Recently I saw some questions online asking about contest day and two topics specifically; what to wear and etiquette.

Let’s start out with the easy topic for this two part series… what to wear. 

A big part of strongman, and the draw for a lot of athletes is the variability of events. Out of the hundreds of shows ran in the US every year, you’d be hard pressed to find two with EXACTLY the same events. 

This in turn can lead to clothing choices for different events to be vast. There are some key points to remember though…

The first point to remember is that a lot of the events in strongman require the implement to be in contact with the body at some point of the lift. Be it during the clean and then rack portion of the log press; loading stones; or even carrying events such as sandbags or Húsafell stone. 

Due to this we want to ensure that the implement is met with a material that has a ‘sturdier’ feel than typical athletic wear. For instance a lot of athletes will prefer a heavier cotton blend shirt over a tri-blend on log press as the material will accept chalk better and the risk of the log slipping is greater decreased. 

Secondly, comfort. There is nothing worse that being uncomfortable when you’re trying to put forth your best efforts in a contest environment. Be it comfort in the physical sense of clothing that isn’t too tight or restrictive, to comfort in the mental sense of not worrying about people looking at you. The main take away here is DO YOUR OWN THING, don’t follow the crowd and feel that you need to wear a certain item because everybody else is. If you are comfortable, physically and mentally, then the performance you will be capable of will be better!

Lastly, and probably one of the most overlooked by newer athletes to the sport… COMPETE LIKE YOU TRAIN. This is a massive part of competition success, just like changing your food choices the night before contest day after a successful prep, you shouldn’t change the attire you’ve trained in. At most the only change here should be the shirt provided by the contest promoter. Compete like you train, so if you’ve worn shorts or certain supportive equipment your entire 12 week prep use them come contest day too!

Coming soon, part 2… Etiquette.