The Masters Athlete Survival Guide
We explore thriving as an athlete after 40. Each episode, we’ll dive into tips, hacks, and inspiring stories from seasoned athletes and our personal experience. Whether you’re a weekend warrior or a competitive pro, this podcast is your playbook for staying fit, strong, and motivated
The Masters Athlete Survival Guide
Discovering Stone Lifting with Sean Urquhart: Strength, Travel, and Tales
Prepare for an extraordinary journey into the world of stone lifting with our special guest, the legendary Sean Urquhart. Known for his prowess in strongman competitions, Sean shares his incredible adventures from the Columbus Oktoberfest event to his ambitions of conquering the Hussafell Stone in Iceland. Through laughter and insightful stories, we tap into the camaraderie and community spirit that make strength sports such a captivating pursuit.
Unlock the secrets to mastering stone lifting as we discuss innovative training techniques that draw inspiration from the Highland Games. Our conversation explores the transformative power of a Westside Barbell training split, which challenges both mind and body with its heavy and speed days. Together, we celebrate the raw power of natural stones, the vital role of the posterior chain, and the unwavering family support that turns a garage into a stone lifter's paradise.
Embark on a global adventure as we explore the rich cultural tapestry of stone lifting traditions across the world. From the volcanic landscapes of Iceland and Sweden to the historic stones of Lockport, New York, each story is a testament to the passion and dedication of the stone-lifting community. We blend family vacation anecdotes with historic quests, adding a humorous twist to our tales. Join us for a fascinating exploration of human strength, cultural heritage, and the delightful charm of local treasures like Grandpa's Cheese Barn.
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New episodes come out every other Thursday!
Welcome to the Master's Athlete Survival Guide, where we explore the secrets to thriving in sports after 40. I'm John Catalinas and, along with Scott Fyke, we'll dive into training tips, nutrition hacks and inspiring stories from seasoned athletes who defy age limits. Whether you're a weekend warrior or a competitive pro, this podcast is your playbook for staying fit, strong and motivated. Let's get started. Fit, strong and motivated, let's get started. And we're back. Hey, we have a guest. Today, we have one of our favorite guests that we've had all of January.
Speaker 1:Oh wait, it's really early. Talking about Sean Urquhart, we are going to talk about all things rocks and stones and boulders and a little bit of athletic tourism, because Sean is a world traveler to do things all rocks and stones and boulders and a little bit of athletic tourism, because Sean is a world traveler to do things all rocks and stones and boulders and whatnot. So hi.
Speaker 2:Sean hey, Sean hey, how's it going? Guys, we are doing all right. We look out the window from the studio here and we see nothing but gray skies and a dusting of white Welcome to winter.
Speaker 3:That's exactly what I have here.
Speaker 2:Yeah, welcome to winter in western New York.
Speaker 3:You guys get hit a lot harder than I do. I'm in Cleveland so I kind of like I get a dusting compared to what you guys get, but not seeing the sun for six months out of the year I can understand.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you think you're in like the Arctic or something. Yeah, you know. Let's talk for a second about how john and I met you. This has got to be what.
Speaker 1:Three years ago now, four years ago now, I tangentially knew about sean from highland. But yeah, noam, noam, it's been like three, four years, yeah sean runs and does the promotion.
Speaker 2:The organization is the ad for one of our favorite strongman competitions and it's kind of a unique competition. It is the columbus octoberfest of columbus, ohio, and what I really like about it is when you go to most strongman competitions it's, you know, it's divided by sex, it's divided by age, it's divided by six or seven different weight groups, not this one. If you're chosen to compete and John and I have been blessed to have applied and have been chosen a couple of times you all compete with the exact same weights. So John and I, in our 50s, are competing against these absolute monsters of muscle who are really nice guys in their 20s. You know we go up there and we're struggling for four or five repetitions with like a 200 pound keg press or something like that. And I remember the guy that won last year the last time we competed. He was doing touch and goes from the ground with this keg and he got to what like 15 or something like that he was basically smashing I thing at that point, like he wasn't even pressing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, oh yeah, some of those guys are animals but sean runs the competition out of there in october uh, the october fest and we went there and, like I said, we kind of knew you tangentially, like john had said. You know the name through highland and whatnot, but when we got there it was you know, you were one of those people like we've met with many people in strength sports in particular that you walk up and it's like you've known the person forever. They're just salt of the earth, easygoing, you know, laid back. How can I help? What can we do? Let's have some fun type of guys type of guys.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and before we drift away from uh sean's or some people pronounce it scene, um, his great event. Yeah, everything scott scott said was correct about it being just one big family lifting heavy things. But I think, as the casual listener and fan of strength sports, it should be on your radar, because one of the best things is the thousands of people that attend and watch and cheer and enjoy themselves and may have a beverage or two uh it's a great event.
Speaker 1:It is not. I don't think it's promoted well enough as for as amazing as it is, so go to the columbus octoberfest, damn it. Thank you guys, yeah it's a lot of fun yeah it really is.
Speaker 1:It really is all right enough. Enough of building you up, now we're going to tear you down. Um, so one of the reasons why we had wanted to have you on here is because I sort of needed a reality check, because somehow I've convinced scott that we're going to go to iceland in 2026 and carry the Hussafell Stone. So we were looking for mentorship. And of my incredibly small friend group, you are the most insane when it comes to hey, there's a rock. I think I can pick that up. How does one get to the? Hey, there's a rock? I think I can pick that up. Point in their lives.
