Ahnold 2023

[mouse]

Missed the wheel of pain, which I now controversially find boring for how cool it looks...

Missed the women's log too... scoring looked... weird...

Men's log went as I expected until Luke Stoltman absolutely bombed... my heart kinda broke for Bobby after... cuz...

At first I agreed with the no rep, so it was 3 and 99.9% reps...

Then they no rep'd Rob, which I also kind of agreed with... but then they gave it back after the fact. I'd have to go back and re-watch but I don't think Bobby's no rep was much more egregious than the one Rob got back...

Whatever...

Mateusz is back, which I was excited for, but he is clearly not back to where he was on track to be... bummer...

Scoring... is this different than years past? 100 pts for 1 rep on big boi but only... *checks notes* 10 pts for the smaller log? Dang... at least give the guys a CHANCE to catch the bottom guys...

I'd have made the small log 25 pts...

[MarkKO]

Missed the wheel of pain, which I now controversially find boring for how cool it looks...

Missed the women's log too... scoring looked... weird...

Men's log went as I expected until Luke Stoltman absolutely bombed... my heart kinda broke for Bobby after... cuz...

At first I agreed with the no rep, so it was 3 and 99.9% reps...

Then they no rep'd Rob, which I also kind of agreed with... but then they gave it back after the fact. I'd have to go back and re-watch but I don't think Bobby's no rep was much more egregious than the one Rob got back...

Whatever...

Mateusz is back, which I was excited for, but he is clearly not back to where he was on track to be... bummer...

Scoring... is this different than years past? 100 pts for 1 rep on big boi but only... *checks notes* 10 pts for the smaller log? Dang... at least give the guys a CHANCE to catch the bottom guys...

I'd have made the small log 25 pts...

For what little my opinion is worth being a powerlifter, I thought there was no way Rob's rep counted if Bobby's didn't, although my understanding is they were disallowed initially for different reasons (Bobby fail to stabilise lockout, Rob fail to complete lockout because head not through).

I'm still going through day one, but so far the person I feel really bad for is Tamara Walcott. Just based on WoP and log she plain and simple does not belong there any way you look at it. I'm not sure what the logic was of putting her in there because as far as I know this is her first strongman competition, and she hasn't even had a lot of time to prepare for it. It just seems terribly unfair to her to throw her in with the absolute best strongwomen out there. I can't see how anyone could have imagined it going well. I would guess she'll do well in the deadlift, but I doubt she'll have much luck with anything else.

[TimK]

Wheel of Pain *is* boring.

I have mixed feelings about how they’re doing the women’s competition. I think it’s awesome that it’s getting broadcast along with the men, but part of me wishes it was still different events like in the past just for variety/entertainment value. But I guess that would be a lot harder logistically.

[Hardartery]

Missed the wheel of pain, which I now controversially find boring for how cool it looks...

Missed the women's log too... scoring looked... weird...

Men's log went as I expected until Luke Stoltman absolutely bombed... my heart kinda broke for Bobby after... cuz...

At first I agreed with the no rep, so it was 3 and 99.9% reps...

Then they no rep'd Rob, which I also kind of agreed with... but then they gave it back after the fact. I'd have to go back and re-watch but I don't think Bobby's no rep was much more egregious than the one Rob got back...

Whatever...

Mateusz is back, which I was excited for, but he is clearly not back to where he was on track to be... bummer...

Scoring... is this different than years past? 100 pts for 1 rep on big boi but only... *checks notes* 10 pts for the smaller log? Dang... at least give the guys a CHANCE to catch the bottom guys...

I'd have made the small log 25 pts...

I haven't watched yet, too busy yesterday, but I have always thought the WoP was a dumb event. Sure, the implement is neat, but it looks neat just sitting there. If something cool happened like it lifts a boat or generates an electrical storm in a sphere while it's going it would be cool. But it doesn't and it's boring.

[Hardartery]

Just watched both days, thank god for 1.25 speed and being able to skip forward. Hooper did well, in spite of his weaknesses. Trey got bit hard by that grip and general lack of athleticism (Not ripping on the guy, seems like a nice fella, he's just a little too bound up and one-dimensional in his strength, like a PLer doing SM instead of someone that actually trains it), Bobby is looking on track. The Stoltmans were themselves, as is typical for anything that isn't WSM or catered to them by Colin Bryce. Mateusz is on track too, he seemed still in his own head a little on some lifts.

[MarkKO]

Just finished watching the women's DL. Pretty nuts to me, I don't think we're that far off a 700 lbs pull for the women which is awesome.

