Toughman 2012: The Results

In the spirit of the 2012 Olympics, I am going to give the results of the 2012 Advanced Training Toughman in the fashion of bronze, silver and gold medalists.

For a full review of each of the 4 events in the Toughman, CLICK HERE.

Bronze Metal

The Bronze Metal is awarded to Arthur Kuyan, who finished all 4 events in 2 minutes and 26 seconds.

This 3rd place finish is a HUGE improvement for Kuyan, as he finished 12th overall in the 2011 Toughman.

To put things in perspective, in 2011 he finished dead last (18th out of 18) in Sliders and 14th in the Prowler Shuttle.

He took longer to finish both of those events in 2011, then he did to complete all 4 events in 2012.

He even went so far as to buy his own pair of sliders to train for this year's Toughman.

Silver Metal

The Silver Medal is awarded to Rob Mulligan, who finished all 4 events in 2 minutes and 13 seconds.

To say this was a HUGE improvement for Rob would be an understatement.

In 2011, Rob actually tapped out of the competition.

Despite finishing 5th overall on The Prowler Shuttle, he was so drained he could not move on to the next event.

Rob was so humiliated by his 2011 performance, he actually went out and bought a prowler of his own.

I am not sure how true this is, but there are rumors floating around that he made his girlfriend train with him on The Prowler the day before the event. To make it worse, they were actually on vacation at the Jersey Shore.

This is not the way to a girl's heart

(This is not actually Rob's girlfriend. Nevertheless, it still bothers me that she is pushing almost the same weight we were.)

Gold Metal

The Gold Medal is awarded to Eric Heedles, who finished with the fastest time of 2 minutes and 12 seconds for all 4 events.

2012 Toughman Champ

Heedles' victory in 2012 should not come as a surprise to too many people.

He finished 5th overall in 2011, and was projected to finish 1st in 2012 during a formalized poll taken by the athletes in Advanced Training.

In addition, he consistently displayed his ability to compete by going 8-0 in the 2012 Challenge.

Unfortunately, I do not have any crazy stories of Eric forcing his grandmother to do farmer's walks or of him performing Sled Drags on Ocean Ave in Belmar.

Simply put, he just worked real hard.

As he puts it,  "It took me 21 years to get this body."

Coach's Note:
If you are any good at math, you will see that Heedles and Mulligan were separated by less than 2 seconds.

Had Heedles paused to take one more breath, we would all be forcing our girlfriends to push The Prowler with us at the Jersey Shore.

Honorable Mention

• Ryne Reyes - Ryne finished 4th overall, falling less than 2 seconds short of the 3rd place finisher - Arthur Kuyan. The first day I ever met Ryne, we had an intense Prowler session. He performed so poorly, I honestly thought I would never, ever see him again. Coincidentally, when he came back to train with us again this year (after more than a year away from the program), the first thing we did was another Prowler session.  I guess all of those sessions paid off.

• Ralph Zerilli - Ralph finished 1 second behind Ryne, putting him in 5th place overall. If I had to describe Ralph with one word, that word would be "BEAST". With some more formalized training, I believe he can move into a top 3 spot in next year's competition.

Purple Heart

My Sled

The ring which holds the chains on my sled broke during the competition.

Fortunately, the sled is also a fierce competitor and refused to give up without a fight.

We "taped it up" and had it back on the field in a matter of minutes.

All the Stats

16 men were tough enough to compete in the 2012 Advanced Training Toughman.

It goes without saying that this is not for everybody.

To see each of their overall times, CLICK HERE.