[quote]Silyak wrote:
From what I’ve seen, if they are going to disallow bouncing, they will just give both ‘lift’ and ‘down’ commands. If they are only giving ‘down’ commands, then bounce away. [/quote]
Good advice. They say touch and go is allowed, so I’ll have to see just what the definition is, haha.
Posting this in a few places on this site, but wanted to share here of course
Summary up front: Came in 4th of 9. Missed third place by 1 point. Really pleased with my performance, especially with the constant changes I had to deal with, both in the competition and prior to it. Loving strongman, want to keep doing it.
When I originally signed up for this competition, it was 2 hours away from me and had a last man standing deadlift and no yoke walk, which made me happy. By the time to competition rolled around, it was 5 hours away from me and became deadlift for reps with a yoke walk. Still, I wanted to get another competition in, and this one looked fun. Also, there were zero weight classes, which actually seemed pretty exciting to me, as it meant the competition field would be pretty big and diverse. At 5?9 and 200lbs, I was definitely one of the smaller folks there.
Morning of comp, my stomach was messed up. Loaded up at Sizzler the night before, and something wasn?t settling right. Took 2 children?s pepto to help settle things and showed up to the comp site feeling good otherwise.
Did my traditional zero warming up while the promoters continued to postpone the rules briefing to give us more time for warming up. Maybe one day I will embrace foam rolling and mobility work, but right now it meant I had a lot of downtime to eat poptarts.
First event was the overhead press medley. 120lbs dumbbell, 225lb barbell, 200lb axle and 200lb log. I didn?t really train for this (or honestly much of the competition), just letting my overhead press training take care of the strength portion and figured I?d just wing the cleans. I did get some work with my log at home to learn the technique, but for the barbell, this was literally my first time ever doing a clean.
Murphy reared its head here when the guy before me dropped the dumbbell from the overhead position and severely bent it. I was the last guy in the medley, so there wasn?t much discussion for finding a replacement, I just had to deal. The ?cambered dumbbell? proved pretty unwieldy to me, and after a few attempts with it, I moved on to the barbell. The clean wasn?t terrible, but I had expended so much energy on the dumbbell that something I had strict pressed in training before was taking a lot out of me. After a second attempt, I got it overhead. I moved on to the axle with a much easier clean and press, then onto the log where I again had issue getting the weight overhead, but managed on a second attempt. I finally came back to the dumbbell and gave it an honest try with some leg drive. Despite being a little gunshy with my recently re-dislocated shoulder (managed that 2-3 weeks ago by rolling over in my sleep), I managed to get the weight overhead. I didn?t have a fast time, but I was one of the 4 or 5 people that even managed to complete the medley, so I wasn?t in a terrible standing.
Next up was farmer?s walks, 200lb per hand, max distances, turns every 50?. I did 180lb per hand in my last competition, but dropped at the turn around, and this time, we weren?t allowed any. I didn?t train the walks themselves for this, but instead was holding 405lb double overhand for max time in my gym (I managed 65 seconds before the comp). Since time wasn?t the factor, I took this way slow and controlled, and attempted to gut it out for as long as I could. I managed to clean a little over 150? before I kicked the implement with my back foot on the turn and ended up dropping the implement, but this was a good enough showing for 3rd place in the event.
Next event was the ?Death Medley?. 500lb yoke for 100?, 500lb tire for 10 flips, and 400lb sled for 50?. Anyone who watched my last video knows that the yoke walk was not kind to me the last time I did it (and coincidentally the only time I had done it prior to this competition), but I did take some lessons from the experience. With a powerlifting background, the 500lbs on my back wasn?t a concern at all, so I set the yoke height very low so that, when I picked it up on my back, I had a lot of clearance from the floor. My coordination is terrible, and any chance I had to not let the skids kick the floor I was going to take. This, combined with remembering to take short steps and set the bar high on my neck made this much easier for me, as I managed to need only 1 set down total.
I had never done a tire flip before, but managed to figure it out pretty well. I think my heavy deadlifting background helped, as the first flip I barely needed to use my knee to move the tire, and subsequent flips went pretty smooth. After the first 5 flips, I took off my elitefts SHD knee sleeves because it felt like my quads were about to explode from the pump. After the 10th flip, my conditioning wasn?t feeling too hot, but I was currently setting the mark to beat and knew the sled drag wouldn?t be terrible. I fell down as soon as I broke the inertia, which is exactly what I did at my last contest, but otherwise, had no issues and completed the medley in 2 minutes, which was good enough for third. After spending 15 minutes trying not to puke, I was ready for the next event.
