Keenan Hollingsworth
12-05-2005, 03:35 PM
Jesse Marunde Interview
K- I just want to thank you so much for agreeing to do this Jesse! Why don’t we start off by giving our audience a little background about yourself. How did you start your weight training, and what were some of your early goals?
J- I was always an active kid because mom wouldn’t let us sit around the house watching TV. At age 12 I began lifting weights with my dad during his lunch break. I would ride my bike to his work and then we’d hit the gym. He taught me all the basic movements. When I was 13 I bought a weight set and punching bag at a garage sale and began what would eventually turn into 8 years of hard core garage training and a World Strongest Man appearance. I got real serious about strength training when I was 15 after watching some WSM shows on ESPN. All through highschool I was totally focused on football, wrestling and track. My strength training was all about improving my athletic performance.
K- What were some of your best highschool lifts?
J- In competition I squatted 500, benched 295, and deadlifted 540 in the 220 class. I also did a 300 pound clean and jerk and a 220 snatch.
K- Have you always been training as a strongman, or did you start out with a different style? If you did, how do you think it affected your current strongman achievements? How well did you do in the before style?
J- I started out from age 12-15 with a basic bodybuilding program. I didn’t make very many gains because I spent way too much time benching and curling. I started practicing the Olympic lifts with the guidance of J.V. Askem when I was 16. Although I was pretty proficient at the Olympic lifts, powerlifting appealed to me more. I powerlifted for 2 years in highschool and had the 2nd highest total in the state. I quit powerlifting and began Olympic lifting as soon as I started playing ball at Montana State U. I had an awesome strength coach named Brett Tudsbury that encouraged me to get way stronger. Steve Gough, father of Olympian weightlifter Tom Gough, also coached me at the time. Brett and Steve put a lot of time and effort into me and successfully took my snatch from 220 to 330 and my clean and jerk from 308 to 407. I believe that Olympic weightlifting is the most appropriate strength training regime for all athletes, including strongman competitors.
K- were you always a huge kid in school?
J- nope. I was really skinny actually. My frosh year in highschool I was 6’3” and weighed 175 pounds. This was after 3 years of weight training! I learned how to eat during my junior year and went from 192 to 236. People didn’t start asking me if I worked out until I was close to 300 pounds. I’ve always been stronger than I looked and am proud of that fact.
K- You recently did very well in 2005 WSM, achieving an astonishing 2nd place. Did you train any differently for this contest then any others?
J- Ya I took it up a notch and trained harder than I’ve ever trained before. This year I really felt like everything came together for me in training. My body is finally maturing to the point where I can recover very fast and train very heavy all the time. It’s taken me 11 years of intensely brutal training to finally reach this point.
K- Mind giving away some of your secrets, and telling us a little about your training outline?
J- My training is always changing and adapting to accomplish whatever I feel I need to at the time. Right now I train some sort of snatching, cleaning, jerking and squatting movement every weekday morning after a thorough, full body warm up on. I also perform a variety of rehab type exercises on whatever area is sore or aching that morning. I also do several sets of midsection exercises as well as reverse hypers. In the evening I train the Olympic lifts very heavy followed by one or two strongman events. I squat every day, with the heaviest volume training on Tuesdays. Thursdays I deadlift. Saturdays I only train once, but will practice 3-6 events performing up to 5 sets per event. Sundays I do some light activity like jogging, walking or kickboxing.
K- Kickboxing? Have you done martial arts?
J- I took karate when I was a kid and every since have loved punching and kicking. I’ve also spent some time learning jiu-jitsu and Aikido. My brother is a mixed martial arts fighter and I’m a huge fan of that sport. So I like to mess around with it just for fun and to get a little more mobility, flexibility and explosiveness. I beat on the bag 3-4 times a week.
K- As a top strongman, explosiveness is vital to your success. How would you value the Olympic lifts in terms of helping increase performance of strongmen?
J- Olympic weightlifting is nothing more than plyometrics with weights. They also keep you flexible and well rounded in your physical ability. I gained most of my strength from practicing the Olympic lifts. Certainly there is no substitute for actual hands on practice of the events that you’ll be seeing in a contest, but Olympic lifting provides an excellent foundation to build from.
K- So would you say that Olympic lifting is superior to powerlifting as far as complimenting strongman training?
J- No I wouldn’t say that. I see bench pressing as pretty much useless as far as enhancing athletic performance in strongman and all other sports for that matter. I think that in order to be a good strongman you need to understand and know how to train and perform the Olympic and power lifts. I spent all last year working very hard on my squat and deadlift, and will continue to do that until my squat and deadlift become more competitive.
K- Diet is a major part of every athlete’s career. Would you mind giving us a glimpse into the food that fuels the machine?
