A Grip Champs Story
by Ben Edwards
The 2025 USAWA Grip Champs contest was held in Lakewood, Colorado this year at Sanjiv Gupta’s High Country Vigour Gym. I enjoyed the solo drive and made frequent stops to stretch my legs. It’s always nice seeing the mountains get bigger in my windshield on the way to Denver. But it stings a bit on the return trip when I watch the mountains get smaller in the rear view mirror. I spend a lot of time on road trips gripping the steering wheel way too hard. It’s an unconscious habit, unfortunately. Then when I get wherever I’m going I always feel like I’ve had a low key grip session, which isn’t super helpful when I’m traveling to a grip contest. It has become a running joke between me and my wife. She used to drive me to grip contests to “save my hands,” lol.
I felt like I kind of “knew” Jarrod Forbes from seeing his name on the contest results write-ups for a few years. Especially since we are both about the same age and same bodyweight category. It was nice finally meeting him in person. He is a super funny and humble strong guy! We had a good time chatting about martial arts and a mutual friend in Lawrence. I also enjoyed visiting with his friends who came to watch the contest. Aaron and Kate. Not sure of the spellings. But they were also from Lawrence, so it felt like a small world. He was definitely stronger in the pinch than I was. I barely held on to my 3rd attempt by the tips of my fingers. We technically ended up with the same result in the pinch event. But he had at least 5lbs more in him that day.
Sanjiv’s daughter Nisha was very impressive and really made me wish that my daughter Josie had made the drive with me to compete. Last year Josie said she wanted to compete at the 2025 Grip Champs… She is 12 years old though. So a year for her is about equivalent to a decade in grown up time. There is always next year. Hope springs eternal. Nisha had the most impressive lift (IMO) of the meet with a nearly-bodyweight 2” vertical bar pull. And she did it on the SLICKEST (as in slippery) 2” vbar I’ve ever laid hands on. If she had pulled on the well-seasoned 2” vbar I have in my garage, I’m 100% confident she would have gone well over her bodyweight.
Sanjiv was a blast to spend time with! I enjoyed his and his family’s hospitality over the weekend. It was a well run contest. I got a kick out of touring his gym and playing with some of the equipment.
There was a funny moment on the hack lift when I lost my balance and fell backwards. Got a video of that and then posted a screenshot of it on Facebook. Actually made a successful 3rd attempt on the same weight (303lbs) that I wiped out on a few minutes after falling down.
The 2″ vertical bar is usually my strongest event. No excuses, I only pulled 200lbs a few inches off the ground both hands on two attempts. Pulled 170lbs super high and easy on a test pull before securing it as a successful attempt. Should’ve gone with 190lbs vs. 200lbs. Sanjiv’s 2″ vertical bar is the slickest (slippery) that I have ever lifted on. It was pretty amusing. I pulled 207lbs on my 2″ vbar at home about 10 days before this contest. Big difference in surfaces.
Ben Edwards
