Jesse Marunde
09-22-2006, 11:02 PM
the producers of the show asked me to write a journal for the WSM website. here is a copy of it. this is my last post from China. My next will be from home. See you then...
yours in strength,
Jesse
Sept 11th
My wife, Callie, and I arrived in Sanya, China at 2pm today after spending 3 long days in Beijing doing promotional work for Met-Rx Sports Nutrition. Met-Rx sponsors Marius and I and they are the title sponsor of the World’s Strongest Man Competition. In Beijing they worked us for 14 hours each day, giving us no time to rest or recover from jet lag. In fact, I went from the airport after 17 hours of travelling straight to the first promo event. Rather than be disgruntled about being ushered so rapidly all over Beijing I was simply impressed with the incredible work ethic of the Chinese people. The many individuals whom I had the pleasure of working with were so fast, so alert and showed no signs of fatigue though the mornings started for them before 7am and they didn’t say goodnight to me till nearly 1am. Hunter Xia, the managing director for Met-Rx in China, took us from gym to gym to lunch and dinner meetings and finally to night clubs where all the while we were signing hundreds of autograph cards and posing for hundreds more photos. I am exhausted and in much need of sleep. What better place to relax than the host resort of the WSM competition, the Mangrove Tree Resort here in Sanya.
Sept 12th
Before coming here to Sanya I must honestly admit that I had never heard of the place before. Upon arriving at the resort all of us were amazed to find that Sanya quite possibly hosts the most beautiful beaches in the world. Miles and miles of clean sand with surprisingly few visitors enjoying it stretch out in either direction from our resort hotel. The water is the warmest and cleanest ocean water I have ever swam in.
The energy in the air is unreal. Knowing that we must wait 2 days before engaging in strength combat is punishment to the extreme. I need the time to recover from the 15 hour time difference back home, but I am hungry for the competition to begin…
Sept 13th
Already the burning heat is wearing on me. The locals have told me that we are enjoying a cool spell but it doesn’t feel like it to myself and the rest of the 300+ pound monsters who are sweating on everything we touch. The humidity is so high that my Rehband knee sleeves that I wore during my morning training didn’t dry overnight though I left them in a breezy location on the porch. Lucky for me the pool is just ten feet away from our back door.
I’m surprisingly relaxed and not at all nervous. To me this is just another day at the office. My wife, Callie, is enjoying herself to the utmost. The Mangrove Tree Resort is a true oasis for any bikini clad beauty. Drinks are served in the pool bar for less than $1.00 USD. To my own amazement Callie has limited herself to just one drink so far. When the show is over I will not be engaging in the same restraint…
Sept 14th
I am in group 2. Today we competed in the carry and drag and the keg toss. I turn 27 years old today. Warming up for the first event was brutal. The heat here is unbearable. I was getting dizzy and kept feeling like I was going to black out just from performing light warm-up movements with a barbell. We had to carry a 100kg (220 lb) atlas stone 25m, deposit the stone into a sled and then drag the sled back the full 25m. Standing at the starting line is the best feeling in the world. The adrenaline surged through my body in powerful waves and gave me goose bumps even though the temperature was over 110 degrees. It is hard to control myself at that moment. I have to force myself to relax so that I don’t waste valuable energy screaming and stomping about. When the whistle blew I exploded into action. I could vaguely hear Terry Hollands breathing in the next lane. Through the entire race my mind was screaming to my body, ‘’FASTER FASTER!’’ As if the impossibly long drag back to the finish line wasn’t difficult enough., the heat made this event even harder. My lungs and throat were dry half way through the event. I had to force myself not to vomit after crossing the finish line. I rushed to the shade of the competitors tent where Callie rubbed me down with blocks of ice for 30 minutes. Even with ice on my body I still couldn’t cool off. Carry and drag events are always brutal and leave you feeling totally exhausted but I feel great now. I’m glad to have the contest started and the strain on my body actually feels good. In fact, I feel better now then I did before the contest started.
