HIGA MONSTER
08-22-10, 2:52 pm
It was a HOT day in Japan for the contest. The high was 91 degrees, but with the humidity at 70% it made the heat index 99 degrees. IMO the hottest I have ever experienced out here for this contest.
We had 10 competitors (8 japanese and 2 USA). One of the USA guys was Shukin! I had convinced him to compete since he had traveled all the way from Hokkaido and that this was a once in a lifetime experience that he may want to do it again.
Corey St Clair was not taking the humidity too well. Its not this humid in the Pacific Northwest, so it was a challenge for him.
I wasn't affected by it at first, but it got to me mid-contest.
Here are some videos:
We got a chance to meet AKEBONO before the contest. He was making an appearance at the "Son's of Hawaii" food booth. This was a fuckin awesome experience for me cause he is a Hawaiian guy that was the first non-Japanese person to reach "Yokozuna" status in sumo. When he stood up, he dwarfed Corey St Clair and Muto-san!
A big mahalo to Uncle Darren that let us cut to the front of the line so that we could see him first.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MV93jmFdS48
Corey and I being introduced to the crowd:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Op7Kfbn--m0
HIGA doing a Farmers Walk demo. These handles sucked! Someone made them, but they were too fuckin short. You couldn't fit 45 lb plates on there cause then you couldn't fit in b/w. The handle was great cause it was almost 2" diameter but the length SUCKED.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvpCINqI7Vk
Corey St Clair doing a Log clean & press demo:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMiHUjNnz6c
Shukin finishing the Tire Flip and was proudly sporting the Animal gear:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3D8PRYSrkG8
HIGA MONSTER doing a Yoke Walk demo:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6ekfLYuP5g
Shukin doing the Trap-bar deadlift for reps. He tore all of his callouses on this, and so did a couple of other guys.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1m8n5t0q4M
HIGA MONSTER doing a bus pull with 44 people inside of it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXkpmyEj5Vc
Corey St Clair doing the bus pull with 46 people inside of it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gO6VyMVwaM
We saw this small car at dinner that was LOADED with so much speakers in it, I don't know how the driver fit in his car.
Come to find out, the guy's name is Oscar and he worked at the Chili's on base and competed in the "Central Japan Bodybuilding Championship" before. He was proud to show it off to us. What a frickin crazy nut this guy is!
Look at all the amps he has on his roof...and he only uses 2 batteries to power this whole system! I got 2 different videos of this car.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJxNIFijFNk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3sN1QBMATk
Other than the heat, it was a great contest again. This is the only strongman contest that happens in Japan. 3 guys took a 5 hour train ride from Osaka to compete, so you can see that they are willing to do it.
Shukin was amazing! I was honored to meet this guy cause he is a cool dude and we got to hang out alot with him and share stories/training styles.
He was unsure if he should compete, but I told him to try it. He manned up and was hooked!
If any of you Animals are in Hokkaido, please look him up. He owns a Pizza Parlor there and is a real genuine guy. Two of his friends came all the way from Tokyo to cheer him on!
I got ALOT of pictures. I will upload them when I get back to stateside. We leave for the airport in 6 hours.
Thanks to my boy Christian Coronato for sending a great care package of swag for the ABC. Everyone loved the shirts and I hooked Shukin up with alot of those sample products. I even threw out 2 shirts to the audience in b/w events during the Strongman contest.
Sayonara,
HIGA MONSTER
We had 10 competitors (8 japanese and 2 USA). One of the USA guys was Shukin! I had convinced him to compete since he had traveled all the way from Hokkaido and that this was a once in a lifetime experience that he may want to do it again.
Corey St Clair was not taking the humidity too well. Its not this humid in the Pacific Northwest, so it was a challenge for him.
I wasn't affected by it at first, but it got to me mid-contest.
Here are some videos:
We got a chance to meet AKEBONO before the contest. He was making an appearance at the "Son's of Hawaii" food booth. This was a fuckin awesome experience for me cause he is a Hawaiian guy that was the first non-Japanese person to reach "Yokozuna" status in sumo. When he stood up, he dwarfed Corey St Clair and Muto-san!
A big mahalo to Uncle Darren that let us cut to the front of the line so that we could see him first.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MV93jmFdS48
Corey and I being introduced to the crowd:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Op7Kfbn--m0
HIGA doing a Farmers Walk demo. These handles sucked! Someone made them, but they were too fuckin short. You couldn't fit 45 lb plates on there cause then you couldn't fit in b/w. The handle was great cause it was almost 2" diameter but the length SUCKED.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvpCINqI7Vk
Corey St Clair doing a Log clean & press demo:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMiHUjNnz6c
Shukin finishing the Tire Flip and was proudly sporting the Animal gear:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3D8PRYSrkG8
HIGA MONSTER doing a Yoke Walk demo:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6ekfLYuP5g
Shukin doing the Trap-bar deadlift for reps. He tore all of his callouses on this, and so did a couple of other guys.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1m8n5t0q4M
HIGA MONSTER doing a bus pull with 44 people inside of it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXkpmyEj5Vc
Corey St Clair doing the bus pull with 46 people inside of it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gO6VyMVwaM
We saw this small car at dinner that was LOADED with so much speakers in it, I don't know how the driver fit in his car.
Come to find out, the guy's name is Oscar and he worked at the Chili's on base and competed in the "Central Japan Bodybuilding Championship" before. He was proud to show it off to us. What a frickin crazy nut this guy is!
Look at all the amps he has on his roof...and he only uses 2 batteries to power this whole system! I got 2 different videos of this car.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJxNIFijFNk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3sN1QBMATk
Other than the heat, it was a great contest again. This is the only strongman contest that happens in Japan. 3 guys took a 5 hour train ride from Osaka to compete, so you can see that they are willing to do it.
Shukin was amazing! I was honored to meet this guy cause he is a cool dude and we got to hang out alot with him and share stories/training styles.
He was unsure if he should compete, but I told him to try it. He manned up and was hooked!
If any of you Animals are in Hokkaido, please look him up. He owns a Pizza Parlor there and is a real genuine guy. Two of his friends came all the way from Tokyo to cheer him on!
I got ALOT of pictures. I will upload them when I get back to stateside. We leave for the airport in 6 hours.
Thanks to my boy Christian Coronato for sending a great care package of swag for the ABC. Everyone loved the shirts and I hooked Shukin up with alot of those sample products. I even threw out 2 shirts to the audience in b/w events during the Strongman contest.
Sayonara,
HIGA MONSTER