Posts Tagged ‘Strongman’

Saturday – Strongman Events

Well, I have decided to compete in South Dakota’s Strongest Man this March.  I haven’t done some of the events before.  My friends Jacob Dagel and Tim Feathers invited me to train with them and to test out the different implements.  Here is what I did:

(Some of the weights, distances, and heights may be off a bit)

Yoke – 505 lbs for 100 ft, 575 lbs for 30 ft.

Sandbag – 180 lbs for 100 ft (pretty quickly, too)

Log – 180 lbs for 3 singles

Giant Dumbbell – 70 lbs for 3 sets of 1 per arm

Atlas Stones – 170 lbs to 54″ platform 2 times, 215 lbs to 54″ platform 2 times.

After this event day, my general thoughts are that my strength is there to handle the weights in the novice class, but I need to work on my conditioning more.

 

Here is a picture of the last of my Christmas gifts.  I ordered these through http://www.Amazon.com

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Top:

Captains of Crush Gripper No.1 – This grip trainer is rated to c. 140 lbs.  This is the best gripper tool I have used.  As soon as I can complete 12 reps I will buy the next size up.  As soon as I can complete 25 reps I will go up to the next size. You can find them at http://www.ironmind.com or http://www.captainsofcrushgrippers.com

Left to Right:

Phil Pfister trading card – He is one of my favorite strongmen.  He was the first American since Bill Kazmaier (another favorite) in 1982 to win the title of World’s Strongest Man in 2006.

Franco Columbu trading card – He has been an inspiration to me since I saw him on TV competing in the 1977 WSM contest.  He was a boxer, powerlifter, and bodybuilder. He won Mr. Olympia in 1976/1981.  He also holds a doctorate in chiropractics.

Geoff Capes trading card – Another of my favorite strength atheletes.  He was a shot put champion (I loved throwing shot put) and had a famous WSM rivalry with Bill Kazmaier.

Over the past few days I took an impromptu deload week.  My family traveled to spend Christmas with my wife’s parents.  I did not get any workouts in (unless you count running around in Tom Clancy’s Rainbow 6: Siege for Xbox One).  I figured in this post I would talk about the awesome training related gifts I got for Christmas. (These are a mix of gifts from my side of the family and my wife’s side as well)

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Pictured above:

Pudzianowski Poland T-shirt – This is a t-shirt from one of my favorite strongmen Mariusz Pudzianowski from Poland (where my mother’s side of the family came from.)

Home Depot Gift Card – This gift card is going to be used to do the DIY project: DIY – Home Made Deadlift Blocks – YouTube (will probably mix together a couple different sources)

The Perfect Man: The Muscular Life and Times of Eugen Sandow: Victorian Strongman by David Waller – This book is about one of the first great strongmen/bodybuilders ever.  When I am finished reading it I will post a book review on the blog.

Iron Nation: Passion for Hard Training by Bob Whelan and Drew Israel – This book is full of interviews with greats in the lifting world.  It was written to”chronicle the most significant developments in the filed of strength training…”

Beast T-shirt – This t-shirt was made specifically for me.  On the back it says Heavy Hammer Gym.  I will probably wear it in one of my Daily “Selfie” pics soon.

CAP Loadable Dumbbell – This DB will come in handy.  I have a set of DBs, but they only go up to 50 lbs.  I have surpassed that weight.  I had another loadable DB that I used to train 1-arm DB press for Strongman.  With both of them I can now do my normal DB routines and be able to go up in weight.  (Today I did 62 lbs each DB. Yes I know that is a random number, but that is what they figured out to weigh.)

Not Pictured – another t-shirt that I will post in my next Daily “Selfie”.

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Pictured Above:

2 framed photos: Top – Jón Páll Sigmarsson – another one of my favorite strongmen.  This is a picture of when he competed in a bodybuilding show. Bottom – Mariusz Pudzianowski – a picture of the man that goes along with the shirt from before.

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Pictured Above:

Stamina Air-Resistance Bike – This exercise bike will help with my cardio and general health.  Heavy Hammer Gym has been missing a cardio/conditioning section.  I now have three pieces of indoor cardio equipment – a InMotion Compact Elliptical (also Stamina brand), this stationary bike, and a jump rope.  This goes along with my outdoor cardio equipment – a pair of farmers walk handles, a couple semi-tires, and one small(ish) tractor tire. My brother-in-law gave me the handy-dandy seat cover and it has already being used.

Not Pictured: some other random stuff like beef jerky, turkey jerky, deer jerky, bacon jerky, Gatorade, and Gatorade powder. Also got some Amazon gift cards.  I used them today to purchase a few more training related items.  As soon as they come in I will post pics of them too.