In the keg toss we were made to throw 10 kegs weighing 20kg (44 lbs) over a 4.5m wall in the fastest time possible. I was confident going into this event but had no idea it was going to be as difficult as it was. After 5 kegs I began to tire dramatically. By kegs 7 and 8 I was really breathing hard. When it was over I felt dizzy and disoriented. After eating dinner and cooling off in the room my hamstring started to hurt. Now as I’m writing this I have a throbbing ache all through the back of my leg. All and all I would say that today was one of the best birthdays I’ve ever had.
Sept 15th
Today I woke up sore. My hamstring was aching all night and my right knee was and is slightly swollen. The first event today was the car deadlift for reps with a straight bar. The bar was set very low to the floor which favours me I believe because I am flexible and strong off the floor. The weight felt light in the first half of the pull then began to get very heavy towards the lockout. To me it felt like pulling with rubber bands on the bar which is great because I’ve been training my deadlift with bands frequently all year! I added about 80 lbs to my maximum deadlift since last years WSM contest but 9 weeks ago I suffered a severe muscle tear in my hamstring. My confidence going into the deadlift event was quite low I must admit. To make matter worse we were not able to warm up properly. The barbell that we had set up in the warm up area was removed because Raivis Vidzis dropped it on the floor and broke some of the tiles. We had been warned several times not to drop the bar so when Raivis caused us to lose our warm up bar everyone was furious with him. I kept my cool and stayed focused and began a general warmup doing body weight exercises. I was finally able to set up a bar outside and performed several sets with 225 lbs in a pathetic attempt to warm up correctly. I was very nervous as I approached the bar for my attempt. After I pulled the 1st rep I knew I could pull several more with ease. I smoothly pulled 6 reps then rested and pulled 2 more before time ran out. The last two reps were difficult for me though I feel I could have done 1 or 2 more. My hamstring is really hurting now. My entire hip region feels swollen and I’m limping slightly, though I’m trying not to show it in an attempt to hide my discomfort from my fellow competitors.
yours in strength,
Jesse
Sept 11th
My wife, Callie, and I arrived in Sanya, China at 2pm today after spending 3 long days in Beijing doing promotional work for Met-Rx Sports Nutrition. Met-Rx sponsors Marius and I and they are the title sponsor of the World’s Strongest Man Competition. In Beijing they worked us for 14 hours each day, giving us no time to rest or recover from jet lag. In fact, I went from the airport after 17 hours of travelling straight to the first promo event. Rather than be disgruntled about being ushered so rapidly all over Beijing I was simply impressed with the incredible work ethic of the Chinese people. The many individuals whom I had the pleasure of working with were so fast, so alert and showed no signs of fatigue though the mornings started for them before 7am and they didn’t say goodnight to me till nearly 1am. Hunter Xia, the managing director for Met-Rx in China, took us from gym to gym to lunch and dinner meetings and finally to night clubs where all the while we were signing hundreds of autograph cards and posing for hundreds more photos. I am exhausted and in much need of sleep. What better place to relax than the host resort of the WSM competition, the Mangrove Tree Resort here in Sanya.
Sept 12th
Before coming here to Sanya I must honestly admit that I had never heard of the place before. Upon arriving at the resort all of us were amazed to find that Sanya quite possibly hosts the most beautiful beaches in the world. Miles and miles of clean sand with surprisingly few visitors enjoying it stretch out in either direction from our resort hotel. The water is the warmest and cleanest ocean water I have ever swam in.
The energy in the air is unreal. Knowing that we must wait 2 days before engaging in strength combat is punishment to the extreme. I need the time to recover from the 15 hour time difference back home, but I am hungry for the competition to begin…
Sept 13th
Already the burning heat is wearing on me. The locals have told me that we are enjoying a cool spell but it doesn’t feel like it to myself and the rest of the 300+ pound monsters who are sweating on everything we touch. The humidity is so high that my Rehband knee sleeves that I wore during my morning training didn’t dry overnight though I left them in a breezy location on the porch. Lucky for me the pool is just ten feet away from our back door.
