Gripmas 2015
Monday, December 14th, 2015On December 5th, Luke and I competed at Gripmas, the yearly December contest in Crooksville, Ohio, hosted by Chris and Teresa Rice.
This has quickly become the biggest and most prestigious single-location contest of the year, aside from the NAGS Championship. Many athletes from the Central United States and East Coast came this year, and over the years countless people from outside this region have made the trip, because of how important this contest has become.
There were 4 events for this contest. First was the Ivanko Super Gripper. The unit is held opposite the direction torsion spring grippers are held. There is a small flashlight mounted at the bottom of the gripper, and the objective is to close the handles together and make the flashlight button click, while changing the off/on status completely.
Ivanko Super Gripper – Various Competitors
Here are some of the attempts I got on film of the ISG event.
At this point, I sat in 3rd place behind Kody Burns and Andrew Durniat.
The next event was Two Hands Pinch, with the adjustable pinch apparatus. The first heat of lifters to go were the ones who used the thinnest setting, 52 millimeters. Next came 54mm, 56mm, and 58mm. The adjustable device is used so that lifters can match the width of the implement to their hand size, and produce their best lifts.
If you’re interested in buying an adjustable two hands pinch device, watch this video: Napalm Pinch Devices.
Here are some of the attempts from the contest.
Two Hands Pinch – Luke Raymond and Chris Rice
Luke has been competing and training at 58mm for several months, but switched to 56mm for the contest, and ended up getting a new contest PR!
Two Hands Pinch – Kody Burns Sets New All-Time World Record
Kody set a new All-Time World Record on the Two Hands Pinch, with 274lbs and change!
Two Hands Pinch – Kody Burns’ 3rd and 4th Attempts
Kody then bumped up to roughly 279lbs and got it off the ground each time.
Two Hands Pinch – Jake Sahlaney’s Attempts
Jake is one of my members at TheGripAuthority.com, and is showing improvement at every single competition he does. I’m very proud of him, and hope he continues to train hard and smart, and stay healthy.
Two Hands Pinch – Jedd Johnson’s Attempts
I was able to get my highest lift since 2011 at Gripmas this year, 261lbs. I’ve been in a slump for a very long time. I then made the decision to go to 276lbs and try to break the record, which proved to be foolish, because I barely broke it off the ground, BUT, I was hoping for a big adrenaline boost. I felt pumped, but it just wasn’t enough. I wish I would have just gone with something like 266lbs and then 271lbs, to go into the 2nd place ever, in competition. I think I would have had a good chance at completing 271, because I broke that off the ground in training, prior to the comp. Oh well, can’t go back in time!
he next event was the Double Overhand Axle Deadlift. My goal was to 1st come in second place in this event, behind Andrew, and 2nd, to pull 400lbs. Unfortunately, the 400lb pull didn’t happen, but I did tie for 2nd, so that helped me out with points, big time.
Double Overhand IronMind Axle – 325lbs and above
These are all the attempts I got. The weight starts out around 325 or so, and ends with Andrew’s HUGE attempt at like 460+!!! What a phenom that guy is!
Following the Axle, was the 4th and final event. There was a 4-minute time limit to lift as many items as possible. There was a series of light items and a series of heavy items. If you lifted the lighter item, you got 1 point. If you lifted the heavy item you got 2 points. If you lifted both, you only got 2 points.
Additionally, there were some implements with only one option, and if you lifted them, you got 2 points.
it might seem kind of confusion, but just think the maximum points available was 50.
Medley – Luke Raymond
Luke got 33 points in his Medley run.
The contest would come down to how Andrew, Kody, and I did in the Medley, just like Nationals this year. Going in, the points spread looked something like this: Kody – 38 points, Andrew – 37.5 points, Jedd – 37 points. As you can see, it was crazy close.
Medley – Jedd Johnson
I was the first to go out of the final 3, because I was in 3rd place. I got 46 points.
Medley – Andrew Durniat
Andrew got 36 points.
Medley – Kody Burns
Kody got 36 points as well.
By finishing 10 points ahead of the other two leaders, it enabled me to pull ahead by a very, very slim margin – INCREDIBLY CLOSE!
- 1) Jedd Johnson – 37.704
2) Kody Burns – 36.630
3) Andrew Durniat – 36.223
4) Jake Sahlaney – 32.322
5) Lucas Raymond – 31.281
6) Chris Rice – 29.461
7) Josh Henze – 27.638
8) Nathanial Brous – 24.645
9) Andrew Pantke – 24.550
10) Bob Sundin – 23.260
11) Josh Koenig -23.064
12) Jor-el Koenig – 19.291
13) Anthony Clarino – 19.085
14) Nick Applegate – 17.247
15) Barrett Henze – 16.749
16) Chris Andrade – 16.045
17) Rich Cottrell – 14.047
Gripmas 2015 Placings and Prizes
I really want to send out my thanks to Chris and Teresa Rice for putting this competition together, as well as a huge digital high-five to Brent Barbe, Nick Rosendaul, and Sean Rice, who all helped with set-up, loading, and records keeping for the event. Guys like this are why contests run so smoothly.
Someone pointed out my victory is sort of a Triple Crown, in a way, as I won the NAGS Championship, King Kong International, and Gripmas all in the same year.
I never thought about it that way, but I’m happy to be the first one.
For now, it’s back to the drawing board. Despite the victories, I’m still not happy with the numbers I’ve put up. Luke and I have already begun making adjustments to match our goals.
Stay tuned for more posts coming later this week. Although I’ve posted all of the contest footage, that ain’t all that happened in that small garage in the little town of Crooksville.
I’ve got lots of other cool clips from the post-contest feats of strength.
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All the best in your training.
Jedd
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