1. Giant Dumbbell press for reps
2. Tire Flip for 100 ft
3. Farmer’s Walk / Yoke Medley (50 ft each)
4. Standing Arm over Arm Sled Pull (50 ft)
5. Atlas Stones (5 stone series)

Considering the fact a major hurricane was expected at any moment (and actually arrived right at the end of the event BTW…) there was a solid turn out.

NAS Police/Fire/Military Nationals & Massachusetts State Strongman Championhips is a post from: The Final Frontier In Bodybuilding , Fat Loss, Health & Fitness

ElifeFTS were the primary sponsors of the event, and supplied some great prizes for the competitors, such as a drag sled and blast straps. Of course EliteFTS is also maker of my favorite strength and conditioning tool, and focus of the competition, the Prowler sled.

The event was held at Gold’s Gym in Natick MA, which due to their indoor turf, made for a perfect location to push the beast that is a Prowler sled!

There were additional prizes generously supplied by these sponsors:

Gold’s Gym Natick
Labrada Nutrition
FatGripz
GymBoss
Fein Energy Drink
Hugo Rivera
iGrunt T-Shirts

The rules for the event were simple: he or she that pushed the most weight the length of the turf without dying, won! OK, a little more complicated then that, but not much. Basic rules were:

•    Push the sled from rear skids lined up with orange cones to the end of the turf (75’)

•    One minute to complete the run.

•    Belts were allowed, Cleats were not.

•    Competitors could waive a weight up to 3 times.

•    Men could “waive” after 3 plates per side (6 total) had been done; women could waive after 2 plates per side (4 total) had been completed.

•    Progression 45lbs per side followed by 25lbs per side for women, and 45 per side for men.

•    If more then one person pushes the same max weight the full distance and within the time limit, the person who weighs the least wins.

•    Official prowler flu bucket was there if someone needed it! Happy to report, no one did!  

That’s essentially it; simple and brutally difficult. Frankly, I’m tired of all the foo foo endurance oriented/quasi “functional” stuff that’s all the rage these days. You want “functional” whole body kick-your-ass hard? Push a Prowler sled for max weight 75’ a few times and you’ll know what hard really feels like…

What’s the “waiving” of weights mentioned above?  I wanted there to be some ability to use strategy with this competition, so a competitor could waive off an attempted weight  up to three times, both saving his or her energy for heavier weights and keeping the event moving quickly. For example, if one felt they were able to do 6 plates per side (12 total) they might “waive” off 4 per side (8 total) and 5 per side (10 total) and go for the 6 per side (12 total) not unlike other strength sports where one has their opening lift, etc.

As expected, this ability to waive off weights worked out well for some, not so well for others, hence it added some real strategy which  either paid off, or it didn’t….several guys waved off 10 and 12 plates total to attempt 14 total (7 per side) but didn’t make it, so they were only credited for the early attempts.  However, several competitors, such as Chris Vaughn did 12 total (6 per side) and due to the others missing heavier attempts, put him in a tie with David Ho, which went to Chris due to weighing less then David, who was bumped to third place.

A perfect example of where waiving off  lighter runs worked perfectly was for the men’s winner Tyler Easson, who waved off 10,12, and 14 total (or 5, 6, and 7 plates per side respectively) and went for 16 plates, and did it!

The ladies competing were warriors one and all, and everyone of them gave no quarter to the sled, and pushed for all they were worth! I was most impressed with the female turn out for this event and their “can do” attitudes. Women are so much stronger than they often give themselves credit for, and so much stronger then people realize, but that’s another topic!

I pushed hard for a good women’s turn out for the event, and they didn’t let me down! Check out some of the weights they were pushing!

“Why no weight classes?” you might ask. Not knowing what the turn out would be for this first ever event, I decided not to add any weight classes. However, if/when I do another, I will probably add at least an over/under 200lb class in the men’s and an over/under 150lb class for the women’s.

