Hey my fellow strongmen,
I competed in strongman pretty recently and loved all about it. There is a competition in fall I would love to compete in but I am not allowed to sadly. I don’t know how many of you have read my write up but I wrote about the problems I have with participating in competitions in my country.
Anyway I thought I just might host my own competition. Of course it will be only for fun, nothing will be at stake. I plan on hosting the competition together with my training partner. We plan on only a few competitors most of them from our local gym. We will not make this public since it isn’t an official competition or anything like that.
If this will happen or not is completely up to how many guys and girls we find that are interested.
My training partner and I will both act as referees. So if he goes I will judge him and vice versa. I know it would be better to have a designated judge who isn’t a competitor himself but of course we want to participate both if such an event comes together. Since there really won’t be anything to win I don’t think it will be much of a problem. We both are very good sportsmen.
I haven’t set any events yet but I want to choose events that are new to most of the people and really strongman like. If they want to do regular lifting with a barbell they can go to the gym. I want to give them something a little more extraordinary. Events I have considered so far:
- log clean and press: Would most likely make this for max reps in 75 sec with the option to choose between to weights. Last man standing would be cool but it would be a little unfair because I would be very hard to beat in that.
- Trap bar deadlift/ block pull: Max reps again. Max weight would be possible too here. I am not the strongest deadlifter and I think some of the guys I have in mind who might be interested in the comp deadlift pretty well. Also my training partner has a very good shot at beating me here.
- carry medley: trap bar, sandbag, keg. Fastest time wins of course. No distance measuring. If someone can’t complete the course in time they will be measured at how many objects they have completed
- overhead medlay: Keg, dumbbell, axle for max reps? Not sure about the fourth event but something with the axle would be neat since I have one and it is a strongman staple.
So why am I bothering you with the things that spook around in my head? I want to have your opinions about my idea! Like is this doable? What about the events? Is this a good idea in general or am I unreasonable? What do I have to look out for if I want to do this? Do you have any tips for me?
Feel free to comment anything that comes to your mind about my idea.
get plastic trash can ,fill to desired weight with concrete,let harden,cut trash can off smooth off ruff edges
make a platform
dont tell nobody till they get there
if you want to be honest do not practice or try it either
just tell them mystery loading event
its cheap ,platform can be used for when you get stones later,plus you get practice in using concrete
since its for fun dont forget the BEER
Biggest red flag is having the trap bar in the medley. I know a lot of people like using the trap bar as a replacement for the farmer’s walk, but the reason why it ISN"T a farmer’s walk is because if you trip with farmers, you fall through the open space. If you trip with a trap bar, you slam your body into the implement full force and eat pavement. The risk for serious nasty injury is real high in a competition setting, where ego and testosterone are high and people are flying. For your own sake, I’d cut it out. Either get more implements to the medley, or have them do the sandbag and keg a few times. A drag sled works really well in a medley.
Sam’s advice for a loading event is solid. Almost every show has some sort of load. If you can’t get a platform, if someone has a pick-up truck, you can always load sandbags and kegs into the flatbed. Otherwise, you can try implement over bar.
I’ve seen shows with double overhead events, so it’s not too rare. If you want to mix it up, instead of having max reps twice, have the log be for max reps and the medley be for time. Keg, dumbbell, axle and throw the log back in.
Should be fun no matter how you slice it.
@cavemansam : Doesn’t sound bad. But I would have to spend extra money and chances are that nobody could manage this thing. Also it would be hard to transport. I plan to host this competition at our local soccer stadium so I would have to get it up there somehow.
Also: We are in Germany, don’t you worry about beer supply 
Your question: In Germany there is only one strongman federation (called the GFSA - German Federation of Strength Athletes). Strongman is a very unpopular sport in Germany (even more so than other strength sports). There are two official GFSA beginner cups a year. One of which was in Hannover (which is the one I participated in), the other one is in fall. The requirement for one to participate in one of the two is to never have competed in a GFSA show. So by doing this one competition I became an “athlete of the GFSA” so to say and am no longer allowed to participate in the beginner cups. The only other GFSA cups are open cups (which often are invitational tournaments), the 2nd league and the 1st league and international cups. All of these are far out of reach for me. The jump from the beginner cup level to the 2nd league is pretty significant!
My only other option is to participate in strongman shows that aren’t hosted by or from the GFSA, like competitions hosted by a gym for fun. But those seem to be very rare.
If there is another strongman from Germany here, please correct me with everything I got wrong!
@T3hPwnisher : Good point about the trap bar! Didn’t think about the risk with this at all. Unfortunately I don’t have a sled and can’t get more equipment in the near future (don’t know if I should laugh or cry about my financial situation right now). How about sandbag one lane, keg one lane, sandbag again, keg again? For like 15 meter per lane.
Loading would be great. I could maybe just stack beer cases onto each other as a platform (with someone who holds them in place), this has worked before. Other than that weight over bar with a sandbag should be doable as well.
Cool suggestion for the second overhead event! Sounds great. I guess a dumbbell shouldn’t be too hard to get or borrow.
I hope so! I really hope I will find people who are interested and maybe try to train for this instead of just showing up without having put their focus on OHP and stuff like that…
Any of you guys have a couple? You could throw in a car push as part of the medley. It’s a strongman classic. Otherwise, any combination of keg and sandbag running is fine. What you lack in creativity you can always make up in brutality, haha.
On that topic, another classic event is carry for distance. Sandbag or keg, have them walk 20 meters, turn, walk by, and keep going until they can’t anymore. It’s usually done with a big step, but it’s brutal no matter how you slice it.
Have a couple of what? Sorry there might be a language barrier here
Car push might not be doable because of the terrain, otherwise it would be a great idea!
Carry for distance is also a brilliant idea!
I will meet up with my training partner on Thursday to discuss everything and will bring in all of your suggestions on the events. Of course I will keep this updated.
No language barrier, my phone just autocorrected weirdly. I meant to write car and it wrote “couple”.
Good luck!
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where i am concrete runs 2 to 4 dollars for 80 pound bags
does not have to be trash can,any empty container or form will work
shits an giggles we used a paint bucket weighed out to 80 pounds throw ,anyway you can for distance
if somebody came to my house ,contest time
Events are set at:
- Log press for reps
- Time limit is 75 sec (GFSA standard)
- weight will be either 70 kg or 55 kg (no switching once you have decided)
- log has to be cleaned once and then it is pressing from the chest. It is however allowed to drop the log and clean it again
- Trap bar deadlift from the ground for reps
- Time limit is 75 sec
- weight will be between 180-190 kg or 150-160 kg (not decided yet)
- Touch and go will not be allowed
- straps will be allowed
- weight over bar with the sandbag
- weight isn’t decided yet
- max reps in 75 sec
- carry medley
- 15 m lanes
- keg, sandbag and farmer’s
- fastest time wins
- time cap will be 90 sec
- time is measured after every completed implement in case someone doesn’t get all of them
Yesterday we created the event on facebook and invited people we think might be interested (at least four of them are stronger than me) and now we are asking if people are interested in this. If there is enough interest we will go on with planning and set a date.
Add the full zercher, just because I like zerchers and nobody does them. Weight increasing to reach a 1 RM
This sounds awesome man, you’re making me want to host a little backyard strongman competition with some of my friends! Looking forward to hearing how it goes and what weights you end up using for the event.
Thank man. I am looking forward to the event.
Responses are good so far and I managed to get some more girls interested. We have contacted the community office to get permission to use their property and are awaiting their answer right now.
Date will be mid June