On June 4 we held the second Durniat Strength Grip Challenge and it was a huge success with 15 total competitors and 30+ spectators. I’m proud to say we had the largest woman’s class to date in grip sport history with 5 women competing. I hope to see more women compete in the future. The men were split into two groups; open and novice. We had 3 experienced competitors in the open event and 7 in the novice class honing their skills.

The day started off at 10am with the grippers for max weight. Mary Ann MacKeague won the woman’s with a close of 64 lbs. The men’s field was filled with many personal records (PRs), with Bryan Gallagher, Malcolm Majesky and Tood Coenen all closing their first #3 gripper, a notable feat in the grip world.

Andrew Durniat

The 2 Hands Pinch event was next and again PRs were broken by many. Three women broke the 100 lbs. barrier, Abby Kascandi and Amber Ingles with lifts of 101.12 lbs and Mary Ann MacKeague with a strong 107.08. The men’s lifts were highlighted by Brandon Gerber who at 175lbs. bodyweight, hoisted up a solid 193.38 lbs.. A world class feat of pinch strength at his bodyweight and age, he’s 17. WOW!!

Jobe Stutzman

Pizza was delivered and we took a short break in the action for the competitors and fans to fuel their bodies. With energy replenished we continued on with the Double Overhand Axle Deadlift. Abby Kascandi dominated the woman’s class with a lift of 184.42 lbs. On the men’s side it was Abby’s boyfriend Malcolm who came in strong for the novice class with a lift of 356.38 a new PR for him yet again. Personally, I was able to lift a smooth 422.52 lbs. but was disappointed with my misses at 455.59 lbs., not my best day on the axle.

Brent Barbe

The Medley was our 4th event and is one of the most exciting events to watch and partake in. The men’s medley had 35 objects and the woman’s had 27 objects to be lifted. I lifted all objects and was followed by Brent Barbe with 30 and Malcolm Majesky with 28, Matt Massaro and Todd Coenen both finished with 25 each. Abby Kascandi flew through the woman’s medley with 25 objects and was followed closely by Mary Ann MacKeague with 24 and Amber Ingles with 23.

Brent Barbe

The final event for the day was the Wrist Roller. For this event I had specially fabricated 2″ roller assembly that affixed to the top of my Sorinex BaseCamp power racks. I then attached lifting chain that would gradually be lifted as the athlete performed the wrist roll while standing on top. A total of 160 lbs. of chain was used for the men and 100 lbs. of chain was used for the woman. Todd Coenen won the men’s event with a time of 22.06 seconds, he was followed by Andrew Pantke at 22.69 seconds. In the woman’s event, top honors again went to Abby Kascandi followed by Mary Ann MacKeague and Amber Ingles.


Here are the final standings after is was all said and done:

Open Class:
1st: Andrew Durniat
2nd: Brent Barbe
3rd: Todd Coenen

Novice Class:
1st: Malcolm Majesky
2nd: Matt Massaro
3rd: Bryan Gallagher
4th: Brandon Gerber
5th: Andrew Pantke
6th: Keifer Pantke
7th: Jobe Stutzman

Woman’s Class:
1st: Abby Kascandi
2nd: Mary Ann MacKeague
3rd: Amber Ingles
4th: Kyle Barnes
5th: Katie Pantke

It was a great day for all. I hope join us for the next event.

Bryan Gallagher, Nick Pivato, Brandon Gerber (L to R)

Jobe Stutzman, Matt Massaro (L to R)

Heading into the new year and 2011 I cannot help but take a moment to look back at where I started in the summer of 2005.

I held a speed and agility camp one week at the College of Wooster with borrowed equipment from the college where I was the assistant lacrosse coach the previous 4 years. With the $1500 I netted from the camp I purchased some agility ladders, small hurdles, cones and adjustable steps to continue my trade.



It was summertime and I met all my clients, about 8-10 high school athletes, at the track for our workouts. If it was a rainy day, we waited for it to stop raining or we trained in the rain. It was primitive, but it is what I had to work with at the time.

Eventually, fall and winter were closing in and I needed to find indoor shelter. Thankfully, the local indoor tennis and fitness club, Central Tennis & Fitness, had an upstairs room that was unused and I could use it. The ‘room’ was 14 feet wide and 40 feet long with a 7 foot high ceiling (an air duct was in the middle lowering ceiling height to 6 feet at one point). All jumps and hurdles had to be strategically placed to avoid the overhead obstructions (fluorescent lights and air duct). With the fall, came fall sports and most of my athletes were with their respective teams. My income fell and I had to do something fast.

I started to pick up a few adult clients for general health and fitness and meeting with some non-fall sport athletes. One benefit of very few clients is time and energy. I utilized this to educate myself and shake a lot of hands. I read everything I could, triathlon and endurance training, basic strength training, high performance training, powerlifting, olympic lifting, kettlebells, strongman, everything. I paid with credit to take certifications in each of these disciplines to arm myself with the best knowledge I could. As I learned better ways to train, my want and needs list for equipment continued to grow to better serve my clients.



My initial weights were sandbags made from the local military surplus store and rocks I found in my grandmothers backyard. I began using kettlebells for my personal strength gains and quickly saw the benefits they would have with my clients. More bells were purchased and a trip to Latvia to train and compete with the best. The additional knowledge was great. Clients were achieving beyond expectations.

Expansion was needed and a new owner of the tennis club allowed me to move to the ground floor and reorganize the ‘fitness’ center. This was the fall of 2008.





The physical gym really started coming together in 2009 as a rock wall was built and we moved the cardio equipment to the other side for better organization.

The summer of 2009 saw the addition of another weightlifting platform and combo rack for bench pressing and squatting.



It was great heading into 2010 as the gym was attracting athletes and people from all over. I finally had the ability to bring in 2 Sorinex BaseCamp racks, strongman equipment and specialty bars.



Looking back, I’m not sure how it all happened. I’m glad it did and I plan to make it even better in 2011. Stop in anytime.