Massenomics Podcast - Ep.154: The Biggest Lifts of the 2019 Arnold

Episode Date: March 18, 2019

We witnessed some wild shit go down at this year’s Arnold. There’s nowhere else you can go to see this many huge lifts all in one place. No records were safe between the strongman, the animal cage, and the various powerlifting meets.

M-M-M-M-M-M-M-Massanomics Welcome to Massanomics, the world's strongest podcast. Find us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at Massanomics. Make sure you go visit massanomics.com. There you'll find the rest of our powerful content. While you're there, check out our store and buy yourself some of that sweet Massanomics gear. Welcome, everyone, to episode 154 of the Massanomics podcast, the world's strongest podcast.

Your two hosts are with you again on the road again this week, Tommy and Tanner. What's happening? Just continuing our five-state tour on state number five at the moment last time you guys heard from us we were knocking out States two and three I believe so it took us a week to get across these last days just like the pioneers these things take a little time you know don't just hop from state to state we're on the oregon trail and uh we had someone with us with us but they died of dysentery i was gonna say the dysentery flare-ups are just uh kind of rough on the whole group here and then we went hunting for a couple for like

three days way too long we tried to afford that river and it kind of ran into some troubles there too but we won't talk about that one uh we So we are recording this on the same day that you heard 153, but we're going to cover a little bit different topic today. The last time we covered kind of the Arnold through the Mastonomics guy's eyes, and for this episode we're going to talk a little bit more about some of the actual lifting that went on around the Arnold over the three days that we were there. And there was some lifting that went on uh around the arnold over the three days that we were there and there was some lifting that did go down so i think we should have plenty to talk about um i'm sure most of you listening probably kept up for the most part on what was happening

or at least heard some of the highlights and there was stuff all over instagram about ray and the strong man and um you knowman. Blaine had some big accomplishments. Stacey Bird. There was a lot that happened, but we'll try to give you guys a little recap, fill in the gaps, maybe provide the insight in what we heard while we were down there and what everyone else was saying about it too. Yeah. So as far as the Strongman goes, the first event was the much highly hyped Elephant Bar Deadlift, where they had put out 50 grand to anyone that could pull 501 kilograms or more.

And you, Tommy, actually got to sit front row. Did you make the entire event? Yeah, so I was lucky enough for that one that I could be in the very front row again um yeah it was like like just like last year the strongman was crazy busy um i think everyone was pretty hyped up for the whole thing you know there's a lot of money on the line rogue had a lot of marketing and hype going into this the the deadlift event on its own, you know, it was set up to be kind of this all-star deadlift extravaganza. And what really, like, right off the bat made you realize that this was, like, pretty cool, something special is that right away they bring out Eddie Hall. And, like, did not expect that at all, you know. So did they bring him out, like, in the beginning before the event even started?

Yeah, before the event even started and they did you know all the other years we've kind of like mentioned about the announcing and how uh maybe they could use some help in that department i can't remember the guy's name but this year they got the guy that is uh one of the broadcasters for when they do american ninja warrior you know he has a voice for it he kind of has the presence and knows how to kind of hype things up and just keep things entertaining and flowing and going and uh god i cannot remember his name but it was him and mark henry this year and you could tell the guy definitely did some studying he knew what he was talking about he did say a few things that as a lifter you're like

what you're saying doesn't either one makes sense or it's not how people phrase that what you're trying to say uh but one of the first things they're like all right let's uh welcome uh one of the are the only man to deadlift 500 kilos eddie hall i was like really they're bringing him out yeah and he came out on the stage and what was really interesting i thought about that whole kind of transaction with eddie is that he was giving up props basically saying that um you know the elephant bar is different than a stiff bar um the whip will toss you around try to pull you down get you off balance and he basically said that it's it is kind of a different lift and it's it almost was like he was trying to give up props, saying, like, I think it's harder in a way, too, is almost what he was coming off.

And he did say that, you know, if someone does break this record today, I'll give it up for them. Like, they deserve that. Which kind of seemed like a different mentality than what he had. Yeah, I'm pretty sure he's had a YouTube video out prior to that where he said, I'd say a little bit otherwise, that he kind of is still saying that it's different, but maybe not that he would own up to that 501 breaking his record technically. Yeah, and so I don't know. Maybe he's enough removed from it now that he's kind of just looking at it

more from a spectator and just wants to see the sport continue to progress. I don't know. Maybe he's had a change of heart, too. It's hard to say with those things. So that was cool. Then they announced all the spectators, not the spectators, the competitors, and that's what you come to expect at this point. They all come walking out.

I was, and I don't follow it close enough, I didn't know that Martins, when he came out, actually just has the American flag. Like, it's just always listed as an American. And they did make a point of saying, like, he's not from America, but he kind of embraces America as his country, and that's who he chooses to represent. Otherwise, that part went exactly like you you would expect the other thing

i did notice though while this was all going on is just the number of cameras cover covering this thing you know they had a live stream going rogue had a thousand photographers there it felt like everyone in the seats behind me to the sides of me were all taking photos too and it's not just like some tiny i mean it's professional setup so there was a crazy amount of coverage on the deadlift event but it starts off and i'm trying to think of who went first it might have been uh it might have been matthias there might have been one person before him but um you know first couple rounds really the only takeaway from like the first round is that uh jf caron first pull um i don't even know if he got

it to his knees and immediately drops it and you can tell he's in pain because i think he tore his hammy on that one and uh i guess i didn't see the official statement but i'm pretty sure it was a torn hammy and uh that's kind of the nature of the beast when you're pulling like 900 plus. You know, it's kind of to be expected that stuff like that's going to happen. So first round, that was really the only thing out of the norm. Second round then, and first round, Jerry Pritchett did have the highest call in the first round. So he went last in the first round. And do you remember what that was?

