Category Archives: Canadian Powerlifting champion

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…

Canada’s Got Talent: A competitor’s story of the epic fails

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As a competitor on the hit TV show Canada’s Got Talent, I’d like to offer a look at the behind the scenes viewers may not know about.

Canada’s Got Talent is a block buster show on cityTV. The broadcaster sunk a majority of their budget into the show in hopes of making a hit, and the ratings suggest they did just that. Not a single episode has recieved less than 1.2 million viewers tuning in. For a country of roughly 35 million people, that is a good chunk of the Nation watching, and even more reading and hearing about the show later on.

In every talent show (American Idol, So you thing you can dance, etc.) it is the auditions shows that get the highest ratings. This is because the auditions can go either way, an epic coming-out-of-talent or an epic fail. The viewer never knows what they are going to get once the competitor comes on the screen. Lets be honest, the epic fails are almost (or even more) entertaining than the truely talented acts.

Some acts were pushed forward by producers to fail on stage

While this will likely shock no body, some acts were pushed forward to fail on stage. The “auditions” shows that are seen on TV are actual “showcase” rounds. The real auditions took place across the country with an estimated 20,000 people participating. TV producers trim the competitors from 20,000 to a little over 500 across Canada for the showcase rounds. It is the showcase rounds that are filmed and televised for TV with the three celebrity judges. That means 19,500 people get cut right off the bat. So when you see an act on stage that is just terrible, they were strategicly planted there for your entertainment.

That being said, I can honestly tell you the number of duds placed in the show for entertainment value was a lot lower than people think. For instance, you may get two to three duds place in an show and they are going to get air time because they were placed there on purpose for entertainment. However, their air time is limited, and for every dud who is bound to fail you have 30 competitors who were picked to go forward because the producers believe they truely have a chance.

The epic fails were met with three red Xs from the judges. This seperates this show from other talent shows on TV.

Some who got cut during the initial auditions (when there was 20,000 competitors) complain that producers cut them and pushed forward some epic fails to join the 500 competitors to the next round (the TV round). If they were honest, we all knew this would be the case as this is far from new with talent shows. Also, of the 500 competitors who made it to the showcase rounds, only a few hand fulls were placed there for epic fails. It seems like more because they show the epic fails on TV, however, live you rarely saw some one bomb. Most people who did not move forward were good, but simply not good enough.

For those that got cut, often its easier to look for a different reason why they got cut.

Canada's Got Talent judges were a lot "gentler" than America's Got Talent judges. There was no Piers Morgan

Another interesting thing about Canada’s Got Talent, the show was a lot “softer” on their epic fails than other talent shows. Perhaps this is because producers felt it is un-Canadian to be too critical and rude. Even the worst of bombs on stage were greated with a carefully worded “no” from a judge. When the judges did take jabs at the acts, it was usually done behind a joke that was more comical than mean. It is a tough thing to do, making fun of an act while not being truely mean. Martin Short was likely the best at it. Comedy comes easy to Martin, and he had the ability to make a light hearted joke about an act while not coming off too harsh.

Clever comedic jabs were placed by funny man Martin Short on untalented contestants.

Of the three judges in the showcase rounds (“auditions” for tv) Martin was likely the toughest of the three judges to win over, with a Measha Brueggergosman coming in a close second. Measha was fearless with her picks, even if it was not going to go over well with the crowd. For that it was clear she was a good choice by the producers to fill the role. The last thing you want on a talent show is a judge who is affriad to offer critique and state their honest opinion of an act.

Measha filled her role well as a Judge on Canada's Got Talent

Stephan Moccio suprised me. I did not know much about Stephan before the show. I learned, like most other people I’d assume, about his impressive credentials in the music business after he was selected as a judge.  On TV it is clear that most of the jokes and one-liners that aired belong to Martin Short, however, in the actual live taping Stephan was suprisingly up to par with Martin in that department. Stephan had some of the funniest one liners the day I was there in the audience after I had performed.

Stephan was suprisingly funny and charismatic

As for what it was like to actually perform, as well as the back stage goods on how the show works on that end of things, check out the article next!…

Recovery

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It has been a half year since I broke two Guinness World records in Weightlifting in a single day, and I am still recovering physically. It seems as though a nerve in my right arm has been damaged.

My right arm was dislocated at the elbow in a submission fighting match a few years ago in a tournament, and has ever since been an on going problem. There was also a great while after the records that my one lift strength was badly sapped. For two weeks I was incredibly soar. When the pain left, I found my crossfit style of weightlifting for the records (lighter weight for hundreds of reps that would increase overall weightage lifted) came at a cost of my single lift strength that my powerlifting training gave me.

A few months of changing my lifting back to single lift strength has got me back on track. By mid february I will commence an 18 week powerlifting training program that should end up with me at my strongest I have ever been.

