Newcastle's Strongest 2017

On Sunday I worked at Newcastle's Strongest 2017 held at FSI gym in North Tyneside. 

The day ran from 10am-4pm with 2 categories; novice and intermediate. 

Each had 5 events each. 

These were- 

Event 1 

Log floor to overhead/Yoke overhead press 

Men Novice: 90kg/80kg

Men Inters 100kg/90kg

Event 2

Rising Car Deadlift

Men Novice: 180kg-190kg-200kg-210kg-220kg-230kg

Men Inters: 210kg-220kg-230kg-240kg-250kg-260kg

Event 3

Squat to box for reps 

Men Noice: 150kg

Men Inters: 190kg

Event 4

Sandbag Carry 20m/Seated arm over arm 20m

Men Novice: Sandbag - 100kg/240kg

Men Inters: Sandbag- 110kg/280kg

Event 5

Atlas stones 

Mens Novice: 77kg-90kg-110kg-130kg-145kg

Mens Inters: 90kg-110kg-120kg-145kg-160kg

Throughout the day I offered athletes treatment to help enhance and promote recovery between events. It was a busy one at times!

The event was well attended, raising £400 for Cancer Research, 

All athletes did extremely well. I'm particularly happy for one of my clinic clients (and previous rugby players) Owen Irving who came 3rd in the Novice Competition. He's overcome some injuries in the last few months to achieve a great result! On wards & upwards! 

Secondly, congratulations to Fin and Adam who both train at FSI who took 1st place in both categories. It appears FSI is the place to train... (and to come for sports injury advice).

Here are some photos from the event -

Interview | Strongman James Landless

Source: Power News by World Heavy Events Association

This weekend James Landless competes in the BNSF Britain's Strongest Man. I have been working with James on the run up to this competition to help manage his physical condition and enhance performance. Here I interview James on his journey so far... 

1. Tell us about yourself. 

Well I'm a stone mason through the day and a strongman at night so they go hand in hand with each other. Each one helping the other. Strength helps when I’m working, and stamina, flexibility and moving awkward objects helps the strongman training . But my hobby is definitely my sport. Outside of strongman training I enjoy socialising with friends.

2. Tell us about the highlight of your strongman career so far.

I was drawn to the sport accidentally as I had always fancied doing some sort of competition to push myself and I wasn't too keen on the dieting phase for bodybuilding. So I thought I would have a go at strongman.

The highlight of my career would have to be when I won northern England's strongest natural man for the first time. It came as a shock moving straight from novice level to a high level of competition. At that time I had only been training for 6 months as a strongman and was quite raw on all the events.

3. As Strongman training consists of a lot of lifting already, what type of supplementary training do you find necessary to do? What benefits have you seen from this training? 

I find that I benefit mostly by training body parts like a bodybuilder would. For example I would train back by itself and hit deadlift as a compound movement and pick 2-3 movements that would assist in building the back and strengthening the deadlift. For example I would warm up on pulldowns, and deadlifts reps and sets would vary week to week . Then I'd hit heavy barbell rows, pull ups and then maybe if I was feeling like I wanted a bit more, I would do some hyper-extensions.

4. What is your top tip for recovery?

My best advice for recovery would be eat, sleep, stretch and relax . My training has been full on for 18 months now and I've realised that you need to switch off from it and still make time for family and friends. Don't worry about being a bit rough the next day and not being able to eat a big breakfast. Building strength is a long process so balance is the key to consistent training for progression in the sport.

5. Can you summarise your own personal approach to training and nutrition?

My personal approach to training and nutrition is to look at my upcoming competition, try and separate all the events into training days to suit body parts. Then I’ll programme a session on a weekend where I do a couple of movement events - something like stones or another loading event. 
As far as nutrition goes I take it day by day aiming to hit around 50g protein per meal and some healthy carbs and maybe a bit of fat.

6. You used to compete in American Football. What have you learnt by playing the game and is there anything you feel you have reapplied when competing as a Strongman?

From playing American football I learned to be able to switch on and switch off quickly which is great for strongman. Strongman competitions are quite long and usually only consist of 5-6 events so you need to be able to switch on, smash it, then switch of after to conserve energy and focus your mind on the next event.

7. Your next competition is this weekend! Can you tell us a little about how you have been preparing for this competition? 

