April 11, 2026 – Cerberus Strength Midwest Clash Natural Strongman World Qualifier

 Feels good to have a plan come together. Especially when it feels like a lot going on can’t be controlled right now. To borrow from Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers, it’s good to have some islands in the stream. Even if temporarily. I survived the last adventure and having a pretty quick turnaround here. I guess strike while the iron is hot. I’d prefer more time but sometimes you got to accept that it won’t be all neat and tidy with a bow. New things to try and old things to keep working on. One of two preliminary competition plans for this season out of the way and looking to secure another notch on my proverbial and I guess literal belt so to speak. On to it.  

Traveling has been a component with my strongman competitions since the beginning. My own anxiety had it be a deterrent until I did a local show and then I was hooked and willing to go places. Since 2008, I’ve competed in 16 different states within the US. And only flown to three of them. So a bit used to getting crammed in car with family to make a trip. And that was what was going to happen for this one being in the Midwest. El Paso Illinois isn’t really close to anything. Not that I live in some big city but about 3.5 times the population of where the contest was going to be. Closest airports would still be near 2hrs away driving. So might as well just drive all the way on the over 730 miles of road. This will be distant third place behind Shreveport (+1240) and Tunica (+960) as far as competition car rides. 

And the why with picking this show came down to a few factors. I main one with short turnaround for this was some event carryover to the last one. It wasn’t like I was starting from zero on some things. Granted, my coach likes weekly frequency so it’s not like I’d be going into a show with no touches on stuff. At the time, options were southeast in a remote part of Florida (that got cancelled for low turnout) a week earlier and one in Canada that was about the same amount of travel but events were not great for me in middle of May. Feeling like maybe see if tensions lower and stick to something in the country for now. The west coast show ended up being earlier too (after being middle of May past two years) and that sold out real quick. I had not known at the time that an east coast show would be available in early June about 3hrs away. But this does seem like the best option for me and I can travel somewhere new.

My father and I got to leave earlier than planned initially on Thursday morning as my annual physical got rescheduled to the end of the month so this allowed for more driving to be done. About 8hrs first day and then 4hrs the second day being the plan both ways. It has been a while since this much driving was needed for a competition as the past three have relied on air travel for the most part. So there was also an effort to find stuff to do at the needed rest spots. One such spot was the Uranus Fudge Factory and General Store just over the border in Indiana from Ohio. I may be 40 but I’m still pretty darn childish in my humor. I think my father was even more invested in stopping there than myself. The rest of the trip was a lot of flat, open spaces. I recall a joke about how you could watch your dog run away from home for three days straight.

Living in Pennsylvania most of my life, I thought I knew was bad roads were. We were not prepared for the roads in Illinois I can tell you that much. And those were the ones you could drive on as there were a ton of road closures in cities that the GPS apps weren’t even aware of. Could swear we’d be in some place and the road closure signs would just be moved around. Getting to the venue the day before made the most sense to check in and figure things out, especially since the contest got moved from the local rec center to the promoter’s gym. Ended up on some country back roads to get there when probably could’ve just been on the main roads. The promoter was there to check me and had his very young son with him. It was a small gym but had the necessities and an outdoor space. The equipment was going to be all from his stuff there.

I’ve done over 50 competitions and I still get nervous. I think I was glad I was nervous the night before and thinking about the events in my head. Means I still care about what I’m doing and that I wasn’t feeling mentally burned out. I had some worries as my neck got stiff Monday morning and it is still taking its sweet time getting not that way and then allergies got really bad driving through Indiana that I had to get some Dayquil from a truck stop. And that hip flexor issue that popped up a few weeks back. But in the moment, those all seemed to not be an issue upon waking Saturday morning and just needed to get myself moving and the nerves out. 

The venue and competition had an “intimate” feel to it with being in such a small town with local people and competitor’s family members present. Only 17 people total for the show so unless things were run horridly, this could move at a fast clip. Initially, there were 6 people in my weight class and then it dropped to 5 people. Day of the show only 4 people showed up. The bare minimum to allow for top 2 to be invited. I only really knew about one person that I competed against at World’s last year and place ahead by one point in the totals purely on me getting second on the Hercules hold there as otherwise he beat me on every event head to head besides that one. He was going to be my toughest known competition as I didn’t know much of anything about the other two there.

