Category Archives: Canadian athlete

6 Pack Says…(motivational quotes w/ pics)

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Hugo Girard

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Hugo Girard (born December 20, 1971 in Sainte-Anne-de-Portneuf, Quebec) is a Canadian strongman. Girard is a Strongman Super Series world Champion, a four-time World Muscle Power champion and a six-time Canada’s Strongest Man.

Contents

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  • 1 Strength career
  • 2 Profile
  • 3 References
  • 4 External links

Strength career

Prior to his career as a strongman competitor, Girard worked as a bouncer in a popular Quebec City nightclub on weekends while attending community college. In the early 1990s, he went to Los Angeles in order to either pursue a career as a professional bodybuilder or as an actor. After a few months, Girard came back to the province of Quebec where he was later hired as a police officer for the city of Gatineau.

Girard focused on Strongman competition, and became a 6-time consecutive finalist in the World’s Strongest Man competition from 1998-2004. Hugo’s highest placing was 4th place at the 1999 World’s Strongest Man contest.[1]

In 2002 Girard reached the high point of his career to date, winning the 2002 Strongman Super Series overall title. Hugo has also won the World Muscle Power Championships 4 times, in 1999, 2001, 2003, and 2004.

Girard dominated strongman competition in Canada for several years. He was the Canada’s Strongest Man champion from 1999 to 2004. He was also the North America’s Strongest Man champion in 2001 and 2002.

Beginning in 2004, injuries began to plague his career including back to back injuries to his achilles tendon in 2005, the first of which took place at the 2005 Arnold Strongman Classic forcing him to retire from the contest.[2] These injuries required a long period of rehabilitation, and nearly a year and a half to fully recover. At one point Hugo was in a cast up to his waist.[3] Hugo’s comeback took place at the 2006 Mohegan Sun Super Series event. After winning the first event, he tore his patellar tendon in the second event, the Conan’s Wheel and was forced to retire from the contest.[4] He attempted to compete in the North America’s Strongest Man Competition in 2007, but withdrew due to injury. Hugo was able to bounce back in 2008, winning Quebec’s Strongest Man.[5] This win qualified Hugo for the 2008 Canada’s Strongest Man contest. Hugo was leading the contest after the first day, but suffered yet another injury on the second day of competition and tearfully announced his retirement from strongman competition.[6]

Girard broke several records during his career, some of which are still standing today. He has held records in events such as the log press, apollon’s axle press, crucifix hold, farmer’s walk Atlas stones, bench press, truck pull and squat. He has also pulled an 80-ton Boeing 737 for a short distance.

Due to his strength, Girard is often compared to fellow Quebec native Louis Cyr, a dominant nineteenth-century strongman who was considered the strongest man in history at the turn of the century. Girard has trained several other strongmen in the Ottawa and Gatineau regions, including Travis Lyndon and Jessen Paulin, who has participated in the World’s Strongest Man competition and succeeded Girard as Canadia’s Strongest Man in 2005 and 2006.

Girard is currently a member of the organization of the Gatineau Hot Air Balloon Festival that takes place every Labour Day weekend. He is also the current president of the Canadian Federation of Strength Athletes. In addition to his career as a strongman, Girard served as a police officer for 12 years.

Hugo was the subject of a documentary film called “Strongman: Hugo Girard” in 2002. The film shows Hugo’s training for the 2002 North America’s Strongest Man competition, which he eventually won. The film also features his training partners Jessen Paulin and Travis Lyndon. The film was directed by Alan Black and released by Top of the World Films.[7]

Profile

  • Biceps: 55 cm (22 inches)
  • Neck : 53 cm (21 inches)
  • Calves: 55 cm (22 inches)
  • Chest: 158 cm (62 inches)
  • Quadriceps: 85 cm (33 inches)
  • Height: 189 cm (6 feet 2 inches)
  • Weight: 150 kg (330 pounds)

References

  1. ^ http://strongestman.billhenderson.org/bios/hugo.html
  2. ^ http://ironmind.com/ironmind/opencms/Articles/2005/Mar/Hugo_Girard_In_a_Cast_Up_To_His_Waist_.html
  3. ^ http://ironmind.com/ironmind/opencms/Articles/2005/Mar/Hugo_Girard_In_a_Cast_Up_To_His_Waist_.html
  4. ^ http://ironmind.com/ironmind/opencms/Articles/2006/Jun/Hugo_Girard_Update.html
  5. ^ http://www.ironmind.com/ironmind/opencms/Articles/2008/Jul/Hugo_Girard_Wins_Quebecxs_Strongest_Man.html
  6. ^ http://ironmind.com/ironmind/opencms/Articles/2008/Aug/Louis-Philippe_Jean_Wins_Canadaxs_Strongest_Man____Hugo_Girard_Injured____Retires.html
  7. ^ http://www.topoftheworldfilms.com/strongmanmovie/

