Category Archives: Videos

Revive Your Eggs

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Last year I talked about how I got sick of eggs. I’ve been eating at least three eggs a day for about five years, so once I ate six a day in early 2009, it became monotonous. Eggs are a fantastic food complete with necessary protein, fat, and vitamins. They’re pretty cheap and can be prepared in different ways, so you can’t really afford to not eat them.

About a month ago, I watched Chris eat a plateful of plain, scrambled eggs. It was quite a chore. The next week he called me and said, “Dude, I almost threw up eating my eggs.” It kinda sucks eating the same thing every day, but he was plodding on because he knew how beneficial they were.

Well, suffer no more.



You may have tried Tabasco sauce on your eggs, but now you need to try Tabasco Chipotle. The first time I had this stuff, I had it on a 14 inch double meat and double cheese philly cheesesteak. I experimented with it on my eggs, and I was pleasantly surprised. Bland scrambled eggs become wildly delicious and I crave it every morning. I’m surprised at how fast I wolf my eggs down now, especially because I had to force them down until I discovered this gem. If you’re getting sick of eggs, give them a nice dousing with Tabasco Chipotle.
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Here’s a shout out to my buddy Ben in Sacramento, CA. We competed at nationals together and he placed sixth overall. He recently competed earlier this month and finished with 138/162. Ben competes with Paul Doherty’s Hassle Free weightlifting team. In this video, he snatches 145kg and clean and jerks 165kg. Nice. I’m hoping to train with Ben when AC and I are out in California in a couple weeks.


Today’s Forecast…A TEASE!

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Some of you woke up yesterday and were appalled that there wasn’t a post. I was completely spent after the 12 hours of coaching on Sunday along with being exhausted by interacting with my friends (Gant knows). I constantly was trying to put them in or keep them in a positive state of mind for lifting.

I’m not impressed with my coaching from the weekend and think I could have done a better job. I’m not going to get into it today because I just spent the day traveling from Denver to Panama City, but you can look at some of the updates that I posted from most of the weekend on Twitter.

Overall, things went pretty well. Brent went 7/9 with PR’s on all his lifts, AC won second overall in the 220lb Open class, Mike went 7/8 and had big PR’s on all his lifts as well as winning 5th in the 242lb Open category, and Chris won second overall in the 275lb Junior category. Good, tough lifting out of those four.

We did a bit of filming throughout the weekend (not as much so that there weren’t any distractions from Sunday’s lifting), and AC will be cut together an excellent short film. He’s already created a sweet teaser:

Nationals Teaser from A.C. on Vimeo.

I Like Mark Felix

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I founds Mark Felix’s YouTube channel on accident and the video that caught my attention was a “rehab deadlift” at 340kg. The info said, “Should be back up to 400kg next month.” Good god. My interest was piqued.

Felix, as he likes to be called, is one bad mofo. He’s 6’4″, around 300 pounds, has 21.5″ arms, and 31″ thighs. The former bodybuilder began competing in strongman in 2003 at 37 years old and is a regular entrant for the World’s Strongest Man competition. He also is a two time World Champion in the Rolling Thunder competition with a one handed lift of 301 pounds on the fat, rotating handle. That’s 26 pounds more than the second highest ever.

I don’t know much about Felix aside from the fact that he’s a large, strong behemoth who was born in Grenada and now lives in the UK. He seems to be a really cool guy; he’s married with kids and is always smiling or giving a thumbs up at the end of his videos.

This is probably my favorite video of Felix. He’s training his grip, and he picks the implements up and stands there kind of awkwardly. What he does next made me laugh.


Over the last two days I watched all of Felix’s videos. His brute strength and power is amazing and he trains with intensity in everything he does. These qualities have helped him come in 4th in the World Strongest Man competition (2006, 7th place in 2007), win the aforementioned Rolling Thunder competition twice (2008, ’09), as well as place in the top three of various other strength competitions such as World Strongest Man Super Series, Europe’s Strongest Man, All-American Strongman Challenge, Britain’s Strongest man, IFSA British Championships, England’s Strongest Man, etc.