Speaker 3:For me, me, it's kind of weird. I uh, you know, I did highland games for about 12 years, um, and I I don't feel like stone lifting as much as it's connected to highland culture and scottish culture and other other cultures around the world. Um, I didn't really see much exposure when I was competing I don't compete much anymore, or if at all, but I went to a competition in Fort Wayne, indiana, with John O'Connor and he used to own Stout Gym, which was one of the coolest gyms I've ever seen, and he did a Highlander, so it was half Highland Games, half Strongman. And at the very end of the competition he had a stone it was a 260-pound stone and he just said, you know who can pick this up and put it on their shoulder? And I had never touched a stone in my life and I was like this sounds pretty awesome. So I went up and I picked it up and I put it on my shoulder which, looking back, a 260-pound stone to the shoulder for the very first time ever, I guess, was, you know, pretty decent and Um, and that kind of sparked something inside of me and I kept thinking about lifting stones and I would, you know, walk through the woods with my kids, or you know, go hiking and see stones.
Speaker 3:And I would always think to myself, let's go pick up that rock. And I never did, I just kept thinking about it. And then there were some people online who were traveling before I had started traveling, and they were doing those strength tours, um and so then I think it was like December 30th or 31st or something. It was just you know the years. Uh, the anniversary was really recent. Um, there was a stone and I had found it in the woods behind my house and I rolled it out, and it took me about a good hour or so to roll it from the woods to my backyard and then I I up the chest and, literally from that moment on, I was just hooked on stone lifting.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's awesome and for a visual for some people. I mean, sean, when you did the 260 stone your first time, what did you weigh?
Speaker 3:I think I had to cut weight, so I just didn't eat any bagels that day. The only thing I mean honestly, and this is this is.
Speaker 1:This is meant as an immense compliment. You are not hapthor julian, anybody you, you're not a small guy. You're not a small guy, but you're an incredibly well put together guy I don't understand if it's your levers or if you're really from the planet Krypton, but I have seen pictures of you lifting stones that are the size of I don't know you. So kudos to you, you have some. Thank you.
Speaker 3:And I will get to this. I don't know what it is, because I'm not a big guy.
Speaker 1:I'm like I'm 6'1" and at my heaviest ever I was 260, but I'm back down to about 240, 245 now You're basically you're ruining all my excuses with scott, just so you know, because when I always say well, scott, I weigh a lot less than you. He brings up your name from time to time.
Speaker 2:Okay, but this story, I bring up your name and that's a true statement. The true statement is also when we were at the oktoberfest the last one that john competed at and it was the 290 pound keg andg and he fought, and he fought and he fought and he got it over the bar and he just started dancing around the stage. And you're looking at him like he got more time and Steve Slater's yelling at him pick it fucking up again, pick it up again. I mean he's yelling at him and John's still dancing on the stage.
Speaker 1:Yeah, maybe Sean's just more of an adult athlete than I am. No, I think he was showing off the size of his calf. Yeah, there you go, there you go. Um, but yeah, I do, I do give you credit. And uh, there's another local stone lifter, john johnson, around here that we're going to have on at some point, who whose story kind of parallels yours and I swear it's probably genetic where, hey, I see a rock, I would really try to like to lift that, and then I'd like to try to lift a bigger one, and then maybe go somewhere and lift one. So how? So let's, let's boil it down, because it's it's. I mean, here on the podcast we really try to tell people, you know, just get off the couch and do something. Well, if you get off the couch and you're pretty strong finding a natural stone and lifting it, whether it be your chest, your lap or your shoulder, I mean it doesn't take a lot of equipment and rogue so far hasn't been able to trademark rock.
Speaker 2:So yeah, and it can be humbling, I mean, you know, extremely. You look at it and you think about it, because every little kid like throwing stones into the water or something like that. And you think about it because every little kid like throwing stones into the water or something like that and you'd pick something up and this one makes the bigger splash. It's humbling how heavy a rock can get and not be as large as you think. Yeah, a rock is not a barbell.
Speaker 1:I mean, a barbell is meant to be lifted. A rock is like. I don't feel like getting up today, but, sean, do you. So what is your training, if like? How does one train to lift rocks, if they do at all?
Speaker 3:um. So when I was doing the highland games, I followed kind of like a west side barbell style split where I would have like a heavy day, I would have a speed day for upper and lower, so two upper, two lower, and I would mix and throwing with that and it worked really well. Um, and I was never a naturally strong guy. I mean, it took me probably you know five or eight plus years before I was benching, you know three, 15 or more Um so, and I was. I was not gifted in that department, I think I just worked really hard, harder than some guys. Um, but I really liked that style of training and being a father with three kids, it allowed me a little bit of flexibility with how I trained and what days I could train and things like that. So I kind of stuck with that same program and I still do the same kind of thing.
Speaker 3:I have two upper days, two lower body days. One's geared towards strength and max effort and one's geared towards either repetition or dynamic effort, speed kind of work along with it. So, like I know some guys will have, you know, they have their gym days and then they will go out and then they will lift stones completely separate of their gym. Um, I don't have that luxury with time and I just don't think I would. Even if I had that luxury, I don't think I would. So, for me personally, I always put stones right smack dab in the middle of my training. Um, so for so, for example, I do stones mostly on my lower body days. I'll start with a couple accessory movements like glute ham raises, some super heavy kettlebell swings, and then I go into either a max effort squat or good morning, and then by the time I'm, you know, super warmed up and partially fatigued. Then I go and lift my stones. So usually the third or fourth exercise of the day will be stones, and then I'll finish off with one or two accessories after that.
Speaker 1:Okay, and when you say stones exercises, what are you doing? What does one do with a gym stone? And these are still natural stones, right, we're not talking… Not Atlas stones, not Atlas stones, we're talking natural stones, right?
Speaker 3:We're not talking Not Atlas stones, not Atlas stones. We're talking natural stones, right, correct, I do have some Atlas stones and they belong in the garden. I don't like the round ones. They're a nice decoration. I let my kids paint them and do whatever to them.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think you have that backwards for most gyms. Most gyms leave the big angular rocks outside and bring in the pretty smooth purchased expensive round stones no, they got it wrong the jagged ones that that bites you and cuts you.
