Category: Grip Strength

The final Mighty MItts schedule for this coming weekend has been posted.

Friday, March 5 will begin at 2pm with the Jowett anvil walk and conclude at 5pm with the Sorin Monster barbell.

Saturday, March 6 will begin at 1:30pm with the Inch replica walk and conclude at 4pm with the Mark Henry dumbbell.

Training has been strong these last few week. Now it is time to rest and recharge. Friday and Saturday will be great days. I hope that many of you can make the trip to the Columbus Convention Center for the festivities.

Here is some video of my recent training.

MIGHTY MITTS

In 2010, in addition to the Arnold Strongman Classic’s traditional tests of total body strength, there will be a new feature for the crowds at the Expo Center. This new feature, “Mighty Mitts,” is sponsored by MHP, and it will not involve our Strongman competitors. Instead, it will showcase between eight and ten men who are world-famous for the strength of their hands. These men will face four challenges and can win up to $1000 per event. These challenges will take place on the Expo Stage on Friday and Saturday immediately before and after our Strongman events.

An entirely new competition, Mighty Mitts will be an extra attraction for fans of Strongman contests as well as for aficionados of “grip feats.” We believe that Mighty Mitts will provide even more excitement for the tens of thousands of people who watch the Strongman contest every year.

The Mighty Mitts Challenges for 2010 will consist of:

1. The Jowett Anvil–In the early years of the 20th century, George F. Jowett was a very prominent figure in the physical culture world as a writer, lifter, and promoter. One of the stunts for which he is most famous featured a large blacksmith’s anvil, which he supposedly gripped by the horn with one hand, swung up to his shoulder, flipped so that he caught it upside down in his hand, and then pressed over his head. Jowett claimed to be the only man who could do this feat. However, leading strength historians are in agreement that Jowett–who was also famous for his exaggerations–never made such a lift. In any case, Jowett’s own anvil will be used in the challenge. It weighs approximately 163 pounds and will be placed on the platform with its horn pointing upward. The challenge will be to simply grasp it by the horn with either hand, lift it off the ground and walk/run as far as possible forth and back across the front part of the 50’ stage within 30 seconds. The prize-money ($1000) will go to the man who carries it the greatest distance. Only chalk will be allowed for this challenge and for all others.



2. Sorin’s Monster–Richard Sorin, founder and owner of the Sorinex Equipment Company and himself one of the legends of hand strength, will provide a huge, circus-type barbell weighing approximately 500 pounds and featuring a bar two inches in diameter; this bar will not rotate within the spheres in any way. The challenge will be to deadlift the bar for as many repetitions as possible within 30 seconds using a double-overhand (pronated) grip. Sumo and traditional deadlifting styles are both permitted and the bell may be “hitched” on the way up as long as the lifter is standing straight at the end of the lift. The barbell will have to touch the platform on every rep after the referee has given the “Down” signal, and a “hook grip” will not be allowed. A contestant may put the barbell down between reps if he likes, or he may simply touch the platform before making another attempt to deadlift it. If no one deadlifts the Monster the prize-money will be given to the man who pulls the bar the greatest distance off the platform, and if more than one person makes at least one successful lift and there is a tie in the number of reps the prize-money will be split.

3. The Inch Dumbbell–Named in honor of the English strongman and weightlifter Thomas Inch, the original Inch Dumbbell weighs 172 pounds and has a handle almost 2.5″ in diameter. The bell was made approximately 100 years ago, and for many years very few men were able to lift it off the floor. Once replicas of the original implement began to be manufactured, however, a number of men trained until they could deadlift one. A few men have been able to deadlift two Inch Bells and walk a short distance with them, and so the challenge at the Mighty Mitts event will be to do exactly that–to deadlift two Inch Bells with the dumbbell handles remaining approximately parallel to the platform throughout the deadlift portion of the feat, and attempt to walk across the front of the 50′ Expo Stage, go around a large, solid marker, then go back the other way without dropping either one, and then repeat the process. The distance for each competitor will be marked at the place where the first dumbbell hits the floor. Competitors will not be allowed to hold the dumbbells tightly against their waists, thighs, or hips during the attempt.

