Today I competed at the Midwest Strongman and overall it was a very well run event. Outside of the truck debacle, which you will see in the video, everything went pretty smooth. It was supposed to downpour all day but the sun came out and it was a nice, sunny day out. This is the third strongman I have competed in and I would have to say that this one was probably the best out of all of them.
This was a gold level event so the first and second place winners of each weight class earned a spot at NAS nationals. I won the 231 weight class so I earned one of those spots. Anyways, without further adieu, here are the videos from today.
Today's first event was log press for reps with a 12 inch log at 220 lbs. I wasn't too happy with how I did as I only got 8 reps and I had hit 9 in training so I was hoping for a few more but it was enough to win the event so I was happy with the outcome.
The next event up was tire flip. The tire weighed 500 lbs but it was two small tires stacked on top of each other and screwed together so it was really easy to do. It was more about speed than anything else.
The third event is one of the more miserable events I have ever done. It was a sandbag run and we had to run four different 100 lb sandbags down an 80 ft course and load them onto a barrel. When I was fighting this would have been no problem but since I have been more into Olympic weightlifting lately, this event was not a lot of fun.
The fourth event was the truck pull. This was a nightmare. I will preface this video by saying that the 3 inches that I was credited with pulling it was as far as anyone (heavyweights included) pulled it. It was ridiculous. It was a full semi (tractor and trailer) to be pulled up an incline. The kicker was the parking lot was uneven and the spot where they chose to start the truck put the back tire right on a little lip so there was no way that anyone was moving it. All 20+ competitors tried pulling this god damn thing for the full minute, though. I thought my eyes were going to pop out due to so much pressure being built up. Anyways, here is the video.
The last event, as usual, was stones. The series was 210, 240, 265, 270 and 315. I am not that good at stones but I was happy with how I did. I got the series in 18 seconds. This video isn't very good but here is what I have got.
Like I said, overall it was a very fun day with a lot of quality competitors. I was also happy that I qualified for NAS nationals. That was one of my goals coming into this year.
Sorry for all of the writing but I hope you at least enjoy the videos. As always, any questions, comments or critiques are welcome as I am always trying to improve.
Wow, this is great. You are one strong dude. Looking forward to seeing you in the WSM finals in a few years.
Thanks for taking the time for posting these, and for giving us some thoughts about each event. Please don't apologize for all the writing, because (a) it makes the post better and more fun, and (b) it's not that much anyway.
My one critique- don't jerk the log... just stand there and strict press it, effortlessly, again and again, like Big Z does . (Just kidding.)
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Wow, this is great. You are one strong dude. Looking forward to seeing you in the WSM finals in a few years.
Thanks for taking the time for posting these, and for giving us some thoughts about each event. Please don't apologize for all the writing, because (a) it makes the post better and more fun, and (b) it's not that much anyway.
My one critique- don't jerk the log... just stand there and strict press it, effortlessly, again and again, like Big Z does . (Just kidding.)
Thank you very much for the kind words. It was a very fun event.
I'd love to just press it like Big Z but my pressing is god-awful unfortunately lol. Split jerking the log is my only way to get it up.
Awesome job, Jake. You crushed every event besides the truck pull, and from the sound of it, it was a poorly planned event anyway.
When/where are NAS nationals?
Thanks, man. I appreciate it. The truck pull was definitely poorly planned. I told the promoter before the event started that no one was going to move the truck and I was right. It would have been a problem had the moved the truck to the middle of the parking lot where it was flat.
Nationals were in Reno last year I believe but I am not sure if that is where they are always are. I think they are in November, though. However, I highly doubt I will go. My goal for this year was to qualify which I have now done. I may change my mind between now and then but for the time being I'd like to set my sights on qualifying for nationals in Olympic weightlifting next year.
Also, thanks to everyone else for the kind words. I am glad you guys are enjoying the videos. If you have never done strongman, I highly suggest it. It is a really fun way to add variety to your training even if you have no aspirations to compete.
. (Just kidding.)
