Monday, November 9, 2009

Signature Fitness Strongman Contest

First off I would like to say congrats to all the winners at the show and to my training partner Justin Poma for placing fourth in the novice division. Now onto the show, I got there at 9:30 for weigh-ins and tip the scale at 215, which is about right. They went over the rules at 10:30, but that did not matter because they changed everything as the day went on. Initially it started out with 6 events but we only finished with five. I hope you can see where this is going. Before I get started with the breakdown of the show I want to say that the three guys that beat me would have done so regardless, so hats off to them and to Dave Beers who won the LW open division. Now to the events;

1. Log C&P for reps- One clean and then rep as many times as possible in 60 seconds. The weight was 220lbs with a Slaters true log. The clean was easy and smooth and then the presses felt good. In training I usually get 6-7 reps, here I managed to get 9 or 10 but only 8 were counted. This put me in 5th place, so not a good start for me.

2. Deadlift Medley- We had a trap bar with 515 for three reps, than a fat bar with 465 for three reps, and ended with a barbell with 565 for reps until time ran out, we had 75secs. First lift was good, felt a little heavy, but pushed them out. The fat bar went really easy so I decided to go into the barbell without resting a second and got it to my knees and than just ran out of gas. I gave it a few more tries and could not get it past my knees. 565 is my max deadlift so I was hoping to hit one or two, but I did not wait to catch my breath and regroup. I got 4th in this event.

This is where the problems arise the tire flip sled pull was a disaster. First they did not test the sled and when it came down to it no one could push it, so they changed it to a pull. The tire was supposed to be 600 but instead they did not feel like moving the tires so we got to flip and pull the same as the heavies. It ended up being a 750 tire flip for 75' not 50' and a sled pull fro 75'. This also took roughly three hours to finish.

3. 750 Tire Flip/ Sled Pull-It was about an hour and half after my deadlifts that this actually started, which is not good. Regardless of the situation this is not my best event by far and realized that after this attempt. I ended up flipping the tire one flip before the finish and my legs were fried. I need a lot of work at this event and I will practice it religiously from here on out. I placed 6th in this event.

4. Farmers Walk- An hour to two later and thirty lbs heavier we were off. This was initially supposed to be one straight shot because they deemed it too dangerous to go down the incline. When push came to shove they decided it would be easier to not have too continue to reset the farmers then to worry about safety. It was up an incline and then down. No clue how many feet because that changed about four times. I finished it in 30:35 secs; this was good enough for 5th.

5. Stone for Reps 250lbs stone for reps over some height on a yoke bar. The show started at 11:00 it was now 5:30. I got it 7 times and was ready to go home. This effort was good for 4th. I finished the show in fifth. Not the best showing but I learned a lot about what I need to work on and will perform better at the next show.

I was not making excuses for why I lost; I lost to guys who were just better than me on that day. I am just trying to show you how the show was a cluster and it really killed the energy from everyone. I will post a video of the competition for myself and for my training partner Justin. Thanks to BSN for supporting us and thanks to my family for all the help and support.

2 comments:

  1. WOW....It took me less than the first sentence to realize "something was up". Having taken part in "competitions" the last 3 years (skydiving), I know all too well how frustrating it can be when "things change" without real warning or for good reason or to consider safety. Whatever the reason, it's enough to throw off the mojo and...well...then it is just "off". Congrats on the effort and the maintained positive attitude for the masses. You are still a superstar in many eyes I'm sure!

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  2. That sucks about the event changes. At least you got some PR's and you learned some things and that's all you can really ask for from any contest.

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