Category: Competition Wrap Up

Saturday, Sept. 19 in the lair of Jedd Johnson, the 2009 US Hand Strength Championships were contested.  Absent this year was the former champion Chad Woodall.  Vying for the top spot in grip athletics this year were:

Robert Alva – California
Dave Thornton – Michigan
Jedd Johnson – Pennsylvania
John Eaton – New York
Brent Barbe – Pennsylvania
Chris Rice – Ohio
Mike Corlett – California
Frank Snyder – Pennsylvania
Mike Rinderle – Washington DC
Zach Coulter – Michigan
Andrew Durniat – Ohio

The competition started right at 10am with Grippers.  A parallel set was used this year and about everyone closed a #3 or higher gripper.  It is amazing to see where the sport of grip has progressed.  Just to have a chance at the top spots, athletes are having to close #3.5 and above grippers, truly incredible.  I finished in a tie for 1st with Frank Snyder on a 182 lbs. #3.5 gripper.  Jedd followed with a 176 and Dave on a 174, with John Eaton in 4th at 169 lbs.

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The event started at noon on Saturday, August 2 with an opening ceremony for the 14 countries represented. Competitive division were broken up into Male / Female and then Youth, Amateurs and Masters, body weight categories were added from there. read this entry »

The weekend of June 21-22 I had the pleasure of attending and working the America’s Strongest Man competition at the Del Mar Fairground in sunny San Diego, California. Not only did this competition display 15 of the strongest guys in America, but also Kristin Rhodes, 2 weeks removed from earning the runner-up spot as world’s strongest woman while over in Poland. Kristin (above) is no stranger to kettlebells and here she is shown snatching a 32kg bell. read this entry »