Big muscles flexed, taxed in Delaware strongman competition
Date: 22-08-2010
Posted by: Anabolic Info TeamUnited States |
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Matt Michael bent over at the waist, knees slightly crooked, biceps bulging out of his black T-shirt as he heaved the huge barbells off the ground -- 225 pounds clutched in each hand.
The 27-year-old bouncer began half-trotting forward, taking quick, short steps toward the finish line spray-painted on the ground 100 feet in front of him.
He dashed across, dropping the weights as soon as he was through, and stepped forward to talk with some buddies -- then suddenly collapsed, falling backward, to be caught by his friends before hitting the ground.
It took many more minutes of cold compresses, cool water and lying down for the Palmertown, Pa., man to recover and join the competition again, heaving up a 280-pound concrete ball over a nearly four-foot-high metal pipe six times in a row as part of Delaware's second annual Strongest Man contest, held as part of the Diamond State BBQ Championship at Dover Downs.
A crowd of excited onlookers gathered along the fence to watch the small group of highly muscled athletes show off feats of strength taxing almost all the muscles in the human body.
Michael, who said the heat had taken a lot out of him, said there's a lot of interest in strongman competitions. He competes in about three a year.
"There's still this mystique," he said. "Everybody's interested in the Atlas stones, the giant dumbbells."
Dawn Bills, Michael's girlfriend, made the trip from Pennsylvania to cheer him on.
She said she was nervous watching him compete when he began four years ago, given the extreme stress he placed on his body, but has gotten over it.
"I was terrified the first time I saw him," she said. "But you do what you can to win."
Like many of the strongmen competing Saturday, Jim Dart, 25, of Havertown, Pa., got involved through a local gym. A former shotputter who was competing for the 2012 Olympic trials, he made the move to strength training a year ago -- and placed second in the heavyweight division Saturday.
"Strongman is all about being strong, powerful, conditioned and agile -- and then being able to apply it," Dart said. "It's the most awkward movements you can ever think of."
For the Atlas ball contest, some of the men duct-taped their forearms or used a tacky pine-tar solution to make their hands sticky. "It helps a lot with the stones," Dart said.
Dan Falcone, 24, an electrical engineer for Delmarva Power, parlayed his experience as a University of Delaware cheerleader into the strongman contests, choosing to set bodybuilding aside after lifting female cheerleaders into the air tore up his shoulders.
"It's fun and it's challenging," he said. "There's a lot of different things to do."
Onlooker Ron Jensen, 52, of New Castle, watched with amazement.
"If I was 30 years younger, I might get involved in something like that," he said. "But not today."