Was it like over 900? Yeah, it was like nine. You know what? Let me check. I wrote some of these down. I'll check my phone here, see if I actually caught it that early. Which one, who was before him? Do you remember?

Was it Shaw or Thor? Okay, according to my notes uh i didn't start taking him until like halfway through the first round but the last three to go were shah with 951 thor i wrote 433 so two more kilos than shah so he'd have you know like 955 and then jerry pritchett went last with 976 so that's a pretty big first attempt. I can't imagine there's been too many 976 first attempt deadlifts in the history of anyone doing this stuff.

So yeah, that wrapped up the first round. Second round, really, again, not much to hear other than Jerry Pritchett, he went for 1031 on a second. He had to drop it, too, because right leg issue. I'm assuming, again, Hammy didn't hear the official announcement.

But, yeah, he definitely, it wasn't like he eased into it. It was like, drop this thing and get out of here type thing. So not good on that one because i mean he did have the potential to put up a pretty big number i think yeah training looked like it was going good like he was pulling some big numbers opener moved really good too yeah uh before that though uh shah did 463 uh kilos i don't know off the top of my head what that was and i believe thor did uh what do you have last year was it 10 41 i think is what he ended with or 10 43 yeah so he did like 10 he

he went it was like three more pounds than last year 45 yeah it was right in that area might have been 10 46 we're within a pound or two but so shah or i'm sorry thor goes last in the second round breaks his own record. So, at the very least, he's getting five grand just for breaking the current record. So, did the crowd, you know, last year when he broke the world record, the crowd went nuts. Oh, the crowd went absolutely nuts. But because of the fact that it was the second round. Right.

I mean, people were going, people were getting fired up. But it looked so easy for him. And that is where when I saw that second attempt how easy it was like there's no i shouldn't say no way but it was more like i'm gonna be really surprised if he doesn't get this because it was so fast yeah uh it i don't know you just don't see second attempts that fast i feel like ever let alone thousand plus attempts that are that fast right so that seemed like we were getting set up to see something pretty good same thing like shah he fought it a little bit but i guess i've never thought that he has like the fastest pull either you know so we're setting up to you know how are these guys going to come at it with the third

with the third round here and uh third attempts just looking at the notes uh kind of looking at the top guys martinez uh called for 454 or at that uh was it heinle i always say his name yeah he called 444 no good martinez 454 no good uh shimlikov4. No good. Shymlakov, 456. No good. But did he bleed as much this year? Did he die? The second attempt, he had some blood coming out. And I do have a photo of it.

We'll get that out there. But it wasn't as much because he didn't fight it as hard. The third attempt, it was just I think he pulled it six inches off the ground and it stopped. So he didn't have a chance to even really put up a fight. So the blood wasn't there. And I was ready for it, inches off the ground and it stopped. So he didn't have a chance to even really put up a fight. So the blood wasn't there, and I was ready for it too. I was expecting it. So, yeah, looking at it, though, the last one, two, three, four, five, none of the last five guys made their lifts.

So the third round was a little bit of a disappointment. Yeah. And that's kind of what happens when people are sort of going for broke on this thing. Right. Yeah, and that's kind of what happens when people are sort of going for broke on this thing, right? Shaw was probably the bigger surprise there with the way he went down looks like same part what they said was Tora hammy. I don't know if he actually told I got a full-on tear because He did go on to compete in the other events and I'm not sure that

You would be doing that if you actually did just straight up tear your hammy um but it was a really awkward his setup was kind of awkward we have a video out there on the massonomics page if you check it out but his setup was kind of awkward and that seemed like he was yeah he was really like moving his feet around almost like he was i don't know hesitating or just wasn't quite sure what the best spot was for it. Like not getting comfortable. Yeah, he just seemed a little off for some reason. And then when the pull started, you know, it didn't move fast. It didn't move much. And then if you look, it's like his knee tweaked a little bit, and he ended up falling over the bar.

And the whole thing just didn't look quite right. Yeah. I'm sure he would say that it wasn't how he planned it to go either right but he walked away so you got to think for the most part he was okay and then thor going last you're thinking like is he is he just gonna chip it now like you know and i don't know like when they're putting the call in on these things so is he gonna just chip what he did the last one is he gonna go for the record like what's gonna happen here and you find out that yes he did call for 501 what did they like announce that they did they said yep they said he's he's called for 501 and everyone

cheer they did and you kind of got that same feeling of like oh like history's happening here like everyone's getting like really psyched for the whole thing and uh you know he gets the whole guys out there yelling at him just the whole thing and uh you know he gets the whole guys out there yelling at him just the whole thing and like you're excited for it and you're thinking like this is gonna happen this is gonna happen yeah and he starts pulling to his knees pretty fast and it really slowed down and he had a little bit of a fight but it just it didn't really move much past his knees and it kind of it was a letdown you know you want to see records get broken and um you know what do you do about it and i i don't think uh i don't think you can say that well

that's the biggest deadlift he'll ever do either i think uh yeah he's not or i don't think that the 10 45 or 10 46 whatever it is no i don't think that's it like i think there's still more there it's just if he ever gets pushed to that point again. Right. And who knows if Rogue's not putting the money out there. You know, you saw, what, three, four of the best deadlifters in the world kind of go down in this one event. That just shows how hard pulling, whether it's $900,000, $1,000, whatever it is, it just shows how hard that is on your body.

Yep. It's just taking out these guys that, you know, this is their job to do this stuff, and they can't make it through it. So I don't know. It'll be interesting to see if Rogue puts up the money again next year, if he actually does make an attempt at it. Or if it'll be an event again, too. Maybe they say, yeah, that's enough of that for now.

