I have now competed in Maryland’s Strongest Man (MSM) five times. I am happy to say that the most recent competition is the best run I’ve been a part of. First and foremost, I need to give a pat on the back to Jon Ward and Colosseum Gym for doing what I thought could not be done: running a huge number of athletes (80-90 total) through five events, in a short period of time that allowed warmups for each event. All athletes even had enough down time between events to not feel rushed.
To Jon, JD, Ian, Matt, and all the other guys and girls who worked, judged, loaded, scored, set up, cleaned up, and did everything else that went into making this a seriously bad ass competition: thanks a pantload!
MSM fell six weeks after 105k America’s Strongest Man this year, which was somewhat unfortunate, because I was feeling beat to hell after training for 105k, and then I defecated the bed so totally and completely on competition day. To go from one gigantic and disappointing failure right into a mini training cycle to go and compete again was not exactly exciting. The only saving grace for me was that the events did have some overlap. I didn’t have to try and train up a bunch of stuff that I hadn’t done in forever. The only issue was atlas stones; I had not touched an atlas stone since May.
As a lightweight pro, I still have the option of competing as an amateur as long as I do it in the heavyweight division. The assumption is that if you are good enough to be a pro, then you should also be good enough to compete with the big boys. I usually sign up for the super heavyweight class, as it has the largest land mammals and usually the toughest competition for me. There were initially six or seven super heavyweights signed up, but several people ended up dropping out at the last minute. This left a grand total of four SHW competitors, all weighing at least 50 pounds more than me.
I felt like total crap when I arrived at the Colosseum Saturday morning for the rules meeting and warm-ups. This is not how I like to start a competition, but it’s also not necessarily a negative indicator. It never is. The order of events was set up differently for weight classes and divisions. The heavyweights and super heavyweights were set to do:
- Frame Hold
- Yoke
- Car Deadlift
- Axle Clean and Press
- Stone Over Bar
I was dressed in a ton of clothes and most likely looked like a homeless man on the mean streets of NYC. I have learned from experience that staying warm significantly improves my performance when competing outside in the cold or with lots of downtime.
Frame Hold
The pick height for the frame was about 20 inches, which is ordinarily an easier pick than most, but this frame was slightly wider than a lot of ones I have used. It felt almost like getting down for a snatch grip deadlift when setting up. The frame was actually a late event change, so I had only trained for it a couple times, using farmer’s handles in place of the frame unit we don’t have at the gym. I did get a chance to try out the frame before the contest, and worked up to a 700-pound pick and hold for about 20 seconds that day, which was difficult enough that I stopped there rather than trying to go up any closer to the 800-pound competition weight.
Before the competition, I wasn’t even sure that I would be able to pick up the 800-pound frame, especially since we were not allowed to use straps or suits. I was up second, following Ethan Farkas. The SHWs followed the heavies, which mean I had eight people to watch ahead of me. Usually this will help you see some problems with the event, but the only problem I saw was that almost no one could pick the frame off the ground.
My last warm-up was a 700-pound pick, and then I was up to go. I tightened my belt, wrapped my wrists as tight as I possibly could, kicked off my shoes, chalked up, and proceeded to turn in a PR performance. I picked up the frame and held it for seven seconds. I could have held out longer, but I hadn’t really trained grip endurance for this event and didn’t want to do something stupid like separate my AC joint or strain something my upper traps. I sat it back down just before my body started the death shake.
I took third place with this performance.
Yoke
I really like the yoke that the Colosseum has used for the last two years in MSM. It is very stable and, although it has a double cross bar like the Largge Doggie yoke, the diameter is smaller, so I don’t hit the back of my head when I set up. The smaller bar also lets me get better activation from my shoulder stabilizers. Everything went smoothly warming up, with the only hiccup being that I barely got to have a short run with 770, because no one else wanted to go up that heavy before the event started. I didn’t really watch the guys before me as closely as I did with the frame. I already knew what the keys to a successful run would be. Ethan went a ahead of me and smoked it in just over nine seconds. I was up.
I had a slight problem after I picked it. When I started to run, one of the front corners of the yoke scarped on the ground. I was able to recover quickly and took the 840-pound yoke for the 50-foot course with no drops in 13 seconds. This was about two seconds lower than I would have liked, but I still took second. I was tied for second place and three points behind the leader, Ethan.
Car Deadlift
Two events down; time to pick up a car. This event is something that I seem to be hit or miss with. I honestly believe it is because of not knowing exactly where to set up. The change in the angle of the pull isn’t something I have enough experience in. Of the few pieces of strongman equipment I don’t already own, a car deadlift frame is the one that I think would be the most helpful for me. Fortunately, I had used this frame before, once in training and once in competition. One the downside, I also knew that the care we were using, a Nissan Sentra, would be significantly heavier than the Honda Civic I trained with. I was right.