J- My family is from Alaska and I grew up eating wild meat and fresh greens from Mom’s garden. Mom never fed us junk and always cooked me and brothers 3 healthy meals every day. My diet is pretty much the same now as it was then except that now eat way more of course. Every day I eat 3 pounds of Grassland Beef. It’s hormone free and grassfed. Highest quality meat I can get my hands on. I also eat 1 pound of wild salmon from Vital Choice Seafoods every day. I love fish and really believe that people need to eat more of it. I drink a gallon of milk every day, and prefer raw milk when I can find time to drive to the dairy to get it. All of my vegetables are organic. I’m allergic to gluten, so my main carb sources are yams, potatoes, brown rice and corn meal. In addition to 3-4 solid meals, I drink 3-4 Met-RX meal replacements daily.
K- Speaking of Met-RX, I heard you recently signed with them? They also have Marius Pudzianowski, the reigning Worlds Strongest Man. Any tension between you two?
J- Yes, I’m really excited to be onboard with Met-RX. I signed my contract last week. I’ll be at the Met-RX booth at all the big shows, stop by and see me. I love meeting strongman enthusiasts. I started taking Met-RX products way back in highschool. I took them a lot during college too. And as a pro strongman I’ve consumed hundreds of
Met-RX shakes and RTDs. You can imagine my excitement when the leader in sports nutrition approached me regarding sponsorship. Marius and I get along great, so working with him will be a lot of fun.
K- On your forum (http://www.marunde-muscle.com/forum/), there seem to be an abundance of world class strongmen and powerlifters. Unlike most competitive sports, strongmen are often seen side by side with their opponents, cheering them through a tough event. How important is camaraderie in the sport, and why do you think so much of it exists in strength sports, while it is very rare in others?
J- Well I don’t think it’s really is rare in other sports. If you watch mixed martial arts fighting, the most brutal sport in the world, you usually see the guys hug after the fight. Sure there are poor sports, but I think most athletes respect one another because we all know how much time, effort, discipline and pain it takes to be really good. Some guys I cheer for more than others though.
K- Similar to the above inquiry, how important is training with a strongman team/partner?
J- I’m blessed with four awesome training partners at the moment. I won’t say that it can’t be done solo, but having like minded freaks to bleed with puts you in the right frame of mind to get the job done in training. We constantly motivate one another and push each other to higher levels of performance. I think that in order to maximize your efficiency in training you need to have several worthy competitors to practice with.
K- Everyone has a favorite lift, one they can’t wait to do as soon as they walk through the doors. Likewise, everyone has their hated events. The ones they cringe at when even thinking about. What are your favorite/least favorite events?
J- I can honestly say that I don’t dread training any lift of event. I pretty much love anything to do with training the human body. I love stone lifting most of all through. It’s so primeval. Rocks are undoubtedly the first heavy objects that humankind lifted way back in the beginning of time. Stone lifting is caveman meets modern sport. It just doesn’t get any better than that!
PART 2 BELOW
K- I just want to thank you so much for agreeing to do this Jesse! Why don’t we start off by giving our audience a little background about yourself. How did you start your weight training, and what were some of your early goals?
J- I was always an active kid because mom wouldn’t let us sit around the house watching TV. At age 12 I began lifting weights with my dad during his lunch break. I would ride my bike to his work and then we’d hit the gym. He taught me all the basic movements. When I was 13 I bought a weight set and punching bag at a garage sale and began what would eventually turn into 8 years of hard core garage training and a World Strongest Man appearance. I got real serious about strength training when I was 15 after watching some WSM shows on ESPN. All through highschool I was totally focused on football, wrestling and track. My strength training was all about improving my athletic performance.
K- What were some of your best highschool lifts?
J- In competition I squatted 500, benched 295, and deadlifted 540 in the 220 class. I also did a 300 pound clean and jerk and a 220 snatch.
K- Have you always been training as a strongman, or did you start out with a different style? If you did, how do you think it affected your current strongman achievements? How well did you do in the before style?
J- I started out from age 12-15 with a basic bodybuilding program. I didn’t make very many gains because I spent way too much time benching and curling. I started practicing the Olympic lifts with the guidance of J.V. Askem when I was 16. Although I was pretty proficient at the Olympic lifts, powerlifting appealed to me more. I powerlifted for 2 years in highschool and had the 2nd highest total in the state. I quit powerlifting and began Olympic lifting as soon as I started playing ball at Montana State U. I had an awesome strength coach named Brett Tudsbury that encouraged me to get way stronger. Steve Gough, father of Olympian weightlifter Tom Gough, also coached me at the time. Brett and Steve put a lot of time and effort into me and successfully took my snatch from 220 to 330 and my clean and jerk from 308 to 407. I believe that Olympic weightlifting is the most appropriate strength training regime for all athletes, including strongman competitors.
K- were you always a huge kid in school?
J- nope. I was really skinny actually. My frosh year in highschool I was 6’3” and weighed 175 pounds. This was after 3 years of weight training! I learned how to eat during my junior year and went from 192 to 236. People didn’t start asking me if I worked out until I was close to 300 pounds. I’ve always been stronger than I looked and am proud of that fact.
K- You recently did very well in 2005 WSM, achieving an astonishing 2nd place. Did you train any differently for this contest then any others?
J- Ya I took it up a notch and trained harder than I’ve ever trained before. This year I really felt like everything came together for me in training. My body is finally maturing to the point where I can recover very fast and train very heavy all the time. It’s taken me 11 years of intensely brutal training to finally reach this point.
