I did not do well at all on two events; the log clean and press for reps and the sandbag carry, load, and drag. The log was sadly two heavy for me at the time of competition but I have been focusing my training on this event in order to build the strength to do better next time.

The first event that I did well on was the 595 pound yolk carry for time where competitors had to carry the yoke 30 feet, drop it completely, then carry it back. This also happened to be my wife’s first strongman competition so the event organizers thought it was hilarious to run us against each other. I was very happy with my quick time and completion of the event, and in the background you can see my wife smoking me with her 225 pound carry. I have never carried anything close to the 595 lbs weight so doing well with it in competition was the highlight of my day.

The next event was the Farmer’s Carry where competitors had to pick and carry 220 pounds in each hand for 60 feet.

I have quickly found that weighted carry and mobile events are by far my greatest strength; I attribute it to me carrying around my massive frame all my life. Another reason I think I do so well on mobile events where grip strength is key is partially due to me never using straps on my deadlifts in training, it forces your grip strength to stay on par with your overall strength (even though it hurts like hell).

The final event was Atlas Stones over bar for time, I was able to blow my old record out of the water in this event with getting a 220 pound stone over the chest hight bar 5 times in 60 seconds. I would still love to greatly improve in this event since it seems to be a mainstay in pretty much every sanctioned strongman competition I have seen. I can tell I need to focus on my squats so I can have better strength in getting the Atlas Stone off the ground.

Overall I love competing in novice strongman competitions, and now that my wife has caught the bug and has been competing alongside me it has gotten even better. The deep bruising, soreness, and heavy training has been very worth it; I have discovered what I am capable of and I now have constant goals to constantly strive to. Until the next competition!

The post Continuing on the Road to Strongman appeared first on FactoryTwoFour.

I joined Team Tom Gym in Greeley Colorado last summer and my wife and I instantly fell in love with the gym and it’s incredible atmosphere. People at Team Tom are at every ability level but everyone is united in becoming better, faster, and stronger than they were the week before. There were extreme novices like my wife and I, intermediate to experienced lifters, and even amazing athletes benching 400 lbs and deadlifting over 600 lbs. No matter who you were or how advanced of a lifter there was always someone willing to help you break through to the next level.

This past December after being at the gym for about 6 months the owner Tom approached me and mentioned that he noticed the progress I was making and told me about their first strongman/powerlifting event of the year being held in February and that I could be a good fit for their novice strongman division if I trained hard. I was very skeptical at first but once the events and weights were posted I decided to go for it and try to compete in my first strongman meet that was being held a mere two months later.

Fast forward to February of this year on the morning of my meet. I have never been more nervous in my life as I prepped to do my first ever strongman event: the 150 lbs yolk press. I did not do well at all on the press which disappointing to say the least, but luckily I did much better on the next event. For the 250 lbs timed sled pull I exceeded my expectations by getting a decent time and competing well with the other novice strongmen, giving me much needed confidence for the rest of the meet. The third event was the 300 lbs axle deadlift where I lifted better than I ever had in my life, getting 11 reps in one minute. At this point I was addicted to the competition as my wife, mom, and friends cheered me on during one of the best experiences of my life.

The last two events were ones I have never done, practiced, or trained on. The front weight hold was disappointing but I knew I would do better if I ever had to do it again. The final event was my Everest: 200 lbs Atlas Stone over bar for reps, something I have never done or trained on since I have never had access to stones before. I was extremely excited and nervous leading up to the lifts but the amazing community of strongmen around me gave me great coaching right up until the actual lifts themselves, telling me exactly how to approach the stone and even got me set up with sticky tacky that allowed me to grip the stone better. When I was given the start command I was able to get the stone over the bar multiple times for reps; I have never felt such elation. I had done it, I had completed something I never thought I would have ever been able to do just a year earlier. I did not do exceedingly well at the meet as compared to the other competitors but I feel I accomplished something huge for myself, and now I have a baseline to improve upon meet after meet.

Training and competing in strongman has been unlike any endeavor I have undertaken before. I am surrounded by an amazingly supportive community that never looks down at each other, everyone is just there to improve and become stronger than they were before. After 3 months of training I may not be any skinnier but I am stronger and more athletic than I ever have been in my life. As I continue to train I look toward my next goal: a fully sanctioned event in May where the lifts will be different, harder, and heavier. I look forward to training for this next competition and will write a few more articles like this along the way as I learn new lifts and make more progress. If you ever find yourself in Northern Colorado on a Saturday be sure to stop by Team Tom and say hi to all the Strongmen training during the weekly Strongman Saturday Event, I know I’ll be there.

The post Starting on the Road to Strongman appeared first on FactoryTwoFour.