March 1-2, 2019 – Arnold Amateur Strongman World Championships

When I first thought about writing this before the competition even had happened, I felt like I was going to be writing my last will and testament. Why? I had finally qualified for the show I’d been working toward for the past five years. I guess it was because things didn’t go well. You’d think I would be ecstatic that I’d qualified for the amateur world championships. I had always wanted to go to the Arnold but made it point to go only when I earned the right to be there. 2018 had been a good competition year for me. September to March was a long time so it was my first offseason since 2016. It has been nonstop competing since I came back. Trying to make up for lost ground and time. So offseason came as trying to improve all the things as no events posted yet. When events were finally posted, injury struck. Been going too hard for too long perhaps. I had a reinjury and it was the same one from 2016. My back again. I started to scream internally as I couldn’t go through the nightmare again of being useless for 7 months. Was I already done before it started?

I’ve detailed in my training log about the treatment plan I had gone through so I will not rehash that here. Suffice it to say that it was aggressive and questionable to try to get ready for a competition, let alone the competition. The kind of arrogance that comes from thinking I can come back quick from a sequel of my worst strongman injury and be ready to take on the world. My parents had told me to go even if I wasn’t competing to at least see how things were done with the expectation that I’d be back there again someday. I truly appreciate that vote of confidence and it lets me know how lucky I am to have them in my corner. When it comes to my family, my coach and my friends, I’m blessed it seems. But I continue to be hard on myself, with contentment being only fleeting and continuously pushing forward.

The Arnold is in Columbus, Ohio, for those who are not aware. Only had to take two days off from work and the drive was uneventful. Talked with my father about life in general so that was nice. I really didn’t know what to expect. I was expecting things to be a bit more sprawled out but with how the parking garages and hotels were setup, I could’ve spent my whole time there without touching the ground with all the sky walks. Been to a few places while competing and somethings are different and somethings never change when it comes to cities. The rules meeting was at 7:00 Thursday night and was mandatory. I weighed in at 273.2lbs (I didn’t have to as I was competing in the HW open class) so under 275lbs which would be good for the rest of 2019 if I was healthy for planned events. There were still several hours before the rules so my father and I had dinner at a Brazilian steakhouse. Just like in the movie Bridesmaids but without the food poisoning and explosive diarrhea. I had to tap out after about an hour of all you can eat food. Rules meeting was certainly different from the National ones. They introduced the medical staff (a first) and there were some laughs from some of the international competitors. There were 44 competitors for the HW class but by the time we started the next day, it was down to 40. The night was not complete though until a woman approached my father and I offering a good time in the form of a “free admission” to a local gentleman’s club. Even had a little map on the one side haha. I guess we looked lonely.

The venue inside was huge. I actually hadn’t thought it was this large from the videos I’ve watched online. Large bleacher section so we were front and center upon entering the one side. But once the event opened, the swarms came. That was a lot of people. Not overwhelming amount as I’ve worked for an amusement park in the past but it was a lot for indoors. People everywhere just trying to make a buck based off the booths. I’m definitely not the target audience. With there being about half the competitors of Nats, things seemed to run smoother. I ended up converting pounds to kilograms for some of the international athletes. I was nervous but I think less about competing and more about my body holding up on me. I had picked up a knee issue in the last two weeks that doesn’t want to go away. I think it was from sled pushing on my deload week and turning too sharp. Had to tamp those feelings down as I had to do my thing.

The first event of the day was log clean and press. 330lbs for as many reps as possible in a 60 seconds time period. This had not been the best training cycle for log. It had started out good as I was hitting rep PRs and getting better at the log resting on my chest. Then I got injured again and I was stuff with strict pressing out of the rack with light weight. This made me have to do gym work on machines instead and then try log on the weekends. This might have been a silver lining as this allowed me to use a heavier empty log that was similar to the competition log. So I felt somewhat prepared when I hit a +300lbs log my last heavy week of training with something in the tank. With how these shows go, I knew warm-ups wouldn’t be ideal. Warm-ups were essentially 150lbs for a triple, 200lbs, 240lbs and 290lbs for a single. 290lbs felt a little rough but I’m not really used to 40-50lbs jumps on overhead. It felt solid enough but not sure it was 40lbs more there. I had already known my chances were slim. Ideally, I would’ve had more time to get familiar with heavy log again as my hamstrings were feeling it picking this thing up off the ground. I got set and went out there and took my time. I was only aiming for one rep if by a miracle. This was heavy. Clean felt good but it felt massive on my chest. Not like it was going to crush me. But it barely got off my chest. I remembered from Nats to not follow the log down so it wouldn’t hurt my wrist (I heard some international competitors mention this later). I gave it another shot to see if now that I had the weight on my shoulders if it would feel less heavy. It did not. My elbows at least stayed up this time but not even much off the shoulders this time. This was not unexpected but disappointing. By not getting a rep here, all hopes of making it to the top 10 were gone. Tied with about a fourth of the field for last place.