Because forever the staple was kind of the Hummer deadlift, Hummer tire deadlift. That was around for years and years, wasn't it? Yeah, several, I think. And now it's been the elephant bar for, I don't know, the elephant bar for maybe four years i think this might have been the fourth and it is i think it is gaining kind of a like a reputation it's kind of this legendary thing like because rogue is so good at hyping it up um but i don't know do they change it so that things don't get stale they they probably always have to have a deadlift of some kind in especially in an event

like the arnold where you're so limited on space in the first place yeah you you mentioned too you know in the past years uh the competitors they all go backstage in between lifts and everything and it was kind of a different setup this year yeah so that was actually one of the to me one of the more interesting parts is that last year the guys that always go you know backstage behind the curtain however they have that set up where you didn't see them they would just come out do their lift and that was really about it but this year they kept everybody out on the stage so you could kind of see how guys were like i mean you they had their team with them and i'm assuming they're like kind of scheming and planning like how they're gonna you know chip in the positions

here and yeah at one point you see ed cone talking with brian shaw and i don't like i don't know is he coaching him he's just giving him yeah that's you said he was up there kind of helping him out yeah they'd be giving him advice yeah they were talking yeah i don't know if that was uh like a weight thing he was helping him with yeah i can't imagine he's giving him technique advice at that point you know like does does brian shaw need deadlift pointers when he's going for the, you know, that doesn't really make sense. But it was just kind of cool to see all of the extra things going on.

You can watch the guys then while the deadlifts are going on. You know, you can see everyone's reaction. And I was taking photos, so I didn't get a lot of that. But in the beginning, you know, when they're going, most of the guys kind of stop what they're doing and see how the lift's going. They're mostly pretty stone-faced about it. You don't get a whole lot of reaction out of any of them. I think when Thor did miss the world record attempt, the 501 kilograms,

did you notice, I think it looked like Shaw was kind of the first one to go up to him and, you know, tell him it's going to be OK. Yeah. Yeah. Which is cool. And like when you watch some of the other promo videos from like World's Strongest Man and even with this, like you see these guys do have like the whole brotherhood thing going on. Like and that's that's bound to happen when you're traveling the world with like 10 other guys doing this stuff. You know. Yeah. And a lot. I mean, really, really at the end of the day with a lot of this stuff they kind of are competing against themselves too you know yeah for the most part they are yeah what what about um

i know in strongman they won't let them put pull sumo but did any of the guys attempt uh any jefferson deadlifts in the event you know I was really waiting for them to come out with that, and it was a big letdown. I didn't see anyone attempt a single Jefferson deadlift. So, you know, that is kind of the thing. Like, yeah, Thor did technically break the Elephant Barred record, but it was conventional. Conventional and with straps?

Like, kind of almost all the guys that are in strongman pull conventional and so obviously there's some advantage to that yeah and i just i don't really feel that's fair for those guys to be cheating they should be pulling jefferson yeah um because it really is getting the point where if it's not jefferson it doesn't count that is the way i'm glad you brought that up tanner because i was feeling it i don't want to say it i did feel that way too though yeah i don't i just i just don't like cheaters. That's my thing No, I can't stand for it and they wore straps, too It's I mean they're talking about the difference in you know

Eddie Hall's record and what this record would have been like but both of them are lacking the probably the most key Component neither of them are Jefferson deadlifts. Yeah Yeah, it's kind of a slippery slope that they just let anything go nowadays in strongman so we'll keep an eye on that and uh also if you guys do see any uh big Jefferson deadlifts out there you should let us know because uh those are the only pure form of deadlifting that's not cheating a real lifter Jefferson deadlifts as well yep it uh cuts out any chance for leverages or anything to be considered cheating do we know is jefferson deadlifting legal in competition it can't be

right it might be i don't know what well there has to be a rule that like your both legs have to be on the same side i'm sure we have some I'm sure we have some USAPL judges or USPA judges and whatnot that listen to the podcast. Someone let us know if the rules dictate anything in the deadlift that you could or could not Jefferson deadlift. I would be shocked if there was no line just because it would be assumed because it would be so stupid. Right. If there was no rule that like both legs had to be on the same side of the bar right but what's stopping from people from doing you know the really dumb reverse deadlift what's even the name for those is there i don't know

you know when you stand in front of the bar and well that's just ridiculous oh it is it's not like a jefferson yeah well i know but like if if both your feet have to be on the same side is there any rule stopping you from doing that you know is there a rule then saying both feet have to be on the same side is there any rule stopping you from doing that you know is there a rule then saying both feet have to be on the same side and the bar has to be in front of you i don't know there there shouldn't be because i'm just sick of this the sumo and the conventional like it's it's not right yeah it's just a race to the bottom all of a sudden someone has to take a stand yeah a jefferson stand so after the deadlift, this is where both of us can provide much less accurate commentary. But the elephant bar deadlift really is the spectacle. Going into it, that was our goal, was to have you there for the elephant bar deadlift and the rest of it.

We knew we'd catch up on. We had a booth to run i guess interesting things too about the crowd is you do get a really awesome turnout for that thing and like i was saying you can look to the side and see like ed cone you know before he's on the stage you can see him sitting over there you can see mark bell sitting in the corner you look directly behind mark bell as larry wheels sitting there too so Big Z was there too this year he was there yeah so if you look around like you couldn't really see sort of the who's who of strength athletes and just people in you know kind of in the industry at this thing yeah if I could compare

it to anything it kind of felt like you were like courtside at a Lakers game and it's like oh what famous people are in the crowd tonight you know that kind of shows uh how the this elephant bar deadlift just transcends yeah right where it's like anyone there kind of shows uh how that this elephant bar deadlift just transcends yeah right where it's like anyone there kind of wants to see what happens at the elephant bar deadlift at this point yeah because it is such a spectacle and this is such a just outside thing yeah of what you normally would expect next was uh you know following that first day the second event was the the Hussville Stone Carry. And, you know, what we know about it, Thor won that one, right?

