Squating with Marlboro's

Serious goals are important.  After all it gives us something to shoot for.  So that being said, as I am 7 weeks out from my first NAS competition of the 2011 season I hope to qualify for two national competitions, opens and masters. 

To maintain a good balance and to refrain from taking myself too serious I am setting two not so serious goals. 

Not so serious goal number one is to get thrown out of a health club or fitness center of sort for being too abusive on the equipment.  Perhaps this is most easily accomplished by doing power cleans and dropping the weight from shoulder height numerous times.  Not so serious goal number two is to do a free squat (butt to ankles or butt to grass) with 315 pounds and a lit Marlboro dangling from my lips.  Three wheels is a pretty easy squat for me but with a lit cig it could be kind of tuff with limited breathing and smoke in my face.  I promise to post pics of the Marlboro squat and hopefully a vid of mister gel head wanna-be asking me to leave his fitness center.

I got my man card back IMHO

So last week I stepped out of my "man box" and took a yoga class.  I was told numerous times yoga would help a great deal with flexibility thus translating into increasing strength and prevention of injury.   The bad news is my “man card” was taken by many for stooping to do such a “fill in the blank” workout.  You get the point what I mean by fill in the blank.  Well one week later there I was again back at my Wednseday morning yoga class “man cardless”(if such a word exists).  So after 2 yoga sessions and my man card revoked I have come to realize yoga has made my nagging shoulder injury feel much better since it appears it has a flexibility issue.  So with a much improved shoulder but no man card I was seeking to get my man card back which I think I earned back from nobody other than one of the strongest men in the United States named Derrick Poundstone. 

Poundstone is a professional heavyweight strongman that hosts his own national radio show titled Poundstone Radio  and oh ya btw he was a guest on ESPN Gameday this fall and pulled the ESPN Tour Bus with nothing more than a harness  around his shoulders and a two inch thick rope.  Yep same thing we do in strongman but it’s usually a dump truck, back-hoe, or monster truck weighing around 20,000 pounds.  But certainly no freaking tour bus!!  On Poundstone Radio one can call in and ask him anything you want about training, diet, or anything health related.  So needing my man card back I bit the bullet and called in.  I told Derrick I was an amateur strongman on the west coast and wanted his opinion on yoga and if it would help increase strength and prevent injury.  Ah yes his response was picture perfect.  He said he had been experiencing upper back pain and discomfort and his team of physical therapists said it was due to a lack of stretching and flexibility.  His people also recommended he take a yoga class which Poundstone said he planned on doing.   So there you have it, if Derrick, I can pull a tour bus Poundstone is down with it so am I.  Soooo I get my man card back imho.  Thank you D-Pound!!!

Would you slap me?

I have a common question I like to ask people that train at my gym.  What I ask them is if I was going after a PR would you slap me across the face to get me more fired up? (PR means Personal Record for those of you that know gym speak). Every person I asked at AI (that stands for American Iron Gym) said they would minus one individual.  And oh ya I took his man card for saying no.  I’m kinda chapped he said no because he is a total bad ass that teaches martial arts and could do some serious damage with a slap of sort.  So to take “slap” to another level I believe if someone is willing to slap me then they not only care about my performance they are also cut from the same freakish cloth that I am.  And to define freakish cloth I guess that means someone who trains strongman or power lifts or more importantly it is someone who would rather not be in existence if they couldn’t lift heavy weights.   So that being said, would you slap me?

Rookie Move and Another Obstacle

 

I don’t read many books but when I do it is usually something that I have a lot of interest in.  Years ago I used to follow NASCAR to a tee.  Dale Earnhardt and his son Junior were my favorites.  Junior published a book that I read cover to cover and several times throughout the book he referenced several mistakes he made during his rookie year.  So like June-Bug, (Junior’s nickname) I have to admit my rookie mistake on my blog titled “Let’s Get It Started”. 

As a holder of three Master’s Degrees, yes you read that correctly, I have no reason not to proof read my own work before posting a public document with my name on it. To make it worse I actually have a publication in the Wake Forest University library.    So for clarification as I compete on the NAS circuit I am usually competing against guys that are in their twenties and early thirties and outweigh me by 30-40 pounds.  I am 42 years old and weigh 195 on a heavy day.  So if you don’t know much about strongman let me help you out…. I’m at a big disadvantage, which is nothing new to me.  Ya I grow up kind of a rich kid that had everything I wanted and needed but when it came to athletics I was at a disadvantage because I was small in stature. Let’s be honest about it; I’m 5’6 on a short day and have been competing since I was 8 years old.  Whether it was baseball (the sport I love the most), soccer, football, basketball, coaching college football, coaching student-athletes to be better students, and now strongman I have always had to overcome something.  Strongman has been no different overcoming obstacles.  Lighter in body weight and older in age than a majority of my competition is just fine with me and I am having a blast and doing my passion.

Let's Get It Started!

Been contemplating doing a blog for quite some time now and decided its time to make it happen.  One valuable lesson I have learned the last two years is that nothing changes unless something changes and the first step is the hardest but once that step is made a great variety of doors and opportunity follows.  Or maybe I just call it “Just Do it”  That being said its time to open another door and see where it leads.  Not sure where I am headed with this blog but what I do know it is off the “back burner” and something I am going to pursue. 

Been training Strongman for 14 months now and have enjoyed every day of it.  To clarify to many out there that don’t know much about the sport or what I do I am a member of North American Strongman Corporation which is the premier amateur strongman corporation in the world.  Last year was my first year competing as I competed in 5 contests.  I actually thought I was strong as I entered my first contest in Huntington Beach.  As I left Huntington after the comp I was humbled at the bar of strength I needed to be at to hang in this sport.  I didn’t let being at the time weighing 40-45 lbs less than my competition or being around 15 years younger stop me.  (I say “at the time” because I weighed in at 185 and today I weighed 194).  I choose to move on and get stronger.  I ended up competing in 4 more competitions with the hi-lite competing in Master’s Nationals in New York in October.  Three weeks later I would compete in San Diego.  I was hesitant to compete with such a short period of time between contests but with the nudge and help of fellow strongman Ron Strahan I did it.  BTW Ron is the closest thing I have to a training partner.  He lives in Lake Plumas, California and makes his way to Reno a few times to month.  The San Diego contest gave me great confidence heading into the 2011 NAS season.  It took that little nudge, that little “just do it” that I mentioned at the start that opens up doors. 

My next competition I plan on competing is in Meridian, Idaho in February then back to Huntington Beach in March.  I use the word “plan” because you never know what could happen.  Training strongman is very painful to the body.  The goals I have for the 2011 NAS season are to compete in both Master’s Nationals and Open National Championships.