[Ben Edwards]

Haha! Or is it one of those “I ran into the cabinet again…I’m so clumsy” things?

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[Ben Edwards]

Mine’s going out today also.

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[Ben Edwards]

Did some miscellaneous lifting today and had 322 pounds on the bar so I tried it middle fingers (alternate grip) and got about 3″ off the ground before bailing on it. Felt like a tendon was going to tear. But I was pretty excited about getting that weight off the ground. I know that if I can move the weight it’s mine if I can hold on through the pain.

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[Ben Edwards]

Woke up and am preparing for my shift tonight. Feel like someone tried to manually remove my index fingers with pliers. Good stuff!

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[Ben Edwards]

[b]Quote from KCSTRONGMAN on December 15, 2011, 07:14[/b]
Did you put my name on there just so there would be an obvious last place?
ET

I put it on there because you are a beast! At least this grip contest doesn’t completely swing the whole shebang in a grip specialist’s favor. At least not in my opinion. There are no grippers and nothing with a lot of technique involved – more pain tolerance on the finger lift than grip strength. And the thickbar stuff always suits an elite strongman competitor (Eric, Scott, the list goes on…) possibly more than a guy like me who doesn’t spend a lot of time with truly heavy weights on full body exercises.

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[Ben Edwards]

[b]Quote from Scott Tully on December 15, 2011, 04:06[/b]
Im in for sure, will gladly let you beat up on me at this comp Ben!! big mark and nate the Great Liby are doing it also, nates a 15 year old who can pick up the 40lb blob already.

ST

Glad to hear you’ll be competing Scott! I’ll have to be at the top of my game to beat you when it’s not just a gripper event. I am pretty fond of the finger deadlifts though. I haven’t tried the index finger lift except for once at Clark’s Record Day in 2009. Where I totally failed to lift 135lbs and then Bill Clark stepped up and ripped it off the platform. I think I didn’t even budge it if I remember right. Al might remember better…

I’ve already started writing up some strategy for this contest. It isn’t all about just being stronger necessarily. I want to lose about 20 pounds so that my Lynch factor is better. That will give me some points. And I don’t think it will negatively affect my grip strength all that much.

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[Ben Edwards]

[b]Quote from dinoman on December 14, 2011, 09:25[/b]
I hope that the USAWA Grip Championships gets a good turnout again this year. I tried to pick lifts that would make a good event, and represent all areas of hand strength within the USAWA.

Speaking of grip strength, a couple of gym grip records fell last night in the Dino Gym. Mark Mitchell did a 200# block bar deadlift and Scott Tully did a 80# Bomb Lift. Both of these are outstanding marks! I should also mention that Scott picked up the York Blob with one hand and then closed the number 2 COC gripper with his other! I was quite impressed! Al

Great timing Al! I was just thinking (liteally) yesterday that I should e-mail you and see if you had finalized the grip champ events.

Looks like a great overall test of hand strength on the lineup.

Great work on those gym grip records guys!

I know what the block bar deadlift is – the pinch barbell, right?

Is the Bomb lift one of the FBBC Bombs? If so I pulled on that years ago at one of John Beatty’s (pro strongman and been on America’s Got Talent) grip contests. It was a unique lift. Hard to judge and easy to cheat though if that makes sense. Not saying that anyone cheated at your place Al – but a judge has to be very watchful because a subtle movement of the hand can add 20 pounds or more to a lift. And change it from being grip-dependent to something entirely different.

I’ll announce this contest on the Gripboard and the other grip forums I frequent too.

You guys might consider joining the Ironmind forum too. There is a well populated grip section and Dr. Strossen himself posts frequently. And as you know, he’s definitely a fan of grip strength. Plus, it would put some attention on the USAWA in general. Not just the grip contest in February. I’ve mentioned the USAWA several times in various posts on that forum and had a few guys contact me regarding USAWA.

Still the biggest reason why most of the strong grip guys I know don’t enter the USAWA grip contest is because of the scoring method. I’m not knocking the method of scoring. I like it. I understand it. I don’t benefit from it much or at all. But I don’t really care about losing if it gives me the ability to compete on equal terms with all ages, genders, and bodyweights.

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[Ben Edwards]

That is a gargantuan feat of hand strength! Congrats Scott! That puts you in great company.

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[Ben Edwards]

I think the JWC site is pretty well put together Thom. The JWC t-shirts I have are among my favorites. And I have a lot of t-shirts from various contests, endeavors, etc.

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[Ben Edwards]

The ultra cheap method is to find an old clothesline pole that nobody wants and cut it to 7 feet. I had 380lbs on mine a few times and it held up just fine to deadlifts. Course I don’t drop them from a locked-out position so that helps to extend the lifespan of that type of cheap bar.

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[Ben Edwards]

I saw that the caption says that Frank is lifting the “172lb Inch Dumbbell” when (no offense intended) it’s pretty apparent that the dumbbell in question is nowhere near the handle size of the Inch. No disrespect to Dale of course – I’m fond of him and his newsletter.

The dumbbell looks to have a 1″ diameter handle or maybe a bit over that at most.

Just putting that out there…

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[Ben Edwards]

Good stuff guys! I’m so impressed with the athleticism involved in the spin technique that I could never say anything bad about it – only that since I couldn’t do it…it’d have to be banned, lol.

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[Ben Edwards]

Just sent one to your e-mail address Al. Hope it passes muster.

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[Ben Edwards]

I think the last time I trained on one was in high school. I was thinking about driving up for the Record Day at the Dino Gym on the 28th and maybe taking a crack at the Roman Chair Bench Press. Not my usual grip lift – but it may be something I turn out to be decent at. Or completely suck at. Either way it ought to be fun.

I just pulled 230lbs (contest-legal) righty on the USAWA 2″ vertical bar in my 105 degree garage the other day so I know at least 2″ vbar is on the agenda if I can attend. I’d also like to take a swing at my 175lb Pinkys Deadlift record and go for Andrew Durniat’s 200lb record in the process. Although I should be in the 220lb class then. I may stay a hair over it and lift in the 105kg class if I feel like my pinkys are strong enough to take that record from Durniat.

I have a list of records written down – all grip – but I don’t have it with me now. Would love to see the gym again and you guys always brighten my day too.

By the way, not sure if any of you visit Adam Glass’s blog (it is extremely heavily traveled by visitors) but he mentioned the USAWA in a very positive manner the other day. Should bring a lot of visitors to the site.

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[Ben Edwards]

Great work guys and gals! Sounds like a great time and big lifts all around.

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