It was another big weekend of grip strength for Durniat Strength. I won 2nd place overall at this years Arnold Classic Mighty Mitts competition in front of a packed expo hall of 30,000. Rich Williams with Jowett anvil Tex Henderson with Sorin Monster Barbell
I competed in 2010 and finished in the middle of the pack. This year, I came into the competition stronger and fresh off another 2nd place finish at the Los Angeles FitExpo where I overcame professional strongmen; Odd Haugen, Louis-Philippe Jean, Josh Thigpen, Jerry Prichett and getting event wins over Mark Felix.
I’m the 230 lbs. man in the land of 300+ lbs. giants.
Rich Williams was last years victor, followed closely by his good friend Tex Henderson. 
I carried the 173 lbs. Jowett anvil twice the distance from the previous year to 13′ 11″ and 3rd place. The second event was Sorin’s Monster barbell, 2″ diameter and 500 lbs, to be deadlifted double overhand for reps. Last year I failed to complete a full rep, this year I achieved 2 solid reps and finished day one in 3rd place overall.
Here is the points breakdown after day one:
Rich Williams – 14
Tex Henderson – 12
Andrew Durniat – 9
Odd Haugen – 8
Ross Love – 5
Chad Woodall – 4.5
Wade Gillingham – 3.5
I felt good about day two’s events and was driven to get an event win over Tex or Rich. My first chance was with the Inch DB walk. I now have one at the gym and felt confident carrying it.
I carried that dumbbell 147 feet, a earned my event win over Tex. Ross Love also carried the Inch db farther than Tex which helped tighten up our points. Heading into the final event of the weekend, Tex had 16 with myself at 15. This was it, one event to go and I had an opportunity.
I took it and ran, literally.
With a 4″ pinch block dragging a 350 lbs. sled across the stage in a time of 6.63 seconds. The pressure was now on Tex to beat my time. He gave it his all, but stumbled and fell.
Here are the final points totals:
Rich Williams – 28
Andrew Durniat – 21
Tex Henderson – 18
Ross Love – 13
Odd Haugen – 12
Wade Gillingham – 10.5
Chad Woodall – 9.5
Thank you to all who came, cheered and pushed me to do better.
Time to get back to training. There is no limit, only STRONGER.
I will be back at Coca Crossfit in North Royalton, Ohio on February 27 at 11am. This time I will be instructing an olympic weightlifting course. I am a certified USAW Sports Performance Coach since 2007, and have met and worked with various olympic coaches across the country.
Olympic lifts are utilized throughout crossfit programming and I personally feel that they are very instrumental in the development of the athlete body. Every athlete I work with is taught the olympic lifts and there derivatives.
At this course we will begin with and instruct:
- Bergener Warm-up
- Overhead Squat
- Snatch
- Clean
- Push Jerk / Split Jerk
- Combos
This workshop will again be offered for $75 per person. Start time is 11am.
Please contact me with any questions:
durniatstrength@gmail.com
Here is the location address again:
Coca Crossfit
34601 Mills Rd.
North Ridgeville, OH 44039
I will be instructing a kettlebell workshop on January 8 at Coca Crossfit in North Ridgeville, OH.
The workshop will start at 12 noon and last approximately 3 hours and will be covering the proper teaching progressions to the following exercises:
2-arm and 1-arm swing
Cleans
Clean + Press
Snatch
Turkish Get-Up
Once everyone has the basics movements understood, we will move onto special exercises and how I suggest programming them into your training.
Cost is only $75 per person for this 3 hour workshop.
Please contact me with any questions:
durniatstrength@gmail.com
Here is the location address again:
Coca Crossfit
34601 Mills Rd.
North Ridgeville, OH 44039
Start time is 12 noon.
