Gripmas Carol 2008

Awesome. Chris Rice puts on a grade A contest every year. If you want more info about the Gripmas Carol, let me know and I'll be happy to email you everything I know about how to get invovled and compete:D

Anyway, I did poorly in the contest thanks to my weaker than the rest of the crowd grip. After the contest during the fun, I shined :) I was very very close to doing a full Dinnie Stone lift with 744lbs(the actual Dinnie stones are 733 I hear). I just didn't lock out. If I were to have lifted them, that may have made me the lightest one to lift that weight in that manner. Stew Rosendaul did the full lift. Of course, I had no belt and no shoes, he did. So I think I win in the crazy department.

I went for a KH SSP #3 heart after the comp, I finished it off with decent ease, but a heart wasn't in the cards at that time. I snatched the beast both hands and did some 32kg pressing. Neither was too difficult.

I also managed to finish off a long-time goal that I had forgotten until recently. Long before Rider was actually doing it, I had the idea to scroll a horseshoe. As in twisting the legs all the way around. Rider did it first and it took watching him do it for me to decide to do it finally. So Chris, thanks! It's just a super-easy 5/16x3/4" hand forged shoe that looks to be around the size of a St. Croix #1 or #2. Those legs got short quick!!! I could've crushed it down into Chris's paperclip style piece, but I kind of liked how it looked so I just left it.


Bottom line, as always, I just need to get stronger.

The Iron

This is an article by Henry Rollins that explains very well just what it is that keeps many of us motivated in what it is we do.

Squats again...

Had a squat session for the first time in 3 weeks:

Back Squat
135x10
225x3
275x2(that is my old max for 2 reps)
275x1(dropped the 2nd rep)
245x3(dropped the 4th rep)
235x4
235x3

I've decided that to get to BWx100, I'll need to make my BW feel like nothing. To do THAT I need to up my squat. My max was only 90lbs over my goal weight for 100 reps. I thought about it like that for the first time and then considered all the guys who have gone for, or were capable of BWx100. The guy who inspired me was John Allen, whose squat is well above 500 and did 218x98, Tom Platz' squat was over 800 raw, Kurt Angle had a 500+ squat(never heard max #'s), and so on. Perhaps a minimum of a 400lb squat would be sufficient? Perhaps only 2xBW or 370? I don't know, I'll cross that road when I come to it but I will be working mainly at increasing my squat with the occasional 10x10 or 4x25 sets thrown in. Also, my lower back is tight and that is holding me back from deadlifting seriously currently and that is a problem for me. I think it's an issue where my lower back is much stronger than the muscles around it. To remedy this, I will do several things with the #1 thing being squats and increasing my max. I also plan to rarely pull from the floor, instead I will work off platforms and work deficiet deads. Suitcase deadlifts, FW's, power cleans, axle deadlifts, heavy rows(my row is pathetic), LOTS AND LOTS OF DIRECT CORE WORK, and plenty of rest. Of course, my 50kg KB will have a nice place in this program too as I am almost literally a hair from a full snatch righty.

Onto the rest of the work:

2 cleans with my 50kg KB each arm(I can only do these inside at the moment with concrete floors, dropping it is not an option so I am forced to quit early with KB cleans, presses and swings.)

Sumo Deadlifts
315xa bunch, I didn't really count how many but it was between 10 and 20, certainly more than 10 and definitely not 20. Easy weight, but my back still likes to remind me that my back is tight with anything approaching heavy weight in a full deadlift. So I have to keep it light or risk back pain/injury

What I have been up to lately...

I haven't posted in awhile so I figured I would add what I have been up to lately. For the most part I have been hammering my DO bending.



Pictured are some recent attempts, iso pieces and bends. There is a 3/8x7.5" bar that I put a good wobble in until my LH finger felt irritated and painful. I could've finished that one I think. The two bolts taped together are 2 6" G5's and I'd definitely put them harder than a Huge Shiny as of my last attempt at that piece. I could be wrong, they are both easy G5's too. We'll see later on this year. The big ass bend in the lower left is 3/8x8.25 done unbraced. That was difficult! The two short bolts are a 6" FNL JH Edgin and 6.5" easy Triangle Edgin, then the smallest of the group is the 5/16x5.5" 304 stainless piece. The thick silver bolt is a 3/8x7" G2 that I got stuck at a recent visit to Don Larkin's gym. The stainless in the top left is a crazy hard piece of 303 stainless at 7" sent to me by Tim Iacobucci. This has the stiffest spring of any stainless I have ever felt and I've attempted some crazy stainless. That piece is stuck at just under 2 1/8" and even a fresh, full power hit only flexes it. Gotta work on that one. And finally, the cue de gra, the black bolt in the center is a 5/16x8" Grade 8 bolt. TOUGH MOTHER FUCKER. At 7" one of these bad boys calibrates at 665-695lbs. Every time I've hit that bolt fresh it has moved thankfully, but only a few times. Definitely a fantastic iso piece. I will be finishing some of these pieces soon enough starting with that 6.5" Edgin in a few weeks.