I'm a bit surprised Walcott got given that third, but I don't know a whole lot about the rules for DL in strongman. Also I'm guessing because Long had already broken the record they may not have been as worried and even felt bad for her. My take (which isn't worth much) is that she didn't come anywhere close to what she expected in the deadlift and pretty much got outclassed.

[MarkKO]

Also, is it just me or was the stone toss really boring?

[mouse]

I'm a bit surprised Walcott got given that third, but I don't know a whole lot about the rules for DL in strongman.

Nah, you're right to be surprised, I didn't get it either...

Also, is it just me or was the stone toss really boring?

It was, I ended up just skipping around since I watched most of day 2 after the fact.

[Hardartery]

Just finished watching the women's DL. Pretty nuts to me, I don't think we're that far off a 700 lbs pull for the women which is awesome.

I'm a bit surprised Walcott got given that third, but I don't know a whole lot about the rules for DL in strongman. Also I'm guessing because Long had already broken the record they may not have been as worried and even felt bad for her. My take (which isn't worth much) is that she didn't come anywhere close to what she expected in the deadlift and pretty much got outclassed.

Walcott got a bit of a gift there, I think that she really had no idea what she was getting into. Doing only the DL portion before, and only doing PL meets before, really does not prepare one for what happens to you during a full contest. She didn't have good enough conditioning, you aren't going into any events fresh after the first one and you need to be prepared for that. She is probably feeling wrecked today, she did not seem to have realized how great the drain is hammering multiple events is as opposed to just needing enough for 9 attempts all day. Same lack of experience that gets most new competitors, just not on that big of a stage. And the Stone Toss sucked to watch but would probably be fun to do in training or just screwing around after a few wobble pops.

[MarkKO]

I'm a bit surprised Walcott got given that third, but I don't know a whole lot about the rules for DL in strongman.

Nah, you're right to be surprised, I didn't get it either...

Also, is it just me or was the stone toss really boring?

It was, I ended up just skipping around since I watched most of day 2 after the fact.

Not just me then

[MarkKO]

Just finished watching the women's DL. Pretty nuts to me, I don't think we're that far off a 700 lbs pull for the women which is awesome.

I'm a bit surprised Walcott got given that third, but I don't know a whole lot about the rules for DL in strongman. Also I'm guessing because Long had already broken the record they may not have been as worried and even felt bad for her. My take (which isn't worth much) is that she didn't come anywhere close to what she expected in the deadlift and pretty much got outclassed.

Walcott got a bit of a gift there, I think that she really had no idea what she was getting into. Doing only the DL portion before, and only doing PL meets before, really does not prepare one for what happens to you during a full contest. She didn't have good enough conditioning, you aren't going into any events fresh after the first one and you need to be prepared for that. She is probably feeling wrecked today, she did not seem to have realized how great the drain is hammering multiple events is as opposed to just needing enough for 9 attempts all day. Same lack of experience that gets most new competitors, just not on that big of a stage. And the Stone Toss sucked to watch but would probably be fun to do in training or just screwing around after a few wobble pops.

It definitely seemed like she absolutely had no idea what she was in for. Which makes me ask the question, what was going on there? Did no one in her coaching circle or friends say, hey, you're going to get your backside handed to you in ways you didn't even know were possible? Plus whose idea was it to invite her? Did they not think that she'd get shown up hugely? It would be exactly the same if someone like Eric Lillibridge got invited. She's a great powerlifter but where was there any indication she'd be able to jump into top level strongman?

[Hardartery]

Just finished watching the women's DL. Pretty nuts to me, I don't think we're that far off a 700 lbs pull for the women which is awesome.

I'm a bit surprised Walcott got given that third, but I don't know a whole lot about the rules for DL in strongman. Also I'm guessing because Long had already broken the record they may not have been as worried and even felt bad for her. My take (which isn't worth much) is that she didn't come anywhere close to what she expected in the deadlift and pretty much got outclassed.

Walcott got a bit of a gift there, I think that she really had no idea what she was getting into. Doing only the DL portion before, and only doing PL meets before, really does not prepare one for what happens to you during a full contest. She didn't have good enough conditioning, you aren't going into any events fresh after the first one and you need to be prepared for that. She is probably feeling wrecked today, she did not seem to have realized how great the drain is hammering multiple events is as opposed to just needing enough for 9 attempts all day. Same lack of experience that gets most new competitors, just not on that big of a stage. And the Stone Toss sucked to watch but would probably be fun to do in training or just screwing around after a few wobble pops.

