Thinking about doing something really stupid... and that is signing up for the local strongman competition on the 10th of August.
It's a local lighthearted event called
"the worlds strongest person from this little town in Sweden" (sounds funnier in Swedish). It's held every year during the summer festival in my old home town among other events like car shows, bands playing, face painting for the kids, a "fun run", dance shows, a beer tent (very important!) and so on... You get the idea, qualifying for nationals in strongman this is not, just something for the locals to look and laugh at.
Don't know the events but have checked out other more "serious" strong man competitions in "
folk/citizen/peoples class", meaning for average strong persons, not the elite, and I could possibly maybe handle those weights with two months hard training.... maybe.
This is a typical strongman event in "
folk class":
Farmer Walk 105kg 20m for time
Circus dumbbell overhead press, 60kg for max rep in 60 sec
Tire flip, 310kg, 8 flips for time
Atlas stone, 140kg, max rep 60sec 1m height.
Truck pull, 15 tonnes, 12m for time
I haven't signed up yet but I kind of like the idea. Setting a goal and working on it for two months during the summer might be good for me. I don't have any delusions about winning, neither do I have the "winner mind set". If I could manage the weights in each events in "
folk" and finish last I would be happy with that. Like the fat guy signing up for a half marathon, who trains really hard and finishes, but last. You wouldn't laugh at that guy for trying, right? Maybe he won't be last next year?
My choices for the summer are:
- Train for local strong man event together with my girlfriend
- Focus on loosing weight
- Reaching "Simple"
- Turning my gym into a green house/ guest house
- Playing through "XCOM2: War of the Choosen" on hardest setting
- Doing some home improvements, including a new staircase
- Reading the "Dune Chronicles"
- Doing permaculture/creating a food forest in the garden
I know if I try doing all of them I'll end up doing none of them, even the video game because I'll just play something else because I'd feel bad about not doing things on my to do-list. So I'll have to choose one main focus and if I'll have the time and energy maybe I'll do one more task. Remember, I got autism, this is how my mind works.
I really want to do the strongman thing. It seems
fun and if I'm doing strong man I don't have to loose weight, just eat healthy with lots of protein around energy balance and focus on getting stronger.
Anyway, look at this picture and tell me I don't look happy.
Here I am after completing cutting, welding and carrying my farmers walk implements I bought at the junk yard together with all these weights. At scrap metal price!
174kg of weights and two 155cm H-beams (wider I-beams).
The end result was this, after much thinking, tinkering and help from my neighbor and his MIG welder. It took time to find and cut the scrap metal for the "feet", but feels like it was worth it, at 5cm height I can drop them without risk crushing my toes.
52kg a piece without the weights. I'm calling them my "
B-52's".
I did about 40m with them without weights, one pass with 62kg, then three shorter walks with 82kg.
Only problem is, at 155cm long, they don't fit in my car, so I have to carry them 1km back home, going to do that tomorrow...
But it will only be 52kg a hand, the weigh plates did fit in the backseat.
Only done 3 sessions this week, it's been really hot and humid and been having trouble sleeping because of it.
Have actually reduced 1cm at my waist and added 1cm around my neck. I'm now at 30,5% body fat according to the online calculator, down from 34,3% at beginning of april . The weight is still the same but I'm starting to notice some changes, especially at my arms, legs, shoulders and abs. Parts that were big and soft are now starting to become big and hard.
Still at same dangerous unhealthy, "
to-fat-for-the-fat-ward"-BMI as I started in October though...
