How/When was your start for iron game?

[Jyrki Rantanen]

I started at age 14, when I went to local wrestling gym back in 1989 and saw my friends brother training with heavy pl (the guy won JR World´s twice and was also the BB champion -92)..In the same year I watched WSM from tv seeing JPS, Kaz and Reeves battling together.
From that on it was heavy training until 2006 (during the years I also did a lot of other sports like boxing, swimming, basketball etc), when I had 6 months totally without weights (during -93-05 I competed every year 1-8 comps...after more or less on/off training in 07 I trained the summer 08 for competing once (a middle level comp which I accidentally won)..After that I become a father and since last autumn I´ve been working out 2-3 times a week and feeling now that I maid get the hunger back at least for one more time

The following events have influenced me greatly during my "career":

1. -92 I saw from the newspaper that Janne Virtanen had won our commune title for strongest man - on that moment I decided that some day I´ll be the commune´s strongest man..(unfortanately Janne still lives in the same commune, so it was more practical to me to move to the other city )

2. -93 Gary Taylor won the WSM - his stone performance inspired me greatly and maybe that´s why it has always been my favorite event. Also Gary´s presses behind the neck where giving me some influence (when I was a teenager I used to do plenty of behind the neck presses while my friends did bench/biceps.

3. - 95-96 Magnus Ver Squat 437,5 without any problems after all others failed...Magnus Ver in the Conan´s wheel (the time he was "a little pit angry" to Doug Edmunds.

4. -97 Ahola WSM title and 2000 Virtanen..it gave the boost to believe that someday I can reach the top also in my (LW) class.

[Steve Gardener]

Age 15 at school. I'm 46 in August so it's been almost 31 years.

[brandon verret]

i started lifting when i was 15. i had older brothers and wanted to be bigger than them. ha ha
i stopped lifting between the ages of 22-34. started back up and never looked back. now im competing in some amaturer highland games (*since 2006) love the sport

[Richard Sorin]

Age 5 ....55 years ago when I brought my Billard "Jr. Champ Maker Barbell" to kindergarten for show and tell. Every moment after that has been just a grand experience. R Sorin

[Lance.Holland-Keen]

About 15 years old. Tired of being skinny and speccy wearing! Didn't really change for another 6 years though! (Only I did start wearing contacts at age 17 for kickboxing).
20 years.
Wish I had used them more wisely with regard to training.
But then again, I am happy where I am now, and the strongest I have ever been!

So, Richard, I should wait until next year to give my son his first weights?

[Alan Wyne]

January 1979, just before my 17th birthday. 119lbs of awkward geekiness sat watching the TV. The movie trailer for "Rocky II" came on and the silhouetted image of Stallone doing one arm push ups tripped something in my brain from "geek" to "freak". 30 years later I'm a bit stronger and heavier. Still working on losing the geek.

[Lance.Holland-Keen]

Nice to hear from you Alan!
I hear that Aussie weather in winter has been better than yours in midsummer, mate!
When next do you meet with our stony friends?

[Alan Wyne]

Nice to hear from you Alan!
I hear that Aussie weather in winter has been better than yours in midsummer, mate!
When next do you meet with our stony friends?

Lance

We had at least 3 days of sun this summer and it's not over yet! No immediate plans to visit any stones. I'm training heavy and putting my body on standby just in case the urge takes me ...

Alan