Nick Biebel - Coach/Athlete

Fourth year directing America’s Strongest Teen with Strongman Corporation Always a weird feeling when it’s over. Lots of wins this year. Finally surpassed the 40 athlete mark. First time with more than ten ladies competing. The Alameda County Fair was a great venue, and the fairgrounds team supported us with a can-do attitude the whole way through.

Really grateful for our volunteer team. All of them. Having capable, committed, and experienced volunteers makes or breaks an event like this. I’m especially grateful for Mimi Boursier who stepped up to co-direct this year, and for David Harrison , our fabrication wizard/engineer.

Super grateful to create this experience for teens from around the country. Every year, I tell them that I hope (1) they hit PRs and learn how strong they are, and (2) that I also want them humbled. It’s a national championship. It should be hard. Challenges and humility help us grow. We all need grace.

Most grateful for God, who provided all this. Grateful for the grace of Jesus Christ, in whom I’m accepted even when I make mistakes and drop the ball. Which happens sometimes.

Happy 4th! 🇺🇸
I’m grateful for all the opportunities to do cool stuff like pulling trucks.

Competed in the mas wrestling tournament at the The Santa Monica Strongman Classic By Martins Licis on Saturday. I’ve been working with Ellei on a more committed attack and the stoika (getting my hips off the ground as I drive my feet into the board). I was nervous about employing a new strategy in competition, but I fared alright. I won every point outside my match with Ellei.

I normally go defense-first, move laterally a lot, wait for openings. It’s nice to have a better finishing move. Definitely less fatiguing to win matches this way. Ideally I’ll utilize these new skills while still retaining the other ones as needed.

Ellei got in mg head lol. I was so focused on trying to react to him that I was way too loose at the start. He generates a ton of force super quickly. I’ll give him a better challenge next time.

Thank you to Eric, MAS Wrestling USA , The Santa Monica Strongman Classic By Martins Licis , Romark, The Great , Odd Haugen , and Martins Licis for organizing this. Fun times on the Santa Monica pier.

A few weeks ago I learned that Ellei moved to NorCal earlier this year. Turns out probably the best mas wrestler around my size living in the USA wasn’t too far from me. We got together to train the last couple weeks. Ellei came to the US in 2022 from Yakutia (Russia), where they basically grow up doing this. So much to learn!

I don’t feel entirely prepared for the Santa Monica classic tournament this weekend, but we’ll have some fun out on the pier!

Eight weeks working with Nick O'Hare . Here are a few “highlights” from last week, at the end of the second four week block. Lots of tempo and paused variations a few degrees removed from strongman events. The absolute weight isn’t much (except maybe the db press), but these all represent significant improvements from when we started. The idea is to target weak points and fine tune (bracing, positioning) so that we can finally move the needle on comp events again.

I’ve actually enjoyed the new variations, getting a mental break from the lifts and events I’ve been training for years. I don’t feel much pressure when faced with a new variation with an absurd tempo 😂 Then again, I wouldn’t mind moving on from things like 5 sec eccentrics for sets of 7+ reps lol. 😁

Lots of focus on core/brace, hamstrings, glutes, and upper back. Onto a new block.

Yes, my Instagram presence is primarily as a strength coach, athlete, and organizer. But through it all I’m a Christian. And these ideas are getting into my circles. So here are my thoughts.

For the first time in over three years, I’ve got a coach. Managed to find one who shares my name. and I started working together back in April. I’m excited for the journey, and grateful I’m in a place to make this investment again.

Why work with a coach? I no longer have the time, energy, objectivity, or confidence to dial in my own training. I’ve been training hard as a natural athlete for over 12 years. Competing in strongman since 2015. Gainz are hard to come by now. Just training hard for 8-12hr a week doesn’t move the needle anymore. I need an outside eye and a plan to keep me going. Coaching myself is much harder than coaching the Team Beebs athletes. Plus, I might learn a few new tricks as a coach and athlete from this partnership.

Apparently Nick O’Hare specializes in programming reps that take 6-10 seconds each, and sets that take over a minute. 😂 The tempo/paused variations, and new variations in general, have been a nice mental reset. They are a challenge though, despite needing little weight. The goal is to get my static strength improving again.

The joy of vehicle pull event testing. 😁 Thanks to the core team and the families who spent a few hours of their Sunday helping us figure this out. We made the teens pull vehicles over, and over, and over… in three different places. BIG thank you to staff who helped us problem solve with the tractor, train/trailers, and 1200lb blocks.

12-14yr girls will pull an F-350. 12-14yr boys, 15-17yr u105kg boys, and the older girls will pull the tractor on its own. 15-17yr 105kg+ and 18-19yr guys will pull the tractor towing 2x 1200lb blocks.

Don’t underestimate this tractor! Doesn’t look huge but it’s dense. “Neutral” isn’t like neutral on a gas vehicle. Very little momentum/roll here.

Happy birthday to my wife Jessica! Well, happy birthday week. Her actual birthday was Tuesday. Did you know she was born on the same day as the premier of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace? May 19, 1999. Now you’ll never forget.

I’m super grateful for the way she supports me in all my endeavors. We like doing life *together* - whether it’s cooking, running Strongman Saturday, having people over, competing in strongman/woman or mas wrestling, or just chilling. Our strengths complement each other. God’s goodness is displayed in giving me Jessica, and his grace covers and redeems us both.