World Class Feats?

[CoC#3]

Let's see here, it all depends on how you define world class. I'd say maybe top 10%? Maybe 5%?

In my view, you set the bar a little hard there Sam. I'd say an inch is still a world class lift on the grip scene, maybe not as much if the freaks start to play. 6 10's I'll give you that, 5 isn't hard. 55 pound plates? Don't see enough guys going over 2 45's often enough to know, but 2 45's is close.

Right now, not many guys doing a 3.5 or similar in verified settings. MM3 is about 3.5 level I think.

You can probably add 3 25's to the list. An Edgin, maybe a 6.5" Edgin would do the trick.

RT? I'd say above 220-230 is a rare club.

For now, a sledge lever of 20+ is pretty exclusive.

The post was aimed towards feats which, even with dedicated training, would only be achieved by a few.

The #3, for example is good and anyone who closes a #3 gets a well deserved pat on the back from us here on the GB. But, it is acheivable for everyone who trains for it.

I don't think 3 25s is world class. Look at the length of this GB list. 3 35s just seems unacheivable.

On an older RT i know loads of people who can pull 220-230. I can pull this weight on my handle which i have had for a few years.

Other lifts I don't consider Elite might include a IM Red bend or a 45-lbs Hub lift. IM reds get bent all the time, regardless of styles (again pads and styles do not level the playing field here), even though I never managed it (I'm not actually that good at it compared to many) and I've seen some much lighter men that myself pull way over 45lbs on a hub. Although I never really practiced it I've managed a Hampton 45lbs plate but then so has Liz Talbot. As strong a women is as Liz is (and she is very strong compared to 99.9% of women) if she can do it can a man consider it Elite or better??

IM reds are getting bent all the time. Like you, i haven't bent one either (best is a grade 8) but i have never bent consistently for more than 2-3 weeks at a time.

45lb plates are easy to hub lift. Even the shallow ones, i have snatched them , done 2 lifts at a time, lifted them with 5kg added weight etc... a lift of a 45lb plate by the hub IMO is less of an accomplishment than closing a #3.

Elite level(almost like what matt said)

BB Elite, 2 45s, BLOB, Heavy G5 in IM pads (hard and tough), Inch, 18 pounds sledge lever, 90 KG 2HP..etc

World Class

IM CoC #4 cert, 3 35s, 2 25KG, 110+ 2HP, old shaped BLOB with 5 pounds, KOASB in IM pads, 20+ sledge lever, 2000 dumbbell, ...etc

This is from what I see in the forums.

agreed , well said.

[shizen]

The bar should be high for WORLD CLASS, it should not be achievable by anyone or then it would not be special. Of course people who train for this grip when doing it to normal people are considered insanely strong, yet to the community it could be normal. World class strength is something that even if you trained for it not everyone would be able to reach that level. Elite level almost any average joe with enough hard work and time should be able to reach, yet the world class feats should be like 'hey wow thats amazing" realizing that you probably would not reach that level and they are gifted in grip strength-in that area-.

Its kind of like not everyone can become an olympic athlete, you have to be special type of person to reach that level.

Edited April 24, 2008 by shizen

[matthcarl]

Or, I think, if I have done something, it can't be that hard because I am a puss.

I feel the same way, but with even more reason I suspect. I can easily bend a red and hub a Hampton 45, and I believe anyone as strong or stronger than myself to be capable of both with enough practice.

As for DO bending (love it or hate it) I think a Shiny is fairly elite and a KOAB world class, but that both of those will be redefined in a few years. I don't really know about braced bending, but I'd like to see enough horseshoes bent that some kind of elite standard can be determined.

[CoC#3]

The bar should be high for WORLD CLASS, it should not be achievable by anyone or then it would not be special. Of course people who train for this grip when doing it to normal people are considered insanely strong, yet to the community it could be normal. World class strength is something that even if you trained for it not everyone would be able to reach that level. Elite level almost any average joe with enough hard work and time should be able to reach, yet the world class feats should be like 'hey wow thats amazing" realizing that you probably would not reach that level and they are gifted in grip strength-in that area-.

Its kind of like not everyone can become an olympic athlete, you have to be special type of person to reach that level.

The main problem with this is grip is a growing sport, as more gifted strength athletes and 'normal people' train their grips (i know both gamer type people and plenty of 'boy racers' who enjoy squeezing a gripper now and again), world class would be redefined. In England, nearly every teenager plays football - at school you are considered a wierdo if you don't enjoy a 'kick around' with your mates - and it is also our national sport. If grip was our national sport and it was what everyone does the #3 would be trivial.

