FITTER FASTER STRONGER

mickashurst said:UK'S ENGLANDS STRONGEST MAN FINAL, AYLESFORD, KENT. 1ST AUGUST.

Didn't have the best build up to this. I aggrivated my back about a month before the comp so missed a few sessions and didn't really have time to let it settle down properly. Also we were on a family holiday in Cornwall the week leading up to it.
I've missed loads of comps this year so I was adamant I wasn't missing this beast!

FIRST EVENT - 450 KG YOKE, 350 FRAME CARRY, 15 M EACH.

This was really horrible, the bar was thinner than usual and I've never handled this wt before!
Got to bout 2-3 ms from finishing the yoke after lots of drops. Nobody made this look simple, Dean Slater won this event and got 3-4 ms with the frame. BRUTAL!

7 th Place.

ARM OVER ARM.

This was way to easy. Once i got it moving I just seemed to be pulling slack out of the rope!

13 secs something,

Place?

140 LOG, REPS.

Think this was a bit lighter than said but only got 1 rep. Nothing there, abysmal effort. Dave Meer got 10!!

Joint Last.

600 KG TYRE.

No flips. Almost got it over though! 2 reps from Gary Gardner won it, Rob got 1 and Paul Carter got 1. No one else flipped it. Si Flint and Rich Hudson both suffered bicep tears on this!

350 KG 18 " AXLE DEADLIFT.

All the running order was picked before start of comp. I was 1st out so had no idea how many to aim for. Did 13 or 14 reps but only tallied 11! I think I got the 1st 2 disallowed for lowering the bar before the call but I wasn't sure. Nobody said anything?
I was fairly pleased with this, not been able to deadlift much lately, didn't feel much pain either for a change. But I was loaded with painkillers!
Dean Slater won with 17!!

4 th place.

MEDLEY.

DUCK WALK, supposed to be 200 but announcer said 260 kgs!, 100 KG RUBBER BLOCK, 100 KG TYRE, 165 KG ANVIL, 300 KG ANCHOR + CHAIN DRAG, 15 M EACH.

All went well until the anvil, couldn't get it to my waist so just held it straight arm and carried it. Got about 10 m or so. Think if I could of nailed the pick up I would of finished. Only 2 competitors finished this.

4th Place.

8 th place overall.

Just like to praise the lads who got through. Awesome performances!
I would be lying if I said I was happy with my performance though. I think i needed a swift kick up the arse really. No fire in my belly whatsoever, I can make excuses all day but the bottom line is I just wasn't good enough on the day and wasn't willing to give it everything. Maybe the holiday relaxed me too much!
I was 4.5 points off qualifying so I wasn't completely out of it but i need to improve vastly to be competing well at this level.
Just had a week off to ease the ache's and pains. My lower back does feel a bit better from the rest but felt something crunch between my shoulder blades on the bas***d yoke and has bothered me all week. Seeing Pascal next week so should be okay.

MrSmall said:Well done Mick, you weren't far from qualifying mate, that would have been awesome.
Heavy yokes are the devil.

Thing said:Good going mate especially when you aggravated your back before the comp. Take it your now on the ramp up to the holland comp now?

mickashurst said:
Thanks Neil. I would like to think I can improve on that performance somewhat in Holland. I've not trained this week, infact looking back on my diary I've only trained 5 times in the last 5 weeks! I'm undecided whether to start back this week or next. My back seems to be responding better to rest than training around it. Not sure if it's ready or not yet and I've still got 7 weeks to build back up. Maybe another week will see it right?
I think I should be able to get my poundages up to something like in 6 weeks what do you think? Maybe not 100% up but near as?

Thing said:
Hey bud just see how it feels this week and maybe another week off fir rest will be fine. But in order to train up to the comp have you thought about training the specific events only fir the comp start at medium then working up to the comp weights and then slightly above a couple of weeks before the comp?