Sport In Profile UK Issue 16 | Page 30

Paul Smith FOLLOW US ONLINE twitter.com/sportinprofile Big Ben Products - home of the best coloured liquid chalk around and world record breaking nose napalm as used by top athletes! Here at Big Ben Products our aim is to make the best quality products at low prices. To do this we cut out the “middle man” which means all products are either straight from the manufacturer or handmade by ourselves. Home of the best coloured liquid chalk around Head over to our Facebook page to find discounts! http://www.facebook.com/BigBenProducts “I’ve ordered various products from Ben in the last few years, delivery is always prompt and the quality of his products is in line with that of more expensive well-known brands. If you’re after quality kit and don’t have SBD etc. budget you should definitely consider Big Ben Products.” Paul Shipgood first competition of the year was Britain Strongest Man in January where I was feeling very strong going in and had a good showing through most of the day, sitting in 4th going into the last event where I completely messed up. I dropped from 4th down to 8th and lost my chance to go to Worlds Strongest Man which was tough to take. I had a good result at the World Team Championships, placing 4th with Graham Hicks against some massive names in the sport but then in July I had a terrible performance at England’s Strongest Man where I lost my title. That was pretty rough and I found it got to me quite badly for a few weeks. Fortunately at the Uks Strongest Man competition, after giving myself some rest and feeling much stronger than at England’s, I ended up with 5th place which although wasn’t as good as I’d hoped was much better than my performance at England’s Strongest Man which helped my confidence massively. After that I carried on feeling stronger and stronger and then competed at the Ultimate Strongman Junior World Championships where I finally felt at my strongest ever for the first time since January. I managed to win the title which has been my biggest win in my career so far so it was a perfect way to end the season. SIP: What do you think has been the key to your success? PS: My approach to training is not typical for a strongman. I have had experience in a wide variety of sports which has formed my approach to training which comprises of many different methods. I think this training philosophy has led to me being quite good as an all-around strength athlete instead of just excelling at one area. 30 Issue 16 • Liquid Chalk • Powdered Chalk • Nose Napalm • Knee Wraps • Figure 8 Straps • All Purpose Tacky • Knee Sleeves • Elbow Sleeves • SARMs/PCT Proud sponsor of Paul Smith Strongman www.bigbenproducts.co.uk [email protected]