[Teemu I]

Some of you seem to think something that hasn't even been done yet as a world class feat, such as #4 cert under the new rules. I don't understand the reasoning behind that? Does that mean that nobody hasn't reached the world class level on grippers yet? Same with the plate pinch. Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't remember anybody getting two 25 kg plates yet? I mean no disrespect towards anyones opinion, but you got me confused.

That is why I said some of you have raised the bar too high.

Edited April 24, 2008 by Teemu I

[mobsterone]

True. It's no good saying a feat is world class if it hasn't actually been done yet.

[CoC#3]

2 25kg plates is 'supposed' to have been done but never with video proof, but with credible GB witnesses.

[Teemu I]

2 25kg plates is 'supposed' to have been done but never with video proof, but with credible GB witnesses.

OK, but still it would be just one person right? In addition to what I said in my previous post, I don't think world class can be something that only one person in the world can do. I know the grip records are likely to evolve as time goes by, but world class is usually context dependent, of course changing but always concerning the present day, not future. Edited April 24, 2008 by Teemu I

[jad]

For now, I consider the following feats world class based off of how I feel the top contest finishers would fair trying them. I'm not taking "potential" into consideration, For example, I don't care how good the freak of the week could be "if he trained". I purposefully left out wide pinch and thickbar as they're both too handsize dependent. For example, someone with 7.5" hands lifting the Inch is WC but someone with 8.5" isn't.

Grippers

Low 180s gripper; MMS

2HP

220#

1HP

2 45's

Vbar

375#

Sledge lever to nose

20# for now

1HDL no hook

315#

[Teemu I]

Good thinking Josh! As for "potential", potential is worth crap, only accomplishments matter. I always see red when I hear or read someone saying that "if he trained he would be great". That sort of speculative talks about freaks pushing the limits further and changing what is to be seen as world class is nonsense unless they do.

Edited April 24, 2008 by Teemu I

[naturalstrength]

I see lots of people putting up progress videos not really aware of what is amazing or just good. What I'm wondering is what are world class feats, not necessarily records but feats that even if trained for most wont achieve. The only one I know is coc #4 close for crush strength. So I'm curious to know what are some of the world class feats in all areas of grip, things that only the few will ever do.

Basically, a world class grip feat is anything that >98% of people on this board CAN'T do!!

[OldGuy]

No set close #4 gripper

100kg two handed pinch

Clean an Inch replica one handed

275lbs Rolling Thunder

bend an Ironmind red without bracing under the chin or touching the body and with minimum wraps

[StalwartSentinel]

Wrist curl a 45 pound Olympic plate.

20 pound sledge lever.

#4 close.

RT over 275 pounds.

Deadlift 6 - 10's.

[MalachiMcMullen]

So far there is a consensus on these lifts:

20lb sledge lever to face

6 10's

100+ 2HP

RT 100-110+ (keep in mind, it takes guys like Magnus and Felix with MONSTER PAWS to pull 275+. I have trouble believing someone with 7" hands could do the same)

2 45's 1HP

All the above have been stated at least 2 times

My personal opinion, though, is that we simply cannot decide what is world class. Only time will tell. Grip is younger than myself by a few years for goodness sakes! How many people are actually training this stuff seriously? People on this board and that brings the total to a few hundred tops, ON EARTH. No one who competes in a grip comp hasn't either visited this board and entered themselves OR met someone from the board who told them about this stuff and the contests. With such a TINY group to pick from, it's very hard to determine what others are capable of. As Chris said, we all know 90% of the people capable of, and who have performed these feats. Time and ONLY time will tell us what is world class. This debate reminds me of magazine articles I've read from the 60's praising the 500lb benchers of the day(all 2 or 3 of them) as having the biggest benches out there... oh how time can change people's perception of things

In all seriousness, for all we know now, there could be someone out there who can and will pull a 300lb Inch DB, a 300lb 2HP, a 400lb 2" Vbar, 650lb DO Apollon's Axle, a 100lb blob, 7 10's, 3 45's, or No set a GR8 #4. Guess what? They haven't, they probably wont for a LOOOOONG time. But one day lifts like these will be the ones to beat. So, as others have said, we are a very esoteric group, and until grip is more mainstream and people can make a bit of cash on the side in it(like strongman), we wont know what "world class" is.

Besides, grip is becoming more and more popular by the day

Edited April 24, 2008 by MalachiMcMullen

[mobsterone]

Some of the thick bar feats are less an issue of hand size per se and more one of thumb length. I'm hoping to pull around 120-kilos / 264lbs using a thumbless grip on the RT in a few weeks time.