Kerckhaert Shoe

I finally did it. I bent my long-time goal shoe, the Kerckhaert #3 SSP. Adam Glass sent me 5 of these beasts last year and my best before this was taking one to 90 degrees. The crush actually got easier and easier for me despite the width of this shoe. Anyway, it's my toughest shoe bend to date and I'm positive I could've hearted it if given more than 5 minutes.

4x25- easy

Had the squat session today!!! Wasn't all that bad and we stopped squatting and did some pulls afterward, not the best idea as we were fatigued. The decreasing weight and decreasing # of sets is treating us very well. The weight is a good challenge to us right now and matches the # of reps almost perfectly.

Squats
115x25
115x25
115x25
115x25

I'd go so far as to call that session "easy".

Deadlifts
135x2
225x2
315x2
405x1
405x1
425x0
355x1

2 400lb pulls in one session is good for me, I still want to start working with these more, but not full pulls. Maybe start working with rows, platform deads, rack pulls, etc. The squat goal will take a lot out of me for awhile.

Almost puked today...

and I'm loving every minute of it.

O M friggin G. I did 135x5x20 today. I was fine at the end of the fourth set but come the end of the 5th set I honestly was fighting back vomit. I hadn't eaten anything all day except an english muffin+egg. I never considered myself a masochist but after today, I don't think I can say I'm not. Not in the wierd way of course( :laugh ), but after the squats I went home(the 10min drive was TERRIBLE, fighting vomit, fighting to hold in poo, fighting to stay awake) and layed down until I felt better. Only took about 20 minutes before I was up and running around again. Now I am ready and raring to go for some more squats and a deadlift session but I think I will hold off and do some 50kg KB work on Wednesday.

All I did was:
135x20
135x20
135x20
135x20
135x20

It was hard.

And so it begins...

Did my first weighted squat workout towards my 1.00x10^2 Rep BW squat goal.

Afte the first "warm up" set with 135, my brother and I decided to stick with this. No need to jump in all hasty like we actually know what we're doing when we don't. Best to work into it slowly. This was a very leasurly pace, not super intense and the sub 200lb weights went up easy all the way through.
135x10
135x10
135x10
135x10
135x10
135x10
135x10
135x10
135x10
185x10(Went to BW for the last set)
225x3
225x3
225x3
225x3
225x3

My legs don't feel bad actually!... right now. I know the current feeling in them well enough now to know I'll be aching Monday and hurting Tuesday.

My big bro actually held his own and did this all the way through with me. Same weights until we went for the 5x3 sets. His first set was 235x3 and he decided that was just a tad too heavy. 225x5x3 was a fight for the both of us.

My brother and I ironed out what I think is a solid plan. It goes like this...

Week 1- 10x10 @ 135
Week 2- 5x20 @ 115
Week 3- 4x25 @ 95
Week 4- 3x33 @ 75 (We'll throw in an extra rep somewhere)
Week 5- 2x50 @ 55
Week 6- 1x100 @ 45

Then we will start over at 145(adding 10lbs at the top) and drop 20lbs off each week. Then we'll start over at 155x10x10. We may feel good enough to go up 20lbs each cycle for the 10x10's, that remains to be seen. We will both continue this plan until we are up to my bro's BW(which should drop considerably by my BWx100 is reached) and we will both do that. That means I may, many months from now, be squatting 225x100 @ a BW of 185-195.

We will continue with a few extra sets after the bulk of the workout posted above. The extra work will get heavier and heavier as the Week # increases. 1x100 @ 45 wont be a challenge for either of us at that time, it's not much of a challenge for me now.

If I calculated this out right, we should reach 185 in the 6th week in 84 weeks and my bro's current BW of 230 in 108 weeks. We may feel strong enough at times to skip a cycle and add 20lbs as I said, or even 30lbs to the top. By the time we reach 1x100 @ 185 our 10x10 will be with 275, and when 1x100 is at 230, our 10x10's will be with 315.