That’s my basic write up of the first ever Prowler competition. I hope to have more in the future. If you want to see more video and pics of this event, as well as comments from second place finisher Chris Vaughn, you can check out his blog on the EliteETS site HERE.

See you in the gym!

With first place finisher men Tyler Easson:

Second place finisher Chris Vaughn:

Third place finisher David Ho:

First Place Women Lori Steele:

Second place finisher Kelly DeCollibus:

Third place finisher Angela Mellen:

And of course, the all important Prowler Flu Bucket!

BrinkZone Charity Prowler Event Vid and Write Up! is a post from: The Final Frontier In Bodybuilding , Fat Loss, Health & Fitness

Arnold Classic 2011 Highlights! is a post from: The Final Frontier In Bodybuilding , Fat Loss, Health & Fitness

Europa Battle of Champions Highlights is a post from: The Final Frontier In Bodybuilding , Fat Loss, Health & Fitness

No, I have not gone into strong man competitions, ’cause I aint that strong! I did however attend the Paxton Strong Man V competition to support my pal, part time moderator of my forums, Training Assistant to OptimalSWAT, and top S&C coach John Sullivan. The Paxton Strong Man competition is sanctioned by the NAS and is  an important competition to the New England Region. Here are some highlights from that Paxton Strong Man V competition:

BrinkZone Goes Strong Man! is a post from: The Final Frontier In Bodybuilding , Fat Loss, Health & Fitness

The Night of Champions (NOC) started in 1978 and is considered one of the top shows in professional bodybuilding, second only to the Mr. Olympia and the Arnold Classic in its importance and prestige. It’s well known as the most “hard core” pro show on the circuit, and the notorious NY crowds make it the loudest and most enthusiastic of bodybuilding shows you will ever attend. Combine that with the background of Manhattan itself, one of the worlds truly great cities, and you have a must see show. I myself grew up in Brooklyn NY, so this was something of a “returning to my roots trip” for me.

This year, for the 25th Anniversary of the NOC, they added a women’s pro bodybuilding show, women’s pro fitness, a women’s pro figure competition, and a killer after show party! The NOC is also a very international show, with competitors from all over the globe. Add to that the fact the show was being held on my birthday (May 30th)… Bottom line, there was no way I was going to miss the 25th Anniversary of the NOC!

Now, my style for covering such shows is a little different from others writers. Personally, I find simply describing each competitor and how they looked as boring as death to write, and I always find such articles boring as death to read. So, I am not going to describe each and every competitor as there were no less than four full competitions going on at one time and the pictures that accompany this write-up is better than 1000 words I could write anyway, not to mention I only have so much space to write in.

Women’s Figure

Figure competitions are a fairly recent spin off from fitness shows. To compete in fitness you need to have both a great body (for the one piece and two piece swim suit part) and the athletic ability to do a high energy routine. The result of this is that women with strong gymnastics, dance, and cheerleading backgrounds tend to dominate the fitness competitions which leaves women who look great in a swim suit-but lack the strong gymnastics/dance/cheerleading background-unable to place well in fitness shows. Thus, the figure competition was a logical spin off of the fitness competition where women who are in great shape and look great in a one piece and two piece bathing suits, have their own competition. Not terribly surprising, the figure competition tends to be quite popular with the male segment of the audience!

Now it might seem quite straight forward to judge such a competition, but as a judge myself, I can tell you it’s anything but simple. The judges have to find the perfect balance between muscularity, symmetry, bodyfat levels, skin tone, skin color, poise, stage presence, and femininity. When you are looking at over 30 beautiful women, all of whom fit the above requirements, it’s not as easy at it appears to pick the worthy winner, then go onto figure out second through the top fifteen or so placements. This show had over 30 competitors, all in great shape.