[Teemu I]

Why would there be need to guess what would be world class, if the grip was more popular? That is making things more complicated than they have to be. We should look at the current top performances, instead of speculations of possible "freaks" out there.

[shizen]

Well a lot of strongman train grip, and world class arm wrestles along with powerlifters ext. These guys are true strength freaks, yet there not closing #4's other then magnus. Many of the people on this board were born with incredibly strong hands, and worked with their hands most of life and have specialized in grip for years and still only few of them can perform certain lifts. So I think there should be a way to tell what are some of the world class feats right now.

[Teemu I]

Some opinions on this topic are not too different from saying that current WR on 100 m sprint isn't world class, but going under 9,5 would be.

[Matt Brouse]

Some opinions on this topic are not too different from saying that current WR on 100 m sprint isn't world class, but going under 9,5 would be.

Running something like a 10.3 is pretty elite, at or under 10 flat within the wind rules is pretty much world class.

It's not that it needs to be something no one or only one or two have done but how many people are world class? If many, many people have accomplished something isn't it, for lack of a better term, normal?

Of topic example:

For my folks generation an Associates degree or some post HS studies was a great start to a career. For me and mine, a Bachelors is the usual, have you considered a masters?

It is the nature of the world. The Inch or the #3 were perhaps world class at some time but training gets better and more popular and just by sheer probabilty more will come along that can do it.

[abagh89]

yeah the posts here vary greatly. i think that closing the number 3-4 is world class. world class to me is something that is at the very top, where 98 percent of the population (CANNOT DO AT THIS TIME). i know theres alot of people who IF they trained they would become masters of grip strength . but the truth is, thats the same with any sport, theres always people who will say IF i trained i could do this and can do that, IM not here saying they cant, but my point is anyone can sit and talk. and every sport is growing day by day not only grip. Sure if EVERYONE IN THE WORLD bench pressed or competed in running, grip whatever it is the world class level would obviously be different. in any sport world class records come and go.

There is only 160+ or so people who are certified captains of crush. That isnt alot, even if 40 years later it would become 1000, that still is a very small amount. sure you can say grip is a small community, but isnt everything else? isnt professional bodybuilding a small community? Sure alot of people lift weights but only a minuscule compete in professional bodybuilding, the same with grip alot more people train grip then you think, people who train in wrestling, judo, martial arts. So people do train grip but not hand grippers per se. Its been around, do research. thrusting your hands in sand (to build up your hand strength) for instance been around for ages. My point being the amount of people right now without training who could close the captain of crush # 3 is very small, which to me constitutes a world class feat.

I think some people here tried to set a world class feat that they think will stand the test of time, but thats not the point. if that was then how can you tell who has done a extraordinary feat.

JUST MY TWO CENTS!

[shizen]

Yeah but in this community right now people have trained for years yet some have gone much further some have not, this means that the small group who have closed #4 are world class while it seems everyone in this community is on there way to a #3 or has closed one. Like tearing a deck of cards, almost anyone on here can do it yet only like a few can do 2 decks and even less 3-i think only brokfield maybe few other- So as of now there should be world class feats that in this community are considered amazing feats, that most can't do in this community even with training.

[abagh89]

Yeah but in this community right now people have trained for years yet some have gone much further some have not, this means that the small group who have closed #4 are world class while it seems everyone in this community is on there way to a #3 or has closed one. Like tearing a deck of cards, almost anyone on here can do it yet only like a few can do 2 decks and even less 3-i think only brokfield maybe few other- So as of now there should be world class feats that in this community are considered amazing feats, that most can't do in this community even with training.

So you wanted world class records only within this community? The olympic example you used was a good one. Lets say someone creates a website and board for olympic athletes. and lets say 1000 people who competed in the olympics are in that board. you want a world class feat among those olympic athletes on top of their world class feat?

so it wasnt a world class feat you were looking for. i think your looking for a record that people cannot do even with training(that only people who were born a grip master can do), but who knows? you can not know that unless someone trains, everyone is different. There have been olympic athletes who didnt have anything or any genetic potential but have made it to a world class level.

Edited April 24, 2008 by adam baghbanbashi

[climber511]

World Class will always be a carrot on a string. Chase it for all you are worth for when you catch it, it will move on again, just out of reach, as it should be.

[naturalstrength]

World Class will always be a carrot on a string. Chase it for all you are worth for when you catch it, it will move on again, just out of reach, as it should be.

Excellent point!

[abagh89]

World Class will always be a carrot on a string. Chase it for all you are worth for when you catch it, it will move on again, just out of reach, as it should be.

Where did you get that quote lol? that was deep