Speaker 3:those are the special ones that are in my garage. So, yeah, I do, uh, I lift in the basement and then, uh, I switch out my shoes and go to the garage and and lift the big heavy stones and I have everything ranging from super smooth, roundish at 260 pounds all the way to giants foundation stones that were used for barns here in northern Ohio at 425 pounds, and for those, for that one I just do what's called a half lift, where I just pick it up off the ground about knee height and then I'll hold it for time and really just works on, you know, glutes, hamstrings and back strength. Um, but for the most part I'm just on my heavier day I'll do a lot of, uh, heavy stones to chest. So you know, I might do a warmup with three, 45, and then I jump into about a 400 pound stone or more and I'll lift that to the chest five or six repetitions and then on my speed day it's the 330 to 345 stone and I'm just doing that as quickly as I possibly can.
Speaker 3:Sometimes it's an EMOM, sometimes I'm just going for volume, but I just try to switch it up and I don't always have a lot of direction with the stones. I think I use weightlifting to get better at stone lifting. Okay, um, I know a lot of guys will use stone lifting to get better at stone lifting, but I find I'm not naturally strong and I do lose strength quite quick if I'm not in the weight room. So I kind of do things a little differently. I use weight training to get better at stone lifting I get that, but I'm just refining my technique.
Speaker 1:I have an important question. Um, yes, what's your wife's name? Lynn? Okay, and I only want to know this because at some point she will be nominated for sainthood and I want to make sure my vote is cast correctly because I can only picture that you have a yard and garage fill of immovable rocks that, like she, just tolerates yeah, we have a two-car garage and one half is her car and the other half is all my.
Speaker 2:All your stones, nice amen so I sean, you spent a lot of time talking about using weightlifting to increase your stone lifting. I have two questions that come with this. Number one, what type of weightlifting I mean, or where are you focusing? I guess is more my question. You know, is it you're working on really that trunk down? Is it that you're working you know shoulders or something like that? Because I mean that you get the whole beach muscle mentality with the 20 year olds. I think as we get older, we start to do some realization that really it's more about your back, it's more about your core and those types of things. And I guess my second question is how much does something like grip play a role in this? Because I mean, yeah, you can pick them up, you're you're a strong guy, but if your grip isn't there, that could get ugly quick.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, um. So for me what I'm focusing on in the weight room is a lot of posterior chain, um. So I kind of think of like how louis simmons would have guys trained for the squat and the deadlift. They would do a lot of box squats. So I do a lot of box squats, um, he has them focusing on good mornings for lower back, glutes, hips, uh, hamstrings, um, and a ton of rows.
Speaker 3:So for me, like if I had to pick five exercises for for stone lifting that I could not live without, number one would be good mornings. Number two, uh, box squats. Number three, glute hammer raise. Four would be like a really heavy barbell or dumbbell row and then the last one would be like a super heavy kettlebell swing. So I know Mike Bardo outside of Youngstown. He has he really promotes swings a lot and going super heavy with those, and I found that those swings carry over immensely to my stone lifting and really help with extending of the hips, cause a lot of people, I think, look at stone lifting and when they extend they kind of think of it as a front squat and it's there is a squatting component to it. But I think, at least for my style of lifting stones, there's a lot of hip hinging as I extend with the stone upwards, so that that heavy kettlebell work, I think, really helps a lot.
Speaker 2:You know what's funny, Sean, is the first year we met, when I went to do the torturous howl that I now love of the Bavarian deadlift, when you had the natural stone before you had the implement built. That's what killed me was I picked up about 10 inches because I straightened my legs and then I couldn't get my hips to rotate forward. So you're saying that makes complete sense and like when we're in the compound. Those are the things I'll talk to people about now making sure you got strong core, strong hips to make sure you can push it through. So I like hearing that from somebody who knows a whole heck of a lot more about it than John and I do. Thank you.
Speaker 3:Yeah, Well, one thing I've noticed with uh, I call it the have lift, but basically the have lift is is getting wind beneath the stone and then obviously the more wind the better.
Speaker 3:Um, but a lot of guys will go to pick a stone and they kind of they pull with their back immediately after the stone comes off the ground and so their legs are already straight and they're just pulling all with their back and then once they get to their knees, they really have nowhere more, you know nowhere to extend, and they've lost a lot of power. And so I kind of look at if you look at like Olympic lifting, you have the different phases or the different pulls of like a snatch or a clean, and I think it's like pull one and pull two is where you're kind of your back is pretty neutral and you're just extending with your, your hips and your knees, kind of like, almost like leg pressing the bar off of the floor while keeping your back over the bar or your shoulders over the bar, I should say and I I really think of stone lifting at least the pick to my knees in the same way.
Speaker 3:Um, I'm trying to leg press the stone off of the ground while keeping my back as neutral as possible.
Speaker 1:Then, once I get it to my knees, then I have more room to play and I'm in a stronger position to pull it into my lap yeah, I get that a lot of people don't realize that I get that and now and I agree with you, probably because now that I've set this stupid goal of going to Iceland to lift a rock, which has financial implications, I'm not spending the money and failing, but I've watched, I've basically watched every muscle head that I know that put it on YouTube, try to lift it.
Speaker 2:Well, our buddy Wes.
Speaker 1:Well, yeah, but he lifted it. I've seen a lot of big guys like approach it, basically straighten their legs out and then try to good morning it and given its shape and just the nature of stone lifting. They fail and they're, they're humongous humans and I just that. That's what keeps me up at night these days.
Speaker 3:There's a lot of strong guys at a field at Husafell, yeah.
Speaker 1:Have you carried it?
Speaker 3:I did carry it my first trip I think it was 2000 and 2021. My first time to Iceland, I carried it. I went with Ryan Stewart and another guy, Mark Browse, from Utah, and it was our 21st stone on that tour. So I think it was like a sixth day or something on on the trip and I actually did not train carries. Um, I did not practice carrying anything because I just absolutely hate the move. Some guys love carrying it. I just despise it. I hate it.