Next up was the arm over arm F150 truck pull. Did zero training for this (are you seeing a trend), and figured I?d just pull a truck. That?s pretty much what happened too. I noticed a guy that started standing and fell backwards to start the pull, and I gave that a try. I noticed I spent too much time pulling with only one hand, and when I was done, my left shoulder felt like it exploded, but otherwise, pretty uneventful. Finished in 33 seconds, good enough for a 5th place finish.
Final event was my event. 405lb deadlift for reps. I had pulled 600lbs for 7 reps total in a recent training session (4 before the first put down, 2 before the second, and a final one after that), and the only concern I had here was if my cardio would hold up. I hit the nose tork, strapped up, and went to town. We were told that we could do touch and go, but whereas the two other guys I was competing against had bumper plates, my bar had iron, and the judged got on me for bouncing the weight, and my back was too fried to control the eccentric, so I pulled deadstop for the most part. I managed 19 solid reps before trying for a sketchy 20th. The ref wasn?t having it, and after fighting for a few seconds, I set it down to regroup and make sure I got that 20th. I tied for first on this event, which just makes it all the more painful that I didn?t get that first 20th, as I would have taken this event which would have gotten me a podium finish. Got 4th place by 1 point, but I also made a lot of fans with my last performance. I?m not so much a strongman as a deadlifter that competes in strongman competitions, haha.
I?ve got no real injuries, bumps or bruises to speak of. Feeling good and got nice and fat after it was all said and done. Going to keep my eyes peeled for future events, and until then will keep doing the things I suck at and trying to become a more well rounded strongman.
Thanks for the write-up. Good job 
[quote]Diddy Ryder wrote:
Thanks for the write-up. Good job :)[/quote]
Thanks man, much appreciated!
Hey Pwnisher, nice job for only you’re second comp? Where was this one held and was there weight classes? You said you were one of the smaller guys there.
Looking for a comp myself over the next few months so we might end up at the same one as we seem to live not too far from one another.
Anyway, good job!
[quote]Samson18 wrote:
Hey Pwnisher, nice job for only you’re second comp? Where was this one held and was there weight classes? You said you were one of the smaller guys there.
Looking for a comp myself over the next few months so we might end up at the same one as we seem to live not too far from one another.
Anyway, good job![/quote]
Thanks man. Yeah, this was my second strongman comp. It was around Hemet, and it was open weight. We had a guy there that was around 320, and a few other beasts alongside him.
Marunde muscle is a boon for finding these kinds of comps. The one thing I dislike about strongman compared to powerlifting is that there are so few comps. It is cool that it’s all unified under NAS instead of a million different feds, but I’m in the middle of CA and it’s still tricky for me to find anything nearby.
Texas seems to be the place for it though, haha.
Damn dude you did well then!
Haven’t checked Marunde for a while I just usually look on NAS, and i Get what you’re saying they really are very sparse especially amateur levels I live in Monterey and it’s annoying trying to find one.
Haha yeah Texas or like some of the southern states it seems to be most popular
[quote]Samson18 wrote:
Damn dude you did well then!
Haven’t checked Marunde for a while I just usually look on NAS, and i Get what you’re saying they really are very sparse especially amateur levels I live in Monterey and it’s annoying trying to find one.
Haha yeah Texas or like some of the southern states it seems to be most popular[/quote]
Oh wow, I ended up staying in Monterey for my last comp in Santa Cruz. What a small world. Clay Edgin is involved with Santa Cruz Strength and seems to be putting on some sort of contest semi-regularly. His last one was a grip contest, which I wasn’t really interested in, but he posts pretty regularly on marunde.
Yeah I was supposed to do the Santa Cruz competition (the first one you did) but my wife and I were on vacation for a while and it wasn’t like I was able to just come back for that.
I’ll check it out thanks man
This Saturday, I will be competing in Northern Nevada’s Strongest Man in the 200lb category. Training has been going well, I’ve finally gotten a handle on push pressing and moving faster with farmers, and managed to do this while training for the deadlift portion
Events will be as follows
Axle Clean and Press (200lbs): 60 seconds, reps, one clean and press away, no
resting of axle on belt
Farmers Walk (230lbs): 80ft, 60 second time limit, unlimited drops allowed,
clock stops when entire implement goes 80ft. women handles are plate
loadable 1 ¼ handle. Men novice will use 220lbs tanks, open men will
have 2? handles plate loadable handles.