First event was the press event. This feels like the standard order of operations when it comes to strongman shows. Circus dumbbell with 160lbs/72.5kgs in 60 seconds. At least that was what was indicated but with the setup of things, it was closer to 165lbs/75kgs for the weight. This is fairly light overhead event considering things but still not nothing. 15lbs/7kgs heavier than what I did for Arizona. I was initially a little worried I’d not feel great right after competing to go into this event again but it fit like a glove that first session back. A little different with training in that doing some intensity alternating with EMOM and pauses and a lot of stability and triceps focus on accessory stuff. Deload was earlier I had suggested a greater drop in intensity for the last session. With how things were running, I was going second all day with the guy I expected to be the person to beat ahead of me. There is not a lot of standardization in strongman and there tends to be less when it comes to stuff like circus dumbbells. I’m not sure what brand this is or if it was a local wielding job. Handle was substantially thicker than what I was training on and had an odd grip texture to it. And the securing of weights wasn’t inspiring confidence (especially after having them come off in warm ups). I’d need to play by ear here. I did get in the warm ups that I wanted and there was thankfully a spare dumbbell to the side that I kept empty and did some singles to keep primed waiting to go. The number to beat was 5 reps. Not sure what was coming behind me but I knew that likely a single rep would be good here. But that is how losers think. The first rep I could tell that waiting and last touch that was heavy being 20lbs under was a bit rough but I recovered from the initial shock with it racked and got the rep. It wasn’t the cleanest and I knew it wasn’t probably wise to try and touch and go this with the weights moving around. The guy ahead didn’t have the fastest technique so I could pace myself here to potentially tie or beat that. Second rep took a bit to settle in the rack but the power in the drive it flew up much better. Third rep was even better and I was on pace for 6 reps here. Or so I thought. The weights were really shaking around in the dumbbell when I went for the fourth rep and I couldn’t get it up there. I decided to set it back down rather than try to force it in the rack for another attempt and just use the clock to give one more solid effort for a fourth rep. I timed it out perfectly and got that last rep. This can be a crap shoot with different setup but this was a good result. The other two athletes bombed the event so this was good for second place.

Second event was deadlift. Like I said, feels standard order. Axle deadlifts from 13” from using the in-vogue wagon wheels. 535lbs/242.5kgs with no suits in 60 seconds as well as up and down commands. I was feeling good after the dumbbell, getting those first event jitters out of the way and having it go well. Deadlift is generally not my strong suit so to speak and this is relatively light considering things. Still has going to be challenging for me and kind of knew this wasn’t an event I’d win. An elevated pull was likely going to be a little more forgiving for me having just done a long cycle with a bendy bar and then a suit. This continues to need work. Pretty much same as last prep with heavy and volume days alternated. Lots of lower back and hamstring work as well. I pushed myself and surprised myself with some of the sessions in the later half of this prep. Perhaps not in weight but in repeatability of near max effort weights. Pulled back on these early too like overhead. Again, I got in the warm ups that I wanted here which is a big win when it comes to shows. Warm ups may not be ideal with number of athletes and pace of things but if I can get in those bare minimums that will make me feel like I did what I need to feel up to the task or at least “ready” for what’s to come, that is enough for me. The wheels we ended up using were the harder rubber ones from Rogue Fitness. I like these if only because they don’t sound as “harsh” to my ears as the metal ones I have and banging on the concrete floor of my garage. One of the other athletes dropped out of the competition at this point as they felt a “pop” in their back during warm ups. So we were done to three but scoring off of four since that is what we started with. I knew the guy before me was going to win this event as he was definitely good for double digits at this weight. The guy on my heels I felt like was probably about where I was or a little above me actually. So aim was to just not miss a rep and use the time to get reps. My last warm up had felt heavy but I know that with this one that I can still get reps if it feels heavy for me. Time starts and so do I. Feels heavy but it goes up. Feeling a bit of pressure on my body, perhaps I’m still having some congestion from allergies. In either case, I decide it is best to relax my brace and get a breath each pull and space out the minute here. I don’t want to pass out either. Much like circus dumbbell, I get three reps in the first 30 seconds. Number four I get the stanky legs going so I know that I need to regroup for another rep here. I undo my straps so I can stand up fully. I didn’t mean to cut this one so close but my fingers were fumbling with my straps to get reattached to the bar. Five reps done (I’d had done 2 reps in training at most). The guy after me managed to get 7 reps (one sketchy rep) so I ended up with a third place here.

Third event of the day was sandbag to shoulder. A max event but setup a little differently. Usually those kinds of events are like rising bar or you get three attempts. With this arrangement, all the bags would be set out and you had 90 seconds to achieve you best lift. If people tied on weight, it would be decided then by time it took to hit said weight. So some gamesmanship here. Training for this initially didn’t go well. Technique for one bag might not work on another so I was anticipating my usual style not being a valid option going really heavy if the bags got longer. That led to a frustrating session when I struggled with a weight I’ve done easily. It got in my head and ended up taking a nap and bailing on the rest of the session and worried that I was not recovering well. Reverting back to my usual style showed me that I had only slightly lost a step but otherwise I was good and on point. But greater focus on deadlift did seem to sap me on these and I didn’t seem to be able to match the feeling of ease/success I did for that one session that got me feeling like myself. I also got a bit of hip flexor issue that flared up a few weeks out from the show and this movement seemed to affect it quite a bit so shut this down earlier in prep. For the best. I was feeling good going into this from the previous events and I had a little buffer on third place. But I guess I wasn’t quite feeling myself as bags were feeling rough. I guess the deadlifting took a bit out of my posterior chain. There was a wide variety of bags and different brands and fills. My hope had been leading up to this that I hopefully hit something close to 300lbs/136kgs and then take a shot at 350lbs/159kgs (assuming that was different sized bag). What I was realistically looking at here for viable options to really have any points was 275lbs/125kgs (Rogue Fitness), 310lbs/141kgs (Valkyrie Strength), 340lbs/154kgs (Cerberus Strength) and 365lbs/165.5kgs (Valkyrie Strength). The 340lbs/154kgs bag was the oversized bag style. 310lbs/141kgs went into my lap well enough warming up but the fabric just felt too slick to me with my style of shouldering that I felt like I’d waste effort going for it and it was too risky for me to open with. I could see the guy behind me aiming to open at that bag weight and the guy ahead did the 340lbs/154kgs bag quite easy warming up and stating he’d open there. Unless he screwed up, first wasn’t happening. And he didn’t. He got that bag easy and had a close miss with the smaller 365lbs. My strategy here was to get on the board with 275lbs/125kgs and then go for hail Mary on the 340lbs/154kgs bag. It wouldn’t make sense to try 310lbs after as there would be the time factor and it was unlikely I’d get that bag done inside the time that the guy following me up would get that in going for it first. So my opening lift did at least move better than my warming up did and then I went at the 340lbs/154kgs bag. I picked it up vertical style and bear hugged it and messed around with in the lap to try and get it into position. I stood up with it but I was just not going to get it up to shoulder this way. I really need to spend more sessions with this kind of sized bag if I want to make this work. The guy after me was successful after a struggle with his bag. So a bit surprising third place here. 

The guy in first had won the first three events and my 3-point lead on the guy in third had now shrunk to 1 point. The remaining events were better for me and perhaps I could get an even win or two to increase the buffer. Unless the guy in first zeroed one of the next two events (which would be impossible barring injury) I was going to have to settle for second place at best. Which would satisfy the overall goal to qualify for Natural Worlds and keep my options open for the end of the summer. But I was certainly starting to sweat things after the sandbag to shoulder didn’t work out in my favor. The rest of the show was to take place outside so the small collection of people moved accordingly. It was nice out (I had been going outside at times to cool off from being in the gym) and I was thankful I did bring my sunglasses as it was one of the few times out there it wasn’t overcast.

