ET-First of all, Congrats on your recent NAs Championship in the 175# class. I know that in my sucess in strongman and life, a great deal can be attributed to my family. Tell us about your yours
Justin- First off I wouldn’t be here competing if it wasn’t for their support. They have helped me a lot throughout the years via motivation, inspriration and just putting up with my crazy eating habits. I have a 13 year old son who is not really into football or strongman (more stuff like cross country) but doesn’t mind helping out and video taping the contests for me. I have a 6 year old daughter who is my training partner and loves to workout and compete (she actually did my strong Kids competition and loved it). I also have a cute little 18 month old baby girl. I am also married (for over 7 years now) to my beautful wife Nicole. I owe the most thanks to her, she is always there for me to help out (if I want it or not J). She will smack me or call me a wuss when I need it and help make special dinners for me when I am dieting. She keeps me in line for sure and I probably would have slacked off a bit if it were not for her.
ET-Where did you grow up? Go to School? College?
Justin- I am born and raised in Kansas City, KS and went to Turner High school then onto Independence Community to play college football for a year. After that, the Marine Corps and finally went to onto a few online schools to finish my degree in Exercise Science.
ET-What sports if any did you compete in as a kid or in school?
Justin- I have done just about every sport out there but excelled the most in football and track and feild (javalin, discus, & shotput) and I did being offical powerlifting at 15 years old as well (won nationals my senior year in 1999).
ETI know you had a great deal of success in powerlifting before you started strongman. You must have started lifting at a young age. When did you start lifting and how did you get involved in it?
Justin I started lifting (not too seriously though) when I was about 11 after I saw John Jacobs and the Power Team preform (Christian strongman group). By the time I was 14 is when it got really serious and it was a big deal to me but I was able to bench press 100 pounds over my bodyweight (245 lbs bench then) and after that I was hooked. I bought every muscle magazine I could get, I would take muscle mass every morning and workout just about every day (I actually set 4 school records that year too; 25 pull ups, 94 push ups in a minute, 98 sit ups in a minute and I got the record for the V-Strecth too (not sure where that came from, lol). After that began competitive lifting.
ET I know you have a varied experience when it comes to strength sport. Tell us about that and all the accolades you have won.
Justin I have done many sports and always been pretty athletic and I always enjoy new challenges so I have made it a point to test myself in many avenues when it comes to strength & athletic sport. I hold many records in various powerlifting organizations and have won National, Regional & State titles in Strongman, Powerlifting, NAHA, highland games, arm-wrestling, Fitness Challenges (crossfit type stuff), Tactical Strength Challenges (Marine Corps), Strict curl contests, Bench press for reps contests and more odd lifting competitions.
ETYou have been successsful in many strength endeavors in the past, including a runner up finish in NAS Nationals several years ago. Tell us about your training up to NAS nats this year. Was it any different than in the past?
Justin Training for this years Nationals was pretty much the same as other competitions for me. I train baisc powerlifting and strongman stuff until 12 weeks out. At 12 weeks out I take whatever events are in the upcoming competition and break it down to type of training and/or muscles worked per event. Then make a routine to follow. My program for Nats was; M- Log Press (pyramid training), & other triceps and delt work T- Lat, Bicep, Chest gym training W- Conditioning & Cardio (HIIT) usually just 10-20 intense minutes Th- Car Deadlift training, stone reps training, squats & other hamstring & quad work. Fr or Sat – Huseffel Stone, Yoke walk, & farmers specific event training.
ET I know the magnituede of the competition and the amount of competitors at NAs nationals can be a bit overwhelming, Tell us about your experience at Nationals this year.
Justin Nationals was Awesome!!! The best one I have been to for sure. I did have to diet and cut weight stating at about 12 weeks out (that sucked) but it was worth it. I got to meet, talk with, and get cheered on by Bill Kazmeir at the competition. This is also the first competition my wife and kids all got to go to. The events suited me and my strengths quite well and it was within driving distance so (in my mind at least) there was no excuse and no reason I shouldn’t win this year. I won 4 out of 6 events in the 175’s out of 12 of the best competitors from all over the nation. The Log press was great except I kept running out of gas before I ran out of strength – 200 lbs clean & press and I got 8 reps (I had been getting 10 reps in training though) and actually hit 6 reps before 30 seconds, I didn’t pace and ran out of gas quickly, but still won the event. The 650 lbs yoke I won by about 10 seconds and felt like I could have went a lot faster too (but did hurt my knee some). The Farmers felt easy and went smoothly but the faster guys went in the heat before me and ended up beating me (third for that one). The Car Deadlift was super easy for me (honestly though I have never been beat on it, ever in any of my weight classes in over 6 years so I did expect to win this one. Hit 2 reps in like 6 seconds then waited to see if anyone else would beat it (I have no doubt I had at least 10 reps or more if needed) and no one did, another event win. The car was pretty heavy apperantly, because ¾ of the lightweights (175, 200, & 231) couldn’t get it once. The next day (Day 2) was the 300 pound hussefelt stone which I was just happy to get 5th place on, I just couldn’t figure this one very well. The final event was the stones (I knew I had already won the contest due to my point lead thus far) but I had no intention of not trying to win another event. 240 lbs Stone over bar for reps, I was the last to go and knew the top guy hit 8 so far so I nailed 9 reps in 60 seconds. After that the banquet and awards were really cool but the best part was went my daughter told me she was proud of me and she knew I was going to win J all along.
ETTell us about where you train and your training partners.
Justin I have worked with training partners many times over the years but I have found that I either get more focused on helping them and I don’t get all the work/training I need or they distract me from my goal at hand. So for this nationals I chose to train alone for the most part (at my house and at the Hanger in Belton). Although I did do a few trainings with Zac Craig and Sal Badali at the Hanger and they did give me tips on a few of the events. I did have a little 6 year old, my daughter, (as you can see from some of my training videos) that made a great training partner (mainly just to count my reps and tell me good job though J )
ETWhat are your plans for the next year? Past that?
Justin Plans for 2012 is to heal up my knee first and foremost. I would like to run another successful strongman show (and strong kids show too). I also would really like to make a 1000+ pound 18” deadlift (and it would be great to beat the current lightweight record too). I may do some other comps for fun and some highland games stuff for sure too but I plan on sticking to local competitions for the next year ot two. I would really like to coach some new up-and-comers to get some more national champs here in KC as well.
ET I know that injuries play a big part in strength sports. Please share any injuries you have dealt with
Justin I have had a broken right foot (training powerlifting 2001), a torn left pectorial (competition powerlifting 2002), Torn tendon in left wrist (competition arm-wrestling 2005), 3 tears in the right knee (Nationals strongman 2007), 1 tear in the left knee (training strongman 2009), 2 torn ligaments in the right thumb (Nationals strongman 2010).
ET Thanks for your time, Justin, and for representing KCSTRONGMAN!
Justin Thanks again ET for doing this and keeping strength sports strong in KC.