Yep. And the way they set it up on the stage looked kind of cool. They had, like, four big boulders that were the corners of the track that they went round and round. And you went until you dropped it. Yeah, and I didn't get to see it. But, you know know the other years you could maybe say that this this event replaced maybe like the really heavy yoke that they do yeah and the yoke was maybe the yoke looked awesome the implement itself but it was always

so anticlimactic in the way that the guys that struggled would take it five to ten feet so almost nothing happens and the guys that are good at it like sha and thor would just get it done in a hurry and it was just it wasn't the most exciting event to watch just because so little happened during it yeah so this was probably a cool one a good one to replace that and i know the stone they made to replicate the actual uh who's fell stone that's in iceland so i don't know if maybe thor had an unfair advantage because he's uh the only athlete there that actually has uh regular access to the stone right yeah because he i know he does uh has gone out and trained with

it before so i don't know so he's a dirty rotten cheaterater, you're saying. Yeah, basically. He didn't Jefferson deadlift. He's used the Hoots full stall before. They do anything to standard. After that event was the... Wheel of Pain the next day. Yes, the Wheel of Pain. The implement that everyone had their eyes on going into this. Yeah, I wish we could have seen this thing. That would have been really cool to get to see this.

It wasn't on the standard stage that they use. We've talked about this before. But they had it in a different area, and it was enormous. We did get to see it. Yeah, we went and checked it out. Being exhibitors, we got to go in early and kind of just scope things out a little bit. And that was one of the things we walked over to, and it does look really cool. Yes. And I can't imagine how much that cost rogue to make a lot oh it just like what other carving on

it well like it wasn't like they just put this thing together like it was like ornate and decorated and looks like it could just you could put it in any movie right now yeah it doesn't matter what time you say it's from it's like yep i'll believe it because it is it was over the top and probably the best thing about one of the best things about it is what you showed me was um that titan is now introducing the uh what was it the oval of discomfort versus the wheel of pain that who who made that meme even i think that was world's Strongest Meme. That was really good.

I liked that a lot. Yeah, that was pretty funny. It's so ridiculous. Mateus ended up winning this, right? Martins. Oh, Martins. Yes, yes, Martins. And it was by six inches.

Yeah. Sometimes that's all that you need is six good inches. That is what they say. I'm not sure who they is in this case. They say it. but they say it they do say it and uh he won by like six inches which for the distance they covered that is very very close to this yeah right right the fact that even came down to that kind of doesn't really make sense no it's crazy and thor basically he did collapse he was laying on the ground when he was

done and yeah well we weren't there but what they said is Thor collapsed, and then Martins scaled the Wheel of Pain in celebration as Thor was halfway still laying there. And I would have liked to have seen him climbing this thing up. I can picture him doing that, too. Yeah, that would have been cool. After the Wheel of Pain was... What was after the Wheel of Pain, Tim was after the wheel pain and oak austrian oak yeah and back onto the normal stage yep back onto the the final stage in the hall whatever they call it well

no that it was on it was on the road oh it was on the road yeah yeah because they just do the the the stone left right right right um and i think we had a three-way tie for two reps on that. Yeah. Between Thor, Mateus, and Martins. Yep. And I would imagine everyone else was between one and zero then. Yep. By default, that's kind of how it has to go.

So then that sets it up for the final, which is then on the final stage, whatever they call it, in the grand hall. The big bodybuilding stage, yeah. And it sounded like there was some excitement that happened on that one. Yeah, so I mean, the exciting part is I don't know the order of who was going where, but Martins, I i think got two reps and then when he set his second one down uh the the crash pads that they're using must have been somewhat bouncy and it bounced uh that that enormous boulder that they used to throw on their shoulder bounced off the stage like

halfway into the crowd where the rogue uh rogue photographers and videographers were all sitting. It's crazy that that could happen. Yes. Just because there's so many things. One, the fact that when you throw the stone that it actually had the momentum to just keep going off the stage. If it really was moving and it bounces, people probably aren't expecting that. If that thing hits you you you're in either one big trouble or dead depending on how it hits you and then uh especially bouncing four or five

feet off of yeah so it is four or five feet up what do they do if he throws that thing and it just cracks because stones can do that they can crack right like do we say well uh the arnold's done for this year guys thanks for coming out and out. And before him was Mateus, right? Yeah, and I think Mateus did five this year. Of course he was going to. It was just as easy as ever for him. And so that's like a new world record, you could say, with that. And, like, we're talking, you know, is the conversation like, well,

Martins threw it off the stage. Should we just have Mateus come out and just throw it up on the stage for us? I mean, we could try to get like eight people to do this, or we know that he could probably just pick it up and throw it up here, do us all a favor. Problem solving, like, oh, crap, all right, let's get together. What do we do now? Like, all right, Mateus, can you pick it up one more time for us real quick here?

We will pay you an extra $5,000. And he's like, yes, I do this. I pick up the stone. But I guess somehow Rogue got it figured out. They got a team of guys to net it up. Lifted it up there. Go on the stage. Which is also how we carry our Atlas stones up and down the stairs.

I think it was because when it happened, Bill from Rogue sent us a message like, quick, guys, what do we do? We're in trouble. He's like, I know you guys. All right, find the curl bar, take a net, throw the curl bar through the holes of the net, put the rock in the net, and then a couple guys can lift it and carry it. And he's like, okay, thank you. Oh, my God, we never thought of that.

