Another year of training, conditioning, dieting and sacrifice came down to two days in Reno this past weekend at the 2014 North American Strongman National Championships. As a 200-pound competitor, nationals is the biggest competition I face. Since there are no professional classes below the 231 class, the 200s are always stacked with the toughest 200-pound competitors in the nation, all wanting that #1 spot once the dust settles at the end of the competition. Reno is a bit special to me, as it was the site of my very first nationals back in 2010 where I ended up taking 12th place. It was the site of my very first nationals at 200 pounds and my very last nationals at 200 pounds. I’ve decided to move on up to the 231s for good. I want to see what I can accomplish there.
Before we dive into how things played out, I do want to mention that this was definitely one of my best performances in a competition. My training came together perfectly to peak me for this competition. I felt strong, fast and conditioned. I made no mistakes and the pressure never affected my performance. I had no bad judging calls and I left it all on the field in Reno. It was also the most fun I’ve had competing in a long time.
Thursday
I started my water load on the previous Sunday weighing 206. I purposely kept my bodyweight a bit lower coming off the Arnold in February than I have in previous years. I didn’t want the stress of a big cut going into nationals. I also wanted to train at the same bodyweight I would be when competing. I’ve handled my weight both ways over the years, but I felt I would be better off with a smaller cut. Thursday morning I woke up weighing 200 pounds. Since I was at weight my goal was to maintain between 198-202 all day. I headed to the St. Louis’ airport Thursday morning with my allotted food and water. I flew out of St. Louis and had a connecting flight in Las Vegas. I went to the restroom and pulled out my bathroom scale from my carry-on to check my weight. I was sitting around 198 after the flight so I bought a bottle of water and a couple very low sodium fruit and nut bars. A few short hours later I was settled in my hotel room in Reno. I monitored my weight all evening, taking in food and water as needed to stay within my weight range.
Friday
I woke up around 6 a.m., which left me with four hours before weigh-ins started at 10. I was sitting around 198 so I had a nice little cushion. I measured out some Pedialyte and started eating some glucose tablets every thirty minutes or so. Finally, it was time for official weigh-ins where I stepped on the scale at 199.6. It felt damn good to not be severely dehydrated and starving like I typically would be at this point. I drank the rest of my pedialyte and then headed to get some breakfast. I spent most of the day taking in fluids and food and went to bed at a comfortably full 208.
Saturday
I woke up around 4:30 a.m. (which felt like 6:30 a.m. at home due to the time change). I headed down to get my usual pre-contest breakfast and some coffee. Then I headed up to the room for a hot shower and to gather my things before heading to the contest field. I got to the contest site bright and early and just took everything in. We were competing on the street in Reno because they had part of the strip closed down for us. I walked around a bit looking at the implements and the field, mentally going through each event that was coming up that day. Then warm-ups started. This is usually pretty hectic at nationals. You have 200+ athletes trying to warm up on the implements. I got a few reps in on each implement and knew I was ready.
Event 1: 200-pound Keg Clean & Press, 275-pound Axle Clean & Press, 150-pound Circus Dumbbell Clean & Press for Reps
I’m always a strong presser so I was pretty confident going into this event. Once the whistle sounded, I had the keg overhead in one motion and was on to the axle very quickly. I had a nice easy clean and press on the axle and was onto the dumbbell. I came out strong and quickly hit five reps. For some reason, on rep five I got really light-headed and dizzy. Looking back I’d say that not breathing on the first five reps, coupled with competing at such a high altitude in Reno, caused this problem. I stepped back a second to catch my breath before hitting two more reps. This was good enough for first place out of 28 competitors in the 200-pound class. A great start for sure.
Event 2: 700-pound Super Yoke x 50 ft.
My yoke still isn’t great. However, my yoke used to suck really badly. In Reno in 2010 it took me close to 50 seconds to carry a 700-pound yoke 50 ft. Fast forward to this year and I carried the same weight the same distance in 14.29 seconds. Last year this time would have been good enough for third lace. This year, however, it only got m 14th. That just shows the level of athletes who were in Reno this year. While I wasn’t happy with my placing, I can’t really complain about my time. I was hitting better times in training, but that was with a different yoke that was more stable. I still beat my time from last year, and even though this is still my weakest event, it’s steadily improving. I’m going to get faster.
