There are
strongmen around the country who travel to schools, churches, prisons and
occasional corporate offices upwards to 300 days a year. Some travel all over
the world, some just in the U.S like my friend Bud Jeffries does. Now what they
do is not always the same, I've witnessed first hand two very distinctive
differences in their performances. Some do what’s called Junk Feats where
they’re feats that seem legit but really are as fake as you can get, an extreme
few are legit. The other is called the Real Deal where they take certain
objects and although the feat may seem like a fake it’s really a legit one like
bending steel, tearing a deck of cards right out of the package, hammer
levering and so forth. A traveling strongman has to be creative and learn their
distinct patterns for a performance. This can be ideal for your training.
Some
strongmen perform the same feats in a show where there’s a pattern or routine
for them that sets their mind to think automatically to do the next feat. Some
others perform certain feats on a certain day either to change it up a little
bit or because they got hurt doing a certain feat that it’s tough for them to
perform at their best. It’s like a fitness program, you set your mind to specific
exercises and you follow a routine that is suitable to what you want to
accomplish. I have literally seen some off the wall feats but also I look for a
specific type of routine that has meaning and can be used in a creative and fun
way. Although I change my workouts frequently, I still find certain exercises
that go hand and hand with my mind and my body that works for me.
One thing
many people ask about strongmen who are on tour is how they get themselves
motivated? How do they go day after day finding that inner strength to show
their positive side and their will to teach and show these incredible feats to
other people? Well, in my opinion, they learn to pick up things from a certain
place, program their minds to set a certain tone that gives them that “Winning Feeling” of putting themselves out there to the crowd and learn to use their
own story and share it with the people their performing for. Quite frankly I
don’t know how the hell they do it but that’s my take on it.
Last thing
I want to point out is that there are certain strongmen who perform just for
the sake of performing and don’t have anything else to give back to the people
other than some arrogant prick who can bend a silly bar just to make certain
people inadequate; however there are some guys and gals out there that give
back to the people they’re performing for, sharing their story of how tough it
was for them and how they’re just like the rest of us only in a different
format. My friend Bud happens to be the latter because underneath all that
muscle and smiling persona, he’s really an awesome and sweet guy who wants to
make a living helping out the other guy. Show that you are a special person and
that you have a brighter future where you don’t need to be macho to get what
you want. It takes a man of character and a man of great heart to tell you that
there’s no need to bully anyone, no need to be afraid of whom you are. You are
an awesome person and you can go places if you apply yourself with the right
mindset and the right tools to get you there. He is truly a one of a kind
strongman and an incredible human being.
If you want some good ideas on how to be creative and how to apply your training in a certain way, talk to a strongman, they're very creative in what they do (at least some I've heard of) and have some wonderful motivational tips that can jump start your training and how it applies to you like how certain feats are to a strongman performing, they're there for a specific reason.
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