BOTTOM LINE UP FRONT (BLUF)
* I took 3rd
place out of 4 competitors in the “þyngdarflokkur þrjú” division in an open
weight charity competition. This competition
was a dream come true, as I’ve wanted to toss a caber ever since I was single
digits years old. I came to have a good
time and I did exactly that.
BACKGROUND
 |
| Thankfully not this dramatic |
* This
competition was put on by the same guy that did my last comp in Feb: The Trials
of Heracles. I really dig this dude as a
promoter: he’s a history and lifting nerd and he’s really focused on getting
shows done quickly while still being fun.
These days, after competing for 13 years in strongman and 16 years in
strength sports, that’s all I care about.
The fact that these events all support great causes is just icing on the
cake.
* This show was
unique by combining strongman, highland games and Viking tests of manhood, and
it was reflected in how divisions worked out.
There were no weight classes: you competed based on how heavy a weight
you wanted to lift. There was a bit of “honor
among thieves”, with the assumption that 400lb behemoths wouldn’t choose the
lightest class, but if worse came to worse, promoter had the right to move
dudes. It honestly worked well pretty
well: we had a de facto female class, novice mens, light-middleweight mens and
heavy class (going class 1, 2, 3 and 4), with appropriate viking names.
* I started training for the comp after having just finishing a mass building block of Tactical Barbell, comprised of Grey Man and Specificity Bravo, capped off with a cruise vacation of the Memorial Day holiday (that’s the end of May for my Non-U.S. readers), returning home at a bodyweight of 85kg, feeling large and strong. Now I needed to become lean and athletic for the summer. This was "Operation Cornhisterkur". Cornhusker for the Nebraska Tractor element, Highlander for the Highland games, Fullsterkur for the Viking manhood stones.
TRAINING
FOR THE COMPETITION
That's a fact, Jack
* I’ve
already done 2 extensive write ups about my training leading up to the
comp. Give them a read here
https://mythicalstrength.blogspot.com/2026/07/program-check-in-tactical-barbell.html
https://mythicalstrength.blogspot.com/2026/08/program-check-in-tactical-barbell.html
* To sum up:
I was able to employ Tactical Barbell’s “Operator Pro” program from the Green
Protocol with very little modification to fit strongman. The only event I didn’t train specifically for
was the Caber Toss, due to lack of equipment and priorities for my time.
* I took a bridge week leading up to the competition, which I filled up with weighted vest walks and Crossfit's "Cindy" WOD, just to keep blood flowing.
* Leading up to the competition, on 8 Aug, while coming down the stairs, I twisted something in my left knee (the one I blew the ACL out on) so badly that my knee swelled up like a grapefruit and spend the rest of the day clicking and falling out of the socket. I lost the majority of my range of motion and dealt with a lot of pain, swelling, clicking and instability for the next few days, to the point that I had to reschedule a fitness test and seriously contemplated getting imaging done, as I was worried I had torn the ACL graft. VERY slowly, over the next few weeks, with some aggressive icing employed, I was able to restore fullISH function to the knee just in time for the competition, but it definitely weighed on my mind, with me ultimately deciding that a charity comp wasn't worth blowing my knee out over, ESPECIALLY right before I went on a cruise where I was supposed to walk all over Europe. Funny enough, the knee could perform well for strength work as long as I wore strong enough sleeves: it was lateral work that killed it, specifically when I trained martial arts.
NUTRITION
FOR THE COMPETITION
True statement....
* Similarly,
I’ve written extensively about my nutrition approach, found here
https://mythicalstrength.blogspot.com/2026/08/the-roulette-diet-dont-gamble-on-your.html
* To sum:
since it was open weight and a charity comp, rather than go with “GFH”, I used
this as an opportunity to lean out over the summer for a cruise I have in the
start of Sep and to set myself up for a good solid long gaining cycle through
the fall/holidays. It succeeded: I
showed up stupid lean at a bodyweight of about 175lbs. My nutrition approach was a combination of
intermittent fasting and carnivore diet with 1 meal a week that included
carbs. Over the course of 12 weeks, I
lost 11.5lbs, without counting/tracking, and saw PRs in my training lifts.
MORNING
OF
 |
| Breakfast of champions |
* Though I
did all of my training fasted, I had breakfast before the competition. It’s a bit of a tradition to do so, and breakfast
on weekends IS pretty typical for me, even during this training cycle. I stuck with lamb and eggs: another tradition
at this point, aping from Hercules. Went
with 5 lamb chops and 6 sunny side up eggs cooked in butter. I ate nothing else throughout the
competition, and relied on 1 cup of black coffee with breakfast and another cold
brew coffee during the comp as my caffeine sources. I don’t really need stimulants for
competition these days, compared to my prior days of living off Rockstars and
Poptarts. I also made consistent use of
electrolyte powders, rather than Gatorade, because, honestly, Gatorade sucks.
* It was a
15 minute drive to the competition site, which is another reason why I picked
this one. Crazy local with such good
events. Once I arrived, I set up tents
and chairs for the family to relax and watch and proceeded to do my bare minimum
warm-up of 1-2 reps with the lightest loads possible on the axle. Ultimately, I was just testing out which set
of straps I wanted to use, before settling on the “Why Our Way” straps, for
reasons to follow shortly.
