2005 May - Mid-Atlantic Strongman - Dan Cenidoza

[Dan Cenidoza]

Last Saturday was the Mid-Atlantic Strongman contest held in Waldorf, MD. I weighed in at 257.5 fully clothed and competed in the mid-heavyweight division. The events were:

1) axle clean and press for reps (250lbs, no continentals, clean each rep, 75 sec)

2) farmers/yoke walk (280 an arm/770, 20yds each, 75 sec)

3) stones (6 stones 255-365, platforms 54" - 46", 90 sec)

4) tire flip (680lbs x 12 flips, 90 sec)

5) conans wheel (540 for distance)

6) carry & drag (260 sandbag & 545 chain, 20yds each, 75 sec)

As always, my goal for this contest was to bring up my weak points, set some PR's and just enjoy the competition. I met all my goals, and then some.

Before I get into the details of the contest, I'd like to thank the Gripboard's own, Mike Beyers for making the trip down from NJ to compete. 3 weeks ago, Graham (the contest promoter) told me that so far I was the only mid-heavy. There ended up being 4 of us total and it looked from early on, that Mike and I would be the ones battling it out for first place. Mike set the bar high and motivated me to perform better than ever!

My training had mostly been centered around the clean and press, and to a lesser extent, tire and stones. I'm glad I spent the time I did with the axle, going into the contest I was under the impression that continental cleans would be allowed. My best C&P to date was a single 240 continental, I managed to power clean and press 250 for 2 on Saturday! Mike and I tied for first.

Next event was the farmers/yoke which I felt a little weary about. I tweaked my back a few months ago which has limited any squat/yoke training. I had the advantage of going last and I figured I'd do just enough to win the event but Mike didn't leave me much room, so I took it as far as I could in the time allowed. I finished about 3/4 of the yoke walk, only 15-20ft or so past Mike's mark.

Stones were next and my goal was really just to load that damned 315 stone that had stopped me 3 times before. In the past, the 315 was the 4th stone, this time it was 3rd in line. I knew I'd get it, and that's all I cared about, until Mike went and only loaded the 3 stones as well. Now the goal was to load the 3 stones faster than him! I got the stone, but it wasn't fast enough. Mike beat me by approximately 5 seconds, about the time it took me to lock that stone out.

After a short break we were onto the tire flip. My previous best was 9 flips, Mike got 10 and I managed 11 on this good day. Though I didn't spend as much time tire flipping in training as I would have liked to, I give the credit to all the harness sled drags I'd been doing.

Conan's wheel was next and since I felt this is one of my stronger events, I didn't spend any time training it really. It showed, and I really had to struggle to make it past Mike's mark. I think I got him by 14 ft or so.

Last event was the bag and drag, another event I felt confident in and really had to work my ass off to keep up with Mike. This was a close one, I finished the course in 46 seconds or so, beating Mike by only 2 or 3 seconds.

It was a very good day! I met all of my goals, set PR's across the board and had a great time. I ended up taking 1st place in my weight class and again, a big thanks to Mike for being there. 1st place would have meant very little if I hadn't had someone as strong as yourself to compete against.

[underdawg]

Awesome job, Dan! 250 for 2 on the axle is impressive. Nice report.

[smitty]

Excellent report - great job on that press man - you worked hard bringing that up!

Great job to Mike too - great showing man! Mike is a beast - and a great guy!

[dubthewonderscot]

great work Dan!

[Dan Cenidoza]

I forgot to mention, Luke placed 3rd out of 7 very tough lightweight competitors. He also won the "Biggest Heart" award and was the recipient of a very cool mounted dagger trophy.

[gamidon]

Great report and great Job

[danegarreau]

Great job guys.

[nickr104]

Nice work Dan and Mike!

[DAN PRAYDIS]

good going dan mike and luke

[MRBeyers]

First I want to thank Dan for the great write up. This was a great contest, and he is a GREAT competitior. He pushed me along in every event, and I feel bad that I was too whooped to cheer for him!! Not being able to continental was rough, and the yoke was more than I was ready for.

Dan was being kind about the Conan's wheel, he whipped my ass, plain and simple.

All in all though, a tough, well run contest on a beautiful day, but now, it's back to "The Yard" to get better.

ps-I didn't get to meet Luke, but that dude was amazing all day!!

[mANVIL]

Congrats to dan, luke and mike.

[Rick Walker]

Congrats Dan!

[Octogen]

Congrats guys!

Sounds like some tough work!

[Bill Piche]

Congrats!

There seems to be a trend of more guys competing in strongman on the GB.

[Luke Whippo]

great day indeed, I weighed in at 187.5lbs, I hit PR's in all the events.

I nailed a striaght clean with the 210lb axle and caught the bar in the front squat position (oly.-style) for and solid push press PR.

improved speed on the 250lb an arm farmers, and improved on 700lb yoke

stones need some work, but 315lb stone as the 3rd stone for lightweights is heavy.

I missed lapping the 3rd stone.

I did 9-flips of the 680lb tire with like 5sec left, I dedcided to attack and get the 10th flip anyway, eventhough I ran out of time.

conan's wheel- even though there was only 480lb on this, it felt close to 700lbs, 1-1/4 rotations, I just could not get any air.

the carry and drag went well, I felt I picked up the 245lb bag pretty fast, the chain drag was a tad slow.

placed 3rd out of 7, and won the "heart" award.

it was a pretty heavy contest as a lightweight, and august will be alittle heavier, but I'm liking it this way, the harder and heavier...the better, looking forward to the MD show in august.