Diamond In The Rough...
An Interview With Eric Todd

By Phil Stevens

Now with that intro and explanation out of the way, lets get down to business. I'm going to kick off this series with a man I have had the pleasure to workout with, compete with, and learn from, Eric Todd. Eric is an accomplished strength athlete in several disciplines, the creator / grandfather of arguably the best strongman society in the U.S if not the world (www.KCStrongman.com) and just an all around stand up guy. Eric that short intro doesn't do you or what you've accomplished justice. Take a second to tell us a bit about yourself.

ET: Thanks for the intro and this interview Phil. I started young running with my dad when I was about 3, then started wrestling and lifting at the age of 9. I wrestled through high school, and four years for Missouri Valley college. I was part of 2 NAIA national championship and hall of fame teams. I first ventured into strongman in 2001. I took 4th in my first meet (the Tri-States Strongman in Canton, MO). I won my second, The JWC strongman contest and I was hooked. I competed as many times as I could my first year, and ended the season by winning the 275lb division at NAS nationals.

By the 2003-2004 season my puny 5'11" frame struggled to keep up as the guys were getting much larger and much stronger. I managed to get my bodyweight up to 285lbs, but I was sloppy. I was not much stronger, but I had slowed down considerably. With the goal of becoming a pro I decided to drop down to the 231lb LW class. I took 2nd in the 231lb class in 2004, and I won my pro card in March 2005 at the Monsters of the Midwest.

From there I have won 1 Pro meet, and was 2nd at 2 others. Placed 7th in pro nationals in 2005 and 2007, and have now qualified for nationals in 2008. As well I hold or have held several national records in strongman and all-round lifting. A handful of state records in powerlifting. Dabble a little bit in Highland Games, and I was married to my wife Jennifer in December of 2007.

PS: That's a full plate of accomplishments Eric, and in a relatively short amount of time. Congrats!. Lets talk about your training evolution that got you where you are. You seem to have a vast athletic background. How do you think this type of broad approach has helped or hurt you do? Has each aided the next in performance and or training style. What are the overlaps you've found that are beneficial from one training to the next?

ET: My training is above all geared to help me become the best strongman I can possibly become. As far as overlap from one sport to the other, for me it turns by simply training to be a complete strongman, that it improves my overall strength for whatever strength sport I decide to take on. The reverse doesn't however tend to be true. For example, in training for strongman, my deadlifting capacity increases, thus improving my powerlifting performance. My explosion increases, thus improving my throwing at the highland games. My capacity for lifting odd objects increases, so my all-round lifting and life performance improves. Mind you, I have no aspirations of becoming world class in these other endeavors, but they are all relative to strongman. On the other hand if I was training specifically for powerlifting, say, an 800lb bench-press does not tend to transfer to being a good strongman or thrower.

PS: Great points you bring up, which brings up the topic of sport specialization. Inevitably at some point you had to pick a direction. I'd like to get your thoughts on early sports specialization. This day in age with parents making their kids specialize in a single sport at very early age they in my opinion sell the child short. They burn out fast, and seemingly never mature fully athletically in either physical or mental aspects. What are your thoughts on early forced specialized training as opposed to the all around athletic approach of old?

ET: Nice catch Phil. Despite what I say above I am strictly against it for most kids. I think it is important to experience variety in the world to become a complete athlete, and person. In school, wrestling was my main sport (I wrestled most of the year), however, I also excelled in football and track and field. Each sport contributed and complimented the other physically, and mentality.

At some point, yes, the athlete does have to make a choice and put most of your focus on one sport to become the best they can be, and reach their full potential. Even then however I think its good to get out of your comfort zone from time to time. Do something a bit different for both development and simple variety. Which is even more important for children.

PS: Time to hit on nutrition. What do you feel are the core habits that someone should do nutrition wise to be the best strongman competitor they have the ability to be? Is there a difference, in your opinion, in eating for optimal health as compared to optimal performance? In other words. Do you feel an athlete has to sacrifice a bit in the general health aspects of nutrition if its your goals to be the worlds best strongman competitor, or do they really go hand in hand?

