4th Strongman Contest. Some really cool events in this one.
So I decided to join
u/tophat_benny at Winter Siege in Dubuqe, Iowa. I was originally in a long off season, but between the cool events and wanting to compete a long side
u/tophat_benny it was hard to pass up. I had 2 qualms about doing this, it's smack dab in the middle of finals and the 3+ hour drive I would have to make alone. Well I was doing good enough in school that I could justify it and I decided 3+ hours really isn't that terrible. Just needed to blare loud music and down caffeine to keep me going during the long drive.
I arrived the night before 15 minutes before early weigh ins would end. So I weighed in with a little bloat and some heavier clothing on, weighed in at 213. Weight classes were Novice, Lightweight and Heayweight. So even though I am normally middleweight, I was a lightweight for this competition. Didn't sleep great due to a a pretty sketchy experience at my hotel, but I honestly didn't feel too bad once things got rolling.
Events: Overhead Medley/Stone to Shoulder. Max Yoke for 25ft. Power Stairs. Beer Cart Load and Lift. Thor's Hammerhold
Overhead Medley/Stone to shoulder 200lb Axel, 200lb Log, 165 Stone
True to form I failed the first implement of the Overhead event. Couldn't even get the Axel to the front rack. Fuck! lol. Some day I won't fail at Overhead events, today wasn't someday. I did actually get to train with Log since late August, but it just wasn't enough to push my pressing high enough. I am seeing some progress in Overhead stuff finally, so hopefully when I compete again in May or so I won't zero.
Max Yoke for 25 ft Lightweight Men started at a minimum of 450 and we got 3 attempts. Minimum 50 lb jumps. No drops, no sliding. Having never done Yoke before today I opened at 450 to make sure I got on the board. Felt heavy but decent so I went to 500 and got that. I knew I had zero chance of winning this event to I just. Decided to say "Fuck it, 600!" Even though 500 had just been a pretty reasonable challenge. I was doing this 100% for me, since I don't know the next time I touching a yoke again and I wanted to find my limit and push past it. Got it 12 ft 4 inches, my mind hadn't given up but my body just wouldn't continue trudging on. Just need to just stronger.
Power Stairs 160, 200, 240?, 280?
I don't know the weights of the last 2 implement exactly so thats just some educated guesses. 3 steps each. My biceps hated this event. They flared up pretty bad during warmups for this event, but they held out the entire event. Cramped up pretty bad later though. Again I knew wasn't winning, so I just wanted to make sure I finished the event. Cleared the event in 52 seconds, 8 seconds to spare. My competitors cleared it in sub 30 seconds.
Beer Cart Load and Lift.
Load 4 kegs onto an apparatus then rep out deadlifting the apparatus. Kegs were 135, 200, 160, 240 in that order. Plus they added 50 lbs in plate weight to the barbell we were using as well. My goal was to load the kegs and try to get 2 or more reps. I went slow and steady on the kegs since I didn't need a lot of time to do 2 reps, and I didn't want to screw up. The first 3 kegs went up pretty easy. The 240 felt heavy but it seemed to go up alright. Ran up to the attached barbell and pulled and pulled on it. I could barely budge it. I was in disbelief that I could barely budge it. No reps at all. Didn't zero since I loaded all the kegs, but no reps. I was a little dissapointed, but not angry. I felt a little better about my failure after seeing my 2 competitors who were clearly stronger than me struggle to get reps as well. 1 of them failed 3 times before getting his first rep, failed some more, got another rep, failed some more, got another rep. The other guy struggled quite a bit as well on the deadlift portion and got 2 reps. Really cool event. Glad I got to try it.
Thor's Hammer
Hold 2 Hammers out at shoulder level for as long as possible. They were pretty strict about this event. You got 1 warning about lowering your arms and that was it, and they didn't give you very much wiggle room. The weight was the same for all the classes, the difference was how we had to hold it. Novices could hold it underneath the head of the hammer, Lightweight Men had to hold it at the bottom of the handle, and heavyweight had to hold it upside down by the ball at the bottom of the handle. During warmups my biceps were crying when I got them into position. Told
u/tophat_benny I would be happy to get 5 seconds with how my biceps were feeling. When gametime came though I flipped a switch, found a dark place in my head and hungout there for the event. It was excruciating. I lasted 42 seconds though, completely blowing my expectations out of the water. I came very close to getting second in this event. One of my competitors only lasted 2 seconds longer than I did.
Overall I came in last out of 3 people; so I walked away with a medal, some good memories and friendships. Still just need to bring my static strength up. Going to do a very short volume phase to give my joints a break, 3-4 weeks, and then go back to some heavier stuff to get stronger for my competitions next year.
The guys who ran this said they want to make this a yearly thing, so if that actually happens I will probably do this event again next year. It was really well ran, fun/unique events, and just overall a blast. Also plan on doing my next contest in May and then the Iowa games again in July. Going to get a lot stronger for next time and actually try to get some practice in with the implements more.
All the videos and pictures are consolidated into this instagram post.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BrJAvuGAVMq/
