Arnold Sports Festival Amateur Strongman 2016!
Arnold Sports Festival Amateur Strongman 2016!
I was only able to attend one day of the Arnold Sports Festival
this year, but as always, it was a great time. Hannah “The Destroyer” and Valerie “Rhino” Walker went with me. Again, it was a really fun time. We got some free stuff and bought some pretty things while there. And of course, I went to my favorite eatery in Columbus, BDs Mongolian!!
This event is always jam-packed with a lot of great sites, sounds and entertainment. I could write page after page about all the cool things the Arnold’s has going on, but I wanted to limit this blog to just one event; the amateur strongman competition! Every year this competition gets more and more notice. Also, every year some new and rising star makes the jump from amateur to professional. Infact, many of the top athletes in the World’s Strongest Man competition, started by conquering the event at the Arnolds Sport Festival.
As I said, I only made it up to the event center for one day, so I did not see the first few events in the competition. I did, however, get to see my favorite event, the atlas stones! This year was tacky free! As you know, I do not like tacky. Even the idea of tacky bothers me on a deep spiritual level. So I was glad to see that this event was tacky free. The reason for this was because they unveiled the new Stones of Steel. These are loadable, steel stones that are perfectly weighted and perfectly spherical. A very cool idea. Of course, Ill always prefer real stones, but even they are man-made, so steel stones don’t detract too much from the nature of this particular event.
Many people were wondering why the steel stones meant that tacky could not be used. My best guess, is because the stones needed to be opened up and the weight adjusted several times. Tacky would slow or possibly even prevent this from happening if it were to get in the locking mechanism. This is just a guess. But don’t worry, even without the tacky, athletes were already looking for an advantage. People were using forearm gauntlets and gloves. Yes, that’s right, gloves. After decades of shaming people in the weightroom for wearing gloves, some of these athletes, showing no shame, slipped their delicate hands into a new pair of gloves and attacked the Stones of Steel. In addition, the event shirt this year had a “grippy” texture on the chest and shoulders. Much like Brian Shaw’s “stone shirt”. So the event wasn’t entirely without help. Afterall, we wouldn’t want it to be difficult.
With some bias of course, the stones made for quite the spectacle. The top stone was 375lbs! This was for reps!! The show-stopper here was an epic performance by a true strongman. I’m not sure his name, but it needs to be known by everyone in the sport! This man had competed last year in the 231lbs class and won. He dominated by such a margin that he decided to compete against the heavyweights this year in hopes of finding stiffer competition. The kicker is, he didn’t gain weight to do so. He went in at around the same weight! This guy is a hero. He surely could’ve gotten another win at 231, but instead he moved up so that he had competition and was able to test himself. He wasn’t looking for every possible advantage. He wasn’t looking for excuses. He was looking to prove himself. He certainly did! He got one rep (almost got a 2nd) with the 375lbs stone! There were several heavyweights that couldn’t budge that thing. This was certainly the highlight for me.
Another highlight for me, was the announcement made after the stones. The announcer picked up the mic and told the crowd that in honor of strongman traditions, that the final event had not been announced to the competitors until they arrived. The final event was a blind event! The announcer then went on to briefly explain the origins of the World’s Strongest Man competition and how the athletes never knew the events until they arrived.
I’m glad to see that the traditions and the true nature of the sport lives on and has not been forgotten. In an age were people look to make everything easy and look only to lift big numbers, we still have those that have not forgotten that it isn’t about being easy and isn’t about numbers. Its about being the strongest! Even though this wasn’t an event, this was definitely one of my favorite parts of the strongman experience this year.
The final event was a frame hold. This was to be done for max time. I was unable to stick around for this event, but I’m sure it was one to remember. Even being such a short trip this was memorable. Afterall, how can you go wrong with stones and Mongolian BBQ?
