Rob Kearney Explains How They Choose Strongman Challenges

The J.Rogan experience. It's so fascinating to me when you think about people that explore the boundaries of what a human body is capable of. And Strongman is like what, there's like guys who do like David Goggins that do like the ultra marathons, but Strongman is like, that's another form of this extreme pushing of the boundaries of what a body is capable of. And when you look at the progression of the sport, it just hasn't slowed down. Like if anything, it's gotten even like the weights keep getting heavier every year. Everybody keeps getting faster. And like all of us are like, when the fuck is this going to stop? You know, like we show up to a contest and they're like, all right, we, we, there was literally a contest in 2018 where the deadlift was 880 pounds for reps. That's so much weight. What the fuck dude. And there was a motherfucker that pulled over five. That is so much. It's crazy. And so it's like, all of us are like, where does it stop? Like does it stop? You know, like the, the log press world record is 502 pounds overhead right now. God damn it. You know, it's just like these crazy outlandish numbers, but like the people, like we keep doing them. So I guess we're doing it to ourselves to a point. I guess so. But do you like, what is pushing it? Is it just that you, is it a preconceived idea of what's possible? Now that the bar has been moved, now you realize that, or is it just that people are more scientific about their training now? I think that's what it is. I think it's, um, and it's also like when you, the, the evolution of equipment over the years, you know, like with rogue being our main equipment sponsor now, they make all strong man equipment. So like regular people have strong man equipment in their gyms, you know, like they're like PT clinics that have farmer's handles in them for people to work on core, musculature and posture when they're walking. So I think just like the general availability of strong man equipment has made it easier for people to train it more regularly and get better at the events because you, we have to practice, you know, like being strong is great, but you have to be able to manipulate the movement and manipulate the implement to work. And that's where just like the training and the practice portion of it comes in. So I think that's why we've seen, you know, a lot of these weights being pushed so much further because everybody pretty much has regular access to the strong man implements now. It's, it's just, it's interesting to me that you're saying that the weights are getting heavier and people are getting faster. It's like, and then I'm thinking like how long have people been doing this? When was the first strong man competition? I mean, strong man dates back to like the 1700s. Really? Like that kind of shit, like barrel throws and yeah. Really? Um, I mean, when Rob was on, you know, he was talking about the show strongest man in history. Um, that was just on history channel and they, they went back into the history books to look at old, you know, quote unquote strong men doing these strengths, these feats of strength, um, all throughout, you know, I think one of the most notable names is Louis seer, a guy from Canada who was about my size actually, and is revered to be one of the strongest men in history. And so when he was doing like these dumbbell lifts and these back lifts and these hip and thigh lifts and stuff like that. Um, so strongly, it's been around for a long time, but world's strongest man didn't become a thing until the seventies. That's when world's strongest man, I think 77 was the first year of world's strongest man. And that's when it kind of became a sport, you know, and not just a, a kind of a hobby, I guess. So how do they determine what stuff you're going to do for the world's strongest man? Did they, I mean, did they have a panel of experts that sit down and devise each individual event? Yeah. I mean, it's, it's come a long way from what it was in the seventies. I mean, they used to do like medleys with like potato sack races back at world's strongest man a long time ago. Um, now it's a little more standardized where they do have like a committee where it's, you know, people from the strong man circuit and judges and stuff like that, but they also bring TV execs because they want stuff that's going to look cool. You know, and I think that's a great thing because you don't want to like stuff that is cool to me, isn't going to look cool to somebody that doesn't know anything about the sport sometimes. So when they choose the events, like pulling two monster trucks, like, okay, one, it's, you have to be strong as fuck to be able to do it, but it also looks really cool on TV. So they try to find that marriage of, of both of those things to make it the most pleasing to the average person. Difficult but also impressive. Exactly. Like the deadlift event. They don't have us. Yeah. So, oh, this is that's market. That's Mark Felix. Yeah. So this is one of the world records that he did. And how old is he when he's doing this? This is 53. Jesus Christ. So this was actually just this past July. This was at a Wembley, Wembley stadium. Oh my God. Or what the arena in London, the Hercules hold. What a great name. So each of those pillars weighs 400 pounds and he's just chilling and you just have to hold it as long as you can. What a size of his fucking shoulders. Yeah. That is preposterous. It's dumb. That dude has preposterous muscles. That's so crazy. How long does he hold his fucker for? He goes over one minute. Oh my God. Yeah. I mean, it's crazy. So this is a world record at this point. What kind of after this is what, 122 drops it. Yeah. What kind of breathing you doing here? Like, does it help to breathe in deep and heavy or just during an event like this, it's 30. That is crazy. That's exactly. Dude, black don't crack. They're not lying. That guy looks amazing. So with an event like that, it's more just trying to relax and getting into like a calm mental state because you don't want to be super revved up because you're not moving. You're just focusing on your grip. And that's the biggest thing for an event like that. But then there's also events where like, okay, when you're maxing your deadlift, you do have to hold your breath. So it's different for everything you do. Look at it. There's the hands. The hands are enormous. It goes up to his wrist. That's incredible. That's amazing, though, that he could hold those fucking things for that long. It was like a minute and 20 something. A minute and 23 seconds. And for reference, like I was at that contest and did it for like 42 seconds. Oh my God. It's crazy. Now, how do you prepare for something like that? Do you like, you don't hold those things like you just work on your grip and just. Usually I'm honestly self set up like a pulley system in the gym. So use just like regular handles that use on like a cable machine. Set up a pulley on like a squat rack or like one of the rogue rigs have loading pins coming down, stack weights on that, and then just holding. Yeah. Fuck. Or even just doing something as simple like pull up holds like dead hangs from a barbell or from a pull up bar. How long can you dead hang for? I've done over a minute. That's impressive. That guy is that heavy. Yeah. So honestly, usually it would go up my shoulders. Usually get tired before anything else. Really? Just from once. Yeah. Just from like holding it. And so. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.