Should be fun

Tom Platz Legs

I found this elsewhere. Tom Platz, the one and only.

"For any of the guys now with huge leg development, how many could do full splits and comfortably touch their head to their knee in the hurdler split position? Platz could. In fact EVERY workout started with 45 minutes of stretching for every body-part. His flexibility was amazing in and of itself let alone for a guy of his size.



You think it's impressive to see him squat 500 for 23 reps? Bahh. Child’s play for Tom. He was smiling at the end of that clip. That was merely an exhibition. This ones for the crowd. His training sessions were methodical. There was fire in his eyes. A cold stare of relentless determination. How about seeing him take 225 and squat for 10 MINUTES straight. Rest and do a SECOND set of 10 MINUTES straight. Try it!

How about hack squats down all the way then roll forward until his knees touched the platform in front of him then roll back into position and up (EVERY REP) once he completely failed at the bottom then he's press the cage up with his arms and stand up into then slow negative down, for seemingly ENDLESS reps. Then partials when he couldn't do full reps. Then rest-pause. Then and only then would he collapse and end the set. Set after set after set. Non of this one set to failure sh*t for Tom. The fugging guy was sick. He was possessed. That's how hungry he was.

Tom’s intensity was contagious. Not that anyone could approach it (and live). But he brought everyone in the gym to a higher standard of intensity. How could you “just train” when Tom was across the gym or a few feet away making a “ten cent biatch” out of every piece of equipment? Most guys let a piece of equipment biatch them but Tom biatched every bar he touched.



He used to have two guys carry him to a bench after doing sets on the calfmachine. They would sometimes massage his legs and calves between sets. He woudl use such outrageous weight and do them till he could do no more. No set number of reps. Just keep going and going till he could do no more, then fall into the guys arms. He was... nuts."

General Stock Progression for Unbraced Bending

If you look on YouTube or talk to experienced benders, you will find they use quite a few terms to describe a good number of different steels. One the absolute best ways to progress in short bending, besides perfecting your technique, is to get a very large range of bending stock. This stuff really isn't that expensive when you order it from companies like Fastenal or McMaster-Carr.

Below is a general stock progression(I have included the "grade" of the steel for those of you who wish to order any of this stuff below so you know what your getting and it's abbreviation)

From easiest to hardest and assuming all bars are of the same thickness:
Aluminum 6065
Hot Rolled Steel 1020 HRS(True HRS has a brownish or rust colored coating on it, it is not a smooth bar)
Brass 360(Gold in color)
Grade 2 bolts(no identifying markings on the head but are just called "Hex head bolts"
Cold Rolled Steel 1018 CRS(True CRS is a smooth bar with no dirty scale)
Drill Rod 0-1 or "Oil Hardened Tool Steel"
Stainless Steel 304 SS
Stainless Steel 303 SS(Stainless steels are shiny and do not rust)
Grade 5 bolts(These have 3 dashes on the head)
Grade 8 bolts(These have 6 dashes on the head)
Grade 9 bolts
F911 bolts(not sold in stores and very expensive, says "F911" on the head)


Most people do not bother with the Grade 9 or F911 bolts since they are rather exotic and hard to find. Generally, once you can finish off a Grade 8, you are close to bending CRS that is 1/16 thicker than the Grade 8. Grade 2 bolts are easier than CRS and so you can bend a 5/16 Grade 2 bolt before you can bend 5/16 CRS. Generally, anyone who can bend a 1/4" G8 AND a 5/16 G2 is ready for a RED nail or Bastard bend.

The general progression in thicknesses goes like this:
3/16"(Total beginner)
1/4"
5/16"
3/8"
7/16"(No one has officially bent 7/16 stock yet, though one man is close)
1/2"

For the most part, the best unbraced benders in the world are around the 3/8 CRS level with at least one man entering the 7/16 level. Your average strong bender is well into the 5/16 stocks and bending stuff harder than 5/16 Stainless 303 and beginners are just below bastard/RED benders.

0-1 Drill Rod is a benders best friend. You can get Drill rod in any thickness that a drill bit comes in. That means you basically have .002-.005" jumps between bars so you can really work on progressively tougher stuff. It's wonderful stuff and I swear by it.

Stuff like Grade 5 Titanium is also possible to bend and a very easy bend. The problem is it's springiness. I bent a 6.5"x1/4" piece of Grade 5 titanium and the ends touched during the crushdown long before it was crushed to 2". This makes it a non-practical bending stock and it's also extremely expensive.