The competitors were:

Alejandro Abdala
Dina Al-Sabath
Andi Brunig
Karen Burnett
Celeste Chance
Adrian Chastain
Sharon Christian
Jennifer Devine
Jaime Franklin
Patty Gardner
Elaine Goodland
Lisbeth Halikka
Sharon Kouvaras
Mari Kudla
Harriet Joanne
Lampro Nikos
Jenny Lynn
Monica Martin
Renee Masi
Davana Medina
Christine Pate
Kristy Robbins
Leslie Russell
Milamar Sarcev
Sunny Steurer
Libby Streeter
Shaunta Teeters
DJ wallis
Louisa Wigand
Allison Williams
Aleksandra Kobielak

Though all the women in this show had clearly done their home work, it was interesting to see the vastly different body types that ranged from tall and slender to short and muscular. I suspect many of the women presented too much muscle for the judges, even though they had great physiques. In the end, the judges picked Davana Medina as the winner, with Jenny Lynn in second place and Mari Kudla rounding off third place.

Women’s Fitness

Though not quite as large as the women’s figure competition with eighteen competitors, the women’s fitness was no less competitive, if not more so than the figure. The fitness competition requires the same swim suit rounds as the figure, but has the addition of a routine that usually combines various disciplines from dance to gymnastics and martial arts.

The competitors were:

Kimberly Klein
Beth Horn
Tracey Greenwood
Kelly Ryan
Stacey Hilton
Julie Palmer
Nicole Rollazo
Julie Childs
Amy Haddad
Lisa Uzzle
Carissa Carter
Lynsey Ahearne
Bridgette Newell
Anna Level
Claire Parmley
Stacey Simons
Carla Sanchez
Kim Lyons

This was a tough show to judge as there were several standouts, and the judges have to balance the quality of the routines against how they look in swim wear. However, Kelly Ryan was clearly dominating the competition after they judges witnessed her amazing routines. Some of them do strength moves well, some do dance moves well, some do gymnastics moves well, but Kelly’s routines have it all in spades. Add to that her infectious stage presence and her great condition for the swim suit rounds, and this show was a lock for her. She took first place and the audience (including this writer) were in total agreement with that decision. Rounding out the top five was Stacy Hilton in second place, Anna level in third place, Julie Palmer in fourth place, and Tracey Greenwood in fifth place.

Women’s bodybuilding

The all new women’s bodybuilding competition to the NOC had three weight classes: light, middle, and the heavy weights. In the lights weights division was Maria Lehtonen, Fannie Barrios, Mary Ellen Terumbo, Rosemary Jennings, Denise Masino, and Angela Debatin. From the minute she hit the stage and started posing, it was clear Denise Masino was spot on in her conditioning and ready to do battle. She was probably in the best condition of her pro career, and she walked away with the first place win for the class. Denise is also the publisher of Muscle Elegance Magazine which presents muscular women in very (read X rated…) sexy settings. Rounding out the top three was Rosemary Jennings in second place and Maria Lehton in third.

The middle weights only had four competitors: Kim Harris, Heike Jung, Desiree Ellis, and Jeannie Paparone. Kim Harris edged out Desiree Ellis (2nd place) for the class, with Jeanie Paparone taking third.

Big is the word that would be used to describe my first impression of the women’s heavyweights. However, in great shape, is not. There were some huge woman in the class, but many were no where close to pro level condition. In the heavy weights were: Maria Calo, Zdenka Razymova, Emma Sue, Betty Viana, Lisa Aukland, Carmella Key, Christine Envall, Karen Marillier, Beth Roberts, Donna Logue, Barbora Mrazkova, and Heather Foster. Within fairly short order it became apparent who would dominate the class. Betty Viana was the “bodybuilder’s bodybuilder” in this show. She was in great condition, with fantastic symmetry and clean classic lines, great stage presence, and more than enough muscle to please the hard core NY crowd. She was impressive form all angles and has Ms. Olympia written all over her. Definitely the name to watch in women’s pro bodybuilding. Rounding out the top three was Zdenka Razymova in second place, and Barbora Mrazkova in third place.