It definitely seemed like she absolutely had no idea what she was in for. Which makes me ask the question, what was going on there? Did no one in her coaching circle or friends say, hey, you're going to get your backside handed to you in ways you didn't even know were possible? Plus whose idea was it to invite her? Did they not think that she'd get shown up hugely? It would be exactly the same if someone like Eric Lillibridge got invited. She's a great powerlifter but where was there any indication she'd be able to jump into top level strongman?

She won the Women's DL on the Elephant Bar at a previous show, where she ONLY did the DL. She set a record, which was broken yesterday. I guess they figured she had the opportunity to seek help and train for it. At the World DL Championships every year all athletes are also given the option of a full contest, which the PL guys usually decline. But, that's kinda how Wide Pavlo got into Strongman, he was really just invited to the DL portion and opted for the whole show. I'm guessing no one in her circle had a clue and deluded her into thinking she would be fine.

[MarkKO]

Just finished watching the women's DL. Pretty nuts to me, I don't think we're that far off a 700 lbs pull for the women which is awesome.

I'm a bit surprised Walcott got given that third, but I don't know a whole lot about the rules for DL in strongman. Also I'm guessing because Long had already broken the record they may not have been as worried and even felt bad for her. My take (which isn't worth much) is that she didn't come anywhere close to what she expected in the deadlift and pretty much got outclassed.

Walcott got a bit of a gift there, I think that she really had no idea what she was getting into. Doing only the DL portion before, and only doing PL meets before, really does not prepare one for what happens to you during a full contest. She didn't have good enough conditioning, you aren't going into any events fresh after the first one and you need to be prepared for that. She is probably feeling wrecked today, she did not seem to have realized how great the drain is hammering multiple events is as opposed to just needing enough for 9 attempts all day. Same lack of experience that gets most new competitors, just not on that big of a stage. And the Stone Toss sucked to watch but would probably be fun to do in training or just screwing around after a few wobble pops.

It definitely seemed like she absolutely had no idea what she was in for. Which makes me ask the question, what was going on there? Did no one in her coaching circle or friends say, hey, you're going to get your backside handed to you in ways you didn't even know were possible? Plus whose idea was it to invite her? Did they not think that she'd get shown up hugely? It would be exactly the same if someone like Eric Lillibridge got invited. She's a great powerlifter but where was there any indication she'd be able to jump into top level strongman?

She won the Women's DL on the Elephant Bar at a previous show, where she ONLY did the DL. She set a record, which was broken yesterday. I guess they figured she had the opportunity to seek help and train for it. At the World DL Championships every year all athletes are also given the option of a full contest, which the PL guys usually decline. But, that's kinda how Wide Pavlo got into Strongman, he was really just invited to the DL portion and opted for the whole show. I'm guessing no one in her circle had a clue and deluded her into thinking she would be fine.

IIRC that was last year? Wasn't it an all-time record of any pull for a woman? She's got a good bench, I would expect we'd see 400+ from her if she sticks to PL and her squat is pretty close to her DL as well so as far as PL goes she's got a very complete package.

Strongman though? I felt so bad for her watching the show. With the log maybe I'm exaggerating but it seemed like she'd never even touched one before, and she tried the 270 lbs one first and couldn't even clean it. Similar with the stone, it looked like she was struggling to lap it although granted she is the absolute wrong shape to do that.

Then on the DL when she hadn't even opened until the bar was over 600 lbs I suspected she would struggle and props to her for equalling the record. You could see in her face she wasn't convinced with it either.

I agree with you, I think she had at least one person pissing in her pocket about her prospects.

[Hardartery]

Just finished watching the women's DL. Pretty nuts to me, I don't think we're that far off a 700 lbs pull for the women which is awesome.

I'm a bit surprised Walcott got given that third, but I don't know a whole lot about the rules for DL in strongman. Also I'm guessing because Long had already broken the record they may not have been as worried and even felt bad for her. My take (which isn't worth much) is that she didn't come anywhere close to what she expected in the deadlift and pretty much got outclassed.

Walcott got a bit of a gift there, I think that she really had no idea what she was getting into. Doing only the DL portion before, and only doing PL meets before, really does not prepare one for what happens to you during a full contest. She didn't have good enough conditioning, you aren't going into any events fresh after the first one and you need to be prepared for that. She is probably feeling wrecked today, she did not seem to have realized how great the drain is hammering multiple events is as opposed to just needing enough for 9 attempts all day. Same lack of experience that gets most new competitors, just not on that big of a stage. And the Stone Toss sucked to watch but would probably be fun to do in training or just screwing around after a few wobble pops.

