My journey into strongman started at the age of 12. As I was flipping
through the channels on tv I saw a behemoth of a man. His eyes were bulging,
his breathing sounded like a dragon, and with pure rage in the blink of an eye he
squatted down and up with 969 pounds. That man was Bill Kazmaier, and the
competition was the 1981 World’s Strongest Man competition. Upon seeing this,
my course in life was set. I decided that I too would make it to the World’s
Strongest Man competition and then use that platform to make a difference in
people’s lives. There was however, a big problem with my goal. The problem
was that I was the skinniest, weakest, wimpiest kid in the whole 7th grade. My
football coach would often remind me of that fact. I must say though that I owe
that coach a lot. For in that junior high weight room I was taught how to train.
We would train with weights 3 times a week. We would hit every muscle group in
each training session by rotating through every weight station. The method of
training may not have been the best but the lessons in hard work would forge my
training for the rest of my life. While other junior high schools were letting their
athletes goof off during the off season we were killing ourselves in the weight
room, and loving every second of it. Yawning or goofing off in the weight room
was followed with severe punishment. This type of training discipline and
intensity carried on in high school. Along with a five inch growth spurt in high
school came an increase in training knowledge. I scoured every book and every
magazine I could get my hands on in order to learn how to get bigger
