The One Ton Challenge
For the past three years, we have had the honor of befriending a true warrior of the barbell, John Cena. About a year ago, Cena invited us to come to his house in Tampa, FL. This sounds awesome until you realize impossible it is to get on the same schedule as someone that is home about 30 days a year.
Now, I have been banging weights with this guy for three years and he has never mentioned this challenge to me. “What the hell is that?” I replied.
“You have three days for six lifts. The goal is to total 2,000 total pounds in the snatch, clean, jerk, deadlift, back squat, and bench press. Only 31 people have ever done it, and only two people have done it under 200 pounds bodyweight.”
When I hear a number like one ton, my first reaction is to look at Bryan and start doing some math. “Is this possible, what do we have to do, how will we break this up, and FUCK, this is going to be hard.”
With one week to plan, we started some testing. If we were to hit every single one of our lifetime PR’s we would be about 50 pounds over the 2,000. So to make this a reality, you have two options: Set a couple PR’s or hit 97% of every lifetime PR you have ever set. Either way, when you have been training for 20 years, those numbers and that time frame are enough to keep you up all night.
In the week of training leading up to the trip, Bryan and I both totaled below 1950. We were clearly a little bummed seeing that we had a very tall task ahead of us. And then the champ walked over, “five pounds a lift, time to get your head right.” A passive, friendly way of saying, “I did not invite you to my gym for you to fail. Get your shit together.” And with that, he left the gym, wrestled on Sunday night Pay Per View, and we met him in LA to begin our voyage to Tampa.
Hard Nock’s South is a private gym. Membership is earned, not purchased. Rob McIntyre, Cena’s coach, best friend, and gym manager, only allows his athletes to train there. The walls are plastered with old bodybuilding and weightlifting photos. There are four platforms, four squat cages, and “enough” weights. “Enough,” because the dumbbells go past 200#’s and there are “enough” 45# plates for the strongest athletes in the world to show up and train in an environment where the only true measure of performance is hard work and a lifelong dedication to strength.
If the no-bullshit attitude does not get your juices flowing; behind the desk are over 20 pieces of paper taped to the wall. Each piece of paper, dated back over the past 10 years, states that John Cena has passed every single random drug test he has ever been subjected to. If you somehow got access to the gym and thought you were going to half ass it, a quick look at that wall will tell you that you are in the wrong place.
In a place like Hard Nock’s there are no short cuts; only will, determination, and hard work.
Monday evening started with back squats and Bryan lit the gym on fire setting a lifetime PR back squat at 401# in a fight that took over five seconds. If you want to set a week of training with the champ off right, PR your back squat. There is no better way to send a charge through five people than turning up the stereo and squatting 401# for the first time. I squatted 419#, six pounds below a lifetime PR set in 2011.
When we first heard of this challenge we thought, “Oh fuck, that’s heavy.” When Cena teased us about the five pounds a lift we thought, “Oh fuck, we have to do this.” And when Bryan hit that back squat, the attitude changed to, “Fuck it, we can lift weights with the big boys, and we will be pound for pound stronger than all of them.”
Snatch was next. It is so technical you have to be on your game. The goal is to be in the 95% ballpark but not to fall short of that. I built up and snatched 232#, nine pounds off my lifetime PR. Bryan, after two cross country flights the night before hit 220# and moved on.
Cena and McIntyre warmed up cleans and I jumped in with them. When you lift with those guys, you are basically a little brother that gets picked on at every turn. You are constantly changing the bar because their 85% is better than my best lifts. It is a dog fight every time to prove your worth. If you think I am backing down because they outweigh me by 60 pounds, you would be wrong. Training with the best is important because you know how much more work you need to do. When there is a t-shirt on the line, it only amplifies the degree in which I want to poke the bear. I cleaned 308#, seven pounds off my lifetime best.
Bryan moved to the bench press and hit a three year best bench at 280#. Dealing with some insane jet lag, putting up numbers and keeping himself in the game proved challenging and very important heading into day two where he once again set the gym ablaze.
Bryan and I met again on the jerk blocks. We both wanted to move under some light jerks to work on some speed heading into day two. Well, the music was loud, the weights felt good, and I nailed a 300# jerk, eight pounds off my lifetime best.
Heading in to day two, my total was 1,259 and Bryan was 901.
After the big day one, my day two was relatively uneventful and I just needed to hit some numbers. 462# on the deadlift and 285# on the bench sealed the deal for me at a 2007# total.
Coming off four pounds of steak and 10 hours of sleep, Bryan walked in to the gym a new person. He set up shop early on the competition platform and did not leave for a full two hours. The 901# day one was a tough start so to raise moral, he warmed up and snatched 236#, 19 pounds off his lifetime PR. From there the weights just moved up, and he hit a 308# clean, seven pounds off his lifetime best. Both weights changed his outlook on the 2000# and if he could make a good pull, day three would be a small mountain to climb.
With 140kg already on the bar, he moved right to the deadlift. Rob, Cena, and I had already finished and we became the official plate loaders. Rob filmed; Cena and I loaded the barbell. 330, 400, and 500 all moved with relative ease. Bryan called his final lift at 516# and with one final pull recorded the biggest lift of the week and a lifetime PR by one pound. At the top of the lockout, Cena jumped out of his chair and threw his knee and elbow sleeves in the air in celebratory fashion.
Bryan finished the week out with a 260# jerk and a 2001# total.
By dividing your total by your bodyweight, overall power index, Bryan finished in the 11th and I finished in the 10th spot all time at Hard Nock’s South.
Completing the “One Ton Challenge” was the icing on the cake to the best weightlifting experience of my life. When you are a 13 year old kid picking up a barbell for the first time, getting to train and compete against some of the strongest athletes that have ever existed never crosses your mind. Having John Cena hand stencil your name on the “One Ton Club” mural that is the backdrop to every lifting video you have ever seen from him leaves you humbled.
It is, and was, an honor training and competing in that gym. The experience and the culture are second to none. The fact that our names will be number 32 and 33 on that garage door will be a story I tell for the rest of my life (or until next year when I come back and smash my numbers).