Speaker 3:So my goal that I was hoping for was that I would be just so tired by the time I got to husafel that I could pick it up and I wouldn't be able to walk with it. Um, kind of like a wimpy way of looking at it. But I was just hoping maybe I'll be so tired that I just pick it up and put it down and I'll be happy with myself. But I got there and the adrenaline just took over and the second I picked it up I walked around. I think I made it about 90% of the way around and then, surprisingly, my arms weren't tired. It wasn't my grip or my biceps or my back. My core, surprisingly, is really like what felt like had started to fail me. My legs were fine, my back was fine.
Speaker 2:My arms were fine.
Speaker 3:My core. I just kind of I just lost it forward. I couldn't maintain the proper posture to continue carrying it, so I dropped it. And then I I picked that up again a minute later or so, after I caught my breath and finished it. So I don't know if you can consider that completely full Stoker, because I can.
Speaker 1:I can cause that's. I'm hanging my head on that if it happens to me.
Speaker 2:So yes, that is absolutely fair, see, and for me me, I would look at it the opposite way the problem, I think, is going to be getting it upright and then getting the solid pick once I get it up into my arms. I'm good at carrying things, it's because you're a gorilla yeah, um, for the casual listener, the husafell stone.
Speaker 1:I don't know if we've talked about this enough, but basically, theoretically and I'm not 100 sure I believe it, but it's a. Theoretically and I'm not 100 sure I believe it, but it's a 408, yeah, it's a 408 pound stone. That was the door to a sheep pen in iceland. And the way you proved yourself and you can correct me if I'm wrong, sean, because you're smarter than me, but the way you proved yourself as worthy to do tasks was to pick this stone up and walk around the sheep pen yeah, so well, there's a few different stories.
Speaker 3:and yeah, I know, I, I honestly I don't even know which is true or if it even matters which one stone up and walk around the sheep pen yeah, so well, there's a few different stories. Yeah, I know, I honestly I don't even know which is true or if it even matters which one is true, because a lot of stones have stories and it's like there's no way that's true. But I think one story was that the farmer's daughter was upset that she wasn't getting the same wages as her brothers on the farm. Yeah, I heard that one notoriety, would you know?
Speaker 3:Guys would come over from whatever villages or farms and they would pick it up, and there's a few different tests. I think if you could pick it up, you were a weakling, which is crazy to think about. If you could put it onto there's a certain stone on the wall, that's if you could put it onto the wall, then you were, uh, half stoker, half strong. And if you can carry it fully around, then you were're full-circ, which is mind-boggling because compared to other tests of strength in Iceland, that is like that's up there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, that's again how this stupidity happened with us is that Scott got in his head that we were going to go and lift the Dinny stones, which you know, I don't know, I feel like a lot of people have done and I said well, if you're going to do Dini, why don't you do the Husefeld instead? And I was assuming he was going to say no, I don't want to do that. But he embraced it.
Speaker 2:Well, this whole goal thing started, sean, and it's your fault actually. Oh, it's your fault. I like that.
Speaker 1:Well, you.
Speaker 2:The first time we went, like I said I failed at doing the Bavarian and I said I will not fail again the next year. And there's actually you know I actually think it's a picture that you use when you do the advertising when I was able to get a full lift on the Bavarian for the one. And you know, you're looking and Steve Schmidt and Steve Slater are all standing there and I mean these are all men, yourself included, that I respect greatly for the work that you've done and you know the things you've accomplished. And you're all looking at me and you're clapping and I'm like, all right, this feels good. Great, now I get to have a goal every year.
Speaker 3:That is one of my absolute favorite moments from the four or five years that we've done that competition is. I remember exactly. You know we had these conversations and you failed at the one year and you told me repeatedly you know I will lift this next time I come out. And sure enough, you lifted it and I just remember screaming and cheering you on and you were just so pumped, oh, my god that's such a happy moment and we tell everybody that'll listen.
Speaker 1:I mean, lifting is one thing, lifting in a competition is another, lifting in front of a couple thousand drunken, screaming, engaged fans oh my god it's, it's the best, it literally, your event is literally like without it's.
Speaker 2:It's one of my favorites, it truly is. You know, for all the things that I've done in all my sports career, that is one that we absolutely love. Yeah, thank you. Well, there are a lot of guys. All the things that I've done in all my sports career, that is one that we absolutely love.
Speaker 3:Yeah, thank you. Well, there are a lot of guys that go into that. I kind of do a little bit more of the behind the scenes and paperwork kind of aspects, but, uh, that event truly would not be possible if it weren't for chad clark, because his mc talents, yeah, absolutely far exceed any that I could ever possibly do on my best day yeah, chad does.
Speaker 1:He keeps the crowd. He keeps the crowd engaged. He's informative. Yeah, he does. He makes a good day. Great for sure. Did you mention you were in iceland with ryan stewart?
Speaker 3:I did. I went with ryan stewart my first time and then my second time was um. I had gone to the faroe islands with my mom and my dad and then they left early and my wife came and met me and then we went to um, iceland, for just a really short trip to finish a few stones that I hadn't. So the second trip actually was super special because that was when one of the uh I can't even remember the name of the volcano, but the one by the uh the airport had erupted, um, and so my wife and I hiked, like I don't know, we hiked like four hours out and in to get to this volcano and we watched it erupting. And then we drove a couple hours north and slept in the in the uh, the back of the van and then we went into the husafal. Well, we, I lifted the husafal. She just kind of stood there and said is that all she's like?
Speaker 1:is that all, see, I?
Speaker 2:actually remember you telling me this story. You and I were chatting one time on instagram and you had told me that you had done that. That's awesome. That is cool.
Speaker 1:The reason why those things with family it's the reason why I asked about ryan is because, like I'm a, I'm a weird fan boy. I've never met him but like when, very early in my highland career, he put on youtube like a clinic that he put on that I watched like 400 times and I actually sent him a note like, uh, could you put a wind screen on your microphone next time because I can't hear you?
