The Iron Foundry Dubbo to host The Strongest competition

Members of the public are invited to give it a go as novices, while watching real-life strong men and women compete, in The Strongest competition.

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Warrick El-Mahassni, who is running the competition at his gym The Iron Foundry in Dubbo, said strong man training does not include machines to tone-up a certain body part but rather uses the whole body to create strength and conditioning by performing movements that are closer to those performed in "real life".

The former pro bodybuilder began training when he was in high school, mainly to get in shape for rugby, but without a proper mentor or accurate information available online at the time he wasn't training "properly".

"Because of all of those years of not training properly, I began feeling little niggles, pains, tweaks in my knees - that's when I began focussing on movement and functionality and training for a way that's relevant to life and sports," Mr El-Mahassni told the Daily Liberal.

He had been living in China at the time and did a course in Hong Kong on functionality and this "opened up [his] eyes".

Mr El-Mahassni moved to Dubbo from Sydney six years ago and also works as a primary school teacher. He noticed a gap in the market for a strength and conditioning gym in town and decided to open one himself.

"I noticed a lot of gyms here in Dubbo are focussed on body building. There are a lot of machines in the gym - they're good for gyms, [because] they're not easy to use and people tell you how to use them. You [also] have the group session gyms," he said.

"What makes me different [at The Iron Foundry] is there's a lot of free weights and there's a focus on lifestyle and movement."

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Mr El-Mahassni calls his style "imperfect training", which he says uses more of your body to stabilise your feet or carry something - "the small muscles involved more closely resemble real life".

Whether you're training for sport, to lift heavy things or everyday work, Mr El-Mahassni says the implements used in strong man training - which includes sandbags and sleds - are a more effective way of training.

"It's a way to avoid injuries as well. If you're using implements that more closely resemble real life and using your muscles in the normal way, using your whole core and body to move stuff, you avoid injury, as opposed to using machine work where you're creating imbalances in your body," he said.

Mr El-Mahassni wants "all the people of Dubbo to learn how to use these implements".

"Strong man isn't very big in Dubbo and I want to grow it," he said.

The Strongest competition will feature actual strong men from around the country, and everyone else is invited to participate in the novice competition - or just come and watch to see what it's all about.

"You don't have to be a strong man, a strong woman, you don't have to be 100-plus kilos to join - come and have fun, lift some stuff and carry it, it'll be fun, and [everyone else is] free to come watch. It's going to be an annual event," Mr El-Mahassni said.

The Strongest will take place on Sunday, September 24. Find out more at https://tinyurl.com/434e54cj

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