Competing in Strongman as a Natural Athlete
When I started getting interested in strongman around 2010 and then competing in the sport for the first time in 2011 I was young and naive about the use of performance enhancing drugs in strongman. I thought because these athletes that I idolized looked big and impressive, but nothing like the bodybuilders stepping on stage, that these competitors were just naturally big and strong.
And then a few years after I started competing, I read an ESPN article interviewing a couple of the top athletes at the time and they “didn’t want to talk about it” whenever the question about steroids came up.
I had just seen the documentary Bigger, Stronger, Faster so I was recently introduced to the fact that saying your prayers and taking your vitamins was not the secret to success for a lot of professional athletes. So when the “I don’t want to talk about it” comment was made, my stomach dropped and I had a bad feeling.
Steroids and performance enhancing drugs were not talked about openly back then so it took quite a bit of digging online before I started to see that most professional strongman competitors were not competing naturally. Before going on, because it will lead to a heated debate otherwise, I will say that most of these athletes are indeed gifted with strength and size that already gives them an edge and contributes to their success in the sport.
Strongman is a test of mental and physical fortitude. It’s a hobby for everyone besides a few of the top competitors in the world.
If you’re reading this, you’re interested in finding out how to go about competing in this sport without feeling obligated to take PEDs. It’s a great sport to compete in regardless of whether you win against other competitors or just improve upon your performance over time. So let’s look at a few of the ways that you can compete in strongman as a natural competitor.
Natural Strongman Federation
Let’s start with the good news so that you can get a head start on something that took me about 5 years of competing to find out about. The World Natural Strongman Federation or WNSF. This is a drug tested strongman organization that operates in several countries. I am a Central Canada representative of this organization in Canada with the Canadian Natural Strongman Federation CNSF or Canadian Hercules.
Here’s a list of other countries that regularly compete in the WNSF:
Hungary
Wales
Ireland
Sweden
Nigeria
South Africa
Japan
Romania
Scotland
Iceland
Norway
Australia
Benin
Singapore
Croatia
England
Northern Ireland
Finland
USA
New Zealand
Malawi
Malaysia
Gibraltar
Try searching for fellow competitors in your country or region who are also competing naturally or seek out the organizers for the WNSF near you.
Having a natural strongman federation means that you can compete against other athletes who are also doing drug testing and honouring that they are competing naturally. For some competitors this is a big deal and so if you are discouraged or intimidated by open competitions, try finding a natural strongman competition near you first.
The natural strongman federation is much smaller and so many of the competitions won’t have weight classes, so this should be another factor to consider. Although, I will say from my own experience that each strongman athlete has his or her own natural gifts and they can really stand out despite body weight differences in natural competitions. It’s impressive to watch and be a part of.
Because there aren’t weight classes, everyone is lifting the same amount of weight and at least in Canada, the natural strongman competitions are heavy for most beginners so keep in mind that it will be a good challenge.
Weight Class Competitions
Weight class competitions may not completely level the playing field but if you are a lighter athlete interested in the sport, you may manage with the weights in your class better than in open competitions at higher levels.
Joining in a strongman organization that offers weight classes at competitions means that the weight of the events and implements will often be scaled and this can help if you’re just getting started and need to get more experience in the sport, or if you’re still gaining weight and growing into whatever goals you have.
Start with Beginner or Intermediate Competitions
You don’t have to start with the hardest competition you can find. I can tell you from my own competition history as well as other athletes I know well, experience and knowing how to perform under the pressure of the competition setting is more important than performance enhancing drugs.
Get out often and learn a lot when you are starting out in the sport. Usually this means you’ll need to be willing to travel a fair amount during the competition season. In your first several years of competing, aim to compete at least once per month for 4-6 months out of the year. During this time frame for me, I would start competing in April each year and continue until the last competitions of the season in October. Travel times would vary but were typically between 2-3 hours each way for any of the competitions I was going to because there weren’t any taking place in my home town.
Download the free Maximizing Your Competition Performance eBook here.
If you’re not having any lucky with finding competitions close to you or they aren’t happening very frequently and you want to gain more experience, you can coordinate your own backyard competitions with training partners to simulate the experience.
Don’t Worry About Everyone Else
Make your own progress
I get it, we all want that satisfaction of winning and doing well at competitions. But progress is everything and the more that you remind yourself of the and ingrain that idea, the better off you will be with enjoying the sport and competing without getting discouraged. Competing naturally can be a challenge if the caliber of competition nearby you is high.
However, strongman is a great sport and close-knit community so get out and compete and have fun and don’t feel discouraged or pressured to think that performance enhancing drugs are necessary. If you know your capabilities and compete responsibly to not get hurt, no one is going to turn you away from trying. And more often than not, when the adrenaline of competition hits, you’ll be surprised at how much more you are capable of than what you previously thought.
You can certainly compete in strongman naturally.
All you have to do is get started.
