Provo strongman getting stronger for world competition
Kevin Faires, surrounded by his friends and workout partners, reps incline bench presses during a workout on Thursday, July 14, 2016, in Mapleton. Faires will be heading to Finland to compete on a world-class level, where only he and one other American will be representing the United States; many strongmen come from around the world to compete. DOMINIC VALENTE, Daily Herald
Kevin Faires works out on Saturday, July 16, 2016, in Mapleton. Faires is a professional strongman competitor and will be traveling to Finland to compete on a world-class level with participants from around the world later this year. DOMINIC VALENTE, Daily Herald
Kevin Faires, surrounded by his friends and workout partners, prepares to rep some incline bench exercises during a workout on Thursday, July 14, 2016, in Mapleton. Faires dedicates much of his success to the support of his friends, workout partners and family, and their continued support help him grow in the sport. DOMINIC VALENTE, Daily Herald
Sean Loy, a sub-200-pound strongman competitor, attempts a clean and press during a workout on Thursday, July 14, 2016, in Mapleton. Loy is in the same workout group as Kevin Faires, who's traveling to Finland this year to compete against some of the best strongman competitors in the world. DOMINIC VALENTE, Daily Herald
Jordan Larson stretches before a workout on Thursday, July 14, 2016, in Mapleton. Kevin Faires is a professional strongman competitor and will be traveling to Finland to compete on a world-class level with participants from around the world later this year. DOMINIC VALENTE, Daily Herald
Kevin Faires, surrounded by his friends and workout partners, reps some incline bench exercises during a workout on Thursday, July 14, 2016, in Mapleton. Kevin Faires is a professional strongman competitor and will be traveling to Finland to compete on a world-class level with participants from around the world later this year. DOMINIC VALENTE, Daily Herald
Kevin Faires stares ahead with a determined and steadfast look as he prepares to do a set of box squats with 640 pounds. He starts off slow and easy, eyes still focused dead ahead like he is memorizing the blank wall in front of him.
”Let’s go, Kev. Get in it,” one of the people he trains with says.
Faires does another rep, eyes still focused on that clean white wall.
”Come on,” another person says as Faires does another rep and the weights clank against each other.
”One more, one more. Come on, Kev,” the group encourages as he fights with his last rep.
All of the training, lifting and preparation is for the Strongman Champions League World Championship, which Faires qualified for in June. Faires said strongman is a sport that puts each participant in competition with the weight and themselves.
”It’s you against the weight,” he said. “You don’t have a team, it’s not a team effort. You go in there and if you can’t lift it, you can’t lift it. There’s no one to blame but you.”
At the competition on Sept. 9 in Kukkola, Finland, Faires will be facing the strongest men from countries across the world as they compete in different events meant to test their strength and endurance.
For Faires, the road to the world competition has been a long one. While he started training for strongman a little more than a year ago, he said he’s always been active.
Faires played football and baseball in high school, but he said wrestling was his favorite and he’s always been strong.
Rod Jones, Faires’ dad, can attest to that.
”He came home one day (in high school) and said, ‘Guess what? I joined the 1,000-pound club,'” Jones remembered. “I said, ‘What the heck is that?’ He said, ‘I did three lifts and I lifted 1,000 pounds.’ … I figured he was pretty much on his way then.”
However, the idea to start seriously training and competing didn’t set in until March 2015. That’s when Faires had a squat that was 650 pounds.
”I hadn’t really looked into powerlifting or strongman then,” he said. “I hadn’t heard anything about it, but I had heard those were great numbers based off friends and people that were looking into the sport.”
Rebecca Rowley, who trains with Faires, said she knew him when he was more involved in bodybuilding. While he wasn’t strength training at the time, she said she knew he was strong and could do a lot.
”I said, ‘Enough’s enough. Stop wasting your talent,'” she said.
From that point, Faires said he started training more seriously and entering competitions. He went “from a show pony to a real athlete,” as Rowley put it.
Faires trains three days a week — strength training on Tuesdays and Thursdays and event training on Saturday.
On Thursday, a group of six, including Faires and Rowley, gathered at Patriot Strength Club in Mapleton to test their limits and get stronger.
Heavy metal music drones in the background as the group does sets and cheers each other on when things get difficult. When one person can’t quite lift a particular weight, someone is there to offer advice and encouragement for the next attempt.
Rowley said the place they train is a lot different from a typical gym. There’s no mirrors, no air conditioning, no television. Just the weights and the people training.
”You’re here because you love it,” she said. “There’s nothing comfortable about it.”
While being physically strong is key, Faires said it takes great mental strength to be successful in the sport.
”It’s probably 80 percent mental,” he said. “If you tell yourself you can do it, the chances are you are probably going to do it. Whether you are strong or not, if you have the mindset, you are going to push yourself to that limit.”
Janeen Jones, Faires’ mother, said her son’s decision to compete in strongman wasn’t unexpected.
”Actually, that is totally him,” she said. “I wouldn’t expect anything less than that because he likes to compete and he likes the challenge, but he doesn’t hold back. He gives it his all every time.”
In return, Faires said strongman and competing has given him confidence in all aspects of his life, even fatherhood. Faires has a 4-year-old daughter and a 1½-year-old son.
Faires learned to give it his all when he was attending Provo High School, where he went to regionals and state for wrestling. He said his first strongman competition was very similar to those previous competitions.
”It felt overwhelming until the whistle blew,” he said. “You just get tuned in. Once the whistle blows, you don’t hear anything or see anything. You just focus on your opponent.”
Faires said each competition comes down to tuning out everything else and pushing yourself to your limits. To prove this, he mentioned that he would have lost nationals if he didn’t go seven more steps while carrying large weights.
Last month at a local business’ grand opening, Faires was hooked up to a firetruck and was set to pull it as far as he could.
The pull presented quite a challenge, but Faires said he stuck with it.
”I have never told myself I wanted to give up until that time,” he said. “I told myself in the pull that I wanted to give up three times, but I just stuck it out and pulled it.”
He ended up pulling that 5,000-pound truck 60 feet.
Coincidentally, this will also be very similar to the truck pull Faires will compete in at the world competition. The competition will consist of a variety of events like the Hercules hold, where competitors hold up two falling pillars up; the shield carry, which requires participants to carry a 350-pound weight in their arms as far as they can; and the farmer’s walk, where the participants carry a 300-pound weight in each hand and walk 90 feet.
Faires said he feels prepared for the world competition, but that isn’t the end for him.
While he has done an 800-pound deadlift at a competition in April, Faires said he hopes to be able to pull 900 pounds by the end of the year.
”I don’t think I’ve reached my limit yet,” he said.
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