If you want a unique challenge, you can tape two bars of steel together. Now that doesn't mean bending two 1/4x7" pieces equals bending 1/2" of steel. In reality it's closer to the difficulty of 5/16x7. Whatever 2 pieces you tape together, figure on them being about as difficult as 1 bar that is 1/16 bigger than the pieces themselves. So two 1/4x6 Grade 5 bolts would be about as hard as a 5/16 Grade 5 and 2 RED nails taped together would be about as hard as a 3/8x7 CRS piece.

100 squats with a 50 blob

I came close to 100 straight reps while holding a 50 blob on my back. I had a 10 second water break between reps 65 and 66 so I can't count them as straight reps. The weight came off my back for 10 seconds which helped out immensely. Once rep 66 started though, I did not put the blob down until 100 reps were finished. I am hoping to buy a 50kg/110lb KB at the Backyard Bastard Bash 4 on Oct. 4th. I was thinking about throwing in some higher rep swings with it on occasion to save my quads from to much torment in the beginning. Of course my back would take the brunt of that torment in the meantime:D

On a side note, I really want to see if I can snatch it. I have snatched an 88 easily and a 95 with little difficulty. The only difficulty I had was getting used to the weight on the fly since I had only done 24kg swings before that. I know I could snatch the beast at 106 so what's an extra 4lbs? We'll see how much more 4lbs is come Oct. 4th :D

A new goal, SQUATS!!!

The late, great Jesse Marunde would often reply to training questions on his forum with "SQUAT MORE". It wasn't a yell, there was never an exclamation point. It was just a loud reminder that if your not squatting, you SHOULD BE and if you are squatting, you just need to SQUAT MORE.


I am one of those dweebs who never squats as much as he should and recently not at all. I find it very sad that I recently moved 275 on the decline bench last week and my max squat still sits at 275. In fact, I'd call myself absolutely pathetic for it. I have no qualms about calling myself a pussy for avoiding hard work. I focused on my DL for a few months and it went from 335 to 440. Now I'm lucky to get 410+ off the ground because I don't often DL either; Only when I feel like pulling. However, it is hard for me to find the time to drive out to my shop where all my weights are during the day. So, I have decided to go for a reletively insane goal. When I first visited Jesse's site, I read about a training partner of his lovingly dubbed "SARGE". Sarge managed to squat his BW of 218lbs for 98 repititions with the goal being 100 straight. I plan on doing the exact same thing.

This is not something to into unprepared. Remember that Jesse Marunde died after one of his serious squatting workouts. He was born with an enlarged heart that didn't pump as it should. The extreme strain of his training was just too much for his heart to bare. Sarge worked up to his 100 rep attempt by doing 10 sets of 10 using 110lbs less than his 10 rep max for 11 weeks and making the attempt on the 12th. Sarge had by this time been doing 20 rep squats multiple times a week for 3 years. So he was already very conditioned but this feat would require an absolutely insane amount of conditioning and strength endurance.

I have no dilusions about this feat being easy. I have recently started doing BW squats everyday with the goal being 100 squats straight with little effort and next to no soreness. I am quite close right now. My most recent session was done in 2 sets of 70 and 30. I will be adding 20-30lbs until I can do 100 straight squats with those weights and with little soreness afterwards. My BW right now is 183lbs before dinner and after a poop. So I'll make the goal weight 185 for now. Perhaps I can perform this feat in the next 6 months and perhaps it'll take over a year. Either way, the attempt will be filmed and I will post it for the world to see.

Wish me luck!

Steel Plate Tear

Inspired by Chris Rider's plate confetti feat, I went for as many tears as I could get. Chris managed to tear an older plate into 52 pieces!!! I managed 8 pieces so far. I cannot stress enough how important it is to be CAREFUL attempting plate tearing. I wore rubber coated gloves and used a thick towel for padding.

Deadlifts are Dangerous

Deadlifts are Dangerous. Plain and simple. They can destroy your back or make it stronger. It all depends upon you. There are a few things to remember when pulling,

#1. KEEP A NEUTRAL OR ARCHED LOWER BACK
#2. KEEP THE BAR CLOSE TO YOUR BODY
#3. NEVER NEVER NEVER SACRIFICE FORM FOR WEIGHT
#4. HIGH REP DEADS DO VERY LITTLE TO INCREASE YOUR MAXIMUM LIFT
#5. YOUR THIGHS SHOULD BE ABOUT 45 DEGREES AT THE START OF THE LIFT
#6. PUSH WITH YOUR LEGS AND DRIVE THROUGH YOUR HEELS
#7. SQUAT TO INCREASE YOUR DEADLIFT

There are hundreds of ways to hurt yourself doing deads, but you don't have to fall victim to a single one with a little investigation.