We appreciate what you guys do at Monomics for us at rogue here's a free elephant bar you can now have the wheel of pain that should fit in massonomics gym i think so you know it should they might have to cut a hole in the ceiling but it should work just fine after that uh then with the final event really all thor had to do was get one yes um to seal up his win and of course he got one yeah and uh it ended up being was it thor martinez mateus was that the final standings that's right yeah um really the points don't even matter for the most part it was thor i think one by five or six and yeah Martins and Mateus even they were spaced out just a little bit too so right nothing too shocking there I think most people the repeat yeah probably the biggest shock for most people is that

Shaw wasn't in the running I believe he got like eighth yeah he didn't even do the stone event yeah when you get hurt you know not feeling your, what's the point in risking injury more? So I think he made the right call there. Do we move on to some of the other events now, Tanner? Yeah, probably. One, you know, kind of interesting takeaway I was thinking about on the strongman with Thor repeating here, they do five events. He won last year and maybe could say, well, those are good events for Thor, you know, so it's it

seems reasonable that he would win well this year they two of the events were completely brand new and he still won the entire event pretty handily so it just kind of shows that I don't know that it matters what the events are he's the favorite he's bringing just he's bringing a very complete package it really doesn't matter what the events are. I think he's the favorite to win just about any competition that exists right now. I think at this point with the streak he's been on, you have to say that. He's not losing events. He's not even really getting that close to anyone. It's not coming down to a half point or a one point.

For the most part, the last events don't really even matter. He just has to do something. I think he's pretty comfortable. And for the most part, the last events don't really even matter. He just has to do something. Yeah. So, yeah, I think he's pretty comfortable. He's been pretty comfortable in a spot at the top as far as dominating goes. Yes. But, yes, there was some good power lifting that went on over the weekend as well. Yeah.

And actually, one other thing with that quick is Smiles Taylor. Oh, yeah. This is probably, like, if that name doesn't sound familiar to you right away, you might remember there was a kid online. This video, like, really blew up, went viral. He has cerebral palsy, and he deadlifted. I think the video that went viral was his 200-pound pull. Okay.

And he pulls 200 pounds in the gym. I'm not sure how old he is, but he pulls 200 pounds in the gym. Obviously, he was very excited. Everyone in the room was really excited. And that kind of, like, that thing showed up everywhere, like ESPN, like all of the big, like, sports social media accounts had it. Like the news, it was all over everything. And I think Arnold even talked about it too on his channel.

So it was getting, like like all over the place. It was like maybe a double body weight. Yeah, yeah. I think he weighed about 100 pounds and the pull was 200. So, you know, obviously it's a very good pull. And I don't know. I guess I didn't know if it was planned or a surprise, but he came out on stage at the arnold and uh pull had a deadlift there and yeah uh that's

really cool that whenever they can like you know get kind of current events like things that are happening people that are doing things like yeah that's always awesome when you can throw things in there like that some inspiring things outside of just seeing the biggest guys in the world deadlift right and do you know lift all their heavy lifts that they do all weekend um so that was awesome that they could get him involved and then also the animal cage had him come out too which is really cool that they extended that to him he squatted in the cage didn't he i think so yes yeah that's cool yeah so it is always like refreshing to see companies that do have a lot of leverage and can pull strings and make things like this happen it's cool to see them go out of their way and do those types of things yep definitely the next uh probably like biggest lift would be uh just by weight would be ray's squad at the weekend

and yes ray you know he was getting set up to hit some big numbers. It was money time, you could say. It was definitely money time. And the boys at Diamond K, the Alabama boys, they had the privilege of having Ray come to their gym about a month ago. Yeah. And they said that Ray. Probably did his last heavy squat, I suppose, before competition. And they said that while Ray was there, he hit 1,000 pounds.

Then he hit, was it 10.52? Yep. They said after he's on the way up, before he was going to rack it, he accidentally took a step forward. So he racks it, then says, no, I'm taking it again. Takes 10.52 again, and they're like, that one was just as good. He just didn't take the extra step. So we saw him go 1, thousand plus three times in that squat session

one training session which is just nuts that is crazy hearing that it's like yeah ray should be setting up for something big and i i'm not gonna get every single number here for you guys but uh hits his first ends up missing his second on depth i believe and i think that was like that 10 52 right around there and then uh goes for, what was it now, 10? 1080. 1080 on his third. And he got it. And, you know, it's always hard to tell with these really big guys, like, what depth is.

I don't care who they are. Like, just when you're that big, it's so hard to tell depth. And it looked pretty good, I thought. Yep. You know, and it also looked really fast. Yes, it did. As fast as 1080 can possibly look. Yeah.

Looks like 500 kilograms. It doesn't seem that far out of fast. Yes, it did. As fast as 1080 can possibly look. Yeah. Looks like 500 kilograms will be around the corner. It doesn't seem that far out of reach. No, not at all. Assuming he can just stay healthy, you've got to think that's there at some point. So that's exciting to know that that could be out there. And he followed it up with a 550 bench, I believe. Which is a good, respectable bench and then uh dead lifts he had his first and second attempt his third attempt if he got that that would give him a

2503 yeah i think 2503 which is making the highest total ever second highest total ever, second person to ever total 2,500. And this is the highest ever total tested and in sleeves. Yeah, in sleeves and drug tested, yes. Yeah, so a lot of records at stake there. Yeah. His final pull was? 877. Yeah, 877, I believe. And breaks the ground.

Ray always breaks the ground so fast on his deadlifts. And, man, we're getting some weather here tanner uh i should turn the camera around but it's uh it's not looking that we'll maybe show you guys the dash cam later yeah it's not looking the best so if we get distracted just uh just hang on there's nothing we can't take this podcast through yeah this podcast is it's just made to keep going yeah uh but uh yeah so ray's final attempt he gets it past his knees i mean he's like basically at the point of lockout and it was really just like he couldn't get his that last bit of just getting his hips through and his shoulders back that's really all that was missing yeah i don't know if i'm not really sure if the bar could have gone another three inches higher like i don't know if there was that part

left it was really just kind of getting everything locked in yeah but so he missed it so it goes back to a second but he still ended up with like a 24 50 something total I think which still is there's still an unofficial world record right yeah for him yeah yeah yeah for IPF world record yeah and it's raised highest total ever. Not a bad day. Not a bad day at all. Let's see, Tanner. What else was a big lift this season?