X rays and MRIs of my right arm are currently being examined, and I am seeing a specialist for help. I also have one of the best in dealing with sports injuries in my corner, Dr. Aras Kvedaras, helping me out. Originally I could not even straighten my right arm out. I had constant pain. Now I can straighten it (not all the way, but painlessly) and only have pain in certain movements.

The X rays and MRIs will reveal what needs to be done to fix the problem. I am confident the injury will be taken care of. In the mean time I am able to resume heavy benching and lifting in general. I am bench pressing 315 pounds for a multiple reps in a working set again. This was not possible just a couple months ago. I am squatting and deadlifting at full power again as well.

My overhead pressing has been comprimized due to my injury (my right shoulder has gotten tender because it is compensating) but this is a minor problem.

You can’t make an omellet without breaking a few eggs. You don’t break World records without taking a toll on your body. Sports injuries go hand in hand with sports. Its a small price to pay.

Me and my team are already in talks for more World records this summer. We are already looking towards the future. As always, they will be to raise money for sick kids. Look for an announcement soon on the up coming events. Expect the new World records to be much bigger than last years!

6 up!

– 6 Pack Lapadat

The Nationals approach…is it possible?

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The Canadian Nationals of powerlifting are this saturday. It’s an event I have not missed in the past 3 years. It’s an event that is the apex of powerlifting for any Canadian lifter. It’s also my biggest dilemma closing in on my Guinness World record attempts.

Training for these Guinness World records has consumed my life and changed the entire way I weight train. My powerlifting training prepped me for one single lift of the heaviest weight in the squat, bench press, and deadlift. Hours of lifting heavy weights for sets of 3 repetitions, over and over with hundreds of pounds acclimatize your central nervous system for heavy lifting.

Your central nervous system is much like your engine, and your muscles and bones the body to your car. Your central nervous system is why you can have two individuals both the exact same weight (say 200 pounds) and the exact same muscularity and muscle density, and by all optical judgement be the exact same to look at. But it’s not the muscle mass alone that makes some individuals stronger. That is only the body of the vehicle. The body of the vehicle may be designed for speed, but its the engine that really separates fast cars from others.

That is why some people gravitate towards powerlifting. In weight training, they discover that for whatever reason they are built to lift heavy weights. Their central nervous system is hardwired for their bodies to generate lots of horse power. More so than other peers who train as much, and often, and are the same size or bigger.

But the central nervous system (CNS) is a funny thing.

Powerlifting training gears your CNS for such heavy lifting. These Guinness World records I am attempting in July are records of muscular endurance, and switch the fast/slow twitch fibers I am recruiting in my muscles.

In training for the Record Day this July 16th, I have been lifting a relatively light weight (compared to my powerlifting training) for hundreds of reps over the span of hours straight. Although still weightlifting, it is actually the opposite of powerlifting training.

I have noticed in my training that my muscular endurance has improved greatly. The first few days of training like this were some of the hardest days I have ever endured. Training with a trash bucket next to me because I felt as though I was going to puke was standard protocol. I would sweat 3-4 pounds of water out of my body, and my muscles would tighten up as soon as the training day was over. It felt more like I was running a marathon than weightlifting.

I trained nothing but low weight/high rep squats and deadlifts for the past month with only one powerlifting day a week.  At first I didn’t notice much difference on my powerlifting day. A month later, the difference is impossible to ignore or deny. I no longer need a trash can by my side, as my conditioning has risen to the best shape of my life in terms of muscular endurance. My one lift strength however has dropped dramatically.

While it was standard practise to train with over 400 pounds on my back as a good working weight for repetitions a month ago, today it is a labouring task I can only do for a few sets.

An injury to my left hand has also considerably weakened my grip strength. hundreds of deadlifts a day every day have taken its toll. The left hand has been giving out when I go for what was a short while ago a fairly light deadlift.

My chief coach, Dr Aras Kvedaras, warned me this would happen. Dr. Aras is a master in understanding the human anatomy, and in some circles is so good he is nick named “the witch doctor”. He has been working with me to keep me healthy and as injury free as possible. Considering the work load I am putting my body through, he has a tough assignment.

He foreseen the lost of heavy lifting strength as muscular endurance grew. He encouraged me to bypass powerlifting, and if possible such feats of strength like towing airplanes and school buses. The ladder I may not be able to bypass as I have commitments to do such feats of strength to help hype the record attempts. These eye-popping  feats of strength bring in National media attention and, in turn, corporate sponsors to raise money for sick children. After all, raising money for sick kids is the reason for all of this anyways.

It’s a hectic schedule, and at the end of the day it is a game time decision. I won the Provincials, and I am already on the Nationals roster. My path is all clear for me to compete should I choose to.

This week I’ll monitor my body’s strength and have to make a tough decision come saturday.