Battle of the Badass 2011

Well hello there fine men and women of the internet. I've got some time on my hands, school doesn't start until Tuesday and Rob demanded I make a long write up so here goes. Grab your butts.

Just got back from an excellent competition, Battle of the Baddass hosted by Joe Farino out in Wallkill NY. Here's how it all went down.

I woke up Thursday morning at 177.5lbs on my mom's scale at home. I always thought this bad boy was a little bit off and I thought my weight was a little high. Anyway I did some stretching outside, came back inside and weighed 175. Nice. I wanted to compete at 175lbs so this was good. Get the car all packed up with all the important stuff, tacky, weight belt, G-string etc. Pumped for a weekend filled with weights, sticky hands, low back pain and lots of bromance.

I'm still scared the scale was light so I do the whole car sauna thing on the ride over to Joe's place to get weighed. Ya the danger of heat exhaustion is high but I didn't weigh the pros and cons before I made the decision.

I pull up at Joe's driveway confused and dehydrated(I actually had to call Joe from next door because I was lost) and I head directly to the scale. I keep my clothes on and bam, 173.5lbs with all my clothes on. New PR. My calculations were right on. (Not) My car may permanently smell like body odor now but it was all worth it. I thanked Joe and Jon and went back for some rest.

I show up the day of the competition and see lots of old friends. I haven't competed in about a year so it was great to see everyone there and to see how much progress everyone has made in strength. The 200lb class is stacked with about 12 very strong competitors. The 175lb class only has a few competitors but I'm glad to see that more people are competing at this class.

My stomach is feeling terrible. I tried to jam into my stomach a bunch of whole milk mixed in with a can of coconut milk in the morning. Everytime I tighten my belt I'm scared I'm going to be shooting coconut milk out of my butt. Bad idea.

I get super excited to see we have sponsored sexy Brett Somerville to be featured on each of our T-shirts for the contest. I think the picture would have been more tasteful if Brett were wearing a mesh tank top but maybe we'll get that for the next shirt design. Now I'm ready to roll! I'm also excited that my camera is not working so I didn't get any footage.

First Event: 180lb log - 200lb axle - 220lb log medley.

First log I rip the log up, its feeling light, I go for the viper press and I blast myself in the face. After I realized the weight didn't make it overhead I viper it again and this time no face blast. The axle was nice and easy. The third log was 13" and I wasn't prepared for it. I press it too far in front of me at first and miss it. I regroup and go again. This time I get it. Real sloppy but good enough to take the event. Man that was sloppy.

Second Event:

Yoke carry 600lbs x 60"

Yoke was real wide so I couldn't grab the sides well. Made the whole thing rock a bit but otherwise everything was fine. Finished in 13ish seconds.

Keg Deadlift apparatus:
I forget the weight on this but the machine had an axle in front and it started around 18" We didn't get any time to warmup for this which is always a good thing. I figured the first few reps would have to be good enough warmup. Reps 1-3 were very easy. Rep 4 was way harder then the previous reps. I gathered myself for the last keg and it ended up being a lot easier then I thought it would be. This was lots of fun.

Yoke Zercher carry 400lbs x 60'
This one was fast. I don't remember how fast, somewhere under 10 seconds. Probably should have made this one heavier.

Stone over bar 240lbs over 48" 60 seconds:
I got 9. Not super happy with this but it isn't bad. I probably should have gathered up and gotten 10 but my setup wasn't great and I was being a baby.

As usual the guys put on a great show today. Thanks to Joe, Jon, Steve, Jeff, Nick and everyone else I forgot who helped out at the show. You guys always have interesting events and really run the competitions professionally. Looking forward to Hudson Valley in the Fall.

I finished first in the 175lb class. They gave me a giant samurai sword that made me extremely nervous. I can't wait to throw some melons in the air and slice them in half midair. Everyone had a great showing, and seemed to bring their A games as well. I didn't poop myself during any events which is always a win in my book. I can't wait for some more competition in the future, I think next competition I'm going to try the 200 or 231lb class. Seeing everyone today really motivated me to get cracking on the weights again!

Hudson valley Strongman comp.

Alright, I just woke up from a two hour nap and feel like I'm on another planet right now.

Okie dokie, yesterday was the Hudson Valley show put on by Mr. Steve Engels. He always puts on an excellent show, this one was no exception.

I show up around 9:30 and head up to register and weigh in. The scale wavers as I step on, I've been eating a little bit more the past two weeks and my weight could be revolutionary. The numbers finally settle and I come in at a ground pounding 180lbs! (I was cheating a little bit because I had all my stuff stuffed in my pockets but I never thought I'd hit 180lbs without it...)

Well anyway its up from the meager 170-175 I've been so I won't complain.

First event max axle C+P: Haven't used the axle in about 10 months. Messed around with it once before the comp and I was rusty! so I wasn't especially pumped for this event. Anyway, after warmups I was feeling strong and opened at 240. Went up easy. 260 went up pretty easy too. I called for 280. The clean was easy but the press wasn't there. I won't even lie it wasn't that close. 2nd place here.

Second Event 18" silver dollar deadlift. I forgot what this event was called and kept calling it the quarterdeadlift. I'm pretty cool. Anyway my best 18" pull going into this was 575 so I had my doubts when everyone was saying, "yea I've pulled around 700lbs on rack pulls." I'm like uh oh I hope I get 600. I open at 550, easy. Then go 600, easy. Its a wessels rule lift so I only get one more lift. I'm feeling like a young stupid stallionaire so I just go for 700. Aaaaaaaand missed it. I actually got the whole thing off the ground and thought I might lock it at one point but NOPE. Pretty surprised at my strength here though. Atleast I didn't poop myself. Think I tied for 3rd.

Next was Conan's wheel. Not much to report here. I had to go first and conan's blows butt. I got 600lbs for 115'. Then everyone did better then me... Heh, well not everyone. I think I could have been better here thats all. 3rd.

Next was 2 kegs (230lbs each) run 25' with each one and load it over a yoke and then run over to 2 power stairs implements and get em up two steps (275, 300lbs 18") This one was fun. I went first again and was happy with my time. 33:23. Then two more people beat me, AG! I actually wasn't mad at all.

And Stones. Pretty much the same stones as last year' hudson valley comp. so I wasn't sure where I'd be. I thought my loading wouldn't be where it was last year. Whoa ho ho! Little did I know all those swissle swassle burpee bug rice cakes have improved my stone loading! Nothing especially impressive though. I loaded 4/5 stones. 230, 260, 275, 300 and missed on 330. Heights were 60", 54" 48"? and 46"? I don't know they were high and I couldn't see over some of them!

2nd overall. Lots of fun. 200lb class was very competitive and right up to the last event it was any man's win. I actually think the placement of our competitors was the same as their placement in the stones event, we were so close. Kudos to all the 200lb guys. Everyone really pushed each other.

Thanks to steve and everyone who helped with the show. There were just shy of a trillion competitors, but everything went smoothly. I was especially impressed by the 40, 50 and 60 year olds absolutely killing it here today. I was beat multiple times by 50 year old dudes. I met Travis Ortmayer's father too. Very motivational. Battle at the barn next?