I'm preparing for my next competition by just slowly increasing weight so I peak at the comp weights in competition. I take a laid-back approach and am very careful in what I do. As soon as I get the events through for a competition I will not do any unnecessary exercises or activities to avoid injury.

 8. Do you have any future plans or goals within the sport of Strongman? 

My main goal is to win Britain’s Strongest Natural Man just once then I will retire from that organisation, take a year off while dropping around 3 stone (just to make normal life/work easier). Then I will focus on more of a power-lifting style training week e.g. deadlifts, squats and pressing (this will be the main focus) and maybe once a month or so do a light run through of strongman events to keep my hand in it.

Good luck to James this weekend competing! I am sure he will absolutely smash it!

If you fancy going to watch this competition then click here to find the details.

Watch James lift on his Instagram account here.  

Ultimate Strongman World Championship

This past weekend I worked at the Ultimate Strongman World Championship held at the Metro Arena, Newcastle. At the event I acted as therapist to the athletes along with a team of massage therapists. The day for me started at 4pm and 8 hours later we finished at 12 o'clock to then head back to the hotel for food.

Throughout the day I met some incredible people including the 12 strongest athletes of the world, their support teams and the rest of the 'Strength Team', including friends I have previously worked with. It was pretty cool floating around backstage, watching the athletes warm up, talking to them and helping to ease any niggles. All involved with the event were such amicable and interesting people! I really enjoyed meeting athletes from all over the world and making new friends within the sport.

The buzz of the event was incredible. What a show was put on! I'm looking forward to seeing what Glenn Ross has next in store for Ultimate Strongman!

Well done to all the competitors involved, especially Laurence Shahlaie who took the title of World Champion!


Here are some behind-the-scenes snaps from the event -

With 2016 World Champion Strongman Laurence Shahlaei.

Eddie Hall warming up back-stage.

With the competitors back-stage.

Warming up pre event.

Back-stage with Eddie Hall.

The 450kg Yokes which were carried 20 metres.

Atlas Stones ranging from 115kg to 175kg.

Mikkel Leicht in the deadlift event.

The award ceremony.

With Strongmen Mikkel Leicht and Konstantine Janashia.

With Strongmen 'Big Z' and Mikhail Shivlaykov. (How small do I look? haha)

With Iron Biby!

All action of the show was filmed ready for broadcast on the TV channel Dave. Check it out at 5pm on the 30th December. I'll be sat ready with a box of popcorn!

Follow Ultimate Strongman here -

Instagram @Official_Ultimate_Strongman

Twitter @UltimateStrong

Facebook @UltimateStrongman

North of England Deadlift championships

On Saturday 5^th November I supported the North East Deadlift Championship as Sports Therapist, an event organised by North East Strongman Promotions, held at The Fitness Rooms in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne.

I always enjoy working on game days or at events such as this, as you get an awesome buzz from the atmosphere. The event was filled with laughs and some serious shifting of weight! I got to catch up with the amazing Anarchy Strength team who were sponsoring the event and met some cool new people too while enjoying good coffee! Not a bad Saturday at work!

I also had my new banner on show! Can you spot it in the photos?

Well done to all competitors involved, there were some very impressive performances!

Here are a few photos from the event - 

I also got to catch up with one of my sponsored athletes James Landless, who is soon to compete In Northampton.  

I’m looking forward to working at more Strongman events over the coming months and in the New Year! Thanks for the invitation North East Strong Man Promotions.

Follow Anarchy Strength here – https://www.facebook.com/Anarchystrength/

Follow North East Strong Man Promotions here – https://www.facebook.com/North-east-strongman-promotions-1597419600484241/

Follow Performance Sports Therapy here – https://www.facebook.com/PSTherapy/?fref=ts

Follow the Fitness Rooms here - https://www.facebook.com/thefitnessrooms/?fref=ts 

Anarchy Strength

After a series of meetings over the past few weeks I am excited to announce that I shall be working very closely alongside Anarchy Strength to promote injury care and education within the Strongman and StrongWomen community. In addition to writing on their upcoming blog, I shall be travelling with Anarchy Strength to Strongman events to provide my services as a Graduate Sports Therapist and First Aider. If you see us at these events please come say hello!

Keep an eye out on the Anarchy page and my own to see what we're up to! 💪🏼 #StartStrongFinishStronger

https://anarchystrength.co.uk/