Up next was a farmer’s walk. The billed event was 340lbs for 60’ in 60 seconds. The course had to be shortened to 50’ due to the Wheel of Pain occupying about a third of event area. I’m also not sure on the accuracy of the weights as they were treating the handles as 80lbs but specs would suggest they were 68lbs. This was a pretty straight forward event really and it was going to come down to it being a sprint with the short distance and the weight. I really don’t need much to warm-up for farmer’s walk, especially with how much the pick takes out of me. I’d been training on turf for the full distance and to try and work on my speed. However, I feel I had made an error by focusing on the distance and forgoing training on concrete. This convention floor was really slick. Slicker than I remember the floor at the Baltimore Convention Center being. I’m able to push into the ground on the turf more and use more of the front of my foot which works with the forward lean style I use for balance. I didn’t have that here and I could feel my feet slipping trying that here. Also didn’t help that my back was starting to ache a little and my knee was aching. I was in one of the early heats due to bombing the log. I got set and I feel I got my timing right with the pick. But I was so slow on the pick and everyone was already ahead of me by the time I started moving. I never seemed to feel comfortable enough to move into my next gear and I couldn’t risk a drop here with how much effort it took out of me. Attempting another pick could put me out of the contest and possibly back a few months. Grip held secured but I think I got last or fourth in my heat of five. Ended up getting the course done in 10.21 seconds. This is actually good for me (awesome if 340lbs, great if 328lbs) but it wasn’t holding up in this group. This was enough for 28th.

After the first day, I was in 38th place overall. So two from the bottom. And with the events tomorrow, I could only move up in placings on the last event. Things had moved pretty fast so done before lunch time with the day. Trying not to think about the aches and doubts I was feeling. Had food from a Greek shop in the convention center that was ripped out of an old SNL sketch. I would’ve died laughing if the woman running the register said “no Coke, Pepsi” when my dad asked for a soda. Cleaned up and went down to see the pro show for the deadlifts. Place was mobbed and I was stuck watching from way in the back from the side. It was hard to tell what was being lifted but it was great to see competitors hitting competition PRs. Bjornsson was so close on that 501kgs pull. Dinner at a little out of the way Italian restaurant. Had to walk a mile through a dog park and down a back alley. Totally worth it. Pretty much waddling back to the hotel and then lulled to sleep by Jeremy Wade on Animal Planet’s “River Monsters” as Aquaman was going to cost $20 to rent OnDemand. Slept well surprisingly.

If I thought there were a lot of people on Friday, I was mistaken. Saturday was like double or triple that. Close to crowd surfing density in spots. People were just all over the place and in the bleacher stands that had been pretty open the day before. Had to find a spot and pretty much just stay put. The day was running behind like 30 minutes so before the amateurs went, the pro women had to do husafel carry. That was interesting to watch. I had explained to my dad that this was different from the men in that these weren’t all HW competitors but some were LW and MW from how the qualification process is done so I think that understanding helped him enjoy it more, seeing the really light women carrying the 300lbs husafel stone. Despite being a fan and competitor, this is my first time going to a pro level show and spectating.

First event of the day was an axle deadlift. 715lbs for as many reps as possible in a 60 seconds time period and as seems to be the case with these big Strongman Corporation shows, strap in your own time. Originally billed for 700lbs but with the long axles being allegedly 45lbs, the weight combination would only work out to that weight if the axles were much lighter. Didn’t really matter for me thought as it would have to be at least 100lbs lighter for me to even have a shot at it. Warm-ups sucked for this due to them running behind. So men and women at the same time to warm-up. Never good. My plan was to try and do some warming up to see how my back was doing. Partly looking toward the last event and partly looking toward the future. Goal was to try for 50% of what I’d like to hit at the record breaker show the next weekend (if healthy) and another part was to make sure I was okay from the day before to pick up a heavy block in the last event. Deadlift training had been nonexistent for the past 12 weeks with the injury. Only incidentally from axle and picking things up. So even at my best this was a long shot. After the short warm-up (did 135lbs and 315lbs) I went over to the sports medicine chiropractors on staff to see if they could help with my back, shoulders and knee. I felt a little better after that but I wasn’t feeling confident for the rest of the day. I went out there so I could at least make a point of prepping for when I actually will pull this weight. I’m fast on getting the straps on so that is good. Weight was welded to the floor. Tied with about a third of the field for last place.

