Current total: 830.5 at 132 lb BW - Florida State and National Record Holder in Junior and Open Women's Raw division
Qualified National Strongman competitor and will be competing in Nationals this coming October to qualify for The Arnold in 2016
I am here to live, learn, and pass on.
This past week, training has been conservative in preparation for this weekend at the Ironhouse Gym. Mike and I wanted to make it out there to Davenport, FL, to run all events as if it were Nationals, and to train with some of the best of the best. It was my first time visiting and have only heard phenomenal things about it -- including the people that train there.
We headed out around 6am on Saturday to be there by 10 or so; fueled up and got ready to start training day 1. I introduced myself to everyone and, of course, gave a huge hug to Alan (owner of Ironhouse Gym) for letting me train there. Alan recently became a pro strongman and has helped Mike with his training, so my main focus was to not only do well but listen and learn.
Event day 1:
Log Clean and Press 135lbs
Zerchers 305lbs (comp weight is 300lbs)
Farmers 165lbs (comp weight is 160)
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNKveaXAXBY]
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3o9K1kH0TQ]
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nH7GbVwVWMI]
We ran each event twice trying to beat our initial time or number of reps. Overall, it was a good day, but witnessing others beat their own time and seeing their reaction actually wins the cake for me. Candice Hardee, she will also be competing in Nationals, beat her sand bag carry and load by a mile and it was awesome to see her perform. I know she will do amazing. The guys definitely put on a show, as well. Carrying 900+ pound yokes...no biggie.
Event Day 2:
Circus DB/One arm DL
Sandbag carry and load
Ate and headed back to the Ironhouse. We went through warm ups pretty fast. We wanted to avoid having the luxury of taking our time and getting accustomed to big jumps -- trying to divide it by 3-4 warm up sets to comp weight.
I wasn't able to get video on the circus DB. I had to use an actual DB with fat grips because the circus DB they had was 80lbs. I tried to use it and act like a big girl but it just wasn't my time to press 80lbs, yet. We ran these twice making it my worst event: no press on set 1 and only one press and one deadlift on set 2. I told Alan let me try one more time and he responded "ok, but don't waste my time and get it done" (pressure I feed off of).
As I'm chalking up he goes to help me and says "if you're not having fun, then what's the point." There was no video because "you have to earn those." Started set 3 and finished with 2 presses and 2 deadlifts. Not my best either but I did better after the fact, and presses looked easier. I was content and ready to move on...until it started pouring. We couldn't finish training, so it was decided we would run a full mock meet next weekend.
A sincere thank you to Ironhouse Gym for having me. Alan, you are such a teddy bear, thank you for taking such good care of us. And a big thank you to Mike for introducing me to some pretty amazing people. You're right when you say it is a one man sport, but helping and cheering on your friends, teammates, and fellow competitors is what it's really about and what makes this journey worthwhile. Looking forward to the gang getting together again in a few weeks!