ET: When it comes to health and nutrition, I've found that I should have listened better to my grammar school teachers when they talked about the "food pyramid". Eating a well rounded diet is what has worked out best for me in regards to health as well as optimum performance. I firmly feel that the healthier you are, the better you will feel. The better you feel, the better you will train, compete, etc. When I was trying to be a heavyweight, I ate everything and anything I could to pack weight onto my puny frame.

As I said earlier I managed to get up to 285lbs, and was strong, but not much stronger. The downside, I was slow and out of shape. I then cut down to the lightweight division using a low carbohydrate diet. The only rules, basically, were that I could consume no more than X amount of carbs a day.

Well, they didn't say anything about red meat, cheese, and other fats. Though I was successful in losing the weight, my cholesterol skyrocketed. My blood was like the motor oil out of an old tractor. Since I've went to simply eating "clean," and my levels are back down to normal. I am able to keep my weight in check. My performance, I am training and competing as well, if not better, than ever.

As for core habits. Plenty of lean protein, red meat only once or twice a week, vegetables, fruits, legumes, low fat dairy, etc. Good whole foods.


PS: Supplementation. In a world of so many new pills, potions, and gadgets; both legal and illegal, how does an athlete know what's effective and what's junk. What is your stance on supplementation in general? What role does supplementation play your regime if any?

ET: My supplementation is just that, supplement nutrients that I would have a hard time getting enough of by eating alone. I take whey protein, a multi-vitamin, vitamin D, flax seed oil, fish oil, and HMB. Protein to feed the muscle, and the rest for optimum recovery and health.

There is a lot out there, and a great deal of it is junk. Luckily, I have a buddy who is very knowledgeable about this kind of stuff, so whenever I want to know about a supplement, I ask him. Guys need to find someone who is unbiased who can help them sort out the junk from what will work for you. I do think you need to be informed on what you put into your body. There are a lot of things out there and a lot that can can potentially be harmful.

PS: Thanks for sharing a few minutes with us Eric. Id like to touch on just one last topic and probably what I find the most intriguing aspect about you, KCSTRONGMAN.

The community of athlete's, the top notch competitions you all put host each year, and the huge amount of success the group has had as a whole in power sports. What is it now? Something like 6 strongman pro-cards over the last 4 years, 2 or 3 National Champs, 2 Masters National Champs, power-lifting Elite, endless very successful events with funding going to charitable organizations.

You're at the center of all this, the father, the grand-poo-baa if you will. How does that feel? How did this all come about? How did this get started? KCSTRONGMAN is a strength community, in my opinion, like none other I've seen of late, that reaches out to all the disciplines and is VERY successful as a group. To what do you contribute all the success?

ET: I started KCSTRONGMAN for selfish reasons. I figured the more competitions on a local level and the more people in the area competing/training strongman, the better I would become. Well it wasn't long before it took off. I am very proud of our guys, what they have accomplished, and am very humbled to be a part of this. I contribute the success to the guys who decided to be a part of this. One of our Motto's is "KCSTRONGMAN: Not just a location, but an attitude." It is an attitude of mental toughness and friendship. We train together, compete against one another, cheer each other on, eat together, and if one of my KCSTRONGMAN brothers called in the middle of the night and needed something, you better believe I would be there for them.

I feel blessed to be around this many great friends in my sport of choice. It is this that will keep me around it for years to come.

PS: Thanks for sharing a few minutes with us Eric. Telling us about you, your success and broadly what brought you to such success as well the KCSTRONGMAN group as whole. I know I for one will be following you guys and look to get back in my hometown area sometime in the future to compete beside you guys.

Stay strong.

About The Author

Phil, while attaining both his Bachelors and Masters degrees in studio art found another passion, that of training and nutrition. A constant student, his real-world under-the-barbell and behind-the-fork approach has led to many an opportunity, experience, and change in his life as well as those he has worked. Phil currently, aside from his varied work with Team Staley, is a working and showing artist (http://www.philstevens.com). His current personal fitness goals are to become a competitive force as middleweight strongman competitor, while building upon his power lifting experience in which he has seen as high as a top ten national ranking; with a two year goal of obtaining an elite ranking as a 242 or 275lb weight class RAW power lifter.

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