4. The Mark Henry Bell-About three or four years ago, Mark Henry decided to have a dumbbell made weighing approximately 250 pounds. However, the machine shop that built Henry’s bell made a miscalculation when they cut the pieces of 9″ bar-stock used for the “canister” weights at each end of the short handle. The result was a dumbbell, with a handle 2.5″ thick and 6″ long, which weighed not 250 pounds but 300 pounds. We called it the “Mistake Bell,” and even though Henry was unable to lift it, he decided to leave it as it was so that it would remain as a challenge for everyone. Shortly after the Henry Bell was made, a small but heavy box (50 pounds) was built for it so that it would be easier to carry, and the challenge will be to lift the bell all the way out of its box with one hand without tipping the box over. If more than one person succeeds, the prize-money will be split. Although we hope that one of our Grandmasters of Grip will be able raise the Henry Bell out of its box in 2010, we know that a man will come along one day who will do it, and we intend to bring it to Columbus every year until someone does.



The winner of each of these challenges can earn up to $1000 as well as lasting fame, and his name will be placed permanently on a plaque at the Joe and Betty Weider Museum of Physical Culture at the University of Texas. It is not necessary for a challenger to attempt all four of our events, and no overall winner will be selected in 2010.

We believe that the Grip Giants who have been selected to take part in this event are the very best in the world and we fully expect that world records will be broken in MHP’s Mighty Mitts event. The contestants are, alphabetically:

1. Andrew Durniat
2. Mark Felix
3. Steve Gardener
4. Wade Gillingham
5. Odd Haugen
6. Tex Henderson
7. Mark Henry
8. Jedd Johnson
9. Chad Woodall
10. Rich Williams

Jim Lorimer refers to the Arnold Sports Festival as “Strength Heaven,” and the introduction of these unprecedented grip challenges has added a new attraction to the festival–an attraction which should stimulate strong men everywhere to push back the boundaries of hand strength.

Day of Strength 2009 was amazing. The day started at 10am as athletes, coaches, trainers, parents and strength enthusists from as far away as Ballito, South Africa gathered to experience all that Durniat Strength has to offer.

10:30am –

Gary Bess began his Squat Demonstration.  Gary is a USAPL drug-free lifter who gave everyone present a run down of his squat technique and training.  He then warmed-up and completed a very deep set of 3 reps at 505 lbs.  As Gary stated, if you are not squatting deep in your training, then you are not really training.  As an athlete, you must have this exercise in your program.

11:30am –

Scott Overholt started into some Joint Mobility drills with the guests getting their bodies ready for the bodyweight training drills that were to come next.  Lots of athletes quickly discovered just how challenging using just your bosy for resistence can be.  Scott finished his presentation demonstrating how to maintain inside positioning on an opponent either on the mat or by an unfortunate self-defense confrontation.

12:30pm –

We took a break from the presentations and went outside for some tire flipping and that turned into some atlas stone lifting.  I have 3 sizes of tires; 300, 850 and 1100 lbs.  Everyone that tried had success with the 300 lbs. tire and many were able to get the 850 to turn over.  A few tried their might against the 1100 lbs. tire, but few were able to get the beast to yield to their efforts.  From there, some of the experienced stone lifters had fun lifting the lighter stones onto the platforms of varying heights.  I was fortunate enough to lift the heavy stone of the day at 294 lbs.  A 405 lbs. stone is present for anyone who wishes to come by and train.

1pm –

Roger LaPointe from Atomic Athletic began his Indian Club lecture.  For many, the indian clubs were an unknown form of training, but one that interested many before the day began.  Roger is an expert in this area and he demostrated the tremendous benefit to the shoulder girdle the club offer.  Roger had many different sizes of clubs on had and many participants purchased clubs that day.

2pm -

We went back outside for the Buehler’s truck pull.  The Buehler’s Food Market donated a 15,000 lbs. semi truck for us to pull at the event.  I was the first to pull the truck across the parking lot, and a few others also had success with pulling the big rig.

3pm –

Adriane Blewitt started into her throwing demostration; beginning with track and field shot putting and then tranferring into the scottish highland game throws.  Adriane is now the Track and Field coach at Tiffin University and is a 7-time National Champion thrower, currently she is the 3rd ranked female highlands game competitor in the world.

4pm –

Some participants were itching to bend some steel, twist some horseshoes open and destroy a few phone books.  When I made it inside, groups had formed and shards of playing cards, phone books and bent steel were littering the floor.  I made my way to the far lifting platform and I added the 1-arm axle deadlift to the mix.  Others went after some big sledgehammer levers, with Terence Mitchell taking top honors at 22.5 lbs. 2-hand pinch was contested and blobs were lifted.  Soon some Dinnie Stone replicas were put together and many took there turn trying to lift.


Too much to remember it all.  Here is a highlight video to give you a sense of what happened: