February 7, 2026 – The ATP Classic

Still doing this thing. This decade has been unusual. 2020 would be the gas leak year of this sitcom called life with 2021 being a return to form and reinvention with 2022 showing the fruits of the labor of the preceding year. 2023 kind of was the recoil for 2022 though and further change and reinvention. 2024 was an experiment and change of focus that ended poorly. 2025 was further change with a focus on going to new places and take the chance. Finding that what I thought was waning was only moving into waxing with a reignition of passion. This year would hopefully be a progression from that, in spite of the current chaos. I know, that is vague and sounds like something that would be put to those inspiration core reels on your social media consumption of choice. But the frame of mind that this me is the current iteration of me and continuing to persist at a thing (whatever its name) seems to silence the anxious cacophony as grappling with mortality. Maintaining being the pipe dream 

Traveling to compete in 2025 to places I’d never been had been with the opportunity to compete had stoked the embers to keep me interested in this venture for a little while longer. See what a change of workload and perspective could do. Natural world’s prep had been haphazard and with having someone willing to take me on as a client with a month to go had been risky, but the results on most things being above what I managed in training, it made sense to keep that coaching on for a longer stint and see what could be created with prep work. The plan once I got back home had been to let them have their way with me on an extended off-season prep which had been something I’ve lacked for probably since 2021 and 2022. I don’t feel like the ones after that had been productive. Another pair of eyes and see what I miss being inside my own skull. The tentative plan then being to qualify for both Natural Strongman Worlds and Strongman Corporation Nationals and assuming that succeeds, go with the one that seems better option when the time comes (as both the end of August). Off season for the most part was great and needed. Not to say there weren’t hiccups (slight tear in left quad muscle earlier on) but there was a pretty drastic change in body composition (I didn’t change my diet much) with my upper back size and ability to repeat efforts and recover.

I’m finding myself being very picky with shows knowing the effort to put into them and knowing that progress on things like my overhead and deadlift are not going to be up there and comparing to even 5yrs ago I may not be there with a long prep. But I abhor the typical and boring and I like knowing stuff with a decent bit of time so that I can get leave approved (my job does by seniority and in December of the previous year to guarantee leave). Initially was looking at Natural World’s qualifier locally but the events bored me to tears and my hope was something later in the year that was better would come along. So a contest in Arizona ended up catching my fancy with the events as some were excellent for me, some I’ve wanted to do and others requiring gamesmanship. Perfect to what I feel was some of the more interesting shows I’ve done. It would make sense for going this far for contest as the venue was very close to where family lives in the state. I’ve only been out there once in November 2024 but it had been for more somber circumstances and I had planned to try and make the effort to be out there since. So this was going to be a family trip situation as well as a competition. Which I know could still be an issue with stress of planning things out.

And stress there was. With coming back to the US from Ireland, there were changes with work as far as requirements and the like. Short of it being that my work schedule now alternates every four weeks and lets just say that every other month sucks with doing the alternating schedule. Off season had been fairly sustained but the actual contest prep and peak were quite aggressive in nature. I definitely needed to build up tolerance with a long offseason to survive. In the future, may need to make tweaks to that to deal with the realities of these changes and with my ability to recover. I ended up getting sick twice with one stint being enough that I had to take sick leave (which I’ve not done since 2017). So not ideal for coming into a competition requiring travel and just the stress I carry in all things. Some things did mitigate the stress. I did some visualization on the 2.5hrs drive to the airport. Very surprised to see there was even a decent amount of snow in northern Virginia from the previous snow storm. I ended up walking a lap of the airport terminal to deal with nervous energy. The flight out made great time arriving 70 minutes ahead of time (usually a lot of wind resistance flying out vs coming back). Getting the rental vehicle was did seem to eat up any time gained but got food and I slept well that night. I definitely needed a little bit of a buffer from arriving and competing to adapt to the climate and time difference. Spent the day with family Thursday but only part of the day Friday as I needed to decompress some after weigh-ins.

Contest started early. Up at 6AM to get ready for 7AM rules meeting. I had already decided that I was going to try and keep myself on EST vs MST so that it didn’t feel that early a start to the day. Competition being held at the ATP Gym. Not often see a 2-story strength training gym with dedicated areas to strongman stuff. I had weighed in a little heavy compared to how I have been but that was with my shoes on. Only a single stall for bathroom for the men’s and everyone was having the same thoughts that that could be an issue later with nearly 80 competitors and that the toilet may not survive. I also didn’t know how long or smooth this show would run as it seemed about double the normal turnout. I had no clue about how things would be with competing and such and I did feel pretty stiff. I had done my “last warm-ups” the day before with familiarization with the stuff that was out and doing my usual mobility stuff at the Airbnb. 11 competitors in the weight class (120kgs) so a decent amount of competition. Rules were done and then it was time to get ready for the day. My brother, mother, father and two nieces were able to spectate (no pressure haha).