Deadlift reps (500lbs), barbell 14?ish or a tad lower (exact height will be
determined as contest gets closer) straps and suits allowed, 60 seconds
time limit.
Nevada Trucking Association Truck Pull Harness, 80ft with 60
second time limit, women will pull a Ford truck while men will pull a
semi.
Stones over bar (250lb stone), women over 48?, men over 52?, 60 seconds
I have completed my third strongman competition, a level II NAS comp in Reno. I placed around 6 of 11 competitors, which was not where I was hoping to end up. It was an excellent opportunity to learn some lessons and grow in the sport.
I woke up exactly at 196.0, which I called from 2 months out when I started cutting which. I was pretty proud of that, and was able to eat and drink well before I got to the weigh in, and then really up the cals before the contest.
Event 1: 200lb Axle Clean and Press (Clean once and press away).
I was excited when I saw this event, because the clean has always been the weak point in my clean and press, so with a chance to clean only once, I thought I was in a good place. I had trained my push press for the 6 weeks before the comp, and finally managed to make some breakthroughs in technique. Going into this, I had hit 11 reps frequently in training, with one day where I managed 13, and honestly thought 14 was going to come my way. I did not train my axle clean at all, since I only had to do it once, and doing it training tends to torque my left wrist.
When I cleaned the weight at the comp, I saw stars for a second which took me a little while to clean before I could start pressing. Pulled a real amateur move on the first rep and dropped it before I got the ?down? command, but the judge was cool and gave me the rep anyway. During the comp, my focus was gone for the push press technique, but upon reviewing the video, I actually was getting some decent leg drive, so I am proud of that. That said, once I hit 10 reps, I was done, and approaching that point I kept feeling like I was going to vomit. Upon review, I think the elevation change was the biggest factor, as I went from sea level to 4400 feet, and even at sea level my cardio seemed to be what kept going out in the push press. I?m going to keep that lift in the rotation now, and have mapped out my training already, but in all, this event didn?t go as well as I wanted, but it wasn?t terrible. I ended up taking 4th or 5th out of 11.
Event 2: 500lb 16? tire deadlift for reps
This should have been my event, and is where I am most disappointed in my performance. I am certain I had one of the highest deadlifts in the 200lb class based on my performance versus others, and after watching everyone before me struggle through this event, I knew that I needed to move fast to make the most of my ability, because it wasn?t going to be a question of IF I could make it for the full 60 seconds, but just how many reps I could get in at that time. I noticed when I was setting up that the outer knurling of the bar was much closer to the center than bars I normally used, and so I set my grip out a bit wider than the edge of the knurling, but still close, like my stance.
Every time I would complete a rep, the tires would bounce the bar laterally. I was trying to move fast, so instead of setting up for each new rep, I just pulled the weight where it landed. I was strong enough that I could pull the reps even with the bar well off center, and was starting to look like a lawn sprinkler, since my feet stayed planted and my torso would rotate with the bar. We had an ?up? command that we needed to wait on, and to me it seemed like the judge kept talking before each ?up? command, which was just burning precious seconds, so I kept tuning out everything except for the words ?up?. In most cases, it was form advice or encouragement being offered, and I didn?t really want either. Well, this bit me in the ass, because at one point he was telling me that my knee was now outside my right hand due to how the bar landed, and he wasn?t going to give me an up command until I fixed it. I waited for about 12 seconds before I realized I just wasn?t going to get an up command until I listened to him, and even then it took me a while to figure out what he was talking about. I was way too in the zone.
Once I figured it out and addressed things, I was behind the 8 ball. I only had 6 reps in and about 20 seconds left, so I cranked out about 10 of the fastest reps I ever managed. I should have easily gotten the win on this one, as I wasn?t even experiencing fatigue after rep 16, but instead ended up taking 3rd behind one guy who got 20 reps and one who got 17. This was a real heart breaker, and on top of things, because I pulled so fast and sloppy for those last 10 reps, I tore a callus off on my left ring finger. With the next 3 events being farmers, a truck pull and stones, I hung up my hopes of placing and decided I was just in this for fun and experience.
Event 3: 230lb 2? farmers per hand, 80? course
Filled my callus with hand santizier and super glue and got ready for this event. My hands were a second skin of super glue, and I couldn?t get chalk to stick to them, but ultimately my downfall was grabbing the implements like an idiot. All through out my training, I used a thumbless grip where I choked way up on the front of the implement and it worked fine. On comp day, I grabbed the farmers with a full grip, in the hopes of keeping my callus safe. Made it a few feet, re-opened the callus, said f**k it, grabbed it the way I knew worked, and actually made it with some decent speed. Still finished around 8th due to the initial drop, but the recovery was decent. Training paid off, was just an idiot.