By this point, I was well aware that Ethan’s 10th place finish at the heavyweight amateur nationals was well deserved. He didn’t disappoint on the car deadlift, either. After all but one heavyweight competitor bombed, he nailed nine reps.
Thanks to the very low pick height, I was nearly unable to get set up on my own. With the METAL Jack Pro Deadlift Suit, super heavy knee sleeves, and P2 Power Belt, I had to have Howard help me strap in one hand. The timer started and I pulled myself down to what was definitely not a technically sound starting position. Then I pulled for all I was worth. The frame initially came up relatively easy for weighing roughly a million pounds, but I was not quite in the position I needed to be in. My feet, in relation to the frame, were not in a good place to transition from an upward pull to a backward pull, which slowed me down a little in the middle. I got my rep, lowered it down, and went for rep number two. I pulled it off the ground and hit the same slow down at the transition point — but this time my pec cramped. It felt like it was going to rip off from the attachment, so I set the car back down and decided that I was done with that event for the day. I left a little blood on the mats in front of me, since the pressure and strain had caused my nose to bleed profusely. Only one rep hre was just fine by me, considering it felt like the world was exploding when I picked it up.
My one good rep got me another third place. Ethan was still in first, and I was still in second — twelve point to seven points.
Axle Clean and Press
I knew from prior experience that doing an overhead movement near the end of a competition would make it noticeably harder. Warm-ups initially felt like dog crap, but I gradually started moving easier and got more pop from my leg drive. I didn’t do any mobility work for my shoulders before the event, and it definitely showed. I had to chase the bar forward, since my elbows were much lower in the rack position than normal. Just like the car deadlift, all but one heavyweight competitor bombed on the axle clean and press. This surprised me. The only heavyweight to get points in this event, Kyle Wells, went on to win the class.
Ethan hammered out seven reps, and I was up. I knew that hitting seven reps was not out of the question for me, but because we weren’t pressing as the first event, it would be more difficult. I also have not done any higher rep overhead work since May; the press event for nationals was a heavy medley. I wasn’t in a position to have a record-breaking performance on this event. The rules specified to clean once, and then go for max reps.
I continental cleaned the 300-pound axle with no trouble and went to work. The first couple reps felt pretty good, but fatigue start to set in earlier than usual. I got out of my groove around the third rep. I was able to finish five total reps before I knew I wasn’t keep my upper back tight enough for another rep. Rather than waste energy, I dropped the bar to catch my breath and rest for a few seconds. One more (much uglier) continental clean and I managed to add one more rep to my total. This gave me six reps and temporarily put me in second for this event — but then two competitors matched Ethan’s seven reps and pushed me to fourth. I held on to my second place overall position, but now was tied with two other competitors.
But I didn’t know that at the time. The only things I knew about the points at this point was that Ethan had won all four events. Even if he bombed in the stones and I won it, he was guaranteed the win.
Atlas Stones
It didn’t matter that I was tied; I’m always going to push until the end whether it’s for the win or just to finish for myself.
Ethan got four reps with the 350-pound atlas stone, loaded over the 54-inch bar. It was very cold by this point, and getting the Spider Tack warm enough to spread on my arms, hands, and wherever else people want tacky, was a challenge. It very quickly hardened as it was applied, which reduces the effective. I tried to wait until the last minute to apply the tacky, but even then I wasn’t really able to get it on how I like. It was just a very thin layer on my hands and forearms and a couple dabs on my biceps and chest.
I tried to warm up with a 200-pound stone. Just picking it up off the floor felt miserable. I could feel all the burst capillaries in my face and chest and the tweaks in my back — all things that happened during the frame and care deadlift. I was feeling well under 50 percent going into this event. There was no point in complaining, though. All the other athletes were in the same boat.
Time started and I went to work one last time for the day. First rep went over without too much trouble, but then I was stupid and rushed the second rep. I knew the biggest key to success on the atlas stones was for me to take my time and not waste reps, but I still screwed it up. I didn’t put enough pop on the stone and struggled with it for several seconds before letting it drop back down. No rep. Stupid.
I still managed to come back and hit two more reps for a total o three. This gave me second place on the event, but I was less than happy with my performance. I knew for a fact that I could have had at least four reps, if not five. My second-place finish on atlas stones bumped me out of the tie and into second place overall.
I was a little disappointed to not have won this year, but I did very well overall. I hit PRs on the frame and axle, and could not have won even if I’d had my best day. I always go back and run alternates scenarios for my performance and re-score the entire contest to see how my lack of perfection held me back, but it would not have mattered this time.
I’m very happy overall to be able to hold my own against three very strong super heavyweight competitors.