AUGUSTA — The plates are the size of monster truck wheels; the kegs are so heavy they’d make a server shudder were they in a restaurant rather than a gym. No matter what, they’re hitting the ground with a giant thud.
This isn’t your average gym setting, because these are far from your average gym-goers. Those who have gathered in GEvolution Fitness throughout the week have set out to win the Central Maine Strongman competition, a goal that requires their bodies to achieve onerous tasks with all eyes upon them.
“The training is phenomenal, and the competition is just icing on the cake,” said Mike Parker of Manchester, one of this year’s competitors. “It takes a lot of focus. There’s 200 people here, they’re all screaming at you, and you’re so focused and have to do your thing.”
This year’s Central Maine Strongman is scheduled for 10 a.m.-3:30 p.m., Saturday at GEvolution Fitness in Augusta. This year’s event will feature 62 of the region’s strongest men and women, the largest since the competition was first held in 2009.
It’s one of the longest-running novice strongman competitions in the country. Anyone of any weightlifting or strength training or experience level can compete, though the people who are training to compete Saturday are all experienced lifters who know what it takes.
“Everybody here has been training since mid-June,” said Gina LoMonaco, an event organizer and former winner of the Maine Strongest Woman competition. “They trained for an October event (Day of the Deadlift), they did pre-comp, and then they trained for this event (from) January on.”
Participants compete for men’s and women’s titles in a championship points series in five events. Those events test competitors physically and mentally through trials of lifting, throwing and carrying that assess their strength and endurance.
Two events, the axle clean and press-away and wagon wheel deadlift, test competitors on the barbells, and the sandbag toss requires them to throw a heavy, saggy object to great heights. Next, there are two lift-and-carry events: the keg medley relay and the atlas stone-to-platform carry.
The atlas stones, the last event of the day, are a staple of any strongman competition — and the Central Maine Strongman is no different. Competitors take five large, sphere-shaped stones of ascending weights, carry them a short distance and place them on large platforms built to hold the stones in place.
Melissa Marable tries out the custom made wagon wheel weight that will be used for 18 Inch Barbell Max Deadlift event in the Central Maine Strongman 14 on Wednesday at GEvolution in Augusta. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal
“Everyone loves it, that’s why they do it last,” Parker said. “Last year, one of the competitors before me got it up to (shoulder height), and his body rotated — his body’s going this way, and the stone is going this way — and he found an exit strategy and got out from under it. It’s wild to watch people do it.”
There are grunts and shouts to be heard as those training for the competition push their bodies to their physical limits. Some, such as Adrienne Hofmann of Montville, have rituals or superstitions they perform before they step up to lift, carry or throw with all eyes upon them.
“I stomp my feet a lot,” Hofmann said. “I try and set my body into that state of awareness.
“Then, I can focus on bracing my core, bracing my diaphragm and positioning my belly and just being as solid as possible so I can keep everything in the right place.”
It’s an event that’s growing with each passing year. In the past, LoMonaco said, organizers had capped the field to a maximum of 50 competitors. This year, though, that maximum was upped to 85, and the field included as many as 70 before some withdrew ahead of the event.
The bigger the field is, the tougher the competition gets. Yes, participants have more competition gunning for them, but it also makes for longer wait times for each person. The result is a form of mind games that forces competitors to be in top shape mentally with their bodies idle longer than they are active.
“It’s kind of like a track meet,” Parker said. “You have one minute of competing, and then you sit for 20 or 30 minutes waiting for when you get to go next. You’ve got to maintain the energy and the focus, and when you’re name gets called, that’s it.”
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