Event 4: Semi-truck towing a pickup truck pull, 75?
Filled my callus with hand sanitizer and superglue again. Never did this before, and trained by PUSHING my minivan up a hill, so really had no experience. Had the right shoes at least, which really paid off. Upon video review, I was too upright and my feet were all over the place, but I at least finished the course. I know I wasn?t dead last, but placing wasn?t great. Re-opened the callus at the end.
Event 5: 240lb Atlas stone over 52? bar
Last time I did stones was a year ago, but it went really well, so I came into this WAY too confident. Goal was to one shot every stone and really make up some points here. Tried out my new Spartan sleeves, which is also a really dumb move to try new equipment in a comp, and I paid the price for it. Went to grab the stone, it was way slicker than my previous one, and it ripped the sleeves right off my forearm. I now had almost no tacky aside from whatever was on the stone and what was on my hands. Thankfully, Robert Oberst was recording my video and gave me some great tips on what to do in this situation, which was get my hands under the stone and work from there. When I COULD pick up the stone, I could one shot it, but it was just a disaster. Mechanical failure paired with non functioning hands and just a crummy day, and at the end, I opened up a new callus on a finger tip along with the one on my ring finger.
The biggest thing I could have had going for me was either a coach or at least a team mate. Basically, if I had a voice I was specifically listening for in the second event, I could have fixed the issue within the span of 1 rep versus 5 or 6, and having someone with experience/access for the truck pull and stones would have given me a better placing. I also learned to just be at peace with the stone hickies I get without the sleeves, because it?s a question of minor inconvenience versus performance. If I DO use the sleeves again, I?m going to zip tie them rather than use laces, as I saw someone else use that strategy and it seemed successful. Push press is coming along though, and my deadlift is still a boon. I am also happy that I was still able to complete the contest after ripping open my hand, and will be training again in the near future with just a few minor adjustments to account for it.
I am contemplating doing another powerlifting meet before my next strongman comp, just to see how well my total has improved since my last one, but I am not at all done with strongman. I am still enjoying every contest.
Also, shoutout to SnoodgrassStrong, who posts mainly in the training logs portion here and completely dominated the 200lb class.
Nice job sticking with it. It seems like a lot of things didn’t go your way but you still had a respectable showing. I think it was pretty anal of the judge to get uptight about your grip position. I understand that it’s no sumo, but regardless of where your hands were it’s clear you weren’t pulling sumo. Those tires really bounce so constantly resetting is a pain.
I just embrace the stone hickies as a badge of honor.
[quote]Silyak wrote:
Nice job sticking with it. It seems like a lot of things didn’t go your way but you still had a respectable showing. I think it was pretty anal of the judge to get uptight about your grip position. I understand that it’s no sumo, but regardless of where your hands were it’s clear you weren’t pulling sumo. Those tires really bounce so constantly resetting is a pain.
I just embrace the stone hickies as a badge of honor. [/quote]
Thanks man, much appreciated. It was Robert Oberst judging that event, so even if I felt like it was unfair, no way was I going to tell him, haha. He was really cool through out the day, and gave me a rep on press that I really shouldn’t have gotten. Just a lesson to me to listen more, because that really should have just been a 1 second thing.
Definitely going to just deal in the future. My wife hates the marks, but it’s not worth losing a stone.
Just checking in to say that you’re a badass and these videos were inspiring. Also you made that deadlift medley at your first comp look comical. I would not have liked to be the guy following you on that.
[quote]TrevorLPT wrote:
Just checking in to say that you’re a badass and these videos were inspiring. Also you made that deadlift medley at your first comp look comical. I would not have liked to be the guy following you on that. [/quote]
Thanks man. It’s been a fun journey getting into this sport, and challenging doing something I’m not great at.
That deadlift medley performance did set a pretty good standard after the fact, haha. I am still hoping to one day participate in a last man standing event, as I feel that’s where I can undoubtedly come out on top. I’ve been edged out too many times now.
Signed up for another contest.
Untamed Strength presents
?A Very Heavy New Year?
EVENTS:
Press Medley: Athlete will press 4 different implements overhead for 1 rep each. Athlete can start with any implement he/she chooses. Athlete can press the implements in any order he/she chooses. Fastest time wins. If the athlete cannot complete all 4 implements they will be credited with number of successful lifts. Split times will be recorded to break ties. 60 second time limit.
