I’ve been involved in athletics my entire life to some extent. Constantly competing.

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Once I graduated high school and “retired” from traditional sports I needed to find something to fill that void. Initially what filled the void was lifting weights. Competing in the gym on a daily basis with my training partners.

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Over the years I competed in multiple bodybuilding shows, strongman competitions & powerlifting meets. I absolutely loved it. It kept me focused & always pushing myself to the highest level.

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My vision was to reach “pro” level in all three of those sports. Physique, strongman & powerlifting.

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I was well on my way to doing this thanks to my best friend & coach Zach Homol. One of the best in the entire world when it comes to strength sports.

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In March of 2020 this vision was derailed when I blew my knee out in a freak accident unrelated to training. It was a pretty traumatic injury that required surgery & a long recovery process.

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A few months into the rehab I realized that I no longer cared to become a pro strongman, powerlifter or even physique competitor. At that point I just wanted to be a fully functional human being again as I couldn't even walk for many months.

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My vision shifted towards “functional training”. Healing my body & becoming the most athletic version of myself possible. Not necessarily the strongest deadlifter or the most muscular guy on stage at a bodybuilding show.

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In May of 2021, 14 months post injury, Zach Homol approached me about competing again. At this point I was still recovering, but was healthy enough to start pushing myself.

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Here’s where things got interesting.. Zach wasn’t asking me if I wanted to compete in a strongman competition or a powerlifting meet like he would have in the years past. Rather, he proposed the idea of doing a Sprint Triathlon together.

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Immediately I felt my heart speed up & my palms get a little sweaty. The idea of competing in a triathlon was a bit intimidating at first. But it was in alignment with this new vision I had for my body & training.. So I quickly responded back “I’m in” & we were off to the races.

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We gave ourselves about 16 weeks to prepare for the race. Maintaining our foundation of weight training as always, but adjusting our programming a bit towards the triathlon training.

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I began running a few times per week. Just a few miles at a time. But even that was quite a change for me as I hadn’t really run in about 10 years. Since high school track. I thought I HATED running because I did hate it when I was younger. But this time around was different. I was actually enjoying it!!

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I began crawling much more. Doing more bodyweight work to condition my body for the race.

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We introduced some swimming into our training as well. This was what scared me the most about competing in a triathlon. I’ve always been a weak swimmer. But it was a great challenge. I quickly realized how great swimming is for our bodies. More on the swimming component later in this blog.

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I thoroughly enjoyed the prep process for this race. It was exactly what I needed to reignite a fire in me to compete again. Especially coming off of a blown knee. I was excited about training for the first time in a while. Motivated was an understatement. It was a new challenge!

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It forced Zach and I to step out of our comfort zone once again. Something we’re constantly encouraging others to do.

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Eventually race day came and we were PUMPED!! We had pushed ourselves mentally, physically & spiritually to new levels over the previous 16 week prep. Now it was time to go out there & compete.

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We had such a great time out there competing!! Zach and I both said that it was more fun than any other competitions we had done in our lives.

Being out in nature on a beautiful Saturday morning competing with other men & women.

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We were hooked right away!! I will be competing in many more Sprint Triathlons in my future. And I would encourage you to give it a try as well!

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I work with men at all levels of physical fitness, here are three common rebuttals I get when I recommend they consider a triathlon.

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Reason #1 “But I’m a Strength Athlete.”

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As my friend Zach Homol put it “when I was ‘strong strong,’ I could barely tie my shoes.”

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Being strong is GREAT. Strength is never a weakness. But there’s certainly a point of diminishing returns that I’ve experienced in my past. And you may have as well depending on how long you’ve been a strength athlete.

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You can be strong, jacked AND functional. Being able to deadlift 500+ lbs while also being able to touch your toes & run a 6 minute mile.

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Here are three big benefits to this type of training that I've experienced personally.

1. Longevity.

• Ever since I blew my knee out this has been my #1 goal. I wanna be HEALTHY. Short term & especially long term. I wanna be able to hike mountains with my grandkids when I’m 100 years old

2. Balance in life.

• Balance is everything for me. When I was a purely strength based athlete I didn’t have a ton of balance in my life. I was focused on eating as much as I possibly could every day. Stuffing my body full of food in order to try & keep my weight up. Or if I was prepping for a bodybuilding show, I had to be so incredibly strict with my food intake for months on end. Which would really affect my day to day life.

3. Not getting bored.

• After spending 10 years in the gym doing the same old thing every day.. I got bored!! Eventually feeling very uninspired. This shift in training was exactly what I needed to light a new fire under my ass. And it may be exactly what you need as well

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Reason #2 “I Can’t Swim”

This was a BIG hurdle for me initially. As I mentioned earlier, I've never been a strong swimmer. Growing up I didn’t do swimming lessons. I knew how to not drown. But that was about it.  

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So when Zach initially presented me with the idea of competing in a triathlon my mind immediately went to “well shit.. How am I gonna complete the swimming portion?”

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I spent a little time each week leading up to the triathlon learning how to properly swim. There are a ton of great tutorials on YouTube to learn from. Anyone can learn. It just comes down to putting in the time & effort.

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To be honest, I was no Michael Phelps out there in the lake the day of the competition. Far from it. I was one of the weakest swimmers in the group. But I finished & didn’t drown! And that was a big confidence booster for me. It was a base to build from.

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So no matter how weak of a swimmer you may be right now, you can do it!!

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Reason #3 “I Just Don’t Have Time”

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Yes, you do have the time!!

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You may be thinking to yourself.. “This sounds like quite a large time commitment.”

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To be honest it really wasn’t too much more time than I was already committing to my training. Five to six days a week of training. Four solid weight training sessions. Plus two full bodyweight days including swimming, running & crawling.

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If it’s a priority, then time certainly won’t be a barrier to entry for you. Now that being said, this is a sprint triathlon. It’s a fraction of what a FULL triathlon would require time wise. When you get into full triathlons & Iron Mans you’re committing to a part time job at that point. Different ball game. But this isn’t that.

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Here’s a great tweet from my girlfriend Lea breaking down how much time we all likely have. We just have to leverage it efficiently.

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If you’re interested in competing in a Sprint Triathlon in 2022 i’m here to support you!! You’ve got this!! There’s absolutely nothing stopping you from doing it.

It completely changed my life & I think it may do the same for you.

If you do decide to compete and are looking for a coach. I highly recommend my friend Ryan Dreyer. He’s one of the best triathlon coaches out there.