STRONGMAN COMPETITION WRITE UP: STRENGTH GAMES @ THE BAR

BACKGROUND

I last competed in Jul of 2018.  I ended up taking a long break due to moving/starting a new job and just needing to get settled.  Also, in truth, I was getting burnt out on the sport.  Signing up for this comp, I was still feeling burnt out, but with my new move I finally had a competition only 2 hours away from me vs my traditional 6, so I felt like I needed to do it.

Plus, it had a Conan's Wheel in it, which was part of my strongman bucket list.

TRAINING/NUTRITION

I need to point out this isn't a meme: I ate a LOT of the $5 nacho box with the half-marathon prep

As part of my burnout, I'm at the point in my life where I don't really plan to train for competitions anymore.  I want to just train the way I'm training and make the competitions fit.  In turn, I stuck with my traditional 4 days of lifting and 1 day of conditioning split.  Broke out to a press day, squat day, bench day and deadlift day. 

Press day was heavily based on 5/3/1, with supplemental work including axle strict press and behind the neck barbell press as part of a 4 move giant set.  Only push pressing I did was a backoff set after my topset of strict pressing. 

Squat day was rotating between 3 squats (buffalo bar, SSB and SSB front squat) as part of a giant set that included stone of steel lap and extension and reverse hypers.

Bench day was the Deep Water bench program. 

Deadlift day was Westside style Max Effort rotating between 4 movements chased by a giant set of deficit axle deadstop deadlifts (using a 3 week ROM progression cycle), reverse hypers and alternating between SSB front squats and buffalo bar squats. 

Conditioning was farmer's walks with a turn (driveway required it due to slope/hill) and sandbag medley.  This was the first time I had touched farmer’s handles since about 2015 (minus using them for shrugs), and it showed.

During my training, I observed pain in the left bicep.  I attribute it to the stone and sandbag primarily, along with curls done during the press workout.  I also did VERY little practice with the continental, working up to 256lbs for a single on my conditioning days and doing a single set of whatever my topset weight was on my press day.  Since the comp was clean and press away on the axle, I didn't want to waste a lot of energy on it.

On top of all of this, I decided to start training for a half-marathon (scheduled for 2 weeks after the comp) about a month out from the competition, so I added about 16 weekly miles of running onto my training.  And new job had me working nights for 3 weeks solid, so was averaging about 5 hours of broken sleep a day.  I’m pretty good at making bad decisions.

This was my first time competing in the USS, which meant competing in the 220 weight class.  I knew I was coming in significantly underweight, so I quit weighing myself and just ate to recover from training. By the end of my training cycle, I had put on about 6-7lbs of bodyweight.

COMPETITION

I also made sure to wear my sweet "Bloodsport" shirt

Drove a little over 2 hours and weighed in at 204.8 wearing full sweats and shoes with wallet, keys and phone in pocket.  I feel like when I’m this much under the weight class I should just be allowed to take video of myself weighing in at a home scale and send it in, haha.

Did my traditional warm-up of 2 reps with a light implement before deciding this was stupid and sitting with the family until the comp started.  My left bicep was hurting from the light continental I did, but it seemed that, in training, the first warm-up was the most painful, and after that things got better.

FIRST EVENT: AXLE CLEAN AND PRESS AWAY 240lbs

In a first for me, I never touched comp weight leading up to this event.  Just didn’t fit my training schedule.  Heaviest I had used was 220lbs.  My biggest concern was that the continental was going to drain all of my energy and I’d have nothing left on the press.  The mark to beat was 10 reps, set by a dude that straight up cleaned the axle and wore no belt while he effortlessly jerked 10 reps.  There was a 9 and an 8 after that, and then a lotta 0s and a 4. 

Surprisingly, the continental wasn’t terrible.  It certainly looked ugly, since I never got great at the final turn over and tend to have to limbo under the axle, but part of that is because I only use double overhand on the continental because 1: I’m a big goon and trying to switch my hands mid pull sounds absurd and 2: I figure it’ll cut down on bicep rupture opportunities.

