While many students slept in Saturday morning, others were out flexing their quads and showing off their biceps.
Pi Kappa Phi fraternity sponsored its second annual Strongman competition, a fundraiser with proceeds going to the fraternity’s charity, Push America.
According to Lane Robertson, a public relations junior, Pi Kappa Phi is the only national fraternity to have its own charity.
“Push America is about promoting and understanding for the handicapped,” Robertson said. “Last year we raised $8,000, and this year we expect to double that.”
This year’s competition saw an increase from 15 participants last year to 23, each ranging in age from 18 to mid-30s.
Strongman Chairman Kyle Robinson said they advertised this competition by setting up flyers in gyms and through banners made by local sororities.
“We open it up to the public, but it’s mostly students who perform,” Robinson said.
Those who participated were subjected to four physically grueling events — the farmer’s walk, the tractor pull, the dead lift and the tire flip.
In the farmer’s walk, each person carried two air tanks, weighing 150 pounds apiece, through a 75-yard course.
“The hardest part about this event is maintaining your grip and keeping your fists closed,” said Phil Boudreaux, who finished first in the dead lift and tire flip, and second overall in his first Strongman competition.
The tractor pull required each competitor to strap on a harness and pull a John Deere tractor 25 yards.
Scott Riedl, a finance junior and member of the LSU Power-lifting team, said this was his hardest event because of the weight of the tractor. Riedl said he was at a disadvantage in this event because he was one of the lightest competitors.
This year’s Strongman competition unveiled its newest event, the dead-lift. Contestants lifted a 600 pound hatchback.
The final event featured competitors flipping a six foot-tall tractor tire, weighing about 400 pounds.
“The tire flip was the hardest event because you’ve got to use every body part and muscle,” said Kurt Allen, a Southeastern Louisiana University student who was introduced to the Strongman competition by his girlfriend at LSU.
Bob Bass, a criminology junior, won the overall prize, beating his fourth place finish last year.
Bass said he first heard about the Strongman competition last year from a flyer in the Rec Center, where he works out four to five times a week.
For Bass, his hardest event was the dead lift.
“Its all about grip and holding,” Bass said. “It felt like my hand was about to fall off.”
Bass received $400 for winning first place overall. Boudreaux took second place and $250 and Matthew Brown came in third, winning $150.
Another new feature to this year’s Strongman event is a sorority contest. The sororities competed in a banner contest, ads sold, attending members, and their own Strongman competitor.
Delta Delta Delta sorority won the competition and will receive a free crawfish boil as a prize.