As children we all had Dream Goals, grand visions of what success looked like to us. I remember in the 8th Grade Mr. Dupuis had us write a letter to ourselves ten years in the future. We were to talk about the things we would be doing for fun as well as our careers and where we would be living. Mr. Dupuis was creating a subconscious prime in our younger selves that would, unbeknownst to us at the time, set us along a path. We would still have to put in the work to follow that path but this is one of those ‘secrets' hidden in plain sight that those amongst us who have accomplished what they set out to do capitalize on. 

I watched as some more guys were eliminated on the 700. Now it was my turn. 700 was a big jump from the 630 I had got in training. It seemed unlikely that I would get it based off of that alone. But the 680 came off the floor with some speed so I felt there must be a little more left in the tank. It was game time. 

If my lift was perfect it just might be possible… I approached the bar. 

In the immortal words of Ronnie Coleman, "everyone wanna be a bodybuilder, but nobody wants to lift no heavy ass weight!" The same can be said of the modern-day strongman. Lifters want to be seen picking up weights from the floor while making the trip to the lockout as awkward as possible with the Steinborn squat and Zercher deadlift constantly being showcased. The truly impressive lifters don't have time for that riff-raff because they are either training, eating or competing. 

Misogi.

It’s a Japanese ritual purification typically performed once a year that's been adapted to refer to doing something so hard one day per year that the effect lasts the rest of the 364 days. While most of the strongman competitions I do each year could classify as such, competing in Ontario’s Strongest Man epitomizes misogi. 

While CNSM may be the ultimate destination for my competitive season, the athletes competing at OSM are without a doubt the best of the best in Ontario, and Canada as well. To top it all off, this test of titans was performed in the sweltering heat of Canada Day, where the mercury skyrocketed and the blazing sun with the humidity reached into the 40s.