Michigan Grip Championships 2009

Bob Lipinski put on yet another awesome grip comp last weekend! As always, it was held at Don Larkin's gym. The Larkin's are just straight up good people. Always willing to help and I'm not sure I've met too many people with as many interesting stories as Don.

On to the comp then.

For starters, I did very well. Far better than even I expected, and I went in there knowing the events favored me and that I had trained them more than previous contests.

First up were the grippers- I have been closing my average #3 pretty consistently since I first shut it a few months ago. I was shutting a 160ish PDA gripper that I borrowed from Bob on and off on strong days with near misses on weak days. So I knew that contest adrenaline would help me out here a bit and expected the PDA to be my upper end. I didn't even bother with it. I attempted the Hard #3 first and after a minor setting issue, slammed it. I went for the Narrow Super Elite, which is about 164ish, next and managed it with a solid set. I failed on the easy Elite on my 3rd attempt and passed my 4th. I wouldn't have gotten the easy Elite fresh even with contest adrenaline, but it would've been close under those circumstances I think. That Narrow SE close put me in 2nd place right from the start with 3 guys tied for 1st.

Hub lifts were next- I knew I would get 60+, but I hadn't trained this all that often before the comp. I was confident that 65+ would go on this day and I managed a solid and not-too-tilted 67.5 pretty easily and failed 70 and 71lbs, getting the 70 off the floor. Dave Thornton went all beast on us and pulled 80lbs with a super heavy front load. He passed on his next few attempts because we couldn't figure out how to load 40 extra pounds on the 45. He could've pulled 85 that day.

Vbar next- I suck at Vbar. Partly because I never train it, partly because I can't figure out how to train it and lastly because I just hate vbar lifting. I pulled 215 which I think equals my all-time PR, so I'm not that dissapointed in myself, but I just knew I would lose major points here. I did, but the damage was contained by other's mistakes and what seemed to be an all-around weak day for many.

Hammer Medley- I was expecting to pwn here. I had trained this and I had actually trained this seriously for some time before it was even an event at the contest. So I kind of won the lotto on that one. My front lever is one of the strongest in grip, I'm sure of it now. I easily front levered my 10lb sledge at 26" with a quarter on the head to the high platform for a total coup points-wise. I knew I was going to get it too, which felt great being the last guy and seeing even Dave Thornton only pull it up to the low platform and gave me a huge confidence boost for my attempt. The slim levers went great and I knew that I could get at least the 16 with decent ease, and did. I failed on the 18.5 quite a few times and had several near misses but it wasn't happening today. I tied for 1st on this one.

The Rim lift was next- the weight was 335 and I held it for 3 seconds. By this time, I just didn't care. I was so happy to have beaten Thornton and Durniat on something so solidly and happy that I was in a good placing points-wise, that I could care less what I got on this event. Turns out it didn't matter all that much. I believe Jeff Flynn got 1st on this event, I also believe that if he hadn't done well in this event, I would've come in 4th place overall instead of 5th. I came second to last in this event and ahead of the 2 guys who had to go to the lighter weight:D

Awesome contest overall and I think this was a situation where I had a strong day coupled with everyone else having a not-so-strong day. It worked out well for me and everyone had fun regardless of any apparent weaknesses on the day.

After comp feats for me include breaking 3 25's off the floor ever-so-slightly, my first human flags on both sides, a ring finger chinup that I definitely felt for 2 days after doing it, several attempts at slippery, rounded 5 10's with some air, and another solid 10lb front lever.

Overall, Saturday has given me something to boast about and a boatload of confidence to carry with me to Chad's comp a little over a month away. Once Jerri Larkin's DVDs get here, I'll relive the day several times over this month and next which should help me out in my training significantly. Just one more reason to make it out to a Michigan Grip comp, free and WELL-MADE DVDs with high resolution pictures and videos of several events from different angles. You don't get that shit anywhere else!