Jon,
I’m a huge fan and have a lot of gushing to do, but I’ll ask my questions first and then gush at the end.
1: What sort of conditioning work did you do during your time as a strongman? You were always in fantastic shape in competition. I read about the Lakspur Stairs in Deep Water and Power Magazine and saw some photos of you pulling a sled in “Personal Best”, but didn’t know if you had any Deep Water conditioning protocols you found effective, or if you relied on gym work to keep you in shape.
2: What is the most flesh you’ve ever consumed in a single sitting?
3: If you follow current pro-strongman, what is something you feel is “missing” from that generation that they could learn from the dudes from your era?
4: The first Deep Water ebook used a percentage based program, whereas the badass/thrive program is more about using a variety of workouts and not quite doing the same thing twice. In your own training, do you make use of percentages, or do you go by feel?
5: What is the hardest event you ever did in strongman? Could be something in training or in a competition, but just something that was incredibly challenging.
6: Do you have any swag I can buy? I missed out on the chance to buy some Deep Water clothing when it was available.
I’m sure I’ll have more.
Fanboy gush, but I remember first seeing you in an IFSA show and thinking “Who the F**K is that and why don’t they talk about him more?!” I was a total Mariusz fanboy at the time, and seeing an American that was jacked as hell and strong as a bull was super inspiring for me. It seemed, at that time, the only strong dudes around had some pretty unenviable physiques, and seeing you put it all together was just awesome. I then read about “Deep Water” in Mark Bell’s Power Magazine and it was just so cool to be able to “reconnect” like that. I bought the e-book on kindle as soon as I could and was blown away when I found out you and I graduated from the same University. I also grew up as a fat kid and could relate so much to the struggles in the book, and, consequently, had been a low-carb dude for a long time as well. It was just so cool to see someone who had gotten so far following that approach.
I’ve run the Deep Water program from the e-book twice and am gearing up for a third time in the next few months. It always gives me incredible results. The nutrition protocol outlined has really turned my life around as well. I owe you a lot Jon, and have sent a lot of folks your way whenever they are looking for guidance. Thanks for being such a positive force.