North Carolina's Strongest Man

North Carolina's Strongest Man

April 7th, 2018, I competed in North Carolina’s Strongest Man. The original plan was to do a water cut and compete in the Novice sub 198 weight class. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen, so instead I competed in the Novice Open Class. Not only does that mean that all my weights increased, but it also meant that I competed against athletes that were 100lbs heavier than myself. All things considered I think I did well. So, What Went Wrong? Misjudging the water cut came from several factors. I should’ve started salt loading sooner and I should have been more diligent when I cut the salt out. Baton Rouge water has some salt in it and I got a snack at the airport the day before weigh ins. Turned out to be very salty. Another factor was the scale in the hotel gym. Friday morning when I woke up the scale in the fitness room said I weighed 205. After using the bathroom several times and roughly two hours in the sauna I felt like I was ready. When I arrived at weigh ins and stepped on the scale it still read 205lbs. I’m not sure if there’s anything else I could’ve done prior to weigh ins but Bill Corbin and I decided to just compete in the open category instead. The Rest of Friday. The rest of the day was spent rehydrating and eating. First stop was Bojangles at the insistence of Bill…. It was okay. Afterwards, we rode out to hang out with some friends of mine at Ranger Up Military Apparel. Give them a follow by following the link here. While we were there we picked up some shirts and toured the facilities. After that it was time to head to Bill’s appointment to get an IV. We stopped on the way and ate some Pei Wei. At the IV place, I figured the best way to wait was to get one myself, after all we were now in a heavier weight class and I needed every advantage I could get. Afterwards, we ate dinner at a place downtown and went our separate ways until the following morning. The Day of the Competition We show up at 8:30 after our required snack run and start to prepare for the rules brief. While we waited I linked up with a few internet friends: Jessica, Dennis, Justin, and Samantha. After the rules brief it was time for the first event. The first event was the overhead press melody. This went very quickly since the axel was 20lbs heavier than I planned for. That being said I was able to clean the Axel for a 20lbs PR. The second event was the odd object carry and load. This is another event where everything I touched was a PR. Unfortunately, I dropped the keg and that ate about 20 seconds of time. Because of that, I was only able to load the 200lbs keg and the 200lbs Husaffel Stone. The third event is the one I’m the happiest about. I trained for a 430lbs deadlift but had to compete with a deadlift of 480lbs. I managed to pull it for a single which was a 50lbs PR!!! The fourth event was the farmer carry with 225lbs per hand. I was the slowest person to complete the course, but I did complete it while two others did not. This was the only event I beat Bill in. Finally, the last event was the atlas stone series. Instead of 175lbs my first stone was now 200lbs with increasing weights of 25lbs per stone onto a platform of descending height. Unfortunately, the first two platforms turned this move into more of a stone press than a stone load. I was able to get the first stone but that was it. So How Did I Do? Considering it was my first competition and I wound up in a weight class I didn’t intend to be in, I’d say I did well. Every event ended in a PR for me one way or another and I didn’t come in last. I’ve already figured out the next three competitions I’m going to do. If you enjoyed this post, then you should check out the other one I wrote for this competition here. Also, if you’re thinking of signing up for a competition yourself and have any questions, you can email me at cameron@atlasstrengthshop.com. Don’t forget to help support this blog by doing your Amazon shopping through our link at the top right and for all of your energy needs go to www.strikeforceenergy.com and use the promo code “ATLASSTRENGTH”. Until next time, Cameron Ray