Nick Pratt - QLD Strongman Competition

On Sunday the 22nd of March I competed in my first ever strongman competition I went in nervous yet exited as I had only been training with the strongman implements for around 6 weeks. I was competing against men much older than myself (I’m only 17).

The first discipline was the farmers walk, I had been nervous about this event all week as I have never walked the full distance of 50m with this weight of 110kg in each hand. Once the gun sounded I took off taking 2 huge steps this made me stumble everywhere but I managed to pull it together and walk a total distance of 38.6m placing myself 5th out of 7 after the 1st event.

The next event was the Super Yoke a 285kg frame which you rest behind your neck and walk down a 25m runway. I won my heat and finished 4th in my weight class.

The next event was one of the most draining events on this day it was the over head press medley, which involves lifting a 100kg log, a 85kg keg, a 50km dumbell in each hand and a 120kg axel with a 2.5inch thick bar. I went through the Dumbell and the log a breeze then came to the keg it was one of the most awkward things to lift. After wrestling it up to my chest I gripped the edges and pressed it above my head. Next up was the axel and I was so physically exhausted that getting it to my belt was hard enough. The bar was much too thick for me to get my wrists under and press so I told myself I wasn’t going to waist any more time trying to flick it up. I found myself placed 4th in this event and 4th over all with only two events left to go.

The next event was the event I was dreading most, it was the car dead lift I was worried about this because I had never lifted the weight of 250kg before. So with the thought of failure in front of a huge crowd, I walked out chalked up my hands applied my straps and just pulled I did a total of 6 reps. I was shocked but only 4 of these reps counted because I never came to a full lock out in 2 of my lifts. At the end of this event I was back to 5th place.

I needed a big effort on the atlas stones but was so exhausted I could feel my legs turn to jelly after every step I took. When it came out, I was far too excited and tried to go to fast. When it came to the 140kg stone I just hit the wall and found myself grinding away at it for so long. I just couldn’t get the last stone up in the 90sec time limit. I was disappointed but I wasn’t the only one to slip up on the stones. The last effort I had on the stones was enough to place me back at 4th over all

Nick Pratt - Fitnance Trainee & Strongman

GYM TRAINING

I train about 5 or 6 days a week and one of those days I train for the strongman events.
Each work out in the gym lasts around 1hr and 30mins with about 6 exercises per a work out. I find the most effective way for me to train is to break my work outs down to body parts or movements. I always like to train major muscle groups at least 2 times a week (such as legs, shoulders and back).
A lot of my training is based on strengthening and conditioning each muscle with a small amount of body building. I like to keep a fair amount of my training low reps with heavy weights and a high number of sets. I find I get the best results are from 1 or 2 basic and major exercises per a work out and keep and rest to support muscles and muscles that would help with the certain movement.

STRONGMAN TRAINING

Until I get some of my own equipment I am only training with strongman implements once a week. On that day we normally train for around 3-4hrs starting with eater supper yoke, farmers walk or log press and then ending on the atlas stones because they are always last in the competition. To warm up with the walks we normally start with a lightweight and walk for distance then move the weight heavier just for about 25m (eg start with 55kg a hand for 50m end with 125kg for 25m).
Training for the stones normally starts with a fairly light stone and does it for reps moving up weights after each set then we Try to aim for our 1RM stone after that we drop back down to a lighter stone and see how high we can get it over the bar.

Luke C Gregory

Luke C Gregory


Over 25 Years Martial Arts Experience.

Senior in Ju Jitsu (Japanese Martial Art)

Senior (5th Degree Black Belt) Chen Family Shadow Boxing (Chinese Martial Art).

Qualified in China as Senior Kung Fu instructor.

Qualified in China as Senior Tai Chi instructor

Third brother (Senior Instructor and Disciple), and international representative of Guangzhou XiaoWu Martial Arts and Health Academy, under Senior Master ZhangXiaoWu Who in 2005 was recognised by the State Government as 'Superior Martial Artist' of GuangDong Province, China. Master Zhang is himself a lifelong student of Grand Master Chen ZhengLei.

In 2004 Luke won a Gold Medal at Ma-An Shan International Shadow Boxing Championships: Ma'An Shan, An Hui Province, China

In 2008 Luke won Gold Medal and a Silver Medal at ChenJiaGou International Invitational Shadow Boxing Championship: ChenJiaGou, Henan Province, China

Guido back at Fitnance

Guido is back... If you like the artwork on the car park wall, you will love the new art work Guido has being spray painting on the back wall and bathrooms in the gym.

As you can see from the pictures he has done a fantastic piece of artwork

“THE Former Origin Greats” Billabong To Beaches Camp: Mudjimba 2009

Imagine surfing, abseiling, canoeing, mountain biking and archery with your heroes. What an awesome experience!! In fact, it was a life changing experience for a group of indigenous boys from Doomadgee and Mornington Island who recently participated in the ‘Billabong to Beaches’ Camp at Mudjimba.

The boys come from disadvantaged backgrounds with histories of alcoholism, substance abuse, violence and sexual assault. The Camp’s aim is to improve their life skills to enable them to make better life choices and motivate them into leading a positive life for themselves and their communities.

The 14 boys spent the previous week in Longreach, working on horsemanship and leather skills. After the camp the boys returned to Longreach for another week of honing their mustering skills. Most of the boys are aiming to get jobs on stations when they finish.

The Former Origin Greats organised for Australia’s fastest man, Patrick Johnson; 2x World Kung Fu champion, Luke C Gregory and Australian Triathlon representative, Chris Weier, to join the boys on the week-long camp. They mentored the boys through their challenges during the week.

Pat Johnson grew up in the small community of Leichardt River and experienced firsthand the same anti-social behaviours the camp is trying to combat. Johnson went to University in Canberra, before beginning his athletics career. He started running at the University Games at the age of 24. Since his relatively late start in the sport he has represented Australia at three Olympic Games and numerous Commonwealth Games, in addition to being selected in the Australian Athletics team to compete in the World Athletics championships in Rome later this year. His message was that the boys needed to be strong and chase their dreams.

“I want to be a 100m runner, like Pat” said Noel (pictured). Noel had his 16th birthday during the camp. He proudly wore the jacket his hero had given him.

The non-profit Former Origin Greats was established in 1997 by the late Richard ‘Tosser’ Turner. Its Indigenous Programs have been developed with a commitment to closing the gap for indigenous youth through mentoring and career advice. All 166 members are former Queensland State of Origin players. The FOGS have organised another seven of these camps over the year.