The fourth event involved sandbags as well. Sandbag carry can be contested a few ways. This would be carrying 300lbs/136kgs down 60’/18.3m and back in 60 seconds time limit. Drops allowed but I know if I dropped, that I’d likely be done as pick up is the hardest part for me with most things in this sport. I can hold and carry things for a long time. Not necessarily a fast time. Just got to get used to it and try to move fast. I tend to move about the same speed unfortunately. I knew that my posterior chain was likely beat seeing how sandbag to shoulder went after deadlift. There is always asterisk next to weights and distances in strongman. I brought my measure wheel just in case after I saw that one of the events was changing up the week prior due to location change. I like to have numbers for what I did to accurately review performances. In this instance, the sandbag was 310lbs/141kgs and the distance 55’/16.75m down and back. My right hip flexor was a little tight but not as bad as it has been. Trying to move a bit and get a feel for things. I attempted to pick up the contest bag after doing lighter runs with 200lbs/91kgs and 250lbs/113kgs and I wasn’t successful in lapping it. I hadn’t given it 100% (it’s warming up) but it did have me starting to stress things. I really don’t like this 310lbs/141kgs sandbag today. I knew I could do it but I’d really need to hunker down when it was time to go and commit and grind out the lift. I think I was surprised with just how fatigued my posterior chain was, considering the work put in on it this short prep. Guy in first went pretty quick with it. My pick up was slow but successful. I was not vibing with the texture or tactile feel of this bag at all. Focusing on my breathing and trying to move fast. Tried to pick up speed on the return trip after kind of reverting to the short steps to make the turn and go. Finished in 21.03 seconds, which is about what I was hitting in training with the 300lbs/136kgs bag with slightly longer distance but a lot less fatigue from preceding stuff. Left wrist was sore immediately afterwards but that abated. I should be ok for the last event to finish out the day. About 3.5 seconds slower than first but 12.5 seconds faster than third for second place.

The fifth and final event for the contest was a bit unusual. Arm over arm but standing. So needing to anchor self with bodyweight and pull the implement in the 60 seconds time limit. This one had been a bit of question mark leading up to things. I trained this as best I could using what I had and kind of hoped it was tough enough training. As this kind of event can be a bit of a crapshoot. Won’t know what you’re in for until that first tug. This was initially going to be sled with weight I believe for 50’/15.25m-60’/18.3m but that had been when this was going to be at the rec center. Now it was going to be a vehicle pull allegedly for 80’/24.4m. Which was fine since I was training the longer end of the distance on high friction surface and a thick rope. I had a feeling it might become a “drag race” so I did end up doing some sessions lighter weight and speedy. I had some doubts on the distance and measured it and it was closer to 45’/13.7m. It was also quite a thin rope. This was the only event that we as athletes didn’t get to do anything to warm up on. Only slightly miffed about that as initially indicated that we would get a chance due to change in the setup and how thin the rope was. But it be like that sometimes. There were kegs loaded into for the women’s classes and then about 950lbs/431kgs of sandbags were added to the truck as well for the men’s classes. I heard roughly 1500lbs/680kgs total added on top of the hefty pick up truck. This should be a good event for me but sometimes I get lost in the weeds and don’t just do the thing. I watched people go and everyone was finishing this thing across the classes. Longest time being just under 39 seconds by one of the competitors in the junior class. Some people were really good at getting a firm, braced stance and undulating to get the vehicle moving fast. Other’s I saw slipping with poor foot wear choice. There was about 10’/3m of space we had to work with and stepping out of bounds would result in a 2 second penalty. My thinking was that I’d get a firm grip of the rope and then walk backwards a few feet to break the momentum and then brace and pull from there. It was kind of hard to tell how fast people were really pulling. I got set with my strategy in place and put it into action. Took a bit to get the inertia to break but once I started pulling, it was moving fast and easy. Time read as 19.65 seconds and I raised up my hands thinking that I had to have won it. Turns out I didn’t. I apparently took too long to get it started as first place was just under a second faster. And second place had not been a sure thing as third place was only about half a second slower. But still a second place finish.

So things ended up being closer than I’d like in the end here (and not how I was expecting). First place had a clean sweep and put on a clinic with deadlift and sandbag to shoulder. Third place will be dangerous in the future if he keeps at this as only his overhead let him down today really. He also competing like two weeks prior to this as well. He was local while first place was coming from Minnesota. But I like competing with others and myself. The myself happens with every training session and competition. But others is a rare thing only with competition where we are going head to head on the same day and time. I did not get selected for the urine sample this time around so only five events for me today. Things got finished up by about 1:00PM (started at 9:00AM) so I had about half a day to do stuff and decompress. I working on the assumption that I’ve qualified since I placed second with a competition starting with four competitors. So two for two on the competition season goals for the first half of the year. I’m undecided on whether going to compete at Nationals for Strongman Corporation (Texas) or Natural Strongman World’s (Scotland) as both are within a week of each other at the end of August. Wait and see what the events end up being. Or see what else pops up. For now, going to recover from the traveling and competing and do a short little off season recovery prep.