been to my house despite multiple personal invites. Always has some lame excuse. However, he was able to go to Mike Rinderle’s competition with ease and excuse free in 2009. Great talent. Snatches the damn Blob. Pinches 100-kg +. Needs to get his ass up here.
• Steve McGranahan – Came up to my contest in 2004, but has not competed in Grip since 2004 as far as I know. It would be great if his appearance scheule would open up for him to make his way up from his place. His YouTube Channel blows up with every video he posts, it would be a great platform for the sport of Grip.
• James “Shrug” Smith – Phenomenal talent from the mid-2000′s who has vanished off the face of the Earth. Another Pennsylvania guy who should be able to make the trip no problem. I am sure he still has enough base strength left in the tank to do well, even without a lot of special training!
• King Joe’s Gym – A bit more than an hour from my house is a gym called King Joe’s Gym with a lot of old-school lifters in it. These guys would be great additions to the PA Grip COmmunity and I hope they know they have are being watched by NAPALM!
• “The Irish Anvil” Tom Kelly – Tom is a student of Slim the Hammerman and has been to my house many times. He is one of the few performing strongmen who I have seen actually give Grip Contest lifts a try. He’s a great dude and has a strong set of mitts. The word is that he got a taste of competition at the Beast in the East Bending competition in May. I’d love to see him get involved in “the Series.”

And this is the last person I am laying out the challenge to, to either come to my place to compete in my Regional Stages, or to travel to the one nearest you…

YOU.

You my DIESEL friend, need to start making plans, start setting aside the money, start studying bus routes and finding the K.O.A.’s (Kampgrounds of America) from your place to mine in order to take part in this awesome series of contests.

If you have any questions, leave a comment below or email me.

This is your chance to be great.

All the best,

Jedd