AUGUSTA — James Fuller is finally recovered from a weight lifting injury suffered in August 2009, when he “had 930 pounds on my back and my knees said they had enough.”
So what’s up next for the Hallowell resident?
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Another strongman competition.
The fourth annual Central Maine Strongman Competition is 10:30 a.m. Saturday at the Augusta Armory on Western Avenue.
The event draws about 30 competitors from across New England, as well as from Canada and Florida.
Dana Geneseo, a local barber who puts on the show, said there are a few new faces entered this year.
“We will have a lot of competitors,” he said. “We’ll have more than last year.”
Proceeds from the competiton go to Augusta Little League. Geneseo said the event raised $1,700 last year.
“Sponsorships were tough to come by this year, but we give back everything we make,” he said.
The strongman puts competitors through six grueling events, including the log press, car squat, fingal’s fingers, floor log press, Atlas stones and the “pain train.”
In the “pain train,” which Geneseo invented, competitors carry a 250-pound yoke for several feet. Furthermore, four steel boxes that are partially filled with water are added along the way.
“It’s the pain train because by the time you are done you are in a lot of pain and you sound like a choo-choo,” Geneseo said.
The Atlas stones cap the competition. The stones weigh between 280 and 330 pounds and must be lifted up and over a bar.
“I’ve been training hard for this,” Fuller, 39, said. “But all of that training is for naught if you have a bad day.”
Fuller prepared for the event by lifting five days a week for the last three months.
“Every other workout I finished it off with a strongman workout,” he said. “I pretty much train the same all the time, but up until three months before I start addressing what I’m weak at. The last three weeks I don’t train as heavy. I don’t want to burn out. But I’m ready to go now.”
Bill Stewart — 621-5640
bstewart@centralmaine.com
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