Our man from Wyoming, the Vanilla Gorilla, did the Pro Raw Bench Bash or whatever it's called there where he actually competed in the bench only and the full power meet. But the bench only was first on the first day. And he put up a measly 1,003-pound bench press. Yeah. Which, okay, he did have the record right now, right? Before the 1,003, he was the record holder, wasn't he? I think so and that

was around that 9 30 9 40 ish right that's what i thought i think yeah that's i believe that was the ballpark yeah so let's even if it was 9 50 i mean to go from 9 50 to 1003 yeah that's a whole different ball game right there you know that that's a big jump as far as records go breaking the thousand pounds is obviously a big deal and then yeah and then obviously it's the first 1,000 pound single ply bench it's kind of hard to fathom a thousand pounds the first drug tested 1,000 benches there's a what is there two or three maybe multi-ply thousand pound I don't really know what what the biggest multi-ply benches are even for sure well what about old old mendy yeah i don't know what he's done for sure

oh come on tan you're supposed to know these things i don't know well either way it was a very impressive performance uh he followed it up with trying to do a full power meet and i think he ended up with like nine squat he squatted 25 yeah 10 25 which looks as easy as 10 25 could ever look yeah uh i think he took just his first attempt on bench which was like nine something and i believe he passed on his oh no um the bar bar slipped he had an issue and uh i think he kind of got hurt a little bit, and then he went with a deadlift like seven-something, and probably not the day he was hoping for, but that's a lot of lifting to do in one weekend.

You know, the level of weights that he's working with on his lifts, it takes so little to go wrong in order to end up with a little bit of an injury so that's probably the hardest thing for him is to just stay injury free while he's lifting you can't just be like i get back in there man like it's not how it works when you're squatting that much benching that much right because it's at the point where spotters don't they're not the big safety net when the weights get to that point. So things do get a little scary.

But I think for the most part he got away okay and he'll live to live to another day. Yeah. The cage was pretty wild too. Just like it always is. Despite all the rage. Despite all the rage. Animals in a cage. the cage never disappoints you you had said even that you heard the cage won best booth at the armory i did here i we're surprised to find out that it wasn't actually the massonomics we

didn't see the official tally and we are suspecting maybe some boat tampering of some kind i imagine there's quite a bit of politics involved with us being our first year. Yeah. The good old boys club of Booth. Just like these things tend to be. Yeah, we can't give it to these guys on their first year. So, yeah, if we are not at least in the top three for best Booth next year, I'm going to be incredibly upset.

I will be writing Arnold a very strict letter. Yes. I don't know how else to express my frustration. He'll be hearing from our corporate attorneys but the cage did do it right with right off the bat with getting Chris weest in there yes he did unleash the weest yes released had been on unleashed and he kind of gave us a kind of a rough game plan of what he was going for. Yeah, he had stopped by the booth about an hour before his – it was one hour or less before his time slot, and we were talking to him.

I was like, geez, don't you got to warm up here pretty soon? He's like, yeah, I'm going to head over there in a minute. Yeah, it doesn't take that long. Yeah. I know lots of guys that take much longer than that to get to 500 plus. Yes, yes. And he had said that he had been thinking about doing 900 for a double and then uh he had got the idea he's been doing a lot of pause rep deadlifts and he kind of thought

oh a 900 pause rep would be pretty cool and uh to our knowledge nobody's ever done that before that much or more and i'm pretty sure that that's accurate so what why would have right so what he did is he did a 900 single a regular single first which looked very very fast as good as 900 can uh chris's lockout is always really really super strong so when he pulls it it comes uh slightly slow off the floor for a second and then he rips right through it and then after that he pulled 900 for his paws wrap he pulled it up uh right around his knees or a little below pause there and locked it out which is pretty crazy to see a pause rep at that weight yeah i i can't like even wrap my head around how if i had to knock him on one thing

i guess it would just be that uh i mean, we all know where this is going. I mean, a PAWS rep is cool, but a PAWS Jefferson rep? Yeah. Now that... That's one for the history books right there. Right. If someone could do a PAWS 900 Jefferson deadlift, I would really give them props. Yeah.

But until that time, we're just just gonna have to accept just a regular old 900 conventional yes conventional just the world we live in nowadays strong men are doing it power lifters are doing it but yeah that is a that is a really really awesome yeah that's pretty to have a 900 paused probably to say that you're the only person that's ever done that before yeah yeah that's really cool uh other things in the cage steffy cone yeah she did a 495 squat yeah which is like i think they said i guess that's 40 or 50 pounds above what the what the world obviously this doesn't isn't a world record uh setting event in there but it's like 40 or 50 pounds above what her weight class world record would be in the squat so i think it's safe to assume that there could

be a big performance coming there you know and she'll be competing at the open i'm sure so yeah exciting to see what she could put together in a meet yep we did hear from multiple people that it was really wild when she is in there too. You know, she has such a following and everything that it gets pretty crazy when she's gone. And her booth was like right across from it. So I'm sure all of that activity just spilled right over. Yes, for sure. And also that was kind of a theme this year.

I think last year Steffi might have been the first woman really featured in the cage. And this year they brought in more women they did and one of them being cc even yes yes and we we mentioned earlier that we did get to talk to cc but cc did 600 for four yeah deadlifting yeah when we talked to her i was like ah i don't keep super close tabs in your training but have you done anything like that before? She goes, oh, I've done 600 for a single. Yeah. So I don't know. That's pretty cool, I guess.

