How to get better at Grip contests

Hey strength seekers

The day after the Frostbite Grip competition and a few things to ponder.  But first how the day started and some highlights.  Saturday morning, bright and early, arise at 3 am.  It's always easy to get up early when you are looking forward to something.  I wake Logan up, he hits the shower, turn Lexi's light on and surprisingly she is up and at em.  It's not like that on school days I assure you.  We gather our stuff, I make us all a coconut milk,blueberries, strawberries, banana  and homeade kefir smoothie.  We hit the road for a 5 hour drive.  The weather was fantastic for February and the drive was great.  Upon arrival I saw some familiar faces and met several new ones.  That's the most enjoyable part for me is meeting and sharing the sport of grip with new people and catching up with fellow competitors.  There were 11 guys competing and we did a bunch of grip in a short amount of time.  My only experience with grip contests has been in MN at the Movement Minneapolis and all I can say is things happen quickly and the events go smooth with very little lag time.  This means that you are not wondering around trying to pass time, you are gripping, gripping and gripping some more.  The whole shebang went down in a little over 4 hrs.  Honestly anymore than that and you'll lose peoples interest or just turn new people off to the sport.  To spread the word of Grip and keep new people getting involved the experience must be fun, run smoothly and conscious of their time.  I love grip, but in reality, most people are busy and have other things to do, so if we can get them involved, have fun and get them on their way to other things.  AdamTGlass does just that. 

I met Jen Sinkler, senior fitness editor at Experience Life magazine and also Survival of the fittest community on Facebook.  She was a wonderful person and I caught her balancing on her hands for what seemed like minutes!  I'm working on that. 
The contest went great, they get more fun every time.  Which is also nice for grip sport, when each time you compete you encounter new challenges and events that keep ya on your toes.

1st Place Custom Trophy

So on to pondering...If you enjoy grip, take the step and get to a contest.  Trust me, you don't have to be world class, you just have to do it. How do you get better at Grip contests?  You get out and do them.  Simple as that.  One last thing I will leave you with.  You may be saying, do I have to train grip like a madman?  How do I get good at this event or that event?  Now this is MY experience after competing in a good share of grip contests last year and my first of this year.  Yesterday I was able to grip my way to a first place in my class.  So there may be some merit in my training methods.  Training like a madman- Not even close.  Actually not even scheduled training sessions.  Really.  Getting better at specific events- Training the exact events was very limited.  Gripper work-very little.  Well what the heck, what do I do then?  Here is what I do.  First, I have fun.  I have many training tools scattered everywhere you look at my house.  In a nutshell, I do very little, consistently.  I'm not saying I don't do anything and I'm not saying I go bananas.  I do very little, consistently.  This adds up over time to increased strength as well as continued health, wellness and a desire to keep going.  I swing a lot of weighted implements, I climb ropes with my kids,  I grip, squeeze, pick up, throw, toss, pull, push many things when I feel like it.  Don't make it harder than it needs to be.  I think my results speak volumes against the very destructive habits of training till it hurts.  What if there is another way to gains?  What if you could make gains effortlessly? 
In closing, there is also stress control, attitude, beliefs and many other factors that can help or hinder your training progress.  Seek info and test it out for yourself.

Gods Peace and Strength
Ryan