Speaker 1:but yeah, and so I kind of followed him for a while and then I watched him like deadlift like the world, and then he's actually the first person I ever saw do the bavarian stone lift in. Just so you know, scott, he did it in full regalia. It wasn't just lifting, it was he did his stones pretty heavy.
Speaker 3:His stones about a 600 pound granite block. And there are a couple other ones around. I know there's um, I don't know if it's fort wayne or indianapolis had a competition for years that I I think is now gone, and then also I believe there's one in Minnesota. So there's quite a few Steinheben competitions around. I like to say that we're the first one with an official Steinheben contraption, if you want to call it that, because we did work with the guys from Bavaria to make sure that we built an exact replica of what they would be using in their competitions.
Speaker 1:Oh, I don't think, I don't think I knew that. That's, that's cool. I like to throw that out there.
Speaker 3:I don't lift it. I'd like to say that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, that's absolutely cool and I can tell you as someone that's been on that platform and not lifted it it far up from the stage having a giant rock in your hands.
Speaker 2:The handle is, uh, moderately comfortable. It's trying to rip your shoulders off.
Speaker 3:It's better than the ring the year before you know. So oh yeah, the ring that was one of my denny replica rings yeah, my friend john oka made from. He was when I went to visit him in maui. He makes a lot of really cool grip stuff and he made me some denny denny replica rings. So that was the uh, the larger.
Speaker 2:But I got to throw this out to you After we did the first year we had. We call it Stone Wars and it's actually coming up at the compound very soon. We had Stone Wars and one of the events was a Bavarian deadlift hold. Now, we didn't use a stone, we used plates and a pin. And it's funny because you know, know, you got these guys and they think they're all that and they've got a good deadlift. So they did a ring and we had a thick ring, a wide handled ring. They pick it up and the times are like four seconds, six seconds it just destroys your hands.
Speaker 1:They, people don't understand the pain that it puts on those hands so let's, let's ask sc Scott what event he added into his Stone Wars event this year, because he hates people.
Speaker 2:This year we have for Stone Wars a Denny hold for time. Oh God so what we did was we took the new york state record weights for farmer's handle hold and those are the weights that I'm using for the dinny handle on on replica handles, on handles yeah yeah on replica handles so what's the weight for?
Speaker 2:that. So for, like, masters men, is the one that I know off the top of my head because my brother, tim, is training for it. Um, I don't compete in my events. It's 250 for masters. So I mean it's 250 per hand dinny for those people don't know, the dinny stones are different weights. I'm using the same weight per hand because I just it's hard to train and if you don't have replica rings and everything else, it's just easy enough to do the same weight on a ring yeah, so all right.
Speaker 1:Anyway, no enough about us, even though I'm amazing and could talk about myself all day. Um, you, you spoke when I asked about husafel. You said that you had been there for days and lifted a bunch of stones. Um, yes, I've always been interested in the sort of the nuts and bolts of you. How do you find them? How do you get permission to lift them? How do you know that they, like it's this rock, not that rock? I mean, I get sort of their existence for sure. I mean it makes sense, um, but to be able to go out in some farmer's field and see that, oh, here's a rock and here's a plinth, and this must be the ever shalable stone that's really um.
Speaker 3:If you ask my wife what she thought about my hobby, she'd probably have a different choice of words, but I like to say that I'm special.
Speaker 3:You are special um, and I just I think when I, when I first started lifting stones, it was about just getting to that country and lifting the stones. Um, so my first trip was to Scotland and I just did that. I just lifted stones that other people had already found, and that was fun. You know, I had a great time. I take my dad on all the trips with me, except for that one to Iceland. Um, but I got home and I kind of like I think I had messaged Ryan Stewart and I'm like you know what's, how do you find stones? Like I think I literally just said that like how do you find stones?
Speaker 2:And he's like oh, you just, you just research them. I'm like, oh, okay.
Speaker 3:Right. So then you know, I started looking up. You know, I just went to like Google and typed in like stone lifting and this and that, and I kind of evolved over years to the point where I'm at now, um, and I think I actually like the history more than I actually like lifting the stones and I like finding them. It's kind of like, you know, like nicholas cage and his movie. You know it's a. I can remember the movie where he's, you know national treasure, whatever, yeah yeah, um, I kind of feel like that a little bit.
Speaker 3:it's like finding a needle in a haystack. So, you know, I'll go online and I'll pick a country, say, you know, iceland, and then I type into Google, I'll go to Google Translator and I will search on the web using that country's language, which helps a lot, even though I have no freaking clue what I'm looking at. Looking at, um, because I barely speak english, uh, but I'll start with there or start with that, and then I, you know, I do google images and I just do google searches and a lot of these countries, these european countries like sweden, norway, um, ireland, iceland, the faroe islands. They have incredible databases, like these national and historic and cultural databases from their libraries or the government offices, whatever, and they've been tracking this stuff for years. And you know you can go online and you can search these different databases in Iceland and you can find maps all the way back to like the 1600s with, and they'll have like place names and things, because some of the stones you're lifting they may have been lifted in the 1800s and so what when? When they describe a stone's location, you may not be able to look at a map today to find that location because it doesn't exist anymore by that name right. So now you're comparing these really old maps to google maps now and trying to find stuff. So like, for example, there was one um in just North of Vic, which is in the Southern part of Iceland, and it was three stones by a, a shed, basically they called it, and I think I searched for these stones for a good year and I could not get a handle on anything. And I reach out and email just random people and I look at these databases and I'm looking at pictures and old maps and I figure out that there's this old hiking trail or whatever trail I don't even know what you want to call it through the mountains and near Vic. And so we get there and I have an idea. I've seen a picture of the stones, so I know what they look like.