I've never gone from, like, pulling my single to doing four at it, like, over a relatively short period of time. And probably almost the crazier thing is she's getting ready for the open. That's when the current, that's when she's going to compete next and this was not out of her training plan for her this she said this was basically what was on schedule for her deadlift training this week so she just oh how convenient yeah she just go to this exhibition show them my training cycle yes uh and for the people that were in the cage for that they said that was pretty wild too uh which i don't think anyone really knew the number she was going to do that many so every time she'd do another rep everyone was like going even more crazy yeah so things like

that are always yeah it's really cool to see yeah uh amanda lawrence we uh like to bring her up on the show i think she had a pretty big showing at the – was it the SPD Grand Prix? Is that the official name for it? Yeah, I think it was the Grand Prix event. They have so many of these different little events. I just have such a hard time keeping track of all of them. But, you know, she does what Amanda Lawrence – I don't think she probably had the day she wanted.

I think she ended up going like maybe five for nine. It was something like that. But she kind of is in a league of her own so it it works out just fine for her she got first and i'm sure she'll uh she'll probably take have some takeaways from this yeah and come back better in the next one even yeah um who oh uh stacy burr and yes that is the other big one isPC event. The XPC is finally back in the main hall at the Arnold. It was always before, and I don't really know where that was at even. It was in a different building, wasn't it?

Different building. We never went over there. It was tough for us to get to that where we were at. It kind of was just in its own little world. It almost felt like it didn't even exist as far as the Arnold went. And so this year they brought it back into the main building. It was in one of the halls, I think, that usually one of the USAPL events or it was going down. The backdrop, the whole –

Their setup looked really cool. Yeah, the setup looked really cool. And, like, they had – you know, the music was going. It looked like a cool venue. We got to watch, I think, just a couple deadlifts before we had to take off. But she finished with uh it was like a 14 55 total or something like that which uh sealed her up the highest wilkes all-time man or woman yes yeah um so so that's you know really really impressive and

uh just with the way things are going i'd be shocked if that's still standing by the end of this year, just with how crazy the women are with their progress lately. I think at the U.S. Open that it'll get broken by one of those. Right now, just the way things are going, any woman that breaks the all-time Wilks record, I don't think, regardless of who it is, I don't think that record's going to stand for more than a few months. I think there's four of them that could all break it again at the U.S. Open.

for more than a few months. I think there's four of them that could all break it again at the U.S. Open. It would be CeCe, Stacey, Steffi, or Mariana. Mariana, yeah. And even if one of them does break it then? It just could have been broken again. The one that breaks it is just as likely to break their own again as anyone else's. Yeah, for sure.

That's going to be really interesting to watch over the next like couple years assuming they can all stay healthy like are we going to start to see something close to a 700 wilks right you know like well what is what is the upper limit there like where do they really think they can take this right stacy was then in the cage the next day then even too after she was yeah i think she i think she benched or something in the cage the next day uh there was a lot of you know cage lifters that had stopped by the booth that also were in there lifting you know james and julius benched against each other herbie the love bug did 700 squat for reps and 700 deadlift for reps we forgot to mention last week uh higa monster, Grant Higa,

he had stopped by the booth and we talked to him for a little while. I think he did 505 for 20 reps on the squat. Pete Rubish was deadlifting in there. So, you know, it's kind of their typical full lineup of strong lifters. That's not a comprehensive list, but there was a lot. Yeah, it's what you expect out of the cage, just people going nuts all weekend. Yep. And then this one isn't directly Arnold related.

It happened during the same time. It was Jamal Browner. Yes. And do you want to tell them what he did, Tanner? Well, it just doesn't make sense what he did and what he does. I think this was maybe their Friday or Saturday night. He went to one of the gyms in Columbus there and did a 900 by 5 deadlift. And if you don't know who Jamal Browner is, if you've never seen it,

you really need to go look at his page on Instagram and watch some of the deadlifting that he's been doing. Watch his 1,000-pound attempt or his 950 successful lift or this 900x5. He lifts sumo, and it literally does not make any sense how fast he pulls the bar off the ground. That is the most shocking thing to me. I want to know who pulls a sumo lift faster off the ground that's that is the most shocking thing to me is yeah i want to know i've never seen anything like a sumo lift faster off the ground than him i've never seen any there's not anything like that there's not it's the way that it is his lifting is yeah that's one you just really can't describe

like you have to just see it so it doesn't compute if you're not familiar with him and he doesn't have a ton of followers right if you're not familiar with him go check out his page uh because it is nuts yeah we got i think we talked to him on friday maybe we visited with him for a little bit at our booth there um but yeah you got to see that it just does literally i mean honestly everyone that sees it is like huh i don't understand that doesn't make sense to me like if you wanted to say fake plates that is the one time where it makes sense because it's so easy. Yes. But he's obviously not using them.

Correct. But do you think we should have mentioned something about Jefferson deadlifting to him, though? Well, that is my one gripe about what he's doing there is that just come on. Enough with the sumo. I mean, the conventional guys are going to complain about it. Yeah. You know, there's only one way to please everyone. Yeah.

Just like the way one of our forefathers invented the original deadlift, it was the Jefferson deadlift. Yeah, it was. That's the way it was meant to be. Why do you think they call it the Jefferson deadlift? No other explanation for that. Don't bother looking because there's no other explanation for it that has to be it so really none of these deadlifts counted this weekend um they're all for not for now yeah until next year until next year i think uh they're gonna bring like pete rubish

chris weist uh Jamal Browner, and a few other guys in and do some head-to-head. Forsaken Warrior, do some head-to-head. Jefferson deadlifting competition in the cage. Just a Jefferson deadlift round robin. Everyone takes a whack at it and sees where they come up. I'm sure the fans would love it. If you want to see the cage go nuts, we're kind of buddies with one of the guys in charge of the animal cage over there. We better put a bug in his ear about it.