Event 3: 275-pound Keg Carry, 275-pound Farmers Walk, 300-pound Duck Walk Medley
I put the yoke behind me and focused on what was next: the carry medley. In the past, medleys like this weren’t my best events. I made sure to program for this in my training while planning for this competition. When it was go-time, I picked up the keg and it felt light. I focused on moving faster and faster until I reached the mat. Once I sat the keg down, I focused on getting to the farmers handles as fast as possible. I gripped them and took off again. As soon as I had them on the mat, I knew I had to get to the duck walk and cross the line. I grabbed the duck walk handles and was moving well. I got a little out of control trying to go too fast and dropped the implement. I had a quick re-pick and crossed the line with a time of 31.85. This gave me third place. I was very happy with this event and let that momentum carry me to the car-deadlift.
Event 4: Car Deadlift
By the time the car deadlift came around, we had been on the competition field close to 12 hours. Everyone was tired and ready to get it over with. I was watching the guys go before me and seeing a lot of zeros and low reps. Originally the rules stated we could wear a deadlift suit. However, at the rules meeting they announced no suits would be allowed. I didn’t care really, because I knew the strongest and most conditioned puller would win this event – suits or no suits. I liked seeing the lower reps at the beginning of this event because I didn’t want it to be a rep fest. As more guys went through the reps started getting higher, though. It started to look like it would take a pretty high number to win it. Since I took third the last event, all the 200s except for two went before me on the car. Dan Falcone, who won the car deadlift at the Arnold and last year at Nationals, was up. I knew he’d put up a good number because he’s a strong deadlifter and always does. He hit 17 reps total, but failed to lockout the 17th rep before time was up. He was credited with 16 reps. I knew there were two guys still after me, but I also knew that 17 reps would be hard to beat and if it was beat, I’d still have a top-three finish, which was still a good amount of points. Once the whistled sounded, I started pulling with one number in my head: 17. Around rep 10 I was feeling it, but knew what I had to hit, so there was no slowing down. Around rep 15 I was starting to see stars and felt like I was going to pass out. I hit 17 reps and thought I’d step back to catch my breath for a second and then hit a few more. Once I stepped back, I was game over. I ended up taking first place on this event and was very happy at how far I have come, since I zeroed this event in Reno back in 2010.
By this point it was around 9pm. I was super amped up from the deadlift and didn’t have much of an appetite. I slammed a protein/carb shake and ordered some pizza. I ate about five pieces and felt like I was going to throw up forcing it in. But I needed the calories. I laid in bed and drank half a gallon of orange juice and ate some more food before falling asleep.
Sunday
I woke up around 5 a.m. and laid in bed a little while thinking about the events that day and what I needed to do. I was sitting in second place going into day two. I went down and grabbed some breakfast with fellow 200-pound competitor Aaron Fondry, who was close behind me in third. After breakfast, I went back to the room for a hot shower and then went down to the competition field to get warmed up. The next event tore my calluses last year and cost me a podium finish. I had taken care of my hands this year and that wasn’t a concern, but it was the one implement I didn’t have available to train with: the giant wheelbarrow. After a few warm-up runs, I had the feel of the implement and was ready.
Event 5: 1650-pound Giant Wheelbarrow Push
It was finally go-time as the whistle sounded. I stood up and accelerated as fast as possible. I crossed the line in 11.58 seconds. I knew it wasn’t going to be the fastest time, but I knew it would be decent. I ended up taking ninth place on this event. What’s amazing is that if I was one second faster, I would've taken third on this event. At this level, every tenth of a second counts. I was happy with my time, because I moved as fast as possible and made no mistakes. I still need to get faster.
Event 6: 225-pound, 250-pound, 275-pound Keg Carry & Load Over Bar
I was sitting in second place going into this event, behind former National Champ Brandon McDonald. I knew I was going to have to win this event or be at the very top and he was going to have to place mid-pack or lower for me to pass him in the points. I also knew I pretty much had second place secured. I went out and attacked the kegs with the goal of moving as fast as humanly possible. I finished the full run in 13.12 seconds which was good enough for second place on this event. Brandon did what he needed to secure the win.
At the awards banquet that evening I was officially announced as second place in the MW 200# Class at the North American Strongman National Championships. While I wanted the win, I was okay with my placing. I performed at my best, made no mistakes, and had no bad judging calls. I didn’t miss a single training session this year nor did I skip a single exercise, set or rep in my programming. I put in all the work and let the cards fall where they did.
I’ve decided that after England (where I’ll be competing at 198) I’m done competing as a 198/200 pounder. My frame can hold more weight and I know I haven’t reached my full potential yet.
It’s time to get bigger, stronger and faster. I’m not done yet.