I competed in my first strongman competition, ‘Heavy for our Heroes’ in Hudson, NH yesterday. It was a great time despite the cold weather and frequent rain showers. I competed as a novice and came in 3rd out of three. I didn’t do nearly as well as I would have liked, but there’s a first time for everything. Every time I re-watch the video footage of the show I notice a different mistake I made.
There were five events:
Viking Press for reps in 60 sec.
Carry/Drag Medley (sand bag, keg, sled) in 60 sec.
Fingal Fingers (5 ranging from 175-390 (I think)) in 60 sec.
14500lb Humvee hand over hand pull 75ft. in 60 sec.
Atlas stones (5 stones on two different height platforms) 60 sec.
The only events I was able to train for correctly were the stones and the carry medley. The viking press was harder than I anticipated since it didn’t move in a fixed plain. I was able to get 7 reps out at 200 lbs. but I was expecting to get more like 10. In the carry medley, the 150lb sand bag was very awkward to carry and I leaned forward and fell on the ground. They 150lb keg and 200lb sled were very easy, but I oved a little slow after my fall. The fingal fingers were pretty intimidating, especially in the rain, but I did a little better than I had thought I was going to do (in retrospect I should have pushed way harder to get the third finger up). The humvee pull was first set up on a slight incline and it was impossible for any of the athletes that tried it, so the judges switched the direction and it was on a slight decline, making it a little too easy. Once the humvee got going, I couldn’t move fast enough to take the slack out of the rope. The first four atlas stones were pretty easy for me and I made good time because I didn’t have to lap them to get them on the platform. I was able to lap fifth stone (200lb), but I used to much arm strength and not enough leg strength to pop it up and I hurt my biceps and shoulder. I learned a lot from this first comp and I am definitely ready for my next in June.