First event of the day was a medley consisting of yoke (750lbs/340kgs) and husafell stone shaped sandbag (308.5lbs/140kgs). Run/walk/stumble the yoke down 30’/9.14m and then run back to the start and do the same with the husabag in the 60 seconds time limit. This kind of event is not usually how most contests start as the usual seems to be an overhead (or the overhead) event. I feel like overhead usually done first as least likely that a max effort there is going to affect other events in the show vs say doing a max deadlift or a truck pull. Body is going to feel those on everything. Training was a bit odd for this one. Yoke started a long ways out I think mostly because my coach wanted me to move more efficiently. So a lot of volume in the low to high 500lbs range and then kind of escalating things drastically as switching into contest prep. This has not been quite how I had done so in the past as generally a long build up and every other week. Not so this time and I was inclined to listen seeing how didn’t come close to contest weight with my world’s prep and finished. The husabag came in later. I got one for this show and I swear they shipped me a smaller size one as I couldn’t get it to the fill weight. I spent over an hour and ended up getting an inflamed tendon for my efforts. So while that was a bit underweight, I did manage to do the yoke at contest once (while dealing with sickness) somewhat well so I knew this would be doable even if I wasn’t feeling at my best on the day. Initially the course was to be 50’/15m each way and I had been training for that so contest on the day being a shorter run wasn’t an issue. One of the tricky aspects was the start since not allowed to start under the yoke. I know how my tightness at the start affects my bracing on moving events like this. Doing my best to work on that this prep as well as trying to do a little bit of a staggered stance start here as well. I knew that I needed to be loose and ready and try my best to get in decent warm ups to feel ready. Adapting to the yoke weight was going to be key whereas just some touches with the husabag would be fine. So mostly got that. The husabags were in the competition area so I only got to pick up a lighter one once. I did managed to get my back not feeling stiff so yoke was feeling decent enough. I tried to mimic the husabag with a regular sandbag and my right hamstring was feeling tight so I was nervous about that. I was called up and ready to go. I did a little bit of a shove of the yoke to make sure it was good. Whistle goes and I get under the yoke. I start a little gingerly to see how I felt and it felt good so I picked up the pace. Competitor in the lane beside me goes down and I keep going. Finish the yoke smooth and get back to the husabag. Due to worries about the hamstring, I was a little cautious on the pick but once it was up I felt fine and went for it. I ended up diving as I had seen some people stop short and have to pick it up again. Not about that life. Little hump to get back on my feet. A lot of the nerves were gone. I knew this was a beatable time though. 23.40 seconds which was a good time as about 2 seconds off what ended up being the winning time. Starting day in 4th place. 

