Like many gym rats, ******’s BK started lifting in high school only as a way of staying in shape. Now, the 19-year-old BK has started down the path of success in strongman competitions, similar to another MetroWester.
Following in the footsteps of Hopedale’s Kevin Nee, who now competes on the MetRx circuit, BK may have a bright future in the sport after finishing second in the teen division at the Central Maine Strongman competition on March 29 - only the second such event he had ever entered.
The Central Maine competition consisted of five events, many of which are similar to those broadcast on ESPN. They included the log press - a long, cylindrical object that competitors have to lift from the ground above their heads. There’s the car deadlift, where the athletes lift a Mercedes raised on a steel frame as many times as possible. And there’s the farmer’s walk, where competitors carry 150-pound weights in each hand and walk them as far and as quickly as possible.
BK was surrounded by men who had entered plenty of previous competitions. But to him, second place was a disappointing result.
“I was shooting for first, but there were a lot of little mistakes that kept setting me back. I’m kinda upset with the results,” said BK, who took a spill on the farmer’s walk just short of the finish line because of a tight turn on the course. Also, in a test called the yoke and tire medley, BK quickly carried the yoke (a metal frame), but ran into trouble while flipping the 600-pound tire, costing him precious seconds.
He’ll have ample opportunity to get his first win very soon, however. BK is set to compete in Martinsville, Va., later this month, and at the Teen Nationals in July, held in Chicago.
BK watched strongman competitions on TV growing up, but his interest sprouted when picking up some information at The Body Shop, the Milford gym where Nee also got his start. BK entered his first competition last summer in Orange, Mass., and took third place.
His quick success comes as no surprise to friend and former Body Shop manager **********.
“Just his brute strength, and the fact that he’s so dedicated,” said ********, who knows a thing or two about these matters, having formerly competed in bodybuilding and powerlifting circles. “Whatever the event is that he has to do, he does it. It doesn’t matter if there’s a thousand people watching him, he gets up there and does it.”
It may surprise others in BK’s social circle. Although he’s a relatively big guy at 6 feet and 212 pounds, he’s not exactly the spitting image of Magnus ver Magnusson.
“I don’t really have the build for it,” he admits. “You can tell I work out, but I definitely don’t look like a strongman.”
In preparing for next month’s competition in Virginia, BK works out three days a week for two hours, and trains all day on Sunday in Paxton, all while balancing a courseload as a freshman at ******** College. His weekend sessions, in which he and his training partners can simulate nearly every event they’re preparing for, is one of the main reasons he continues to enjoy the sport.
“It’s a really good community - everyone helps each other out,” he said.
