Me!
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Ok, aside from that, how about these two stories. These are the two most athletic things Iâve ever seen at a strongman competition.
The first one, we were doing keg carry and load over bar. 3 kegs, 50â from a yoke, carry it, put it over the yoke, move on. The promoter, Mike Kromer, was VERY adamant about NOT throwing the kegs over the yoke, because we had spotters on the other side who were there to catch the kegs and keep them from rolling into equipment/spectators. Throwing a keg over the yoke was effectively throwing a 200lb steel death sphere at another human.
You know where this is goingâŠ
This is the final event, itâs been neck and neck between me and another dude, that guy is up, heâs trying to make up time, so of course he THROWS the keg over the yoke.
The spotter, standing there, prepared to catch a âplacedâ keg, sees the rolling sphere of death heading straight for his shins. He doesnât have time to jump out of the way, trying to stop it is going to wreck his whole body, so he goes full Bloodsport and does a set of JUMP SPLITS in order to let the keg roll under him while midair, saving his shins and resulting in some dented equipment instead.
I get the impression that dude learned THAT DAY that he could do the jump splits if the situation called for it.
Ok, next story. Iâm in San Diego CA at âGrinder Gymâ. Itâs an open air gym, because San Diego is awesome year round. But the consequence of an open air gym holding a strongman competition is it means ANYONE can wonder in off the street and suddenly be in the comp spaceâŠwhich is what happened.
Homeless dude shows up. I imagine he had an appreciation for methamphetamine, because he was rail thin but proceeded to grab the nearest loaded barbell (about 165lbs in weight) and just clean and press it for all he was worth before the promoter came by and told him to knock it off.
Folks, I am the most interesting misanthrope you will know, because thereâs still humanity in me. I felt bad for the dude, gave him $5 and said âHey man, Carlâs Jr is right around the corner: go get some lunch.â I figured thatâd at least keep him busy, and he looked like he had skipped a few meals, and Carlâs Jr is awesome.
In an amazing display of gratitude, the dude gives me a âbro elbow bumpâ and proceeds to land 3 ONE HANDED-BACK HANDSPRINGS as his method of retreating from the competition.
I know of no better way to make an exit to this day.
Careful observers note: the most athletic things Iâve ever seen at a strongman competition were NOT performed by strongmenâŠfood for thought.