It’s just a homage to something in a movie that Arnold was in. It tests anaerobic capacity, with a giant complicated contraption I will never see replicated in a contest anywhere else, and I cannot associate with it at all. I know what pulling a truck is, or flipping a tire. If it was ONLY for max distance it would make more sense, or if the weight changed in some visible way then maybe. But it just looks big and stupid and it’s boring as hell to watch.
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Interesting thoughts.
I think the event is less appreciable to pulling a truck, but at top level shows, there’s an exclusive factor of ingenuity that must get involved when there’s money to dump, and people to impress.
That’s me pretending to be an event decider for the Arnold.
From my own perspective, I kind of like odd ball events like this, with a factor of unpredictability. For instance, the Trial by Stones. Many guys who were strong pressers just failed miserably because of the skill set involved in pressing stones. On the other side, as Big Z mentioned, it’s a “bullshit” event, because it involves more skill than pure strength, which is counter to the Arnold’s theme.
Then again, the sport is breaking through exceedingly well, and I could really care less about the events, as long as they give the athletes a heads up.
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I love any Stones event, although this one was very slow moving because of the setup. Natural stones are great, and I like that skill is required in addition to brute strength. Circus/Millennial Dumbell stuff is great too. I like odd lifts. I just don’t see what the Wheel of Pain proves other than someone is making a movie prop out to be a legitimate test of some kind. And honestly, Arnold was NEVER a strength guy, he was a BB’er with zero interest in strength stuff.
He competed in powerlifting and has a Strongman circuit named after him, he appears at all the Arnold Strongman shows. I think that’s more than zero interest.
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His interest has always been fame and money, thus the show and circuit. He was a major influence on all of us, but he was never really a “Strength” guy. That was more Lou and Franco.
I think it’s because most ppl have helped someone push a car that was broke down. We all know what it takes to do that much less a fire truck or something along those lines.
Wheel of pain most of us will never get to push and see what it feels like so there isn’t a realistic understanding of how much force is required.
I like it however. Last year when it was introduced I remember seeing a guy try to push it that was a norma sized “big guy” (240ish) and he was barely Able to budge it. Makes it very impressive imo
maybe I missed the reason… why are we shitting on the wheel of pain?
Probably because the implement is so big and showy, but I’m guessing if you showed an average person this, they would enjoy watching it.
I understand that the wheel of pain is hard to reproduce, but from a competition standpoint I like it a lot better than a truck pull. Truck pull ends up being a lot about traction and traction is mostly about body weight. With wheel of pain the point of contact is higher and that means that you can create your own traction by pushing against it and down. Strongman already favors big, tall guys enough. Having an event where smaller guys can compete on strength without being disadvantaged by just having less body weight is better for the sport.
Because it sucks.
That is great for the last few feet at the end maybe. If it worked that way the form would be completely different. The competitors are as stretched out and forward leaning as they can pull off for as long as possible, for the same reason you do the truck pull that way. It’s a less interesting Stone Circle.
This thread had taken a real ‘man yells at cloud’ twist.
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but that’s the whole point. The things that make strongman watchable are the things that AREN’T just a barbell or whatever. We NEED that kind of stuff in our sport. The cooler it looks, the better. They’re called strongman shows for a reason, it needs to be spectator friendly.
are we gonna elaborate on that, or…
I was asking why it sucks. I personally like watching it and I’ve got a friend who tried it this last week (Trey Mitchell, finished top 10 at WSM last year). He liked doing it, and there’s a decent chance he’ll be competing in the Arnold next year. Are you saying you don’t like it from an athlete perspective or a spectator perspective?
I avoid truck pulls in shows like the plague, because no one does them right at amateur shows. WAY too much inconsistency, promoters make horrible decisions with this one. I’ve done a well-run truck pull exactly once, and it worked because it was on a gym floor, so 100% consistent from athlete to athlete. It was a seated pull at the 2018 USS Nationals. Outside of that, I’ve done them in parking lots with pot holes, inconsistencies, dips… I did one where they used a 3 axle truck and the guy in the truck kept putting on the parking brake by accident. It was a goddamn clusterfuck. And the incline was changing for every competitor because they couldn’t get the truck perfectly straight at the start line every time.
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As a competitor I would probably like it. As a spectator, it sucks. It’s a carousel ride gone wrong. If it did something as it went around, like raise a ship or something (Don’t have a great suggestion on what exactly off the top of my head) it could be cool. But all it does is go in a circle and the audience can’t even see what’s heavy about it. Personally I think the car carry (where the guys got inside) was about the coolest event ever.
Every competitor gets screwed on at least one event in every contest. You know it’s going to happen, and it’s going to happen to everybody, just not all at once. The truck pull has some technique, and can be made consistent if the promoter puts a little time into planning it. But I know exactly where you’re coming from with that sentiment.
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I agree with it being bad in that it is very hard to tell how hard it is to do. The car race was cool, I liked the wheel barrow engine race, fridge race was cool (until I saw Franco’s horrific leg injury). Those I think would be cooler to watch. I liked the suggestion of having it lift a ship.
I will say it is far better than the sumo wrestling. I did not want to see a close up of Bill Kaz’s ass in a thong. It just came out of nowhere, and I did not consent to see that when watching a strongman show.
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This is sacrilege. You have never watched Conan? Crom weeps.
If you watched that “live” on TV (like I did), you’re dating yourself…
I saw it on YouTube. You must be older than me. I think that aired in '77 or '78. I have watched all of the WSM finals on YouTube. I think the older ones are actually better than the new ones. Better locations, better events, I even saw a tit in one of the 80s/90s french beach locations.
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Watershed event. He had a pre-existing injury. Post contest a lawyer got a hold of him and they sued, denying the existence of the pre-existing injury. ABC promptly sold the rights to TWI and it left the US. Bang.
My favourites will alsways be the early 90’s with Magnus, Gerritt and Riku. Riku was incredible.
I learned a lot from Magnus by showing up early at contests where he was judging and hanging out with him.
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Jon Pall was also awesome in late 80s early 90s. Gerrit Badenhorst was always a good competitor (like Riku) but never won. The locations were much better than they are now IMO.
It is cool to see Magnus still involved in the sport. He is one of my favorites (my wife’s favorite strongman. Ab Wolders is her second favorite).
Growing up, me and my dad would always watch the WSM every year. I was probably 10 or so when we started. At the time Mariusz was the man. I loved that event more than the Superbowl.
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I was talking earlier today about the Arnold and told them that I look forward to it more than the super bowl lol
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