Second event was the press event. A bit of gamesmanship with this one. Dubbed the “optional” press. Three different implements (log, axle and circus dumbbell) and you lifted for reps. Once you pick an implement, you cannot change from it. So say one competitor does 3 reps on the log and another does 5 reps on the axle. Axle would win as more reps. Log and axle the same weight (255lbs/115kgs) and the dumbbell being 150lbs/68kgs. 60 seconds limit and shot clock rule in effect (IE if time expires while lift is going, it counts). The implements are also spaced out so that the dumbbell is furthest away from the line and the log closest. This is fairly light overhead event but got to be smart and efficient. At the start of things, I wasn’t sure what would be the way to go with how my overhead strength has been. Going off of what I was familiar with, I was doing a lot of axle (and not enjoying it) barely and log and it has been years since I’ve done dumbbell. But I’d have to see what feels best. At the start of offseason, contest weight for axle was unfortunately challenging to hit and I pretty much had to relearn log. I was very surprised how good dumbbell was feeling and I figured that with being very close to contest weight with 17 weeks to go (and for decent reps) that I had my answer on which one to pursue and had the best chance of successful for me here. Axle stayed out of the rack on one day (keeping a bilateral press) and dumbbell and log on another day alternating sessions initially. Then switching to dumbbell every session. I’ve done that before and sometimes it worked out and other times it didn’t. The last time I did a prep with dumbbell I had felt good in training and then it just sucked at the show. But I managed to get up to 180lbs/81.5kgs at the end of off season prep and then drill lighter weight at the end. The other departure was that not bothering with my non-dominant side here with training. That would always double the training time and energy but it had always been a thing but not this time around. And really so nothing out of the ordinary here. This event can be hit or miss and my last session had not been ideal so that was in my head a bit here. I wasn’t going to bomb this event even on my worse day. Just need to get some touches here and hope that I’m firing on all cylinders here. The dumbbell was very slick since it was painted. I was a bit nervous of that when I saw how much it slid when I shouldered it the day before empty at weigh-ins. The dumbbells to warm up were a bit different specs. My lower back was tight again so I did some windmills with dumbbells (both regular and circus style). I really didn’t want a repeat of the last time I did circus dumbbell in contest. I sunk in to get a rep on the empty implement just to get the feel before heading back to the warm up area. 6 reps was the number to beat when it was my time. I made sure I showed the judge my disgusting bursitis and showed I could fully lockout the weight. The lane I was in was the “stricter” of the judges from observation. Whistle goes and I’m off to the dumbbell. The competitor in the other lane opted for the axle and got a rep before I got the dumbbell to my shoulder for the first attempt. Like I said, strategy here. My pressing didn’t feel so bad but my lower back was feeling tight and the hamstring thing was still in the back of my head. I also had a little platform I had to stay on to press (they added since last year people were putting holes in the floor). The other thing was that I could do touch and go but if I didn’t do that for a rep, I had to start it on the pad again. I got four reps in a decent pace. Then I got into trouble with going for the fifth one. Didn’t stabilize and had to catch it so I didn’t bonk myself in the head. I tried to go right away and just wasn’t going. I needed this rep. Utilizing the shot clock, I waited until there were 2 seconds left to pick it up again and really just let it settle there. Got that one pretty easy. So five reps the hard way. This ended up being another 4th place as there was a three-way tie for 1st with 6 reps. 7 reps if that had worked out with pacing would’ve won it. My brother, mother and nieces left at this point with plans to possibly return later. My dad remained as per usual.

Third event was deadlift. Specifically max deadlift with a bendy bar. Pulling under 545lbs/247kgs and you were using a Kabuki deadlift bar. Pulling 545lbs/247kgs and above and you were using a Cerberus Strength Kratos bar. 20lbs/9kgs jumps, three attempts and suits allowed. Additionally, if you started on the deadlift bar, you stayed on the deadlift bar and didn’t move up to the Kratos bar. They were also using deep dish plates so really trying to maximize the flex here on both setups. I ran into some issues with deadlift this prep. One was not realizing how much my deadlift strength had dipped on me like overhead from the previous year. Another was that the bendy bar setup that I did with what I had just seemed to really be a position that adjusted how I pulled the weight so as not to get pulled off balance. The flex and whip are worse than a deadlift bar, which I tend to not mind and like. This just feels different. And yet another was the suit itself. I have a multi-ply suit that I bought with the expectation that I wasn’t going to be under 265lbs/120kgs and be a bit larger. That hadn’t worked out but I felt like the suit idea with the cinches and fabric that didn’t irritate my skin was a good one. But I dropped about 25lbs from when I last used this suit as well as my single ply suit. The first session in the multi-ply suit wasn’t great. I felt every lift in my lower back and I felt so fatigued that needed to take an unplanned deload to get back on track. Someone on a forum had mentioned that I probably needed a better single ply suit when I had mentioned the new multi-ply in 2024 and I begrudging decided to revert to the single ply after that session. It just seemed to be putting too much stress on my lower back and I couldn’t get it to do what I wanted. I did some sowing on my single ply suit to make the legs tighter and my stitching held up for the most part. Felt a ton better using that (even with the skin irritation) and working on making slight adjustments each session. Lowering my expectations of what I’d hit and just make sure I train smart here and not blow my load in training when I know I can generally do better at contest. And hope that what I’m doing at home is a harder setup then what will be present in competition. I managed a top single in training of 603lbs/273.5kgs (again while not feeling the best) so I had some idea where I was going to be if not feeling my best here. But like I said, never done this one so anything was technically a PR. There were different bars in the warm up area. Obviously with only one Kratos bar, no warming up on that. I was feeling ok enough I guess here. My first three warm up sets were on a deadlift bar and I didn’t realize on my last one that a power bar had been swapped in so that was a bit of a rough go on the start. But it had me commit to starting lighter than planned here. 565lbs/256kgs for an opener. This should be safe and get an idea of what this long bar feels like. The bar is very long and since they wanted it to be on padded flooring, it had to be a diagonal setup. I didn’t have any issues with this lift but it felt heavy, even with my straps cranked down near max. It felt easier than my 507lbs/230kgs warm up had but didn’t feel like my setup at home or a deadlift bar. I knew I wasn’t hitting any all-time PRs in deadlift today. With how the this was kind of auctioneer style, it was difficult to discern who was in the weight class and who wasn’t. My hope was my next jump in weight would increase the flex if it was enough to require putting another plate on the bar. So 605lbs/274.5kgs was my second attempt. The diagonal setup got in the way of my rolling setup so I had to kind of shuffle forward strapped to the bar. I knew I had this one but it was a bit hard fought to lockout and it was definitely felt in the lower back. In way that wasn’t painful but was letting me know that I wasn’t quite there for where it needs to be for much heavier weights. I knew I could get the next jump in weight but I didn’t think I’d recover fast enough with how things were going. So I decided to take a gamble here for longer rest and go for 645lbs/292.5kgs for my third and final attempt. I tried to get myself hyped up for this one with my breathing and I gave it a good tug but it stalled below my knee caps and just wasn’t high enough to get it going through and my back was not equipped to muscle through this one. This was a bit disappointing but does kind of let me know where my deadlift is and that I need to work on some things for success next time. I had thought my podium shot was done here but I got 5th and due to other people ahead of me not doing so well, I managed to move into third place overall.