The overall… (or lack there of). I wish I could tell you who won the overall, but there was no overall! Don’t ask me why. In my view, if you have weight classes, someone should be awarded an overall trophy so they can claim the overall title of a show, in this case the NOC. I hope they will add an overall winner next year as that’s only fair to the ladies and the crowed. Personally, I am not a big fan of weight classes in a professional show. As a professional athlete, you either hang with the big boys-or in this case big women-or you don’t, but that’s just me I suppose…

The Men!

The NOC is always a much anticipated show because (a) it tends to be a very diverse show and (b) many competitors make their pro debut at this show and (c) many European bodybuilders make their pro US debut at the NOC. The result is that you get to see many new faces, and I for one enjoy seeing more than the same old faces you find at most of the other pro shows in the US. This year did not disappoint as there were many new men competing at the NOC.

The competitors and their respective placings were:

1) Victor Martinez
2) Pavol Jablonicky
3) Craig Titus
4) King Kamali
5) Johnnie Jackson
6) Bob Cicherillo
7) Art Atwood George Farah
9) Milos Sarcev
10) Rodney St. Cloud
11) Toney Freeman
12) Heiko Kallbach
13) Jeffrey Long
14) Mike Morris
15) Ronnie Rockel
16) Craig Richardson
17) Idrise Ward-El
18) Bruce Patterson
19) Tommi Thorvildsen
20) Milton Holloway

Men that competed but didn’t make top twenty cut: Wong Hung, Oleg Makchantzev, Jean-Pierre Fux, Mike Sheridan, Berry Kabov, Rudi Solomon, Alexander Vishnevski, Mustafa Mohammad, Jeramy Freeman, Rod Ketchens, Kenny Jones, Gustavo Badell, Clifton Torres, Valentin Jabes, Jocelyn Pelletier, Kamal El-Gargni, Leon Brown, Aaron Maddron, Fred Bigot, Evgeny Mishin, and Nelson DeSilva.

Now that’s a lot of competitors! This was a tough show and each and every spot was highly contested, with people winning or losing a placing by a single point. I will briefly give a run down of my impressions of the top five:

Fifth place, Johnnie Jackson. In a word, thick! Big full muscle bellies, particularly his pecs. He was in great condition, and combined that with ultra round full muscle bellies with a small waist and solid posing abilities. I would have had no problems with him placing higher honestly.

Fourth place, King Kamali. King is blessed with one of the most eye catching frames in the sport. He has naturally super wide shoulders and round delts and wide lats that makes him stand out in a line up, thus he gets the attention of the judges in a crowded stage and that clearly helps his placings. King is thick and has eye pleasing symmetry. He is also one of the most fun free posers to watch as he does a sort of robotic break dance routine that gets the crowed fired up. However, he was holding a slight film of water under his skin at this show and he needs to bring up his thigh sweep, and reduce his obliques, to further increase the illusion of the X frame shape and small waist. I also felt he had a tad too much oil on that that worsened the effect of the water he was holding.

Third place, Craig Titus. Craig has many natural gifts as a bodybuilder and a few drawbacks. However, like all smart bodybuilders, he is great at emphasizing his strengths and hiding his weaknesses. His strengths are his killer legs, big ass triceps, round delts, and overall balanced physique combined with solid posing and a great confident stage presence and good skin prep. He has also brought his waist down a bit and has learned to control his abs much better, not letting them relax and “all hang out” so to speak (see my comments below regarding that topic). However, Craig was in good condition, but he was not in great condition, and appeared to have spilled over a bit, which detracted from his overall appearance and relegated him to third place by a single point.

Second Place, Pavol Jablonicky In a word, ripped, shredded, peeled! Ok, that was three words. Pavol has been on the pro circuit for some years now, and at forty, he is not a young man, yet he continues to improve. He was by far the best conditioned person on stage, and he was full enough not to look ripped yet flat. His shape and overall symmetry is quite good, but not exactly Flex Wheeler good. His glutes, delts, and lower back had striations on their striations! He carries some truly impressive and quality muscle on his frame and is always a threat for top spot when he is “on.” He really does not have any bodyparts that could be considered weak in relation to his other bodyparts.

