2011 Arnold Recap

Day #1 Officials

Arnold 2011 recap

Friday Mar 4 2011

Event #1 950 Yoke 60'

During warm-ups I was very happy to find that this yoke was either A) not 950 or B) not comparable to 950 on my yoke. It felt very light and easy. This was both a good thing and a bad thing. It meant that it was going to be a turbo sprint race.

I started out moving very well, hit my rythym quickly and was going too fast. The yoke had some play in the uprights and it started to bang around left to right and I dropped it. In a pannick I immediately picked again and started out fast again, which was a mistake, still sloppy and dropped again. 3rd pick I had my head about me and started out slow and steady, was much tighter and finished. Time was around 24 seconds I think, not good at all. I was hoping to be under 20 seconds on this event.

Event #2 325 axle clean and press each rep

About to lift as a legend looks on

My goal was 4 reps, I had a plan/process in place.

I ended up missing the lock-out on my second attempt and was behind on the time for my 4 rep plan. I stuck to it though and was able to pull out 3 reps with a few seconds to spare.
Not to bad, this wasnt a massive disapointment but not awesome either.

Event #3 800 frame carry 60', 800 frame drag 60'
(The game changer here, and likely saving grace for my standings was that if you didn't finish the frame carry, you got a big fat zero)

Not sure on my time here, I dropped the frame at least 3-4 times, my left hand kept slipping off, finally got the carry done, the drag was pretty easy, the concrete was smooth and it slid well. I was one of about 6-8 guys that actually finished. Good points jump here.

Event #4 Car DL for reps

I was in 12th place going into this event. My goal was 20 reps as I needed a big score to jump into the top 10.
Everything felt great, I actually did 18 reps but was only credited with 17 as I didn't wait for the lift command on the 3 rep. (We got both a lift command, and a good rep command, so no bouncing was possible)
17 reps got me a tie for 2nd place and some big points.

Magnus VerMagnusson was my ref on day 1. What a good time it was to have that guy calling the reps and running the stop watch. He gave me a high five for the 17 reps on DL and said "It could've been 18 too but you were greedy" Good times. Poundstone was also a ref on day 1 but not for me.

Finished day 1 in 7th spot overall

Reppin the Red and White in Columbus

2011 Arnold Recap Day 2

Day 1 takes place friday morning and we're done by 1pm. Then we have the rest of friday and all of saturday to recover etc before hitting day 2 on sunday afternoon.

Last year, I spent all of saturday at the convention centre, from 7am till 6pm as Sarah was lifting in the full power meet and then we checked out the tradeshow area.
I felt that I still had soggy legs last year on sunday so this year I spent most of friday night and all of saturday chilling in my hotel. Other than watching the Pro strongman and a bit of powerlifting, I pretty much stayed out of the convention centre.

Good decision. I felt much better this time around in the finals.


Event #1 325 Log clean and press each rep 60 sec

My goal was 4 reps, as I was able to do 4 last year on 315 in 60 sec.
Unfortunately, as things came apart, I was still greedy for 4 and ended up with only 2 reps when had I taken more time to rest between, 3 would've been very doable and gained a bigger point difference.
Slightly dissappointed.


Event #2 405lb Hussafel Carry, max distance

My plan was to win this event. I had to go 4th on this event so there was not yet a high mark set.
I stuck to the plan and things were going quite well, but I feel that I gave up a bit too early. The crowd and the announcer were both making me feel like I was way out in unbeatable territory, so when it started to slip, I just let it go. 154' and change.
I ended up in 3rd on this event as two others were able to go a bit more. 170' was the winning distance.

Im satisfied with this, but after watching more guys do it, I feel like I didn't try hard enough.


Event #3 Stones (300, 330, 360, 390, 420 to 60" 60" 54" 54" 50")
I felt pretty good about this run, all very doable for me, and the ASC stones are clean and very good.
I loaded the first 3 in decent time, the 60" platforms slowed me a bit, but the first 3 went up pretty smooth. That was all I could get. #4 came up well but I stumble back a bit as I made the high pull for the lip.
Stones, like yoke, were very dissappointing for me this time around. I feel that I am capable of better on both but was unable to deliver.

 

 

The Finalists, 1st Place Matesz Barron from Poland front and centre in white.  Grover neck, bottom left.

The whole show was a very fun show. Dione and her stafff put on the best show you could ask for. They ran a lot of guys through 4 events in about 4 hours on Friday morning. Great equipment, very fair reffing.

As always, a lot fun and I look forward to going back next year and moving up the standings a couple more spots.

 

Anyone recognize this beast?