Two Central Michigan University students are among the strongest men in the country.

Harbor Springs sophomore Ron Shock and North Adams senior Jake Webb are training for the North American Strongman Inc. national competition in Lafayette, La., beginning
Oct. 10.

About 100 participants will square off in the competition and the top competitors in each weight class will become certified professionals, Shock said.

The top 15 will go to the Arnold Classic in Columbus, Ohio, in March, which Shock said is the biggest fitness expo in the world.

“Bring your popcorn — Big Ron will be putting on a show in Louisiana,” Shock said.

Shock and Webb qualified for the nationals after placing in the top of their classes during the King of the Mountain Strongman contest in Mount Pleasant over the summer.

Shock, who weighs 340 pounds, placed third in the heavyweight class and Webb, at 230 pounds, placed second in the 200- to 231-pound class.

Going pro

Shock, also a bouncer at Wayside Central, 2000 S. Mission St., believes he will go pro.

He took second place at the Circle City Strongman contest in Indianapolis, In. last May.

“I’m not going to say I’ll go pro this year but, in the next four or five years, I believe I can,” he said.

Shock trains extensively at JP’s Gym and Fitness Center, 4245 S. Lincoln Road, and consumes a high protein diet of up to 7,000 calories daily.

But he doesn’t consider himself a bodybuilder.

While bodybuilders focus on toning their bodies, Shock, who can deadlift 700 pounds, considers himself a “strongman.”

Unlike bodybuilders, strongmen focus solely on building strength and not just looking good, he said.

“Strongmen and power lifters are like Mack trucks, while bodybuilders are like peacocks,” he said. “We’re the black sheep of the muscle world.”

Going for fun

Webb has competed in five shows prior to the nationals and said he hopes to place in the top 10.

Since his first show, a 2008 King of the Mountain competition, he said he has fallen in love with strength building.

Webb said he will remain calm until the competition.

“I’m not really an all-too-excited person until I get down there,” he said. “Right now, I’m just going for fun.”

Two other Mount Pleasant natives are headed to the nationals — state trooper Chris Pietrantonio of the Mount Pleasant post and Mount Pleasant resident Shawn Allen.

Allen said he will represent his religion while at the nationals.

“I just want to go out there and represent Christ,” Allen said. “So many times, you get the stereotypical meatheads, and I want to show people the alternative.”

E-mail the author: Joe Borlik