COMPETITION REPORT: FIRST PLACE FINISH AND NEW STATE RECORD AT 2024 NEBRASKA'S STRONGEST MAN MLW (181)

**VIDEO AND RESULTS**

Get used to this image: you'll be seeing it a LOT!

 

* Here is the competition

 

* I took first place AND set a state record in the farmer’s hold for time (220lb for 43 seconds, beating previous record by 3 seconds).

 

**THE BACKGROUND**

We all need an origin story

 

* This competition was one I picked out after a July competition got canceled on me.  It had similar events to the July comp, so the transition wasn’t too tough.  The big thing was, it meant I spent a LOT of time in a more specific mode of training vs base building, and a LOT of time being skinny, as I don’t cut weight for competitions and therefore wanted to be able to comfortably show up within the 181lb class weigh in.

 

* I’ll have to detail the specifics of the training phase sometime, as I’m really happy with how it turned out, but it was a multi-phased approach, starting out with getting out of DoggCrapp shape and into strongman shape, then re-developing skills, then developing max strength, and then a taper/deload.  I showed up to the competition feeling good, and left feeling that way too.  Been a LONG time since I felt that way.

 

* I woke up STUPIDLY underweight, at 80.4kg, and that was after eating at a buffet the night before and weighing in at 79.1kg.  So I had an awesome breakfast of 3 different steaks and 4 pastured eggs, swimming in grassfed ghee 

, drank a 30oz green tea and electrolyte mixture on the way to the comp, and still weighed in at 180.8 with clothes on.  Mission accomplished: I showed up making weight and VERY well fed.  And I didn’t need to eat for the entire competition with that meal, so that was awesome: one less thing to deal with.

 

**THE EVENTS**

Nothing this cool sadly

 

EVENT 1: Last Man Standing Silver Dollar Deadlift

 

* This was the event I was most concerned about, since my hip has been bothering me for a few weeks now.  I showed up pretty late to the comp, and warm-ups were already pretty heavy.  I stepped up to about 495 loaded, pulled it for a slow rep and felt my hip twinge a little bit, so I shut it down.  Eventually, the women started warming up, and I jumped in on lighter weights and managed to pull pain free for a few reps there.

 

* But all of this became a non-issue, as the guy I was competing against jumped in at the opener of 365, to which I waited until 405 was loaded.  We were doing 10lb jumps, and they kept calling higher and higher.  When it got to 425, the other competitor asked me “How high are you going today?”  I said “I don’t know”, because I genuinely had no plan (Chaos is, of course, the plan), to which he said “Because I’m done”.

 

* …well bleep.  At first I was curious if he was playing some sort of game, but he seemed like a genuine dude, so I took him at his word.  I took 455 just to get in a higher number, and felt my hip not feel great, and then I waited for 505 just to get a 500 pull, which was my third attempt and final.  First place finish.

 

EVENT 2: Max Distance 40lb Sandbag Throw

 

* A recurring theme for this comp was that I misread the weights for my training.  I thought this was a 35lb throw, but it was actually 40.  The 40lb bag here actually DID feel lighter than my 35lb bag at home though, so that was good.  My training for this event to just get in throws whenever I could, Easy Strength style, but I never really tried to learn or study a technique for it.  Watching people in the warm-ups, I saw techniques that made a LOT more sense than what I did in training, and decided I would abandon the plan as needed.

 

* You’ll see my “plan” on my first throw: a two handed hammer throw style approach, which got me a paltry 16’ and some change.  I needed to beat 25’.  So with that, I adopted the 1 handed style I saw other dudes using and got 22’.  So close!  Tried it again for my third attempt, and it was apparently not as far as my second attempt: they didn’t tell me the distance.  I lost this event, but at least I learned a better approach for the future. 

 

EVENT 3: Axle Clean and Press Ladder (160-180-200lb axles)

 

* This was the OTHER event where I misread the weights, thinking it was 150-170-190.  I got 190 in training out of a rack, never off the floor, once again trying to work around my hip.  This was also my first time trying out my Cerberus grip shirt.  I honestly hate the idea of grip shirts, but I liked the design on it enough that I finally went and bought one.

 

* The guy I was competing against struggled on the continental with the 200lb axle, and for a moment I thought he wasn’t going to get it, but he eventually popped it up and secured 3 reps.  I approached 160 and it moved smooth enough.  180 felt heavier than I would have liked.  And then I went for 200 and it was STUPIDLY heavy.  I absolutely rested it on the belt for far longer than should be been allowed, and the grip shirt REALLY worked well, but I had to effectively limbo under the bar before it got into the rack position.  I went for a press, got it part way up, and that was game over.  My press has honestly fallen apart: it used to be one of the strongest parts of my game.  Dropping my bodyweight definitely has an impact there, but I really just need to get back to basics and struggle under a bar.  I’ve been doing a lot of dips because I like them and I’m good at them, but they’re not what is going to build my press compared to just some hard pressing.  At this point, I’d won 1 event and lost 2, which meant I had to win the next 2 events if I wanted to come home with a win.