Moving on to the back end of the competition which should be my stronger events. So sitting in the third was a good spot as unless a catastrophe happened now, I was sure to hold on to a podium spot with a possibility of moving up the leader board. Fourth event being Hercules hold. Often a weight “to be determined” and “who knows” and “just hold it”. This ends up being one of my better events. I’ve not placed out of top 3 on this event when I’ve done it in competition. For this contest, they had a local guy wield and fabricate it so allegedly 250lbs/113lkgs empty each pillar. Often at the local level this event can be a bit underwhelming visually as often just some pipes with weight and usually it is a setup that the leverages make it so not a lot of weight is needed to make it a challenging thing to hold. No hook grip allowed for this show. Every time I’ve done these, I hope that it is heavy and that it is like holding on to dear life type thing but often it disappointingly is not. This is one where it should be spectacle. Even if this ended up not being heavy, this was certainly a larger than life setup here as the apparatus was the one event being done outside of the gym in the parking log (oh memories haha). Weight across the different classes was the same but the anchor point was altered to make the leverages such that it was tougher as they went up in the weight classes. Lately with prep for this kind of event, it is just accessory stuff and maybe one or two sessions using the apparatus the local gym has. This is more to get used to balance and the sensation of the weight being released as that isn’t really able to be trained when doing rolling handle or rolling bar hangs. This was a later in prep start to focus on and I was actually quite surprised how good doing hangs and such felt with nothing direct besides holding on to dumbbells and bars for row variations. One of the big focuses of offseason by my coach had been upper back hypertrophy and it is possible that like when I first started using straps for rack pulls and built up my upper back and saw my grip improve a lot that this was upgrading what I had already. I did only get one session where things worked out that I could use the Hercules hold at the gym I train at and for just one set. I had plans to do another session but just didn’t work out with lack of help and life getting in the way. Not really a way to warm up for this one other than just be prepared. Those that got to do this at this gym on the two weekends they had it probably have an advantage of knowing what this feels like so I got to observe and just hope this works out. My warming up here was to do a 15 seconds hang from some gymnastics rings on the second floor and setup the cable crossover with the d-handles. Also did some doorway stretches to open up the pecs. I tried to stay out of the sun as it was bright and oppressive at this point in the day. I had brought my polarized lens as I had figured this would be the case. I was going a bit earlier here as while I was in 3rd, I had placed 5th on the previous event. I believe the time to beat at this point was 47 seconds. Took the strain and time started. This didn’t feel like a weight that would tear me in half but it wasn’t something where I could just disassociate. I’d actually have to focus or I’d lose control quickly. I think about 30 seconds in I said “I’m going to need a Snickers” (as in not going anywhere for a while) but that joke fell flat. Tough crowd lol. My right hand finally went on me just shy of a minute at 59.60 seconds. This ended up being the longest hold across all weight classes for the day. Second place finisher looked to be more of a strategic finish as he stopped once he beat 47 seconds and looked good for more to potentially beat my time (he was in first overall by a good bit). So first place here.