Wednesday – Shoulders/Arms

Overhead Press – 135x3x9

Seated Dumbbell Press – 30x3x9

Hammer Curls – 25x3x9

Dips – bwx3x9

Daily “Selfie” – BulkyBoy Strongman Division T-shirt. I got this for Christmas last year from my brother-in-law Kyle. One of my favorite sleeveless shirts.20151125_052127.jpg

Tuesday – Quads, Back, Calves

Front Squat – 145x3x9

Bent Over Row – 145x3x9

Dumbbell Shrugs – 50x3x20

Standing Calf Raises – 355x3x20

Daily “Selfie” – This my Iowa’s Strongest Man T-shirt that I purchased at the Quad City Strength and Fitness Expo.  I hope to maybe compete in Iowa’s Strongest Man someday.  I am also wearing my Elitefts Strong(er) Lever Belt.  I might have to get another one.  I have lost so much weight that I don’t really have a way to make it smaller anymore.

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Hello Everyone,

I had a blast this weekend at the Quad City Strength and Fitness Expo in Davenport, IA.  It was a great weekend getaway for my wife and myself.  The all day admission was only $15.00. The CrossFit portion of this event was huge.  I didn’t watch much of it because, to be honest, it didn’t interest me all that much.  It did look like they were working hard and the audience was loving it.  There was a youth powerlifting demonstration and it was great to see kids getting into strength training.  There was arm wrestling and the Guns and Hoses (police and firefighter) strongman competition.  The Quad City Strongman Challenge and APF Powerlifting Meet were great.  Saw lots of great lifts on the powerlifting side and saw some strongman events that I haven’t seen in person before.  The strongman events were axel press, axel-tire deadlift, frame carry, yoke carry, atlas stone over bar, and crucifix hold.  There were a couple special guests that I got the pleasure of talking with for a while, Fred “Biggie” Smalls, IFBB Pro bodybuilder and the 3x World’s Strongest Man, Brian Shaw.  wpid-20150808_090114.jpg

Brian was awesome.  He signed my copy of his book and talked to me for a while about his training and competitions.  I also had the privilege of meeting Odd Haugen.

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Odd was also amazing.  He convinced me to give MAS Wrestling a try.  So…I actually competed in the MAS Wrestling tournament at the Quad City Strength and Fitness Expo.

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Here is me standing in my Official Athlete t-shirt.  (I will post some videos and pics in a little bit.)  I actually won 1 of my 4 matches and was probably in 4th place, even though I didn’t see my scores.  I really liked it and will probably try to do it again sometime.  I got to meet a great MAS Wrestling team from Oklahoma.  Very nice people, supportive, and gave very good advice.

I will definitely go back next year.  I will probably participate in the APF powerlifting meet and the MAS Wrestling tournament.  Maybe I will try the strongman contest.   I don’t know.  What I do know is that I had a lot of fun and that I will recommend it to all of my friends to attend.

The only bad thing about this weekend was that I didn’t get to train and my diet was terrible.  I am back to the grindstone today.

New Toy!

Posted: July 29, 2015 in Announcements
Tags: , ,

Here is a new Strongman implement I got from my sisters boyfriend and his family for my 30th birthday. It is kinda small (only 200ish lbs) but will help with my technique work and my conditioning. I might have a line on a couple bigger tires as well.

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Hello All,

Last weekend I competed in my first (ever) strongman contest.  It was the 2015 Iowa Games and it was held in Ames, IA.  My main goal for this competition was to “move” every event, at least, a little bit.  The four events that we had were Farmer’s Walk, Tire Flip, Loading Relay, and Truck Pull.

Here is the full layout of how the events were to take place:

Farmer’s Walk – Carry 240 lbs per hand down for 80ft and back in 60 sec. (I only made it 14’2″)

Tire Flip – Try to flip a 730 lb tire as many times in 60 sec. (I only managed 1 flip)

Loading Relay – Pick up 180 lb sand bag, carry it 60 ft and place it on a 48 in platform, pick up a second 180 lb sand bag, carry it back 60 ft and place it on a 36 in platform, pull a 250 (ish) lb sled back 60 ft. ( I believe this was in 60 or 90 sec) (I loaded the bags, but only pulled the sled 7’2.5″)

Truck pull – Pull a 10,000 lb Armored Hummer 100 ft in 60 sec. (I only pulled it 75′.5″)

Here is the video link (courtesy of my brother-in-law Kris and my wife Karmen)

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Training was done with my friend Paul at the Anytime Fitness in Vermillion, SD.  I did this workout after flipping a 480lb tire for 10 min and doing a few sets of 3 reps on the single arm DB press with 100 lbs.

I tried to do some single arm DB work after my overhead presses.  I only did 3 sets and only recorded 2 apparently.  Any constructive technique help is much appreciated.