In other words, a very balanced physique. What really hurts him is a seeming total lack of skin preparation. Little to no tan (real or otherwise), and little to no oil, which really detracts from his appearance. His hair is sort of non- style, and his stage presence is on the stiff side, though he poses well enough. If he would make the effort to improve the overall package he presents to the judges, Pavol would be top five in any show any place, if not win outright. That he took second at this show in spite of all that is testament to just how good he is when is he in his best shape.

First pace, Victor Martinez. By shear coincidence, Victor is a New Yorker and the crowed went ballistic with its approval over his first place finish at the NOC. Though it took a while to hash him out of this big line up, it became very apparent that Victor was destined for top five placing and probably the man to beat at this show after the first few rounds of call outs at pre judging. You could tell the other competitors could feel it also. Though there were many quality physiques in this show, Victor presented the true total package at the NOC. Victor was hard as nails, with a super tight midsection, and very impressive overall shape and symmetry.

He has a great X frame (wide square shoulders that tapers down to a small waist only to flare back out from the sweep in the quads giving the illusion of an X). He displayed some truly righteous wheels (big quads!), superb back density with a wicked Christmas tree lower back that tapered right into his striated glutes. No doubt, Victor has real potential in the pro ranks and is someone to fear if he can continue to come in this type of condition show to show while making slight overall improvements. He could learn to pose his back from the front a bit better, and if he can get his hams to match his quads, and add a touch of medial delt mass to further improve his V taper, there will be few pros out there to stand in his way to future titles.

Most Overlooked: In my opinion the most overlooked guy in this show had to be Heiko Kallbach of Germany. This guy was a total freak and the crowed loved him. He had muscle on top of his muscle. He was hard as granite over steel, as hard as any bodybuilder has ever been. Huge ripped quads, giant arms, and a back reminiscent of Dorian Yates.

For such a big man, his shape was not half bad (though Flex Wheeler and Shawn ray he aint), and really no weak bodyparts to speak of. In fact, Doran was sitting right over my right shoulder and commented to me that you just don’t see big men like that in that type of condition these days. His lats were a little high from the front, but that may have been more how he posed than anything, and he needs to pose so as to keep maximum quad sweep showing, but those are small issues. I do have one major issue with him, and I cover that below shortly as it applies to him and many others.

There have been many super freaks in bodybuilding in the past and present, but none I know of that can come in that hard and full. He may have just ushered in the era of the Super Mega Freak! In fact, his placement (12th) may have been more that the judges didn’t know what to do with him, so he sort of got lost in the shuffle. Definitely someone to keep an eye out for.

Final comments on the Men

If there was one thing many, even most, of the competitors in this show suffered from visually, it was big distended stomachs. Some of them looked like the creature from the first Aliens movie was going to burst right out on stage, covering everyone in gore. Worse, most made very little effort to control it. It’s a matter of debate just what causes the affliction (don’t get me started!), but what is not up for debate is the need for bodybuilders to learn to control it. It really detracts from the overall look and I suspect was the reason for some of the poor placings of otherwise good bodybuilders. For example, Craig Titus, who used to be criticized for this, has clearly worked on the problem of controlling the midsection bloated look on stage, and it’s cleary worked in his favor with the judges. Another big man who totally mastered it was Dorian Yates. He never let his gut hang out, even when in the back line up as did Crag at this years NOC. I would say the Euro bodybuilders were the worst offenders in this show, but there were certainly some US pros that looked 6-8 months pregnant. Not good mojo….

Party Party Party!

This momentous 25th anniversary NOC concluded with a great party. This one was a who’s who of well-known bodybuilders, industry people, fans, wise guy writers (me!) and of course fitness models to boot. Good times…

25th Anniversary: Night of Champions is a post from: The Final Frontier In Bodybuilding , Fat Loss, Health & Fitness