I’m surprisingly relaxed and not at all nervous. To me this is just another day at the office. My wife, Callie, is enjoying herself to the utmost. The Mangrove Tree Resort is a true oasis for any bikini clad beauty. Drinks are served in the pool bar for less than $1.00 USD. To my own amazement Callie has limited herself to just one drink so far. When the show is over I will not be engaging in the same restraint…
Sept 14th
I am in group 2. Today we competed in the carry and drag and the keg toss. I turn 27 years old today. Warming up for the first event was brutal. The heat here is unbearable. I was getting dizzy and kept feeling like I was going to black out just from performing light warm-up movements with a barbell. We had to carry a 100kg (220 lb) atlas stone 25m, deposit the stone into a sled and then drag the sled back the full 25m. Standing at the starting line is the best feeling in the world. The adrenaline surged through my body in powerful waves and gave me goose bumps even though the temperature was over 110 degrees. It is hard to control myself at that moment. I have to force myself to relax so that I don’t waste valuable energy screaming and stomping about. When the whistle blew I exploded into action. I could vaguely hear Terry Hollands breathing in the next lane. Through the entire race my mind was screaming to my body, ‘’FASTER FASTER!’’ As if the impossibly long drag back to the finish line wasn’t difficult enough., the heat made this event even harder. My lungs and throat were dry half way through the event. I had to force myself not to vomit after crossing the finish line. I rushed to the shade of the competitors tent where Callie rubbed me down with blocks of ice for 30 minutes. Even with ice on my body I still couldn’t cool off. Carry and drag events are always brutal and leave you feeling totally exhausted but I feel great now. I’m glad to have the contest started and the strain on my body actually feels good. In fact, I feel better now then I did before the contest started.
In the keg toss we were made to throw 10 kegs weighing 20kg (44 lbs) over a 4.5m wall in the fastest time possible. I was confident going into this event but had no idea it was going to be as difficult as it was. After 5 kegs I began to tire dramatically. By kegs 7 and 8 I was really breathing hard. When it was over I felt dizzy and disoriented. After eating dinner and cooling off in the room my hamstring started to hurt. Now as I’m writing this I have a throbbing ache all through the back of my leg. All and all I would say that today was one of the best birthdays I’ve ever had.
Sept 15th
Today I woke up sore. My hamstring was aching all night and my right knee was and is slightly swollen. The first event today was the car deadlift for reps with a straight bar. The bar was set very low to the floor which favours me I believe because I am flexible and strong off the floor. The weight felt light in the first half of the pull then began to get very heavy towards the lockout. To me it felt like pulling with rubber bands on the bar which is great because I’ve been training my deadlift with bands frequently all year! I added about 80 lbs to my maximum deadlift since last years WSM contest but 9 weeks ago I suffered a severe muscle tear in my hamstring. My confidence going into the deadlift event was quite low I must admit. To make matter worse we were not able to warm up properly. The barbell that we had set up in the warm up area was removed because Raivis Vidzis dropped it on the floor and broke some of the tiles. We had been warned several times not to drop the bar so when Raivis caused us to lose our warm up bar everyone was furious with him. I kept my cool and stayed focused and began a general warmup doing body weight exercises. I was finally able to set up a bar outside and performed several sets with 225 lbs in a pathetic attempt to warm up correctly. I was very nervous as I approached the bar for my attempt. After I pulled the 1st rep I knew I could pull several more with ease. I smoothly pulled 6 reps then rested and pulled 2 more before time ran out. The last two reps were difficult for me though I feel I could have done 1 or 2 more. My hamstring is really hurting now. My entire hip region feels swollen and I’m limping slightly, though I’m trying not to show it in an attempt to hide my discomfort from my fellow competitors.