Speaker 3:Luckily, because sometimes you don't have that luxury and we parked the car and we walked probably an hour, maybe an hour and a half, into these mountains. We had to cross a glacial river that was up to about our knees, that was very cold even in July, and then we just keep turning and like we'd round the corner and we'd think the stones were there and they weren't there, and we'd round the corner again and the stones weren't there, and this went on forever. And then, finally, I rounded this last corner and there's three stones even though there's thousands of stones in this area, because this is iceland, right there's three stones in ascending weight, in size, sitting clumped together away from all other stones. And then at the top of the hill was this old little hut, basically with walls built into a, the side of a mountain, and the door had fallen off. And you knew right then and there that those, those were the correct stones and they are called the uh, the pack hill. I'm not even saying it right. It's the weird thing that it's that kill.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's awesome and I get that because, again I alluded to, we have a local stone lifter that trains in the gym every now and then and loves to just go out and lift natural stones. He is currently trying to track down. So the Erie Canal had a fairly Irish labor force, okay, and Lockport, new York, which is almost the terminus of one end, uh, he has heard rumors of the possibility of the, maybe that there was basically sort of a full sterker kind of thing there and and yeah, and I told him when that, uh, when, if he figured it out, we've got a friend that we want to call yeah that we'd give you a heads up, but yeah.
Speaker 2:I'd be there immediately. Yeah, so he's he.
Speaker 1:I've hooked him up with a couple of historians that I know up in that sector and it makes absolute sense because you know it's all mill, you know it's all mind stone. I can totally see where there's a block somewhere just sitting waiting, absolutely.
Speaker 3:So that's we actually. We do have some, you know. We have some native American stones actually in Canada or not in Canada, I'm sorry and uh, we do have native American stones in Canada, but we do have some in New York. Um, I don't think we're allowed to lift them because they're on the reservation and it would be considered like a sacred stone, but we do have some there and we do have some slave stones, um, in Connecticut and also in Pennsylvania, wow, so I wouldn't put a pass that this was.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it seems real plausible so is is stone lifting sort of a northern european, you know, british isles, iceland kind of thing. I mean, do they do it other places? As far as you know?
Speaker 3:I think initially. Initially I thought that, um, but in my research I found stones. There are stones in Pakistan, india, tibet, nepal, china, taiwan, japan, japan has like 16,000 or more stones. French Polynesia, hawaii, literally everywhere in the world has lifting stones. I have not found any in South America. I did go to Costa Rica over the summer and they have these beautiful round, perfectly spherical, like atlas stones, but they have no idea how they are made or what they were used for.
Speaker 1:Some of that Olmec kind of stuff that just is laying in the jungle. Yeah, that's cool. It's funny because I told I don't want to call him a normal person, but a person I work with who does not necessarily train, and I mentioned this and he's basically like oh, so what you're saying is that for generations, boys have seen rocks and like I bet you I could lift that, ha ha ha.
Speaker 1:So at least at least it's all literally that, yeah, but at least it's all around the world, so I don't feel as weird slightly weird.
Speaker 3:Yeah, kind of. I mean we've, if you just just think about when you're a kid. Yep, I mean even even my boys. Now, if I put them out in the yard somewhere, they're going to challenge each other somehow and they might be running faster, throwing farther or picking something up.
Speaker 1:Yeah, how old are you? How old are your?
Speaker 3:sons, uh, I have an 11 year old and almost nine year old, and I have a six year old daughter, and when we go places, they all hang out and lift with me and and do whatever. And actually I I uh just recently, like yesterday, booked my trip to sweden for this coming july. Oh, and I always travel, dad, uh, and this time I'll be taking both my boys with me.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's awesome. It's going to be an awesome.
Speaker 3:that's awesome, it's going to be a boy's trip. It'll be really cool.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's funny because my dad I mean my dad was older and of the greatest generation and his thing always was like hey, I got to go to the gym. He'd be like why don't you just get another job? Why would you go somewhere and pay to do fake work? So, yeah, I applaud the fact that you're inspiring the next generation of kids that can carry us around when we're immobile.
Speaker 3:Well, some of the stones you had to lift just to get a job, you know, like the Icelandic stones you had to lift to get a job as a fisherman, and Sweden, a lot of the stones that I'll be lifting are still on the actual farms that they were used for and the farm hands had to lift them in order to get a job on the farm yeah, um, yeah, like this is that that irish stone that I was referring to?
Speaker 1:I suspect that's of the same ilk. Um, so how many stones are we lifting in sweden?
Speaker 3:uh, I'm not sure. I've found anywhere between 150 and 200 in my research, so you have not have time for that and my body would never allow me to do that.
Speaker 3:Um, so I think, bringing my, my sons with me, they're going to get really bored really fast if I just lift like 20 stones a day. So that'll keep me in check. I think if I, if I can lift 40 to 50 stones on this trip, we'll be there for about a week. I think that'd be really fun. And most stones are, you know, between you know, 260 and 360. There are some huge ones, though. I just found one today that I didn't know about and it's 234 kilos. Oh my God, wow. So that would be one where I think, basically, if you can get it off the ground, then that was considered a good lift.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I've seen some of those which are more like an upright rectangle that you just kind of hug and squat off the ground, kind of deal. Yeah, that's what I'm guessing this was. Yeah, so that's pretty impressive. I do have to say, and if our listeners care to use other media, if you on youtube, you can find a video of uh sean doing a stone in a cemetery.
Speaker 3:I think it was in ireland oh no, I didn't post my irish stones on youtube yet. I just thought about that recently. I should do that, no there, there is, there.
Speaker 1:Is you lifting a stone in a cemetery?
Speaker 3:there's, absolutely yeah, because I've watched there was quite a few ones we lifted in in ireland in cemeteries it was very common they would have these funeral. They called them basically funeral games. Yeah, and it was kind of a way to celebrate and pass time. And also they would lift it on Sundays after mass and that.
Speaker 1:I should have written down the guy's name, but you called the stone the guy's name John Loughlin or something along those lines.
Speaker 1:I don't remember okay, um, but the reason I bring it up is stone lifting, although to the guy on the street just seems like pick up a rock. Watching you pick up the stone, you have such an inane strength technique and that's not even the right term. It's just the fact that you are really good at sort of optimizing your body, because this stone is literally three quarters your size and you pick it, lap it, twist it, re-grip it and throw it onto your chest and it's like I would have never thought to do about four of those things it was. It was utterly impressive.