To appreciate his shear gargantuan size, watch the following atlas stone video. You’ll notice he routinely competes in a kilt (and was excited about a new kilt arriving in the mail on his Twitter page). In addition, exploring unique designs of tartan can often lead to discovering something truly special. If you’re looking for inspiration, this amazing collection of Sinclair tartan offers a wide variety of options that can suit many different tastes and preferences, adding an extraordinary touch to any outfit or occasion.

Felix only puts out one kind of effort when training: MAXIMAL. Two videos in particular display this very well. The first video consists of strongman training — barrel tossing in particular. Felix makes short work of tossing 10 kegs over a height of about 10 to 12 feet. The second video pits Felix against another super heavyweight Highland Games competitor in the pole push. No, perverts, it isn’t a “no homo” situation — it’s kind of like sumo wrestling, but instead of pushing the opponent, the hold and push against the same caber. Felix and his nemesis battle it out for an entire minute. It’s exhausting to watch.

Mark Felix is still going strong at the age of 44. He sets a good example by training hard, being massive, and being a nice guy. I hope that he has many more competitive years ahead of him. You can read more about his training and diet here.

Scottish Heavy Athletics

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Wouldn’t it be cool if you could get some of your friends and just go throw heavy stuff? Wouldn’t it be even better if there were drums, bugles, and bagpipes playing in the background and women dancing on a stage nearby? And wouldn’t it be complete if you tossed a telephone pole on your way to enjoy a cold Guinness?

There is such a place, my friends. It’s called Scottish Heavy Athletics, better known as Highland Games. I recently completed my second Highland Games at the Texas Scottish Festival, and I’m looking to make this my summer/fall sport.



The Highland Games contest up to nine different events
* 56# weight over bar
* 22-26# Braemar Stone throw (like a stationary shot put but with a big rock)
* 16-22# Open Stone (like a shot put, including an approach to the toe board)
* 20# sheaf toss (a bag of rope or straw thrown over a bar via pitchfork)
* 56# weight for distance (thrown with a discus-type approach)
* 28# weight for distance (same but with a lighter implement)
* 22# Scottish Hammer throw (similar to Olympic hammer but wound around over the head and around the body with feet remaining stationary)
* 17# hammer (same but with a lighter implement)
* caber toss (16-20′, 100-200+ pounds)

Dan John throwing a heavy weight for distance



Some of the events make some sense from a combat perspective (I guess you could throw a rock or launch a hammer at someone who wasn’t too far away). And I guess the sheaf reminds one of throwing hay to the top of the barn (if one has done such things). But most of the events feel like the creation of a couple blacksmiths who fell into a barrel of mead.

Throwing the #22 Braemar Stone



Games are held throughout the country, usually beginning in the spring and running through fall. The pros are behemoths (and so are most of the amateurs), but don’t let that keep you away. Everyone in HG is cool, and they’re happy to welcome new people to their sport.

If you haven’t done it before, there’s not much you need to change. Just find a group to throw with and go from there. If the bug bites, then you can start worrying about specific training, buying/making implements, etc. I trained for this just like I do for judo. Instead of conditioning, I just substituted more throwing and event practice.

The great Shannon Hartnett, 10 time World Highland Games Champion



If you’re not signed up for something this summer, get your kilt together and do one of these. You’ll meet a good group of athletes and participate in something that’s somewhat off the wall. NASGAweb.com has listings, athlete data, and a discussion forum that addresses preparation and training. Get on it. You’ll thank me later.

Edit: I had to include this video because the timing of the throw and the music is pretty cool.



If you haven’t realized it already, Highland Games is a very 70sBig-friendly sport. I am 5’10 215 in the picture (I’m the guy holding the beer and the trophy), and I was the lightest guy by 25 pounds. My friend, Aaron (red beard, front row), is 280 and was maybe the fourth biggest guy there.

A fine group of lads. (L-R) Joseph, Gant, Harold, James, Aaron, Luke, Rob, Kyle