Coach Aaron’s recount of his first strongman competition, the Strength Quest in 2013. Everybody has to start somewhere and Iron Revolution has been the starting point for many on this amazing path. Sign up at Iron Revolution today to kick off your strongman training adventure.
To say I was a bit nervous was an understatement. It was my first strongman competition. This actually meant something. Not you’re usual competition however as there are no winners at the strength quest, we were all there to reach a target grading to secure places in competitions for the year ahead. That is the purpose of the strength quest grading system. To give people an intro into strongman and to show you are proficient in the lifts.
I had been to 2 training sessions previously and I and been away on my honeymoon for almost 4 weeks prior to this event. Not the best prep thats for sure! I had trained 3 days per week for the first 3 weeks away and then nothing in the last week due to our location so I was coming in fresh at least. On the day my friend and I had decided to go fro an “A” grade pass. 320kg Yoke for 15m, 100kg log clean and press, 230kg deadlift (IPF rules, so no hitching or straps etc) and 110kg farmers carry each hand for 20m.
The Super Yoke
The First event was the 320kg yoke. This was the one that worried me most. I had done 280kg in my first training session and felt reasonably comfortable. Went to 300kg next time round and while I could pick the weight up my technique was terrible and I failed miserably….. This was 320kg and unfortunately my technique was still terrible. I picked the yoke up in a low bar position with a wide stance and was having trouble brining my feet in closer as I walked forward. The result was me waddling the distance of the event with the yoke shaking wildly from side to side bouncing off the ground and just looking generally bad. I had too many drops to remember and I mad it 14.7m in the 60 seconds time limit….. 30cm short of the line. It’s a pass but I was pretty pissed with the effort.
The Log Press
The Second event is one of my favourites. Log Clean and Press. Unfortunately I didn’t get any photos of this event. In my first session I hit a 100kg log clean press. Being comfortable with olympic lifting makes a big difference here. I am strongest in the clean portion of the lift. If I get a great clean I will lock the weight out overhead almost every time. My 100kg effort was a grind but I got it. The clean was bad and I wasn’t comfortable but I managed to get it out. My last effort was a 105kg lift which went up much easier than the 100kg. I was pretty fried after the battle with the yoke which I don’t think helped me in this case.
The Deadlift
This was a little bit of a surprise to me as I hadn’t really clarified the rules before hand. Under IPF rules no straps are to be used, there can be no hitching of the bar and you cannot rest the bar on the knees. It is performed this way to ensure you have the technical proficiency and strength required to compete in strongman. My first attempt at 230kg came up much easier than I expected so I opted for 240kg on my second attempt. I have pulled 240kg kg for 2 reps before prior to this with but with straps, a belt and a fair amount of hitching on the second rep.
The lift came off the ground explosively and felt really solid until about mid thigh. Then the lift slowed and took me a little longer to lock out but I wouldn’t say it was a problem. I did this with no belt. I decided not to take my third attempt as I had already exceeded the qualification I needed and with 1 event to go and the fact I hadn’t been training properly in the preceding 4-6 weeks I was very happy.
The Farmers Walk
Last event for the day. I was feeling pretty shattered at this stage. 110kg Farmers Carry. Each hand of course. I was last to go in this event My grip has been holding up well to this point and I don’t usually have any issues with it so was looking forward to getting into it. I completed the 20m distance in around the 14-15 second mark. Cannot remember exact time. Was doing really well until about the 10-15m mark when my right hip flexor started to cramp which was extremely unusual and my belt wasn’t positioned ideally which wasn’t helping. It slowed me down a little but was no big deal.
With everything done and dusted I came out as the highest placed 105kg athlete on the day. It would have been very different had two of the other guys not gone balls to the wall on the deadlift with 2 failed attempts. Hindsight is a wonderful thing though. The most important thing is we all learned a lot and got some actual competition experience under our belts.
The following day is my birthday and I was about to get in the car for a 3 hour drive to Echuca for my best friends bucks weekend. Not the best recovery but I was looking for
ward to nice cold beer after this thats for sure 🙂