This is not me, but it is a very well put together video. I cannot disagree with very much this guy says. So, it's logical to assume that if you listen to him, your at least as prepared for deads as myself.

Misinformation

Almost everytime I walk into the gym, I hear somebody spewing ignorance as if it were their job. This isn't one of the billion "that guy" stories, more a general overview. I strkes me how wrong some people can be about something as simple as lifting weights. I particularly dislike hearing things like "squat too low and you'll hurt your knees" or "Deadlifts are too dangerous to outweigh their benefits". The real clincher for me is when someone comes into the gym telling anyone and everyone that they should train isolation movements to become strong.

For starters, you should never stop a squat above and close to parallel. When you stop above parallel, your forcing the musculature of the knee joint to stop the weight moving down. As you can imagine, your knees don't like that. Joints are put together to transfer force, not absorb it. If you go to parallel or below, parallel being where the hip crease is below the top of the knee, the forces are transferred from the knee joints to the hamstrings and glutes. The hams and glutes are muscles and as such are capable of absorbing force. I like to go super low. I'm talking about Ivan Chakarov low.
Not everyone can do that. Some guy's legs are just too bulky to allow their body to move like that. It's a flexibility issue for most. Your hip flexors, calves and achilles tendons aren't long enough. Try this right now, stand up with your feet a tad wider than shoulder width apart. Now drop down as low as you can go with your heels on the floor. Good. Now touch your ass to your calves. If you can't do both at the same time, you can't do a full squat. You are fully capable of stretching those muscles and tendons out enough for a full squat to be possible and I'd highly suggest it. Full squats aren't necessary for powerlifters and for the most part Strongmen, but any athlete would benefit more from a switch to full squats. Football, soccer, rugby, basketball, baseball, track and field, tennis, volleyball, whatever your sport, you will benefit more from a full squat than you will from a power squat. There are a few reasons for this,

#1. Full squats promote flexibility of the hips and legs
#2. Thanks to the emphasis on flexibility, full squats help to keep your hamstrings longer and give them strength through a greater range of motion. That means less chance of injury and more powerful squats, jumps, strides, etc.
#3. You will be building your leg strength and size proportionatly because your hamstrings, calves, glutes, and quads will be activated through a greater range of motion.

In short, the saying "You should be squatting" should be changed to "You should be squatting low".

First legitamite Shiny Bastard Bend

The cat has been let out of the bag. I'm a Shiny bender :)


I'll be working on bending these with singles.

This past month's progress...

I have never been big on DO bending. Mainly because I've never been very good at it.
Much has changed.



All the Bastards in the pic are the 515 Hard Dark Bastards. The two bastards with red on the legs are Big 515's and the pieces directly above those are a tough piece of 5/16x7 CRS and a piece of 5/16x7 303 Stainless. Directly under the Big 515's are two pieces of 5/16x8" hardware store 303 Stainless, MUCH MUCH tougher than any Shiny. The second row from the bottom consists of, from L to R, 2 pieces of 5/16x7.125 304 Stainless, 3/8x7 National HRS, 6.5x.323 W-1 DR and two .323x7 pieces of W-1 DR. The bottom row is, from L to R again, my first piece of 304 finished months ago and is exactly 2" to show how far I've come. The golden piece is 3/8x7 360 Brass(it's actually metric and a tad smaller than 3/8). The smaller 1/4" piece is 1/4x6.5 Grade 5 Titanium; During the crush, the pads were touching and I actually held them there for well over 10 seconds, no movement. Interesting stuff that Gr5 Ti. My first Shiny Bastard is second from the right on the bottom and the last piece is a Golden Hexabastard. The Shiny and the Golden are my PR's currently but I garauntee you that a 6.5" version of both can and will fall in under 2 mins once I'm rested up from GGC.

It's interesting, my kink has always been super strong, once I throw on my "superman pads"(suede outer wraps), my kink becomes even stronger. I'm not sure what I can do with single leathers, I have no IM pads. I'm fairly certain I could take a 515 Dark Bastard in single leathers. I really need to keep going on my singles bending.

