Just another day having fun for emergency room physician Chad Gustin as he broke the world record for the Rolling Thunder maximum-weight pull-up, and also certified on the Crushed-To-Dust! Challenge.

Dr. Gustin used the occasion of the King Kong grip contest in Lecompton, Kansas as the springboard for inking his name in the annals of grip strength history as he did a Rolling Thunder pull-up with a total weight of 175.18 kg (385.40 lb.), for a new world record, and also ripped through the Crushed-To-Dust! Challenge!®—both done under the keen eye of referee Ben Edwards, CoC3 ’05.

The Rolling Thunder is an iconic test of strength in the grip world, and being the max weight pull-up world record holder confers major bragging rights. Certification on the Crushed-To-Dust! Challenge is a quick and fun way to prove you’ve got outstanding all-around grip strength, and it has become the world’s de facto standard of functional grip strength equal to the task whether on the job, at play, or in a life-or-death situation.

“I have always been fascinated by feats of grip strength, and was taught the importance of a strong handshake from my grandpa Felling who had enormous hands—and whenever I asked him how his hands got so strong, he would always say that it was because he grew up working on a farm,” Dr. Gustin told IronMind.

“My father installed a pull-up bar in our garage when I was very young which helped me excel at the flexed arm hang test and peg board climbing during elementary school gym class.  This success gave me confidence, and reinforced the value of hard work that my parents taught my sisters and me, and the importance of being able to ‘pull your own weight’ (pun intended) in different life situations.

“Just like there are so many different ways to measure and express types of strength, grip sport is so interesting because of the multitude of ways to develop your grip for specific tasks.  This is why an event like the Crushed-to-Dust Challenge! is so important and why so many people are passionate about it.  

“I train grip about twice a week and feel one of the biggest challenges is not overtraining or getting a repetitive injury, so I feel I really have to force myself to be more creative with different types of grip implements and high rep versus low rep explosive workouts.

“I want to be able to teach my own children the important lesson my parents taught me that once you decide to do something, do it with all your passion, heart, soul and mind, and you will have no regrets—you will also be an inspiration to those around you!,” said Dr. Gustin.

Here are the links to the videos of Chad Gustin's world record max weight Rolling Thunder pull-up and to his run through the Crushed-To-Dust! Challenge.

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