K- Mind giving away some of your secrets, and telling us a little about your training outline?
J- My training is always changing and adapting to accomplish whatever I feel I need to at the time. Right now I train some sort of snatching, cleaning, jerking and squatting movement every weekday morning after a thorough, full body warm up on. I also perform a variety of rehab type exercises on whatever area is sore or aching that morning. I also do several sets of midsection exercises as well as reverse hypers. In the evening I train the Olympic lifts very heavy followed by one or two strongman events. I squat every day, with the heaviest volume training on Tuesdays. Thursdays I deadlift. Saturdays I only train once, but will practice 3-6 events performing up to 5 sets per event. Sundays I do some light activity like jogging, walking or kickboxing.
K- Kickboxing? Have you done martial arts?
J- I took karate when I was a kid and every since have loved punching and kicking. I’ve also spent some time learning jiu-jitsu and Aikido. My brother is a mixed martial arts fighter and I’m a huge fan of that sport. So I like to mess around with it just for fun and to get a little more mobility, flexibility and explosiveness. I beat on the bag 3-4 times a week.
K- As a top strongman, explosiveness is vital to your success. How would you value the Olympic lifts in terms of helping increase performance of strongmen?
J- Olympic weightlifting is nothing more than plyometrics with weights. They also keep you flexible and well rounded in your physical ability. I gained most of my strength from practicing the Olympic lifts. Certainly there is no substitute for actual hands on practice of the events that you’ll be seeing in a contest, but Olympic lifting provides an excellent foundation to build from.
K- So would you say that Olympic lifting is superior to powerlifting as far as complimenting strongman training?
J- No I wouldn’t say that. I see bench pressing as pretty much useless as far as enhancing athletic performance in strongman and all other sports for that matter. I think that in order to be a good strongman you need to understand and know how to train and perform the Olympic and power lifts. I spent all last year working very hard on my squat and deadlift, and will continue to do that until my squat and deadlift become more competitive.
K- Diet is a major part of every athlete’s career. Would you mind giving us a glimpse into the food that fuels the machine?
J- My family is from Alaska and I grew up eating wild meat and fresh greens from Mom’s garden. Mom never fed us junk and always cooked me and brothers 3 healthy meals every day. My diet is pretty much the same now as it was then except that now eat way more of course. Every day I eat 3 pounds of Grassland Beef. It’s hormone free and grassfed. Highest quality meat I can get my hands on. I also eat 1 pound of wild salmon from Vital Choice Seafoods every day. I love fish and really believe that people need to eat more of it. I drink a gallon of milk every day, and prefer raw milk when I can find time to drive to the dairy to get it. All of my vegetables are organic. I’m allergic to gluten, so my main carb sources are yams, potatoes, brown rice and corn meal. In addition to 3-4 solid meals, I drink 3-4 Met-RX meal replacements daily.
K- Speaking of Met-RX, I heard you recently signed with them? They also have Marius Pudzianowski, the reigning Worlds Strongest Man. Any tension between you two?
J- Yes, I’m really excited to be onboard with Met-RX. I signed my contract last week. I’ll be at the Met-RX booth at all the big shows, stop by and see me. I love meeting strongman enthusiasts. I started taking Met-RX products way back in highschool. I took them a lot during college too. And as a pro strongman I’ve consumed hundreds of
Met-RX shakes and RTDs. You can imagine my excitement when the leader in sports nutrition approached me regarding sponsorship. Marius and I get along great, so working with him will be a lot of fun.
K- On your forum (http://www.marunde-muscle.com/forum/), there seem to be an abundance of world class strongmen and powerlifters. Unlike most competitive sports, strongmen are often seen side by side with their opponents, cheering them through a tough event. How important is camaraderie in the sport, and why do you think so much of it exists in strength sports, while it is very rare in others?
J- Well I don’t think it’s really is rare in other sports. If you watch mixed martial arts fighting, the most brutal sport in the world, you usually see the guys hug after the fight. Sure there are poor sports, but I think most athletes respect one another because we all know how much time, effort, discipline and pain it takes to be really good. Some guys I cheer for more than others though.
K- Similar to the above inquiry, how important is training with a strongman team/partner?
J- I’m blessed with four awesome training partners at the moment. I won’t say that it can’t be done solo, but having like minded freaks to bleed with puts you in the right frame of mind to get the job done in training. We constantly motivate one another and push each other to higher levels of performance. I think that in order to maximize your efficiency in training you need to have several worthy competitors to practice with.
K- Everyone has a favorite lift, one they can’t wait to do as soon as they walk through the doors. Likewise, everyone has their hated events. The ones they cringe at when even thinking about. What are your favorite/least favorite events?
J- I can honestly say that I don’t dread training any lift of event. I pretty much love anything to do with training the human body. I love stone lifting most of all through. It’s so primeval. Rocks are undoubtedly the first heavy objects that humankind lifted way back in the beginning of time. Stone lifting is caveman meets modern sport. It just doesn’t get any better than that!
PART 2 BELOW