Once I got it to the chest, I had to pause for a few seconds to let all the stars go away.  This would turn out to become a mainstay in the competition, as I kept wanting to pass out on several events.  I attribute part of that to being out of competition shape, but maybe the half-marathon training is showing in there too with some fatigue.

Once that was out of the way, I went on the hammer out 6 of the ugliest reps in the competition.  I got warned on the first rep to wait for the down command before I went down, but was given the rep.  Judging was consistently lax that day, which I think is the way to go.  It’s not nationals: we’re here to have fun.  I felt like I heard “down” before going on the downward, but either way it worked.  Rep 5 felt like it may have been the end, but I still had enough juice for 6.  I honestly think the behind the neck presses went a long way on this, because I kept saving reps during the lockout portion by grinding them back to the correct path.  Once 6 was done though, I was done.  Gave 7 a quick attempt but knew it wasn’t there before it even left the rack position.  6 reps got me 4^th place, which I was happy with.

SECOND EVENT: BARBELL DEADLIFT FOR REPS 455LBS

At the rules meeting, they announced this would be a touch and go event, and my eyes lit up like it was Christmas.  That having been said, I didn’t actually TRAIN touch and go at all leading up to this event, which was some sort of bizzaro-world scenario, as typically I train touch and go leading up to deadstop events.  I got to go second to last on this one, and the mark to beat was 20 reps set by a dude with a 900+lb pull.

I’ve pulled 405 for 23 reps and 495 for 15 reps touch and go before, but the extra variable in a competition is having to wait for the down command, which tends to throw off my rhythm and breathing compared to solo.  Nothing about this felt terribly good, but I chugged away on it.  The next highest to beat was 15, and when I hit 16 I heard how much time was left and did the quick calculation on the likelihood of me grinding out 4 more reps in that time.  Realizing it was not viable, I cut it and saved my energy.  It was the right call, as the guy after me did not beat 16, so I secured a second place finish in the event, which put me in second overall in the comp at that point.  About the only thing I think I coulda done better is really slam the hell out of the bar to get some bounce, but it’s not something I’ve ever trained and didn’t wanna mess with my pattern at that point.

A quick thing I want to highlight from the video, is something I learned from Clint Darden: I get asked “competitor ready” and I shake my head.  Primarily because: I wasn’t ready.  I see a lot of competitors not do anything with the question, but it’s YOUR opportunity to get set-up.  Don’t get rushed.

THIRD EVENT: 50’ FARMERS WALK (240LBS)/50’ SANDBAG CARRY (220LBS)

Once again: never used comp weight on the farmer’s here, but WAS using the same handles I had used in training, so that was cool.  That said, I was shocked at how heavy it felt.  It started to dawn on me at this point that this competition was about as lower back/posterior chain intensive as it could get, and things that would normally be ok in isolation were soon starting to show their difficulty.  I biffed the initial pick because I was trying to pick and run at the same time, but once I realized how heavy the weight was going to feel in my hands I settled on getting the pick and then waddling it to the finish line.  All that time I spent training with a turn paid off, because I had JUST enough grip strength to make it in one go.  If you look close on the video, you can actually see that the right farmer’s handle is in my finger tips as I cross the finish-line.  The judge asked “do you have any skin left on your hands?” and I replied “Yeah, but I sold off the rest of my soul”.  He chuckled.

Stripped the belt and sprinted to the bag to regain some time.  Whereas I never trained comp weight on the farmer’s, the only sandbag I have is over 250lbs, so that’s what I trained on.  Most likely helped, because the 220 bag didn’t feel awful.  Coulda picked it up quicker, but not by much.  Got it to the end and pulled my hands off quick for a 36 second finish, which secured 4^th place and had me moved to 4^th overall in the standings.  The next closest time was 9 seconds ahead of me, which made me happy with how I trained for this, as I don’t think any amount of prep woulda closed that gap.

