America's Strongest Man 2011, media, results and write up

A huge thanks to RxMuscle.com for taking video of some of the events. To see the winners of each event and an interview with them and a wrap up with ASC President Dione Wessels and VP Mike Johnston go HERE.

This show was well organized and the fans had constant updates on the events and placing thanks to Texas State Chair Ashley Wirt (which can be seen on the NAS website).

I felt good going into the show. I felt very strong and felt I’d improved my conditioning as well.

I do not dwell on the events too much. Of course I prepare and train for them, but if I am strong enough the events in a show shouldn't matter. I never let the events dictate which shows I do, I just go out and do my best.

I knew going into the show that the max axle was going to be tough, but I felt very confident about the rest of the events.


Leading up to the show, my heavy training and conditioning went smoothly, and de-load went well too. I am pretty meticulous in my pre-contest preparation and I'm always striving to improve my contest preparation from one contest to the next.


Day 1 Event 1: Max Axle
Disaster- went out and opened with 363 confident I could get it, missed the 1st clean, re-cleaned it, and smashed the press easily. I felt like I could have pressed 400 or close to it.. I tried to go up what I thought was a conservative jump to 383, but the axle kept slipping down my shirt and I couldn't clean it. Spent my last 2 attempts attempting to clean it. I was disappointed in this event.
Scott Weech smashes an easy 423 on his 2nd attempt for a new World Record on the IronMind Axle

Day 1 Event 2: 950 Yoke- 1050 Sled Medley

Brutal,brutal medley,  I was maybe a foot or two behind Carl Foemmel on the yoke, then on the sled I was able to pull ahead by a few feet! However at the very end, I just got really tired and he managed to cross the line about 2 seconds ahead of me (he had a really strong finish on that). It was definitely a very close and intense race.

Travis demolished this medley for an easy win in about 30 seconds.


Day 1 Event 3: Hussafell Stone
After the yoke/sled medley I was puking my guts out from exhaustion for about 15 minutes. I was still puking in the trash can when I heard my name get called for the 400 pound Hussafell stone carry for max distance. I had to just get my mind right really fast, and I was actually able to carry the stone for 168 ft which was about a 50ft pr. Good for 3^rd place in the event.

Mike Burke put on a clinic with the Hussafell stone and traveled ~215ft. Crazy!


Day 1 Event 4: Chevy Colorado Truck Wheelbarrow
Originally this was supposed to be with no straps but was changed last minute to allow straps. I was very confident going into this event, in training I have done up to a 450/hand farmers without straps. However when I actually picked up the truck and tried to "wheelbarrow" with it, I could not have been more surprised. Immediately it slid out of my hands with straps and I had to re-pick several times. Getting a pattern of movement going with your feet was nearly impossible, it made you move very erratically. I only made it about 21 ft which was a mid-pack finish. I was not pleased with this, but plenty of other guys struggled on this event as well.

Travis again for an easy win, ran the course in under 30 seconds.


After Day1-Going into Day 2
I was not at all satisfied with my day one results, I was sitting in 9^th place overall. When the goal I had set for myself going into this contest was a top five finish. Needless to say I was definitely fired up to come out and improve my placing on day two.


Day 2 Event 1: Keg Toss
8 kegs increasing in weight up to 55lbs, thrown over a 16ft bar, fastest time wins. I was confident going into this event that I could do well. I had trained this event to the best of my ability with the resources I had (thank you Andrew and Phillip Clayton). And throwing for height has always been a strength of mine. I went out,  went nuts and threw the kegs as fast as I could. I wrapped up the then fastest time, but was narrowly squeezed into 3^rd by Josh Thigpen and Travis Ortmayer for the win.

Day 2 Event 2:Push/Pull Medley- I knew coming into it this was going to be a good event for me. I had practiced it numerous times in training with out the use of straps. I knew not wasting time to strap-in on the axle lifts would save time and improve my placing on this event. I just went straight down the line, 340 log one motion, 715 deadlift easy, 330 axle straight clean and press, 675 axle deadlift no problem, 200lb circus dumbbell.  I was amped up and feeling good after winning this event, not to mention the crowd loved the "machinegun" (Who would have thought that the same kind of people that like strongman also think its awesome to mimic shooting into a crowd with a machinegun?) Aren't strongman fans the best?

Car deadlift and hold: brutal, brutal event. Basically strap into the car, deadlift it up, and hold for max time. Basically a pain tolerance type event. Since I had won the previous event, I was up last on the car deadlift and hold against Travis Ortmayer. the overall leader. I expected Travis to hold longer than anyone previously had, so I told my self that I had to hold it longer than him.  I ‘m not sure what his time was, but he dropped before the current leading time. However I was able to continue to hold for 1:14 for the event win. This was definitely the toughest event of the show for me.  Grip training paid off here again!

Day 2 Event 4: Atlas Stones
  I was in 3^rd place, with a 4 point lead ahead of 4^th (Michael Burke) going into the stones.  I thought about being conservative and just loading all 5 stones and securing my spot in 3^rd place, but I was about 7 points behind Dave Ostlund in 2^nd place and a World's Strongest Man invite so if Dave were to make a mistake on stones and place poorly and I were to win I would have had a shot at 2^nd place and a WSM invite. I started off on the stones as fast as  I could , immediately losing my tacky on the 1^st stone( I think I put it on too early, so it might have been too soft) I was able to get the 1^st 3 stones very quickly. The 4^th stone slipped at first but I was still able to load it with out tacky. The final stone proved to be too much and I had no tacky reserve on my hands so I was only able to get it as far as my lap. Not a good performance here, I will definitely be working hard to fix this.

Dave Ostlund demolished the stones, his experience and skill was obvious on this event, as well as brute strength.

So I ended up finishing 4^th overall. 1pt behind Michael Burke in 3^rd.

I pretty much had PR's in every event except stones and axle, but even axle was a competition PR. I need to make sure I have a reserve of tacky for my stones.

I'd really like to thank ASC for how well they took care of all the athletes. They put on an outstanding and very professional show.

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