In this episode, Jen Morgan joins me to talk all about her experiences as a competitive, vegan, strongwoman athlete in the masters’ 132 and 148 pound weight classes. Strongman is a competition that includes a variety of events where the goal is to demonstrate the highest feat of strength possible on that particular movement to beat out other competitors in the weight class.
You may have heard of the World’s Strongest Man or World’s Strongest Woman, which is one of the most renowned competitions in the strongman universe and includes such athletes as Donna Moore, Andrea Thompson, Olga Liaschuk, Eddie Hall, Brian Shaw and Halfthor Bjornnsen, otherwise known by his role as the Mountain in the popular Game of Thrones series.
Although the specific events in strongman competitions always change a bit, some staples that frequently appear include some variety of deadlifts, squats, lifting stones, log or axle press, farmer’s carries or yoke walks, vehicle pulls, keg toss and tire flips, for example.
Jen walks me through the basics of what entails these competitions, how she trains for them, what got her into them, the strongman community in general, her reasons for going vegan, her experiences training for strongman and powerlifting as a vegan athlete and much more. Jen is insanely, mind-blowingly strong and it was super interesting hearing all about these things during out conversation.
Jen can be found on social media at @jacked_jenny . I hope you enjoy the episode as much as I enjoyed our chat and thanks so much again to Jenny for coming on!
TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 – Intro to Podcast
00:45 – Intro to Jen Morgan and strongman competition overview
2:25 – Podcast episode start
3:00 – Quick intro to Jenny
4:30 – What is strongman, exactly?
6:00 – Training for strongman
11:00 – What qualifies to compete at nationals?
11:45 – Jenny’s weight class, making weight
16:00 – When did Jenny start lifting?
17:45 – Jenny’s competition plans for the future
19:00 – Peak age for strength sports, masters classes
21:00 – Women in strength sports, strongwomen
22:00 – How Jenny got into strongman from powerlifting, home gym
24:15 – Strongman community, training with a team at a gym
26:45 – What drew Jenny to strongman?
28:15 – What competitions has Jenny done and best feats of strength?
30:30 – Jenny competing at nationals
33:15 – Why Jenny went vegan?
36:00 – Jenny’s diet approach, some favorite protein options
38:00 – Protein intake and going lower on protein
40:45 – Diet vices, coffee, how caffeine effects us
43:45 – Calorie and macro intakes as an athlete
46:30 – Does a plant based diet have any disadvantages?
48:45 – Vegan athletes, plant based food now vs. in the past, being an example
53:45 – Jenny’s tips for transitioning to a plant based diet as an athlete
58:00 – Jenny’s tips for getting into strongman
59:45 – Where can Jenny be found on social media?
1:01:00 – Episode outro