Speaker 3:It was really well, thank you and then that definitely was not my first attempt, because I tried it other ways, which are more traditional, and they just did not work because of the shape and size of that stone. Do you not understand how the internet works?
Speaker 1:the internet only saw the one, so that's all that matters. You know all those girls that do makeup tutorials that that's the only time they've ever put makeup on it's not.
Speaker 3:They haven't done that for a while. Abraham Lincoln lifted it after I did.
Speaker 1:It was pretty cool, awesome, awesome, um. So what? What's your wife doing on some of these vacations? When you're out lifting stones, is she like.
Speaker 3:I'll be at the. Oh yeah, you don't even bring her Nice. No, she's only been to the one with me. Yeah, usually no.
Speaker 3:I don't, it's hard to bring three kids on these stone trips and to really do what I want to do. So normally she's at home and I try to go in the summertime I'm a teacher, okay so I go in the summer and then my kids are on summer break, so she's usually she takes a few vacation days and stays at home with them, and then we also my mom will come over and she has a place near us in cleveland and she'll watch the kids, and then my wife's parents they live like four houses down so they watch the kids, um, but yeah, my wife, she, I mean, she does her own travels. So we do.
Speaker 3:We're kind of it's kind of interesting our family dynamic in that way. Like we'll take our family trips, um, like we just went to, uh, italy and france, uh, for thanksgiving, and then we also do our individual trips, um, like we just went to, uh, italy and france, uh, for thanksgiving, and then we also do our individual trips, so like she'll go on a trip to europe somewhere with her sister and a friend and they'll just travel, and then I'll do my stone trips by myself with my dad, and you know, we kind of we go our separate ways and we also do our family stuff together and that seems to work out really well yeah, I I get that though, because I mean that's no different than like.
Speaker 1:I mean, scott and I will go travel to a competition or two, whether it be the arnold, the olympia, yours, something you know and then we take vacations, and I'm sure if our significant others wanted to go somewhere without them, we'd completely understand because, we get a little sick of ourselves to begin with speak for yourself.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so, sean, a lot of what we do on this show is you know, john and I are by far not professional athletes. We're just a couple old guys who, you know, enjoy doing what we do, and a lot of it. We talk about the camaraderie and the mental part of it and whatnot. One of the things that we always say is just get up. So if you were to be give some advice or some words of wisdom on how to take that first step, if somebody who's sitting on the couch at home eating cheetos how would you not a sponsor? How would you tell them to get started? You said, hey, I heard this podcast and they reach out to you via social media and they say what can I do? What would you tell them?
Speaker 3:I would literally just do it. What are you waiting for? Sitting on your butt is not helping. Get out there and do it, and no matter how big or small you started, it does not matter. Just out there and do it. And no matter how big or small you started, it does not matter. Just get out and do it. Find something that you love.
Speaker 3:When I went to Scotland for my very first trip in 2019, I had watched the Rogue documentary and I'm sitting there watching it with my wife and I'm like man, that'd be so cool. I wish I could do something like that. And she's like what do you mean you wish you could? I'm like, well, I can't do like normal people don't just travel like that and lift stones like I wouldn't. That's not something that people do. And she was like, oh crap, get out there and do it. What's stopping you? Just just go do it. And I was like okay, so then that's.
Speaker 3:I asked my dad. He's like, yeah, sure, let's go. And it kind of started that way. Um, and then you know my really good friend, jared from, uh, rhode island. He, he has this, uh this, saying that he's kind of promoted through stone lifting in new england and it's. Stones are for everyone. It doesn't matter what sexual orientation, it doesn't matter if man or woman, it doesn't matter if you're big or strong who cares? Just get out there, lift a stone, find something you enjoy and just have fun, because stones are for everyone.
Speaker 2:I mean people can. I mean, as stupid as it sounds and we've sort of alluded to it a couple times tonight you just go in your backyard, you can find a stone. I mean, I told you, you know you and I have talked about it. We've told you, you know you and I've talked about it, we've got that one natural stone at the compound. That's 326 pounds and that was literally in the front of my yard sticking out of the ground. I went, I dug it out, I put it into a wheelbarrow, moved it the 400 feet back to the gym and it's just sitting there for people to play with. You know, john and I keep talking about going to the back of our property you know my property and bringing more natural stones up, and I think that's you know, we've had the discussion. That's more the way that I think we're going to start going, getting away from some of the other things and doing the natural stone route.
Speaker 3:I think a lot of people probably look at it and they're like well, I don't know where to get a stone. Well, you can go to your backyard, you can go to a landscape. I've bought stones at landscape stores if I'm looking for a very specific shape. Um, you know, certain parts of the country are going to have a plethora of of stones to choose from. Like you know, colorado or utah if you can't walk five feet without tripping on a perfect looking stone. Here in ohio it's not as easy. Um, but we have a lot of national parks around us. Like, I live really close to the cuyahoga valley national park and you could just go to a new trail every single day and find dozens and dozens of stones of all different sizes. So literally it's just as simple as getting outside well, it's your way, don't?
Speaker 2:um? If I remember coking, don't uh, the beattie brothers? They have a natural stone now. I think it's at their mom's house they do.
Speaker 3:They have one in remembrance of their mom. Yeah, yeah, that's. Uh, they're kind of southwest west or southwest of columbus, oh yeah, so it's a few hour drive from cleveland. I do have some stones that I've marked and made up like fake stories, but they're actually like historic they're, they are historic in in their ideas behind them, um, around the cleveland area, that some people actually have come and lifted and it's really cool.
Speaker 2:But, yeah, just get outside, just have fun with it, except for right now, because everything's white oh, it's so cold and it's really hard to get them, like if they're in the ground just a little, you're not getting them out nice.
