While most people have only seen clips of Strongman competitions on ESPN, three ISU athletes are trying to make a name for their sport locally by competing in Strongman events throughout the country.

Issac Hammerly, athletic department assistant strength coach, Zebblin Sullivan, graduate student in health and human performance and president of the ISU Weight Club, and Shawn Baier, assistant scientist of health and human performance, all compete in Strongman competitions regularly, and have qualified for the North American Strongman National Championship on Nov. 16 and 17 in Las Vegas.

Baier is the Iowa chairman of the NAS and has been competing since 2003. Hammerly and Sullivan competed in their first competition in the Iowa Strongest Man competition on March 31 in Des Moines, which Baier set up, and took first in their respective weight classes.

“I really felt like a kindergartner going to school for the first time when I went there,” Hammerly said. “My heart was coming out of my chest between events. It’s just the competitor in you, you really want to do well.”

Sullivan said he felt less nerves and more intensity.

“I get fired up,” Sullivan said. “I’m kind of known as being the little dude who’s really intense.”

Hammerly and Sullivan got involved in the competition after meeting Baier, who helped train them in the months leading up to the event.

“They both had all the raw tools needed, just some of the technique stuff was missing,” Baier said. “That’s what we worked on the past year for Zeb and almost four months for Ike.”

What goes into training for a competition is not just pure strength, but also athleticism, Hammerly said. Typical events in a competition include keg lifts, a log press and even a farmer’s walk, where athletes pick up dead weight and carry it as far as they can.

“You’ve got to be ready for anything,” Hammerly said. “That’s the whole Strongman approach; you’ve got to be athletic and you’ve got to be diverse as far as you’re strength attributes and qualities.”

During training, one main goal is to stay healthy. Sullivan said the key is to deal with the small injuries while avoiding the big ones, much like any other sport.

“We train intensely, but we also train intelligently,” he said. “If you do something dumb and get a serious injury, then you are really set back. Bumps and bruises happen, that’s the nature of the game, you just kind of have to suck it up and deal with those.”

All three will compete in the national championship, as Baier qualified in September in the 300-pound and above weight class. Hammerly is in the 265-300-pound class, while Sullivan is in the under 175-pound class. While Baier is recovering from injury, the others will compete in events throughout the summer to prepare for nationals.

“You still want to train for other shows to stay competitive. The competitive environment is a lot different,” Baier said. “You have to mix up your training. That allows you to do things to keep you fresh.”

There are small cash and merchandise prizes awarded, but the real goal is to make nationals, Baier said.

Although all three are competing as amateurs, the national championships feed into the pro level, which also competes around the nation and eventually feeds into the world competitions, which can be seen on ESPN.

As Iowa chairman, Baier said he was impressed with the nearly 60 athletes that competed in the Iowa competition. He said the growth of the sport on local levels will feed into the growth of Strongman on national and world levels.

“I think it’s at the very base right now of what it could be,” he said. “I think it all depends on the athletes. The athletes are marketable, they’re not boring. They have charisma, they know how to make it a marketable sport. As long as athletes continue to do that, it has the potential to be very large.”

The Iowa competition will be aired on Mediacom Connections 22, but a time has not yet been announced. Upcoming contests include the Chicago’s Strongest Man 2007 competition on April 28 and the Kansas Strongest Man 2007 competition on May 12 in Salina, Kan.