 

EVENT 4: Max Distance 220lb sandbag carry

 

* This was THE event I was most excited about, which sounds nutty to just about anyone else, but if you “know” me, you know that I THRIVE in an environment where it’s simply a question of who can deal with the most suffering.  I read the rules so many times and they made it clear: as long as the sandbag doesn’t hit the floor, you can keep going.  So I spent a LOT of time training on keeping the sandbag lapped and recovering.  About the only thing that was of concern was my hip and knees, because picking up the bag and carrying it beat the hell out of them.

 

* The other guy went first, which was a HUGE stroke of luck for me, because it meant I KNEW what I had to beat, vs having to just go for max distance.  He went for near 3.5 laps of a 50’ track, and I had marked off his failure point in his mind, so I knew what I needed to do.

 

* You can see in the video it was a slow and stable pick, and I tried to get the bag as high up as I could to allow my hips some mobility.  I moved ok for the first 2 trips…and then the most epic sandbag carry of all time happened.  Like the Little Engine That Could, “I think I can I think I can”, I would just meander a few feet ahead, lap the bag, rest, regroup and go.  The biggest issue I had to contend with is that the bag was getting slippery as I went, and slightly off center, so I wasn’t able to get great re-grips when I’d start again, resulting in shorter and shorter runs…but I NEVER stopped moving forward.  I inched my was just ever so slightly past where I needed to be, and unfortunately the video cuts off before the very end, but I tossed the bag just a few extra feet from me to make sure I had it.  In the end, I beat the other guy by 4.5’, with a near 5 minute sandbag run.  I’m sure I COULD have gone even further if I needed to, but thank goodness I didn’t, because I was SPENT after that.  I made a noise like a set of dying bagpipies, and went and laid down.  Also, I forgot to take off my fit tracker, and found out my heart rate got up to 160 during that event, which may not sound high, but when you factor in that my resting heart rate is 38, it meant I was pretty redlined.

 

EVENT 5: Farmer’s Hold for Time (220lb per hand)

 

* So now we’re tied: 2-2, meaning whoever won this final event won the competition.  I’d been training for this event primarily by hanging from my chinning bar and doing a pull up every 30 seconds (something I stole from Dan John), with a once a week training where I’d actually hold onto a loaded up trap bar for time.  My grip strength isn’t super awesome, but I was progressing well in training.  But, really, the big thing was that this was ANOTHER event premised around “who can endure the most suck”

 

* I chalked up, set my grip, pulled slow, shut my eyes and immediately starting singing “Somewhat Damaged” in my head as a way to distract myself from the experience.  With my eyes closed, I was listening, and I knew that, once I heard plates hit the floor, I was in the clear, but I ALSO knew I’d have to hold on for a few more seconds after that because we didn’t necessarily start EXACTLY at the same time.  As I was holding, all I could think of was “I am NOT going to lose because of this event”.  Did it suck holding the handles?  Yeah…but apparently it sucked more for the other guy, because I eventually heard the very noise I was waiting for.  I stuck with the plan and held on for a few more seconds…which is what got me a state record!  Previous record was 40 seconds, and I held on for 43.  So I guess my grip strength IS ok.

 

**WAY FORWARD**

Way better than Capt America

 

* I don’t have any other strongman competitions on the horizon.  I have a grappling competition on 8 Dec, with a top weight of 185lbs, so I’m not worried about making weight there.  It’s clear my press needs to be brought up, and I need to not push my hip so hard that I break.  I want to get back to basics and focus on growing muscle and getting stronger, because I’m definitely at a point of leanness where I can start growing, and with summer ending and a birthday, Thanksgiving, Christmas and a Cruise all approaching, I’m going to have an excellent opportunity to eat well.

 

* For training, I’m planning on running the Tactical Barbell Mass Protocol.  Reading the book got me excited about training, and it seems like what I need: basic and brutal.  I like that it has an opportunity to focus on my chins as well, because they’ve degraded quite a bit, and the conditioning will suit me well.  Nutritionally, I’m sticking with carnivore, and focusing on the meat and eggs and keeping the dairy on the low side.  And on the meat side, focusing on ruminant animals vs monogastric. 

 

 

* I may continue to bust out some throws here and there, to keep them grooved, and occasionally I’ll allow myself some sort of stupid strongman WOD to scratch that itch, but for the most part, I’m excited about getting back to my roots.