Speaker 1:So we're going to make up some history. We get like I can do that, yeah, just like um lev our uh 13th century uh latvian estonian. Now he's estonian yeah estonian philosopher philosopher.
Speaker 3:Yeah, totally. There's a stone that I have and I call it the Grassman Stone, and the Grassman is essentially the Native American version of the Sasquatch. Oh nice, for like Northern Ohio.
Speaker 1:Way to you to make it spooky. I like it Right. I think we're in a good spot. It's funny. Every time he says ohio I can think of his grandpa's cheese barn in ashland.
Speaker 3:so oh my god I can picture that I just drove down to cincinnati this past weekend to live with some really good guys and uh, yeah, I see that have you?
Speaker 1:have you ever been all the time? I have never been I don't even like cheese, unless it's on pizza or a hamburger, all right then ignore the cheese and eat the 800 different varieties of meat sticks they have.
Speaker 2:It's a yeah whenever we go to the rogue or I'm not sorry, they're not the rogue to uh the arnold, or when we were coming down to uh the oktoberfest, we always made sure if we had to be somewhere at a certain time, we always left an extra 45 minutes in there so we could pull off, go into grandpa's, grab our uh cholesterol laden heart attack and uh keep moving forward is it?
Speaker 3:is it like an actual store? Like I've never even seen it, so I don't even know like it's an old bar, it's an old barn.
Speaker 1:Um, upstairs is basically like a, like a giant cheese counter. You'd see in a like a higher end grocery store. Downstairs yeah, downstairs is dry snack mixes, peanuts, pretzels, kitchen sticks yeah, some mugs and stuff like that. And then they have ice cream in the summertime yeah, it's a must see if you're in the ashland area, as far as I'm concerned.
Speaker 3:That's probably. That probably powered judd logan a couple of his uh olympic. Well, it's funny. Oh, I'm sure when I was throwing hammer.
Speaker 1:I was blessed enough to throw in front of Judd a couple times at the super secret, the farm which was right around the corner from there. So that's how I discovered it and I was like, oh wow, ashland is like my Mecca for all things, all things. Um, john, so we're getting near the end of our time together.
Speaker 3:um, selfishly for, let's say, a for a 57 year old man who might want to lift the hussafell stone, got a tip, got a trick, got a anything besides get strong besides the obvious, I would watch a lot of film of different guys who have lifted it and study where they're placing their hands and the orientation of the stone when they pick it. So there's kind of two methods. If you watch, like World's Strongest man, those kind of guys, they always seem to pick it. The more traditional method, where it looks more like a guitar pick, and I actually I don't really agree with that.
Speaker 1:Because I've seen that, because that's where I thought sort of you know, the husafel the metal husafel that people do know kind of came from that's where the shape is.
Speaker 3:But I don't agree with that shape at all. If you turn it a little bit, um, uh, bill crawford, when he went years he was like one of the first pioneers that went and lifted who's a foul. Yeah, he turned it and found that there's a way where I don't know if it's like 90 degrees, I forget whatever. I'm not good at math, I teach gym, but if you turn it then there's like these little crannies and they literally sit like right in your biceps.
Speaker 3:Now it does make the kick slightly lower yeah but it's less of a hug and your arms end up becoming more like hooks and I think it makes the pick easier and it really takes a lot of pressure off of your biceps. Um, when you're walking and in the way the stone will sit, it just sits right in your arms and it just, you just cradle it, like my arms did not fatigue at all I I carried it the first time.
Speaker 1:That's interesting because I've seen that guitar pick, pick and carry a lot and it feels like a lot of the weight is kind of out in front of you if you do it that way and that was one of the things.
Speaker 3:The stone is super dense. Yeah, the stone's only about nine inches thick. It's really insanely dense. Like it's incredible. It's so much smaller in person than what you would think. Um, really, yeah, but when you go to, when you go to pick it up, there's like so the way that I have it, there's this little chip that's kind of out of the stone.
Speaker 3:I think it's been there for thousands of years or whatever it's not new yeah, but the little chip I have it on my chest facing out, and then when you have that, then you, then you'll know that the orientation is correct. That's the only way for me really to describe it. Is that one little chip or whatever. I don't know what you want to call it.
Speaker 3:All right, so now you know what's going to be keeping me up at night for the next couple of months, until I figure that out and also time your walks, because if you look at most of the guys who are successful walking it over the past 10 or 20 years or whatever, most of them are doing it in less than 28, 28 to 30 seconds. Anybody who goes beyond like the 30 second mark usually does not make it around the pen. Oh, is that?
Speaker 1:just because you can only hold it for so damn long, is that to do?
Speaker 3:I think. I think your body just fatigues. Your arms start to get tired, you're, you lose your breath. I mean it's hard to breathe if you got 400 pounds and it's sitting on your diaphragm. It's really hard to take a breath. So, um, that's one thing that I looked at when I was watching a lot of film preparing for my trip was how long did it take people to get around, because you know you don't have all day.
Speaker 1:I get that and we have an iron cross in the gym that, honestly, is not that heavy, but just the fact that all its weight is laying on your diaphragm and breathing is at a premium that does factor in.
Speaker 3:So yeah, absolutely. I appreciate that you let that air out You're never going to not coming back, I agree.
Speaker 1:I agree. Well, sean, thank you for your time. I hope people found this informative. Go pick up a rock people. There's probably one in your front yard there is definitely the other thing if you want to be successful at rock lifting, you need to marry correctly, apparently, so there's that Always marry up.
Speaker 3:I married my sugar mama. She's a pharmacist and I'm just a gym teacher.
Speaker 2:Amen to that.
Speaker 1:All right, sean. Well, we'll give you back the rest of your evening. As always, I'm John, I'm still Scott, and thank you for your time, sean. Bye, thank you, bye-bye Bye. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed this episode and you'd like to help support the podcast, please share it with others, post it on your social media or leave a review. To catch all the latest from us, you can follow us on Instagram at Masters Athlete Survival Guide. Thanks again. Now get off our lawn, you damn kids.