The fifth and final event for the contest was atlas stones. Option of a trump (355lbs/161kgs) and mercy (280lbs/127kgs) weights over 52”/1.32m bar for reps in 60 seconds. Any reps at heavier stone beat any reps at lighter stone. No extra points for doing any reps at the lighter stone any then going up to the heavy stone. You can go up from the lighter stone to the heavier stone but not reverse. So you go heavy and miss, you are stuck with that choice. Stones are generally my jam. But it does feel like the heavy tacky stones are not in vogue and really seems to just be local shows in random places and then pro shows. Hard to be motivated to do them with all the work and clean up needed if not many places putting in the effort to host. I like them to be heavy so I’m not worrying about a ton of reps. Lifting a big rock is kind of why I like this and why I still like this. I ran into some usual issues with stones this prep. One related to tacky. 2023 was the last time I’ve really trained atlas stones and I had gotten tacky from a company at that time that since then no longer has a US distributor. And it had been the best tacky I’ve used in my career. Only two of the three international distributors would deliver to the US but with shipping and tariffs, the price was essentially double. I thought I’d have enough to make it through the training cycle and just have to worry about contest day. So eventually bit the bullet and shipped some out to my brother so I wouldn’t have to worry about it being potentially confiscated by the TSA. This is the first time I’ve flown to show with stones and tacky as I’ve driven all other times. The other was that people messed with the stones. Now to be fair, they thought they were helping. Cleaning off the stones and applying a tacky coating. Sounds good in theory. However, the cleaning removed the sealant so concrete dust/dirt and the tacky coating sticks to stuff and comes off. This had happened between 2023 and present. This wasn’t done to every stone but to ones I’d need to train on so this made these stones harder to stick to and eat up tacky quicker than before. I was initially questioning my abilities here. This wasn’t done to any of the stones I own there thankfully. Short prep with stones and using weekly frequency (again, I usually was doing every other) here and I put in enough work to be on point. Like the hold, just kind of have to see what I’m doing on that first touch and just hope that I got something left here. The heavy stone seemed like a good stone at weigh-ins as far as stick. There was a lot of tacky on the flooring by the time it got to the heavier classes so that was adding a difficulty factor. I had to keep myself from trying to do any reps on the stones while seeing others warm up on them. As I knew that I’d likely overheat and sweat whatever I’d applied off. So my warming up was doing picks with the deep dish plates up to about 270lbs/122.5kgs. Making sure my left arm was feeling ok (elbow was feeling a little wonky) and hamstrings/back fine. Once it was getting close to time, I applied tape and then got the tacky. But there was a problem. For all my preparation on the tacky, I made an error in judgement and that was not preparing for the heat. When I had ordered the tacky, the extended forecast had it being about 62 degrees. But it was unseasonably warm above 80 degrees by the time stones came around and even though I put my tacky in the refrigerator at the gym, it was more like I had put some maple syrup on then stone tacky. So I was in a bit of pinch here as I was tied for third so I needed to not bomb this to stay on podium and potentially move into second (first would have to bomb to potentially lose that spot). Four reps was the number to beat (they had a close miss otherwise it would’ve been five). I get ready and go for it but the stone slips on me trying to pick it like normal. Don’t panic. I really get under the sucker and squeeze and hope that this butter tacky holds. It does and I get it into my lap and thankfully the stickiness of the stone has it really secure to my body but I’m overly cautious and make sure I got it real tight to extend fully. I can’t afford any missed reps here. One rep done. I take a step back, knowing I can’t really keep into a groove with having to really crush this rock each time. I do this two more times. I feel fresh to keep going but with 6 seconds left and no shot clock rule here, I called it there and hoped this was enough to seal the deal. This ended up tying for second here.

It was a long day but a well run competition. My dad had stuck around but the rest of my family in AZ ended up watching from home on the livestream after the first two events. I still got some things to work on for next time. The eventual winner, Dave, put on a clinic and played a very smart day of strongman, with it never looking like he wasn’t in the driver’s seat. I definitely plan to keep my calendar open for next year’s show. Good to compete against new people. And thankfully, my nerves didn’t hamper me from having a good family visit. My nieces had me doing a Miss Piggy voice for almost all of Monday. In the end, I achieved what I wanted with getting on the podium with a second place finish and an invite to Strongman Corporation Nationals at the end of August in Mesquite, TX. Whether I accept the invite is another matter. Home again and only a brief respite as on to the next one. Plan being the Midwest qualifier for Natural Worlds about mid-April in what looks like the middle of nowhere (it’s the last US qualifier)