-Good lift: Implement must be locked out overhead, under control, with the arms straight and legs/feet stationary and parallel. Athlete must wait for the ?Down? command from the judge.
-Equipment Allowed: Belt, Chalk, Wrist Wraps, Elbow/knee Sleeves.
Last Man Standing Deadlift: ?Round Robin? style. A Standard Olympic Barbell will be loaded with the posted opening weights. Each athlete (one by one) will attempt to lift the barbell for 1 rep. Once every athlete has made his/her attempt the weight will jump 20 pounds. Repeat until 1 athlete remains. If the athlete misses an attempt (or chooses not to take it) he/she is eliminated from the rotation and credited with the last successful lift. Athletes MUST take every attempt (until they miss).
-Depending on the size of the division, there will be a short rest period during each weight adjustment.
-Bar height TBD.
-Good lift: Athlete must lift the barbell to a standing position with head up, shoulders back, legs and feet in line. Once the ?Down? signal is given the athlete must return the barbell to the floor under control. NO DROPPING OF THE BAR WILL BE ALLOWED!
-Hitching is allowed.
-Conventional stance ONLY! No Sumo allowed. Hands must be outside the legs throughout the entire lift.
-Athlete may put baby powder on legs to reduce friction.
-Baby oil, Vaseline, or similar product may NOT be used on the legs to reduce friction.
-Equipment Allowed: Belt, Chalk, lifting straps
-Equipment NOT Allowed: Tacky or similar product. Lifting hooks. NO SUITS!
Yoke: Athlete will carry a BeastMetals Yoke 50 feet, set the yoke down, turn around, and carry the yoke back 50 feet. Fastest time wins. If the Athlete cannot finish the course he/she will be credited for distance. 60 second time limit.
-Unlimited drops.
-Equipment Allowed: Belt, Chalk, Elbow/Knee sleeves, NO Supportive Suits.
Tire Flip: Athlete will flip a tire 50 ft. as fast as possible. If athlete cannot flip the tire 50 feet he/she will be credited with number of flips. If athlete cannot flip the tire once, athlete needs to train harder.
-The tire will start in the UP position.
-60 second time limit.
-Equipment Allowed: Belt, Chalk, Elbow/Knee sleeves.
-Equipment Not Allowed: Tacky or similar product.
Stone Load Series: Athlete must lift 4-5 stones to a platform. Stones must be lifted in ascending order (lightest ? heaviest). Stones will be a combination of Natural stones and Atlas stones. Tacky will be allowed. Stone sizes/weights and platform height will be announced as soon as determined. 60 second time limit.
For the 200lb class, this is what I have to deal with
Press: 115lb circus DB, 225 tire axle, 165lb keg and 150lb sandbag
Deadlift: Tire deadlift starting at 440 w/20lb jumps
Yoke: 550
Tire: 570
Stones: I think I saw it going from 240-310 on the website
I went out and bought a keg and a sandbag to get some practice with. That deadlift is going to be my event. Tire I’m not too worried about, Yoke could be ok, and as long as I don’t wear sleeves I at least have a shot with the stones. Working some agility drills this time around too to get a little faster on my feet, and after this I am looking at a comp in Feb in Kennewick. At that point, I technically have to consider myself a strongman who does powerlifting due to the number of contests I have in either capacity, haha.
I’m ecstatic that I figured out the technique on cleaning and pressing the keg this morning. I feel like it actually plays to my strengths of being an oaf, as it seems to rely more heavily on just manhandling the thing into place vs any sort of finess.
just a quick tip here, but it’s those details that make the difference.
Yup, just saw that posted after I had figured it out on my own, haha. Better late than never I suppose.
EDIT: Thanks for the link btw. Means a lot to have folks helping me along the way.
What Kalle shows above is really effective if the keg is pretty heavy for you, but it takes a good bit of time to lap it and reconfigure your hands.
You are probably strong enough to rip that 165lbs up into position and get it above head much faster. I try to deadlift the keg to my hips then get a hard thoracic extension and pop it off my thighs. I try to lean far enough back that my head is out of the way already and use my chest as a platform for a brief second but am trying to use the initial momentum from the hip pop to continue the keg upwards. Then it is just about locking it out.
I am not expert at this at all, but just thought that my way might help you out. It takes a little time to figure out, but once you get it, it really speeds up the movement.
Here is a vid of what i am talking about. It is the first event, so you won’t have to watch long. But it was a 230lb keg for as many reps as possible in :60 Seocnds