Hello Dream Team,

I have been just training for life, liberty and the pursuit of bumpiness for the past few months. With no competitions currently in sight I have been mixing various training styles, implements, exercises and just rolling with them for a few weeks at a time. With that being said I do miss the time frame goal, game time feeling that competing in powerlifting and strongman provide. So that got me thinking, why don’t I talk about my experiences in both and work to inspire or push you and the strong folks at Union and abroad to try new competitions.

Let it be known that ANYONE can compete in either of these sports and more people will support and cheer for you than grumble and poke fun. For those people that poke fun at people competing you’re not cool or helping new people enjoy the sport you do, we can have a chat later about that. If you are competing for the first time in either of these sports, I would recommend getting a coach that has competed or training with people that have competed. This will help boost your confidence and not go into training and competition without purpose, drive and knowledge. The saying “I don’t know if I’m ready yet” is the reason we prepare and train for the competition. Have no fear, find some battle buddies, coaches and let’s get at er!

In the grand scheme of things the two sports (powerlifting & strongman) are similar in training. Your goal should be to have a strong base of work capacity, proficient technique in the BIG moments (Squat Bench Dead Carry & Overhead Press) , build some muscle because you can’t flex bone and much to many people’s anti-cardio hearts, have a good aerobic capacity (mostly for recovery purposes but also so you aren’t a lump after your first event). I would say another cool thing about these sports is that the majority of people competing and supporting athletes are very nice, helpful and educational. They as anyone would want to see their sport grow and attract more attention.

There are a few differences I noticed in training and competing for both sports. In a full powerlifting competition you will always squat, bench and deadlift in that order. Strongman however can have 3-5 or more various events that you will usually know upon signing up but could also change due to equipment or other issues (the mystery is part of the fun).  While training for powerlifting I would recommend having a squat, bench, deadlift and second press emphasis day focusing on building your competition lifts. While training for strongman I would still keep my 3 strength and main mover days going but I would emphasis the Overhead press and deadlift more since that is used more in strongman. I would throw a variation squat and bench in to help strengthen my movements and keep building muscle. Also in Strongman, you will usually be head to head with another competitor but I would tell anyone to focus on their own efforts and do the best they can.

Overall I had a blast competing in both Strongman & Powerlifting. I liked seeing my maximal strength in the powerlifting competition and pushing the gas pedal in the strongman competition. I will definitely be doing more of both soon and would love to talk more in person with people who are interested in joining me in training and competitions.

Pitter patter let’s get at er and have some fun trying new events.

Union,

About 12 weeks ago, I decided to train for something that I have never done but always thought looked cool. Fast forward a few weeks and wham bam, first Strongman competition is in the books.

Most of us at Union know how powerlifting meets go and the general rules and procedures of them, if not go back and check out Todd and Curts’ blogs about what to expect at a powerlifting meet. Strongman is a little different in regards to the events. Where powerlifting always has the squat, bench and deadlift, Strongman has various events that never seem to be the same from competition to completion. This competition had 5 total events; Log Clean & Press for 60 seconds, Deadlift for 60 seconds, Heavy Sandbag and Frame Carry Medley, Sandbag/Keg Toss over Bar and Hand over Hand Rope Pull. As in powerlifting there are weight classes so you are competing against people of similar weight. The events are scored by points, whoever finishes first gets the most points and by the end of the day, the competitor with the most points wins the day.

Skylyn and I both competed in the Novice class since it was our first meet. She competed at lightweight and I did the  heavyweight class.

Here were are results.

• Log Press: Sky 6 reps at 95lbs.
• Me 4 reps at 220 10 reps at 180.
• Deadlift: Sky CRUSHED 22 reps at 225.
• Me 12 reps at 475.
• Sandbag & Frame Medley: Sky 100lbs Sandbags and 300 Frame in 42seconds.
• Me 200 & 220lbs Sandbag and 450 Frame in 33 seconds.
• Sandbag/Keg Toss: Sky 3 20lbs sandbags over 10ft in 12 seconds.
• Me 25lbs 35lbs 40lbs 45lbs Kegs in 8 seconds.
• Hand over Hand Pull: Sky pulled 145lbs plus the Incline Frame in 15 seconds.
• Me 200lbs plus the Incline Frame in 12 seconds.

After all the chalk dust settled we both had come in 1st place in our respective and competitive weight classes. The day was very long from 8:45am to 6:30pm, so we were both the walking dead by the end. That day we learned a lot about the Strongman world and most importantly we had a total blast competing together. I would like to thank Vaughn for organizing and running the event, his staff was top notch and provided a great first experience. 

Will there be more strongman events in my future….only time will tell. Reminder, if you’ve wanted to try something and you’re not sure, just look it up and go give it hell. Only one way to find out.

CeJ