T Nation

Where to Go From Here

#1

So after retiring from college track and wrestling I decided to give strongman a shot after growing up watching it with my dad. Entered the White Mountain Strongest man competition in the mens novice category and won my first event.

Now there’s a competition in Syracuse that I would like do next month but I’m worried about the mens open 231 class; Most of the implements I’ve not used before/ or don’t currently have access to. Ran into the same problem with White Mountain but I adjusted fairly quick to everything except the axel.

Should I put off competing again until I find a gym that suits my needs or just wing it again and hope for the best?

#2

You should wing it and do it anyways but if you want to actually be competitive in the “harder” comps, you gotta find a way to to train correctly.

#3

can you post the event?

#4

I have been training out of my garage for 8 contests. Never trained in a strongman gym before.

Access to implements is dandy, but not required. If you show up strong, you will be strong.

If you absolutely positively have to win every single contest you compete in, then hold off until you can get the implements (although, even then, events will change the day of the show, so you can never be totally prepared). However, if you just want to go out and compete, I say go for it.

#5

This is so true…Shows are hardly ever run “as advertised”

#6

strongmancorporation.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/NH-2016.pdf here are the results for the event

#7

True, I would just like to get a feel for the implements. I was caught off guard with a texas deadlift bar and was not prepared for how much it aided in the lift. The axel too was a completely different animal.

#8

Damn, very tough competition in terms of grip strength. Deadlift + axle c+p + farmers walks = strong hands. Im surprised there was no pressing event

#9

Also, I might be moving to Syracuse soon, do you know any strongman-like gyms in the area?

#10

Well the axel was a clean and press, and the one without a title was the hussafelt stone for distance

#11

I’ve been looking myself. I train out of an MMA gym right now and occasionally go toRIT to use the reverse hyper

#12

Ah, today is my fasting day and when my blood sugar starts to drop I tend to read too quickly and miss little things. Axle CLEAN and PRESS. lol. Good thing Im not operating heavy machinery, Im just designing weapons instead.

#13

@Aero51 was just looking back through this, if you’re moving to syracuse still hercules gym has a ton of strongman equipment and every saturday 315 strong has been training there.

#14

Tim, alot of the stuff you can mimick by making homemade gear for finding things in nature. Ross Enamait (not a strongman, but an absolute beast) trains with big rocks and logs he found in the woods behind his house. He also made some homemade tools, like sleds and sandbags.

#15

You are at huge disadvantage not training with actual equipment, there are several different 800 pound tires with different grab points, or farmers with 1.5 inch handles instead of 5/8, or a 12 inch log apposed to 9 inch log make big difference contest day, see if they have a couple open sessions available precontest to know equipment.

#16

I hear ya. Just back from nationals the lack of experience with the equipment definitely showed, especially with the mike bartos dumbbell. Great learning experience and now I’ve made some friends in the sport and with a little bit of traveling I should be able to get more experience with the actual implements.

#17

One place you can’t do enough of increase deadlift , and farmers walk, overhead variation, zercher squats, grip , and loading events with severel different imploments . Everybody wants hometown boy to win . So they might train with actual contest implements for 6 months, giving huge advantage. Good luck . One contest with over 50 grand total purse, told some the weight cut off was 210 so i cut from 238 to 207 , like in applications, but changed to 230 for some so i cut 22 extra pounds . Thanks mavromatis douchebag, owe and not being able to pay prizemoney priceless.