SUMMARY
OF EVENTS
Brevity is the source of wit
EVENT 1:
Axle Wagon Wheel Deadlift for reps: 370lbs
As usual, I
did no specific training for the deadlift event. ROM progression cycle with a Texas Deadlift
bar against chains: pretty much the opposite of this. That said, I came in strong enough that it
didn’t matter. The axle was STIFF and
that first pull felt slow as hell, but I settled into a rhythm. There was no up command, so I took advantage
of that and went touch and go for as many reps as I could, which got me to 20,
when the mark to beat was 19. The
advantage of signing up first: you get to go last and know what to beat.
I used my “Why
Our Way” straps for this, because they were long enough to wrap around the
axle. The crowd had never seen anything
like them before, which made me feel like a dinosaur because these were all the
rage a decade ago when Chris Duffin used them to pull 1000lbs for 2.5
reps. But, in turn, a lotta folks were struggling
to get their straps to work on the axle, so points for me to be able to dig
deep into the toolbox.
EVENT 2: Log
press for max
I trained on
a “12 inch” Titan Log, which is really like at 13-14” log. Meanwhile, we competed with a 10” Black Widow
log. This is a lot easier to press, but
the clean is a little iffy, as there isn’t as much to “roll” up the body. In turn, when I’d get the log in place, I felt
myself pretty off balanced. You can see
it in the video: I clean the log and stumble back and forth a bunch until I get
settled, then nail a pretty simple press.
I was being
strategic with my selection, remembering who got what in the deads, and noted
my 2 closest threats picking 170 as openers.
I went with 180 for mine, to have a lead on them, and when they tried to
follow suit, they both bombed out. There
was a 4th guy who hadn’t taken any attempts yet, so I knew I was up against a
log ringer, so I just went for solid lifts at this point. Called for 200, they couldn’t do that, so we
did 195, which I hit. We then got to
210, which I called for my third, while the other guy called it for his opener. I got the 210, but so did he, followed by 220
for a chipshot, so I had second here.
EVENT 3:
Caber Toss
This was my
first time ever performing this event, and because I hate warming up, my first
attempt WAS my first ever attempt. Seriously,
I can’t stand how shows take FOREVER because people want a million attempts
before we start. We effectively had a
full event’s worth of warm ups before we actually started the event, and I was
getting pissy over it. In turn, I didn’t
put that or the second one on film, but it was me learning the caber and
failing to turn it, which is how you score 0 points in a caber toss. All the other guys in my group were able to
get a turn on their cabers during their attempts, so I knew I had no chance of
placing above 4th on this, but I ALSO knew that if I didn’t get at least ONE
turn on a caber, I’d get a 0 on the event, which means NO points vs 1
point. THAT can change things.
On my
previous 2 attempts, I actually got the caber shouldered pretty easily. On this final attempt, it was a real bastard
to me, but, in turn, I was able to put some real “f—k you” energy into it,
because I was getting ANGRY with this caber for not f-ing turning when I threw
it. After what felt like a million
years, I finally was able to get it into position and give it a very solid near
12 o’clock turn, securing me at least A point in the event.
EVENT 4: Tractor
Pull
We were told
this was going to be a speed and horsepower event. Then the first guy went and couldn’t move the
tractor an inch. I got excited: I suck
at tractor pulls, whereas MAYBE now I had a shot because it went from a speed
and footwork event to a total grind.
However, dude 2 and 3 ALSO tried and ALSO didn’t make it move, so when I
went up I said “It takes a special kind of crazy to see 3 other dudes fail this
but for me to give it a go”. Which I did…and
I didn’t move it. And neither did any of
the heavyweights. Less learned for all
involved, but, in turn, we were all on equal footing on this one with last
place.
I’m glad I
didn’t try to train harder for this event.
All the prowler work was still awesome, and I didn’t try to get better
at harness pulls.
EVENT 5: Natural
stones to truck bed
I honestly
had some high hopes for this one. Been
doing a lot of loading in training and feeling strong. One guy picked a lighter stone than mine for
my opener, and then we all settled in for 224 as the “Halfsterker” stone. I was the first to go for it, and as you can
see in the video, it was a struggle.
Damn thing just slipped a bunch and wouldn’t set right in my grip. I was eventually able to load it, and then watched
the whole field do it with far less effort than me. So when it came for 250 on the next one, I
still gave it a go, but just plain didn’t have it that day. Perhaps I’ve lost too much bodyweight (trying
to grab a stone that was now 75lbs heavier than me), or perhaps whatever I did
to my knee 3 weeks ago had me taking it easy, but this excites me at the prospect
of spending more time building up my loading.
CONCLUSION
I got some big dreams
Looking at
the scores, I secured 3rd place by half a point. That’s the sort of crazy narrow margin I live
for. I’m pleased with how today went: I
fought hard, I’m bruised, bloody and satisfied, I’m 40 years old and still
giving it hell, and I am incredibly excited at the prospect of an off season
where I put on some quality size and strength.
The promoter said he’s going to do another show in Feb, which times out
incredibly well with my plan of coming back from the holidays with some Operator,
so I may already have my schedule laid out.
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