Gripmas 2011

Most people probably never heard of Crooksville, Ohio.  Even so when notified the small town does exist, they usually follow up with "whats so special about it?".  The small village of less than 3,000 people, which once harbored the famous Hull Pottery company, lies in southern Ohio just outside of Zainesville.  What is so special about it?... something is happening there in a garage filled with homemade strength equipment.  Inside that garage, within the tiny village of Crooksville, many of the top grip competitors meet annaully to test their grips in feats of strength! World Records are set there!
The owner of the garage, Chris Rice, is 64 years old and stronger than most 24 year olds.  The man can bend steel with ease and two hand pinch over 200lbs.  His garage is the perfect stage for a grip competition.  It serves almost as a museum to the strongman of old and new with photos of The Mighty Atom, Slim the Hammerman, and many other famous strong individuals plastered to the wall. Along the wall are pieces of steel bent and twisted in every which way possible from a simple V bend to a twisted preztel like shape. Most of these steel trophies are stamped with an autograph from the persons who forged the steel into its unnatural awe-inspiring shape. In the middle of the floor lied 2 to 3 inch thick handled bars loaded with plates of various weights, along with a thick axel and the wooden pieces of what would become the torturous looking device for the Hercules Hold.  With more Inch Dumbells in one place then I have ever seen, the stage looked more like a armory fill with an arsenal of weapons of mass destruction.  The atmosphere was there and the stage was set for records to be gained and broken amongst the cold sunny morning of December 10th in Crooksville, Ohio. 
The first event of the competiton was the Chocked Gripper Event. We sat anxiously with gloves over our hands to keep them as warm as possible waitng for our names to be called.  One by one we approached the table looking at the mass aray of grippers and like the scene out of Indian Jones and the Last Crusade we looked for our holy grail of a gripper to attempt a close.  The event was highlighted by Andrew Durniat  closing a 214lb gripper for his first attempt!  Andrew set the bar high for the elite class, which would prove to be a close race between him and Jedd Johnson.  Andrew topped the event off with a 224lb close.  A feat only a few in world can only come close too.
The second event brought the Two Handed Pinch.  Jedd Johnson currently held the world record of 264lbs and the lightweight divison record was close to being broken by Brendan Gerber.  This event brought a lot of excitment do the possiblilty of current records being broken in both classes.  Brendan Gerber came close to breaking the record back in October during the third leg of the World Strongest Hands competition, but fell short.  Brendan, cool, calm, wrapped a belt around his waist and confidently lifted 206lbs (about 30lbs over his bodyweight) to take the current world record and was able to get 210lbs off the ground.  The place erupted as Brendan executed the lift to take the record.  Jedd Johnson warmed up with 250lbs in preparation for for his attempt at 268lbs, four pounds over his current world record of 264.  Jedd appraoched the stage pacing back and forth while he chalked his hands.  Before making his attempt he let out loud yell "who wants to see this!?"  we replied in cheer.  Jedd grasped the device and lifted only to have it slip violently from his hands.  This only pissed Jedd off...making him more bound and determined to make the lift. He approached the device, grapsed it and pull with all his might and BOOM! Victory was achieved! Jedd had broken his last record and set a new world record of 268lbs. 
The third event brought us to the Double Sledgehammer Lever.  Prior to this event I did not know how much pain my wrists could take...but I was about to find out!  Chris fabricated two 12lbs sledgehammers together with the capability of adding more weight to the ends for added resistance.  Each individual was to lower the device to their foreheads with a 5 sec pause before levering the hammers up to the starting position.  Those 5 secs proved to be some of the most painful.  Lowering the weight was not so much the issue rather it was the instant feel of your wrist about to be broken off while holding it at forehead height.  I can only imagine how Slim the Hammerman felt when he would use up to and over 70lbs for this feat.  Andrew Durniat came in for the win on this event with a lift of 50lbs.
The Medley was tough!  Many items including Inch Dumbells, thick handled barbells, an upside down anvil, sledge hammers, block weights, and blobs littered the floor.  4 minutes were given to each person in order to lift all 25 items on the floor.  If 20 out of the 25 items were lifted, two bonus items of a 60d nail and a piece of 3/8 square stock could be bent for added points.  It was amazing to see some people rip through this event as if they were picking up pieces of paper.  Most items felt frozen to ground for myself.  This event gave me a new prespective and appreciation for the sport of grip.  It was also awe-inspiring to see such people demostrate tremedous amounts of wrist and grip strength.

Probably one of the most highly anticipated events for the evening was the Hercules Hold. The device made to support the the weight of the Hercules Hold, looked like a torturous device from the Middle Ages used to draw and quarter victims.  A wooden frame constructed held two pillars on each end which held the loaded barbells. Pulleys were attached to the barbells leading to non rotating handle grips.  Each person would stand in the center and grab hold of the handles, while others assisting the barbells, would slowly lower the weighted barbells through wooden slits until all the slack in the pulleys was eliminated.  The weight on each barbell was 260lbs for open and novice classes.  300lbs was loaded for the Elite class and the female weight was a impressive amount as well (sorry i dont recall the exact lbs but I believe it was around 170).  The first victim of the day was female Mary Keague. She showed her bravery and strength by no only being the first one subjected to the Hercules Hold, but almost withstanding a full minute under its pressures! Many held on strong but dropped the weight after feeling their triceps start to tear.  The average hold time was around 30 secs with Nick Rosenthal and Brendan Gerber almost completing a minute.  In fact if I recall, Nick did exceed the one minute mark with a very impressive hold and mental toughness!  The fun escalated when elite class Jedd Johnson and Andrew Durniat went head to head to determine who would win in a what would be a close battle.  The weight was increased to 300lbs and Jedd held on as best he could for 30 secs while shouting friendly taunts to Andrew.  Andrew grabbed hold of the handles and held on for a mighty 57 secs secruing his win for the competition!
I was saddened to hear Chris was no longer going to be hosting the gripmas event, but I was happy to have been able to attend it.  It was truly a unique experience with a great group of people, and the wealth of knowledge I gained is priceless.