FOURTH EVENT: CONAN’S WHEEL 660lbs

This was what drew me to the comp, so I was excited.  That said, I did exactly zero prep for it.  I really just wanted to see what it was all about.  I picked up the empty implement twice, and both times felt my back go out on me.  This was when I realized just how much this comp was beating up my back, and started feeling my age.  Went with the soft belt under the Inzer belt for a little extra support.  In retrospect, I had 3 belts available, and it mighta actually been the smart move to wear them all.  I’ve seen stuff like that before on super heavy yokes. 

2.5 full revolutions was the mark to beat, and it was set by the dude I needed to beat if I wanted to get back into placing position.  I figured “no problem: just gotta deal with the pain, I’m good at that”. 

Nope!  There’s actually more to the Conan’s walk than just pain tolerance: you need to be strong too, haha.  Picking it up it was ridiculously heavy, and it got no better with each step.  Soon 2.5 revolutions went out the window and I was just battling for 1.  I made it with 8 extra feet before the body just shut down.  I was honestly shocked and thought I’d have more in me, but the day was just hammering me.  I ended up tying for 4^th in the event with someone who went the exact same distance, keeping my 4^th place finish.

FINAL EVENT: ATLAS STONE (275lbs) OVER 52” BAR

I was feeling pretty good for this event.  I had been training with a stone of steel and no tacky in a sweaty garage, so I figured a concrete stone with tacky would be a cakewalk.  I was half correct.  I had zero issues on the pick, which was awesome, but I biffed the load.  I’ve learned my lesson: no more competition grade spider tacky.  It’s a great product, but that’s the problem: it’s WAY too sticky, and, in turn, it’s impossible for me to get set up well.  Once the stone is in my lap, I wanna get a feel for the best angle to load it, but I instead get glued to the stone during the feeling out process and just have to go with it.  I watched the video and my hands are way too low to get a good load on.

Which then turns into the next fun part of the day: this was the closest I ever came to blacking out in my life.  I lapped the stone, went for the load, got it to the cross bar, went to push…and suddenly I wanted to take a nap.  I had the wherewithal to recognize what was going on, and suddenly went into triage mode, where the goal was to not let the stone fall on my body vs getting the stone over the bar.  I went right and left with it before I finally regained full faculties and was able to focus on pushing the stone again.  Once I finally got it over, my back spasmed HARD, which is the fish dance you see on video.  What’s funny is THAT is when people thought I was going to pass out, but at that point I was fully aware.  Thinking through it, what I imagine happened is that my body went limp when I was about to pass out, which meant losing my brace and compromising my back, and once the load was off the body and over the bar it had it’s reaction.  I now had 1 rep in, and so far the mark to beat was 2, but at this point I knew I was buried in 4^th and that it would take a miracle to change that.  I gave the second rep an attempt, but once I met resistance I shut it down.  I’ve experienced that sensation in my back before, and knew it could go 1 of 2 ways, so I played it conservative.

RESULTS & WAY FORWARD

Maybe in my future...

Came in 4^th of 11 competitors.  I’m the king of 4^th place, haha.  But given all the variables at play, I’m content with it.  And, more importantly, I discovered I still love this sport, even if I don’t care to train specifically for it.

On 4 Apr, I’m doing the “Brawn and Brews” (or is it Brews and Brawn) comp in Kansas City, which I’m excited for.  Keg press medley up to 275lbs, Car Deadlift, Hus Stone and Stone over 48” bar.  I wanna try to gain some quality weight between now and then, as I’m in a weird “fluffy yet lean” stage right now and I might as well ride that out.  Once that’s done, I’ll be training for Murph again, which will let me drop some excess chub.  However, the immediate thing now is a half-marathon in 2 weeks, so the lifting will go into a bit more of a maintenance phase until that’s done.  I actually am anticipating some sort of super-compensation effect once I’m no longer doing 16 miles of running, and I may be able to use that training time to do more strongman stuff or muscle building. 

Also, apparently it’s time to get a new camera.  Looks like it died on the Conan’s Wheel.