External links

SuperHero Request Form

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Please copy and paste the form in an email after filling it out, and send to needasuperhero@hotmail.com

 

Name (Last, First):

 

 

 

Address (Street #, Street, City, State/Province, Country):

 

 

 

Reason for needing help (Hold on, I am coming!): 

 

 

Sponsors covering travel expenses (If applicable. 6 Pack can also help find sponsors):

 

 

 

Suggested Superhero feat (towing a plane, flipping cars, pulling ferry boats to shore, lifting bleachers full of people, any thing is possible!):

 

 

 

Last and most importantly, Do you believe in Superheroes?

 

 

 

 

Request Form

Canada’s Got Talent, the “REAL” auditions you didn’t see

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It seems every one is tuning in to Canada’s Got Talent to see the “auditions” rounds of the TV show. In every talent show on TV it is the “auditions” episodes that get the most ratings because the viewers never know what to expect. They might see a future star in the making take stage with a historic act, or a comically bad performance that ends up just as historic.

The “auditions” you see on TV however are not really the auditions of these shows at all. The real auditions take place months before. It would be unmanagable for the tv producers to tape all 20,000 competitors for Canada’s Got Talent live on stage in front of the 3 celebrity judges, then edit all that footage for the TV shows. As a competitor of the show Canada’s Got Talent, here is a look at how the real auditions took place…

Rachel Brown of Insight productions, the company that produces Canada’s Got Talent, contacted Ontariostrongman.ca site administrator, Grant Buhr, who put a posting on the Ontario Strongman forum asking any strongman interested to contact her about auditioning for the show. That is when I seen the following message Grant passed on to the strongmen…

“I’m a producer on the new series \”Canada\’s Got Talent\” and I\’d like to encourage some strongmen to apply – there have been some great acts done on the American version of the show, and I know Canada has the talent to top it! Please email me for further information, or go on the website gottalent.ca”

This was in August of 2011.

Certain acts that needed a lot of space to perform, or needed large props, were allowed to film thier act and bring the video to the audtion. The film could only be 2 minutes in length, and had to be completely unedited. An act like Lucas Wilson, the escape artist, or the group Project Dunk who jumps on a trampoline to dunk basketballs would likely bring in a video of themselves performing their acts.

I towed an airplane.

It was September of 2011, with my video in hand I arrived at the Roger’s Centre with my friend Louis Szpeflicki. The line up was incredibly long, and filled with all types of characters. Once inside the building we all sat in the bleachers and waited for our competitor numbers to be called. 10 competitors at a time would be taken away and asked to wait outside of a VIP box overlooking the baseball field.

Louis Szpeflicki's mobile photo of 6 Pack Lapadat at the Canada's Got Talent auditions held at the Rogers Centre in Toronto

There were several VIP boxes going at the same time with a TV producer in each. In groups of 10 we entered the room and took turns performing in front of the TV producer. In my group I was the only act that was not a signer. Out of the 9 singers in the room, 6 or 7 were good enough for radio.

6 Pack Lapadat hamming it up for the cameras at the Rogers Centre

After our auditions, the group was leaving the VIP box when I was asked to stick around to do an interview to be filmed by a TV crew. The TV crew filmed me lifting and pressing over my head a large steel crowd divider with my shirt off. They also filmed me posing for the camera, and showing off my muscles. Portions of this was shown on TV.

6 Pack Lapadat posing for the video cameras at the "real" auditions for Canada's Got Talent, held at the Rogers Centre

I was then told I would be notified via email if I made it to the next round, billed then as the Toronto “showcase” round. I was told this round would be in front of 3 celebrity judges, and filmed for television. While me being asked to hang back for a filmed interview and segment was a good indication I was advancing, it was far from certain. As it turned out, a number of competitors who were asked to do the same never made it to the showcase rounds.

It was in early November I was informed by an email that I had made it to the top 500 (from the original 20,000). My performance for the showcase round of Toronto would be filmed on December 5th of 2011. I had 3 weeks to put together a strongman act that could be performed on stage and still WOW thousands in a packed Toronto Convention Center, over a million viewers at home, and hopefully the 3 judges.

But that my friends, is another story for another article…

The 6 Pack Lapadat Story

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Witness the PHENOMENA for yourself!!! A 5 minute mini documentary on 6 PACK LAPADAT  is below! PREPARE TO BE INSPIRED!!!