A break in the action as the Wheel of Pain had come. This was kind of a welcome distraction. I was feeling all these aches and pains and some of the nerve symptoms were coming back in my left foot and calf muscle. I was worrying that I’d cripple myself. I had thought of just calling it a day and just going back to the hotel to sleep until morning. It was interesting seeing the wheel in action. Predictions had been off of assumptions but seeing it in person you could see what tactics worked and what training had been most fruitful. The highlights were definitely when the rookie Olexii Novikov came out and did his unorthodox oxen push style to take the lead and when after Hafthor Bjornsson collapsed 6” shy of Martins Licis distance and Licis climbed on top of the wheel in victory. Those are the reasons I love this sport. That brief respite from my melancholia was needed to get me back into the competition.

The final event (for me as I wasn’t going to the final day) was the Mouser Block carry into a standing arm-over-arm pull. Weight was to be 390lbs in the block and 550lbs for the sled and both for 60’. I trained this as hard as I could with the limited time I had. But there were changes. The first was that the block can only really hold up to 370lbs with regular weights and I had already anticipated that. The sled wasn’t really a factor with the lack of drag. I heard someone say the sled was 70lbs empty and there was 450lbs of plates on it when the HW class went. However, Rouge specs say this sled is 103lbs (but they’ve been underweight before from past experience weighing yokes) so that was either a little light or right on the money. Second was that the course was shortened. Already shortened to 50’ due to the giant movie prop implement but then that was cut in half so that each leg was 25’, with it probably being 2’ shorter for the pull. Shorter course meant it would be hard for me to build up speed on the carry (my pick up is slower) and then fatigue would be less of a factor on the arm-over-arm pull. Third was having the athletes start off the mat, so you had to do a short step to get to the block and then set your grip. I don’t really like this when it comes to fast carry medleys as I feel the risk of biceps tear increases when you can’t set the grip. But that’s just me. Didn’t need much in the way of warm-ups here. The block felt heavy (I had no clue what was in it at first) but when I found out it was 320lbs, I felt better. I did a few picks (some with set grip and others with the jump) and then did a pick and run to make sure I could move well on the floor with my knee. For the sled, I did pull with 315lbs on the sled (385lbs – 418lbs) and then asked a MW competitor (231lbs) to get on it so that I had an idea of what it would feel like perhaps. I knew I was going early since I was still in 38^th overall so I was going in the first heat. Didn’t build my confidence seeing several people get injured in the proceeding heats. Just had to block it out and do it. Time compressed when the signal went and I felt I was fumbling too much to get it off the ground. This was the best this weight has felt picking it up and then I was moving. Took a moment to get the sled moving and then I went into my 1-2 slam style out of habit. I saw out of the corner of my left eye the guy behind me was starting to move the sled faster. No, I’m winning this heat and I just started heaving it and got it across in two more tugs. Time was 16.15 seconds. Finally something that I felt went right. Granted my time didn’t hold up for very long but I felt some satisfaction. This end up being 22^nd place.

My performance ended up with me tying for 34^th out of 40. Running the numbers, If I had gotten a rep on the log, I’d move up 2 spots and if I had improved my all-time pull substantially and got rep there, I’d just break into the top 30. Humbling the level of competition. Also shows the arrogance I had of possibly making it into the top 10 with a zero event as I wasn’t even in the top half for my good events. There seems to be this trope of a person facing a challenge and rising to it. Moving on to that next level. I can’t seem to do that. I push things and get injured and find that I can hang at the local level but I’m not a big fish here and I’m drowning when it comes to the National and International level. I want to be there so badly and feel like I belong. I worry if this was much like Nationals in 2017 when I tried to punch above my weight class and got smacked down. I feel like I’m improving but the level is improving faster. That my only hope is to outlive and outlast. I’m feeling an increasing frustration with myself and with the qualification process for these higher level shows. While I’m back home, my headspace hasn’t yet made the journey it seems. I had plans for 2019 but if I’m not recovering and healthy, they may need to be postponed. I’m not too sure where to go from here.