I have spent more than half my life in the gym. Ever since I was 12 years old, using plastic 5-lb. weights and a sawed-off broomstick for a bar (which my mom didn’t appreciate), I knew my life would revolve around training in one form or another. Nine years later, my life was changed forever when I was thrown into a Strongman competition. I was training with Marshall White (a 2009 WSM competitor). He had always wanted to do a Strongman competition. I never thought I could be as strong as the guys on TV, but it was White’s dream, so I decided to help him out at the competition. The night before the competition I said, “What the hell,” and decided to give it a shot. I ended up in fifth place and couldn’t stop thinking and dreaming about the contest for six months straight afterward. This marked the beginning of a new life for me as an athlete, but I was faced with a completely new challenge: How to get brutally strong yet still be explosive and maintain that energy output over an extended period of time. I have been training for Strongman competitions — and trying to answer that question — for the past seven years.
It took several years and many different training routines to find what worked best for me when it came to being statically strong without compromising my endurance and short-term recovery ability. I will take you through my own training for the most statically heavy Strongman competition in the world: The Arnold Classic.