A lot of people like to bend in ONLY double pads or ONLY single pads or ONLY IM pads. I'm here to tell you, if your one of those people, your missing out. I will say that working up to a RED nail or Bastard in IM pads and ONLY IM pads is the best possible thing for you to do. BUT, after that, start using doubles and leather/suede. I like to work my kinking strength by using my pathetic first leather single wraps on easier bends. I usually work up to a few pieces of 1/4x7" Sq. which all fall pretty easy. Like I said, I haven't really "maxed" with singles yet but I plan to as soon as possible. I'm curious to see how a 515 Bastard or Shiny would feel... For my crush, and for contest preparation, I like to use double wraps. I use my pathetic, torn leather wraps(much thinner than even your wraps Adam) as my under wrap with a nice thick, short piece of suede on top. It may not be the best setup but it's my favorite and I find that it's hardly as solid as other's double wrap setups. I'm not claiming to be better or stronger because of that either, because I'm not. It's just a preferance. Anyway, with the double wraps, I can kink much tougher steel and work my crushing strength. What I like to do sometimes is take an easier piece, say a 515 Bastard, and kink it to 20-40 degrees, then remove the outer wraps and take it down from there.

Training my kink by using thinner single pads has improved my kink strength immensely since I started bending back in late '07. Using doubles to get harder stock down the crush has helped my crush come up so much in only a month of serious training that I am taking down steel that was elite not too long ago. Using the doubles to kink and then using singles from there through the sweep and crush has improved my sweep strength and my crush. It's also helped condition my hands so that the kink feels even more comfortable.

Like I said in my first post, if you scoff at one discipline in favor of another, you are missing out. You will not be able to reach your true potential because your training will always be limited by what you stubbornly deem as the "right way". I say, get out there and use every possible advantage you can find to train with.

The Unorthodox Method

My name is Zach Coulter. I have come to a point in my training where I just don't care to specialize anymore. I've done powerlifting, I've done Strongman, I've done Grip Training, I've done Bodybuilding, I've dabbled in numerous other persuits, read up on them all and you know what? Being the indecisive person that I am, I chose them all. I love doing all of these things. I love Grip, I love lifting heavy weight, I want to look good, I want to be functionally strong, I want to be flexible and I want to do things no one else can(or probably doesn't want to try). From this point forward, this blog will be a record of my progress. I can't really pick a name for what my aim is beyond calling the desired result the "Unorthodox Strongman".

Down to the nitty-gritty numbers...
19yrs old
5'8"
183lbs

Accomplishments so far...
Pullup with BW+75lbs with middle fingers only
158lb 2HP
440lb deadlift
250lb bench
200lb axle C&J
Tuck Planche(I'm working on it)
275lb Squat(I'm starting up again)
205lb Split Jerk
Shouldered a 170lb Atlas Stone
Closed several #3 grippers
Bent a Big Bastard from the mutant batch
10 pistols each leg
Pistol+24kg
BW Snatch(when my BW was 175)
Slim Levered an 8lb hammer on a flat floor
Front levered an 8lb hammer to above waist height
43" Standing high jump

And more.

Current goals
#1- THE PLANCHE
500lb Deadlift at 185lbs or less
250lb C&J
BW+100lbs middle finger pullup
BW+50lbs 3x3 Sternum Pullups
Pistol+100lbs both legs
50" Standing high jump
Do the splits, side split and front split
Bend a Shiny Bastard
One arm push press/jerk 130lbs
300lb DO deadlift on my 2.5" axle
10% or less BF%
Close my #3 and do it consistently
Lift The Blob
2HP BW
Lever a 16lb hammer consistently
Sturdy Handstand
Tear a full deck of casino cards with jokers
Place better than 11th in any competition with more than 20 participants

I have more of these as well.

Some training ideas...
I really think that to be a better athlete and lifter, you have to have a diverse base. You can't JUST be a powerlifter or bodybuilder or grip guy or strongman, etc. You have to have knowledge of them all because they are all intertwined. When you refuse one discipline for another, you render yourself incapable of gaining the benefits of that discipline's principles. I cannot stand people who take someone else's writing as their bible. Listen, that author may know what he is talking about, but he does not know you or what your specifics are. Go out and read more if you must but don't over analyze. Just train. Try ALL the exercises you come accross. Find what works for yourself and do it. Don't go asking internet experts what you should do.

After all,
There are no secrets. Just people who train hard and train smart.

-Zach