It definitely seemed like she absolutely had no idea what she was in for. Which makes me ask the question, what was going on there? Did no one in her coaching circle or friends say, hey, you're going to get your backside handed to you in ways you didn't even know were possible? Plus whose idea was it to invite her? Did they not think that she'd get shown up hugely? It would be exactly the same if someone like Eric Lillibridge got invited. She's a great powerlifter but where was there any indication she'd be able to jump into top level strongman?

She won the Women's DL on the Elephant Bar at a previous show, where she ONLY did the DL. She set a record, which was broken yesterday. I guess they figured she had the opportunity to seek help and train for it. At the World DL Championships every year all athletes are also given the option of a full contest, which the PL guys usually decline. But, that's kinda how Wide Pavlo got into Strongman, he was really just invited to the DL portion and opted for the whole show. I'm guessing no one in her circle had a clue and deluded her into thinking she would be fine.

IIRC that was last year? Wasn't it an all-time record of any pull for a woman? She's got a good bench, I would expect we'd see 400+ from her if she sticks to PL and her squat is pretty close to her DL as well so as far as PL goes she's got a very complete package.

Strongman though? I felt so bad for her watching the show. With the log maybe I'm exaggerating but it seemed like she'd never even touched one before, and she tried the 270 lbs one first and couldn't even clean it. Similar with the stone, it looked like she was struggling to lap it although granted she is the absolute wrong shape to do that.

Then on the DL when she hadn't even opened until the bar was over 600 lbs I suspected she would struggle and props to her for equalling the record. You could see in her face she wasn't convinced with it either.

I agree with you, I think she had at least one person pissing in her pocket about her prospects.

She absolutely got hammered by lack of technique. Her Log clean was a disaster, her Stones weren't any better, and the Wheel of Pain clearly left her to hammered to pull like she expected to. It was honestly a bit of a gift to give her that last DL, she wasn't really locked out. Somebody with knowledge and even a modicum of coaching ability could have made her day very different with a month or so of work.

[MarkKO]

Just finished watching the women's DL. Pretty nuts to me, I don't think we're that far off a 700 lbs pull for the women which is awesome.

I'm a bit surprised Walcott got given that third, but I don't know a whole lot about the rules for DL in strongman. Also I'm guessing because Long had already broken the record they may not have been as worried and even felt bad for her. My take (which isn't worth much) is that she didn't come anywhere close to what she expected in the deadlift and pretty much got outclassed.

Walcott got a bit of a gift there, I think that she really had no idea what she was getting into. Doing only the DL portion before, and only doing PL meets before, really does not prepare one for what happens to you during a full contest. She didn't have good enough conditioning, you aren't going into any events fresh after the first one and you need to be prepared for that. She is probably feeling wrecked today, she did not seem to have realized how great the drain is hammering multiple events is as opposed to just needing enough for 9 attempts all day. Same lack of experience that gets most new competitors, just not on that big of a stage. And the Stone Toss sucked to watch but would probably be fun to do in training or just screwing around after a few wobble pops.

It definitely seemed like she absolutely had no idea what she was in for. Which makes me ask the question, what was going on there? Did no one in her coaching circle or friends say, hey, you're going to get your backside handed to you in ways you didn't even know were possible? Plus whose idea was it to invite her? Did they not think that she'd get shown up hugely? It would be exactly the same if someone like Eric Lillibridge got invited. She's a great powerlifter but where was there any indication she'd be able to jump into top level strongman?

She won the Women's DL on the Elephant Bar at a previous show, where she ONLY did the DL. She set a record, which was broken yesterday. I guess they figured she had the opportunity to seek help and train for it. At the World DL Championships every year all athletes are also given the option of a full contest, which the PL guys usually decline. But, that's kinda how Wide Pavlo got into Strongman, he was really just invited to the DL portion and opted for the whole show. I'm guessing no one in her circle had a clue and deluded her into thinking she would be fine.

IIRC that was last year? Wasn't it an all-time record of any pull for a woman? She's got a good bench, I would expect we'd see 400+ from her if she sticks to PL and her squat is pretty close to her DL as well so as far as PL goes she's got a very complete package.

Strongman though? I felt so bad for her watching the show. With the log maybe I'm exaggerating but it seemed like she'd never even touched one before, and she tried the 270 lbs one first and couldn't even clean it. Similar with the stone, it looked like she was struggling to lap it although granted she is the absolute wrong shape to do that.

Then on the DL when she hadn't even opened until the bar was over 600 lbs I suspected she would struggle and props to her for equalling the record. You could see in her face she wasn't convinced with it either.