Give him some more. They're always looking for something new and exciting. We could give him a whole list of just unconventional things. Yeah. just unconventional things right yeah yeah uh if there's anything that screams animal to me it's jefferson max out jefferson deadlifting that does say some type of animal i don't know what kind but yeah that is an animal for sure yes uh but uh all in all it was uh i'd say pretty wild, successful weekend for competitors at the Arnold. Yeah. This episode was basically one giant Big Lifts segment.

It was. So you guys aren't going to hear Big Lifts for a couple weeks now. Yeah. Actually, nah. Someone will have some PR, like, next week already, and we'll have to cover it. Someone, do you mean Larry? I mean, I wasn't going to say it, but there's a good chance. Yes.

There's always a good chance. Yes. Always. Um, should we show anyone's watching the podcast? This is right now about the best, the road conditions have been for the last hour. There's been multiple times while we've been driving where, uh, I think Tanner's had to quit talking just to focus on not crashing us. Well, it gets hard to text and podcast and drive in a blizzard.

Oh, and check Instagram and all that, too. You can only do, like, five things really well at a time. And then when you add in the sixth thing, it just gets to be a lot. They did finally scientifically prove that four things is the limit of multitasking that your brain can actually process at one point in time. But we're all about pushing the limits here. Isn't that what they say though?

I don't even know what's that. That you can't actually multitask. Multitasking is a fallacy. It isn't actually a thing. You just do all things really shitty then. You can actually only so when you say you're the best multitask you're really saying you're the best at just doing things shittily doing a bunch of things not well at the same time yeah that's really what it comes down

to so uh don't multitask people unless it's driving and uh podcasting yeah or driving and listening to the massonomics podcast that's basically anything and listening to the last massonomics podcast and now i got the camera all messed up and and uh you know you know how that goes guys but you can see us still um this this is maybe more uh it's still there's some snow coming up here but it's really not too bad still right now it'll probably only get worse though as we get closer to home but we are getting close to home, for everyone that knows. By the time you listen to this, you can know, rest your head easy, that the Mastanomics guys did make it back home from the 17-hour car ride from the Arnold. Yeah.

It was almost too easy. Yeah. I don't think no underrated, overrated segment this week. I would just like to refresh your memory on the rules, though, just to prep you for next week. The questions on underrated and overrated are lightning round. They're usually pop culture related. We mix in some lifting topics in there, usually one or two.

The thing about the questions, like I said, they are lightning round, but the answers do not have to be lightning round. Tommy can respond shortly or as long as he would like to. Those are the rules. We're not doing it this week, but just in case you needed the rules. That was really refreshing that you did give us

an update this week, though. You know what? If we went a week without the rules, you know how fucking confused everyone would be for the next week know how fucking confused everyone oh and the questions and the dms that would come in would just be oh it would be non-stop so yeah it'd be an absolute disaster someone's in the ditch right yeah someone is in the ditch really far in the ditch wow um uh the cop was like oh you guys are podcasting and driving? Go ahead. Cool. Good citizens. Keep going. Move along, sirs. How do you think a cop would handle it if he pulled us over?

And we were so stupid that we didn't put the microphones out. We still held the microphones in front of our hands. Because just so for whoever's not watching right now, we do have the full-on newscaster microphones that have the Massanomics logo underneath the mic. So it looks like we we look like two guys sitting like we're trying to have a news show yeah just staring out the window like we probably look like there's something seriously wrong with us we did get pulled over and the

cop came to the window and i our hands are still here when i was like uh yeah sir could you tell me why you pulled me over today and you handed the mic towards him yeah i just really clearly into the mic there so we can get that uh well we better finish this journey uh i think that wraps up our podcast journey it does it does our first uh our first uh cross-country tour for the podcast went pretty well i think so far so good we did cover one-tenth of the states today. Five down, 45 to go. So we can do that in like 10 more episodes. We could have it done in about two and a half months here. Hey, I like that.

We just drive. The Hawaii and Alaska ones could be a little tricky, but since those are kind of off the main line, we'll just do those in the same weekend. Yeah, right, yes. It doesn't actually take that long to drive to Hawaii if you do it one straight trip through. Yeah, it's when you stop at all the gas

stations and everything where it really adds up yeah that's true you just gotta be smart about it yeah that's right uh do check out our store online at massonomics.com got a lot of shirts in there the curl hard shirt is still fresh and new um yeah buddy shirt bench heavy shirt lift shirt all All the favorites. Check them all out there. Lift shorts. Oh, excuse me. My voice from all this Arnold talk just got me raspy.

The lift shorts are for sale. As expensive as ever. They don't call them the world's most expensive shorts for no reason. Check those out. Subscribe to the Mathnomics podcast on Apple Podcasts and drop us a review there, please. And tell your friends about the podcast. We've been seeing the numbers go up. And that's probably the best thing that you can do to help us see those numbers continue to grow.

And we really appreciate it. So thank you for that. Thank you for this episode. I think this was 153. So we'll catch you for 154 next time. And Tommy, what do we got for Instagram handles? You can find me at Tomahawk underscore D. And you can check out the official Masonomics Instagram at Masonomics.

Catch you next time. See you. See you. You just heard the Masonomics podcast. With your ears, you're welcome. Check us out on Facebook, find us on Instagram at Masanamics and make sure you visit Masanamics.com and buy some of that sweet Masanamics gear. From your friends at Masanamics Studio, home of the world's strongest podcast. Stay strong. you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you