The Atomic Athletic Olde Time Strongman Picnic was held again this past weekend in Bowling Green, Ohio. Owner Roger Lapointe holds these picnics along the same lines as the original York Barbell picnic that were held in the 1930s and 40s by founder Bob Hoffman.
Today, as in the past, strength athletes and performers gather to demonstrate their strength and mobility while entertaining the crowd. This year saw a tremendous line-up:
Eric McGill and Nick Rosendaul demonstrated some strongman events with a 28,000 lbs. truck pull and some stone lifting (stones from 160 to 300 lbs. were used).
Todd Baden and Fred Lowe gave separate olympic weightlifting demonstrations. Todd’s concentrated on the youth lifter with his 9 year old son doing picture perfect snatches in front of the crowd. While Fred concentrated on the master’s lifter.
Persian Indian clubs were demonstrated and on hand for many to try. As well as Circus Vera who performed many sideshow entertainment bits of walking on glass, climbing a staircase of swords, eating fire and an electric chair. Sean Dockery was on hand scrolling a 20 ft. bar of steel into a work of art using his hands. Other steel bending was done by Nick and Stew Rosendaul as they twisted horseshoes and destroyed nails.
Another highlight was watching Logan Christopher pull a 8,000lbs. fire truck with his HAIR. Crazy stuff.
I had the pleasure of going head to head with Logan, also one of the best kettlebell jugglers around, in a game of PIG as we tried to one-up each other. I then continued to juggle and throw weight around for the crowd in the form of a 50lbs. stone padlock, 45lbs. weightplate, kettlebells and my 55kg barbell juggling routine.
To top it all off, I was able to lift the creator, Roger Lapointe, overhead with one arm. A great finish to a great day.
I had a great day competing this past weekend in Olcott, NY on the shore of Lake Ontario. Mike Landrich was the event coordinator and put together another great show. Mike also welded together a training yoke for me to take home. I cannot wait to put that to good use and work towards a 1000lbs. walk for 60ft.
The weather forecast did not look favorable heading in, it called for rain and thunderstorms all day. Kyle and I left home at 4:30am Sunday morning for our 4 1/2 hour drive. I feel very lucky to have someone like her. She is willing to get up at 4am and travel to watch me lift and throw things around in a kilt. Truly a great woman.
We arrived at 9am to meet Mike and the rest of the guys who were also showing up about that time. There was no rain yet, but the sky’s looked gray and ready to burst at any moment. We decided to have the Carry and Drag event first, because it would be most effected by the rain. We used a 150lbs. sandbag and a water keg at 135lbs. both were to be carried 25yds. and placed on a sled and then dragged back to the start line for time. I was fortunate enough to go last on this event and knew the times I had to beat. I won with a time of 18 seconds. A good way to start the day.
The next event was Weight Over Bar with a 56lbs. weight. Starting height was 8ft. which all competitors pasted, heights went in 1 ft. increments. Being my first weight-over bar competition I played it safe and came in a 9ft. which I cleared easily. All cleared 10ft. and we went onto 11ft. where we saw some start to struggle and fall off. At the 12ft. height, only myself and Brian Worden cleared the bar. The bar was raised to 13ft. and Brian was unable to clear with his 3 attempts. I loaded up and completed the throw. 13ft. was my goal heading in but I now wanted more. We raised the bar to 14ft. and again I cleared it easily on my first throw. To 15ft. we go, couple of swings for timing and a big release….. Unfortunately no luck. As you will see in the video I sat the weight on top of the bar twice, only to have it fall back on my side. We will meet again 15ft., we will meet again.
Up next was the Arm-Over-Arm truck pull. We used an inch and a half rope to pull arm over arm Mike’s Toyota Tacoma truck for 25yds. I set my feet and pulled in another winning time and was now 3 for 3 in the events.
During this time, the clouds parted and sun was beginning to shine through. At this time I also took advantage of the free 10 minute massage from the therapists they had on hand. Thank you.
We then moved onto the Open Stone, basically the shot put with a field stone. The stone weight was 15.8 lbs. I have very little shot put experience and was listening to anyone who was offering advice. I also want to thank Adriane Blewitt, the little that I do know, I learned from her in two training days. My first throw was 36′ and change, a good throw as anything over 30′ was going to be good for me. Craig, another competitor with more throwing experience than me and currently in the lead gave me some pointers. I went off to the side and worked on what he said. My second throw was a sloppy 34′. I went back to work with Craig. I had nothing to lose in my third and final throw. I unleashed a 40′ 5″ throw to tied for first with Craig. Thank you Craig for your tips and unselfishness.
The fifth event was the 15″ Log Clean and Press for reps. Overhead pressing is my weakness, but it is getting better. I went first and completed 6 reps in 75 seconds. The 15″ log really challenged my balance in the rack. I believe my overall position in this event was third, with Cory Clark completing 13 reps for the win.
The final event was the caber. We used some smaller caber at first since very few of us in the comp had any experience throwing a caber. Everyone was able to turn the smaller caber and we then went onto what was the challenge caber (15ft. and 86lbs.) which is still small from what I hear, but for the inexperienced, a good challenge. I managed two 12:00 and a 12:15 on the smaller caber. I was excited to get to the bigger stick where we were given two throws. My first toss was a 12:00, while my second was a 12:30, two good throws for the win.
First place overall but more important was the great time with friends throwing heavy things around. I know I will see some of these guys again soon in competition.
Beginner Strongman Training recap
On Saturday, April 10, nine guys and myself gathered at the Durniat Strength gym for a beginners strongman training session.
Patrick McDonough, Jobe Stutzman, Matt Massaro, Spencer Wallace, Jeff Staudt, Zach Coulture, Brent Barbe, Chad Lindsay and Gary Bess all were introduced to strongman training.
We began the day with the Axle Clean + Press. The athletes were shown the conventional clean as well as the continental clean, which humbled many. We started inside with 45kg (99lbs.), a weight that was easily handled by all. We progressed with 10kg (22lbs.) jumps in weight up to 90kg (198lbs.). At 90kg, many were starting to struggle with the 2″ diameter thick bar and the clean but determination paid off and most had success. We then went outside to play with the 217lbs. axle with truck tires attached. The none revolving tires and extra weight proved a mighty challenge, but Spencer and Gary had good success.
We then quickly moved onto the 12″ Log Clean + Press. The empty log weights 110lbs. and everyone again had success with this opening weight. When the weight was moved to 165lbs., strength discrepancies and the awkwardness of the log became apparent. I am sure many will be back to train with the log very soon.
After a short break, we moved onto the atlas stones. Instruction was again given on the best technique to use when lifting and demonstrations were given. The lightest stone I have is 160lbs.. I was very pleased that about everyone was able to enjoy success with this stone and load it on the platform. Some even moved onto the 240lbs. stone which was tremendous for a first day of stone lifting.
With the little energy we had left, we got into tire flipping. Again we started with the lightest tire at 300lbs. and quickly progressed to the 600lbs. tire were solid technique became a necessity. Everyone then tired their hands with the 900lbs. tire. It was flipped and the last of the energy reserves were used.
At the conclusion, Matt Massaro and myself even took a little walk with the 257lbs. mini-Husafelt stone.
It was a great day for all and I’m sure we will see some of these new strongman athletes in a competition soon.