I agree with you, I think she had at least one person pissing in her pocket about her prospects.

She absolutely got hammered by lack of technique. Her Log clean was a disaster, her Stones weren't any better, and the Wheel of Pain clearly left her to hammered to pull like she expected to. It was honestly a bit of a gift to give her that last DL, she wasn't really locked out. Somebody with knowledge and even a modicum of coaching ability could have made her day very different with a month or so of work.

I'm glad you say that because you know SM well, far better than I do; and that was pretty much where my conclusion ended up too. I guess if *I* notice how bad someone is at SM, they must really stink.

I think I heard the commentators say she had something like 10 weeks to prepare, but I may be wrong.

[Hardartery]

She absolutely got hammered by lack of technique. Her Log clean was a disaster, her Stones weren't any better, and the Wheel of Pain clearly left her to hammered to pull like she expected to. It was honestly a bit of a gift to give her that last DL, she wasn't really locked out. Somebody with knowledge and even a modicum of coaching ability could have made her day very different with a month or so of work.

I'm glad you say that because you know SM well, far better than I do; and that was pretty much where my conclusion ended up too. I guess if *I* notice how bad someone is at SM, they must really stink.

I think I heard the commentators say she had something like 10 weeks to prepare, but I may be wrong.
[/quote]

I think it was a common mistake of thinking that brute strength will carry you, especially at a heavy contest. She has the strength, and that log should have been a money event for her but she had no idea how to clean it. Also a problem common to big pressers, I've seen guys struggle to clean an implement for most of their time, and then when they finally get the thing up it's 10 reps like a Sunday morning walk. A good Clean and a good Press are an odd combination, the guys with the best clean usually have a garbage press. That was my problem. I cleaned 360 lbs on the log in training without major issue but my press was a crappy 305. At the time, 385 was almost a guarantee to win in the Pro Heavyweight group and it was at least excellent points. Other guys could press 400 or so but couldn't clean 300.

[MarkKO]

She absolutely got hammered by lack of technique. Her Log clean was a disaster, her Stones weren't any better, and the Wheel of Pain clearly left her to hammered to pull like she expected to. It was honestly a bit of a gift to give her that last DL, she wasn't really locked out. Somebody with knowledge and even a modicum of coaching ability could have made her day very different with a month or so of work.

I'm glad you say that because you know SM well, far better than I do; and that was pretty much where my conclusion ended up too. I guess if *I* notice how bad someone is at SM, they must really stink.

I think I heard the commentators say she had something like 10 weeks to prepare, but I may be wrong.

I think it was a common mistake of thinking that brute strength will carry you, especially at a heavy contest. She has the strength, and that log should have been a money event for her but she had no idea how to clean it. Also a problem common to big pressers, I've seen guys struggle to clean an implement for most of their time, and then when they finally get the thing up it's 10 reps like a Sunday morning walk. A good Clean and a good Press are an odd combination, the guys with the best clean usually have a garbage press. That was my problem. I cleaned 360 lbs on the log in training without major issue but my press was a crappy 305. At the time, 385 was almost a guarantee to win in the Pro Heavyweight group and it was at least excellent points. Other guys could press 400 or so but couldn't clean 300.
[/quote]

You'd think powerlifters would have figured that out by now

[mouse]

Did some digging on Walcott and she at least tried to learn quick... looks like the first time she ever touched a log was late December.

She made some OK progress to be fair, first clip I found she has the handles facing toward her body...

At least she wasn't trying to oly clean 'jump it up' like I usually see newbies do... she wasn't THAT far off, just not strong enough to handle 270...

[Hardartery]

Did some digging on Walcott and she at least tried to learn quick... looks like the first time she ever touched a log was late December.

She made some OK progress to be fair, first clip I found she has the handles facing toward her body...

At least she wasn't trying to oly clean 'jump it up' like I usually see newbies do... she wasn't THAT far off, just not strong enough to handle 270...

It seemed like she was leaving it at the waist instead of pinching the upper back to hold it on top of the abs for the clean. She did not have the force to basically hang clean it from the hips, that is really tough to do and a common mistake. If she had pulled the elbows back hard and kicked the hips coming off the lap she would have had it pop up and probably a relatively easy press for her at that point. It is entirely likely that the belt was in her way as well, if you are going to use a belt for that the flexible one is a better choice on that compact frame of hers. At least turn the buckle to the side and leave it a little looser than normal. I can't clean at all with a belt on, on any implement.

[BostonRugger]

The Wheel of Pain not powering a grain mill is such a miss.