HUGE ANNOUNCEMENT! We changed the contest to DEADLIFT FOR Mike Jenkins! Big Mike even though I knew him for only a short time was a good friend and I got Keri Sue Jenkins blessing to do the contest in his name so we are going to do the charity in honor of Mike Jenkins! (All Details for contest here ) gaglionestrength/2013/11/20/deadlift-for-jenkins/ Here is a little back story for how I know Mike for those that are interested. (and a little back story and why I am doing this) It was Thanksgiving morning. Thanksgiving morning was a day with mixed emotion. I was on such as high from an amazing Thanksgiving workout. The amount of people that came to train with us was astonishing. Literally hours later I got a call from Anthony. He said he heard our friend Mike Jenkins was dead. At first I didn’t process it. I went on to FB to check if it was true. Literally hundreds of posts and the one that confirmed was one from his wife Keri. For those of you that don’t know Mike he was an Arnold Classic champion. He beat the best of the best at the heaviest show in strongman. The Arnold doesn’t get as much press as World’s Strongest man, but in some cases its actually a harder contest and usually heavier. Mike’s goal was still to become the World’s strongest man champ. He finished 5th and 4th and was so close to getting on the podium this past year. How did we meet? Kind of crazy, but actually Mike Jenkins actually friended me on facebook. He saw the community I was building on Long Island and at the time he was starting a small gym called Catalyst Athletics in Hershey. I immediately messaged him and asked him to do a phone interview. We did podcast and I was amazed by his story and we hit it off right away. Shortly after we traveled to his gym in Hersey and spent the day. We marveled at the 500 pound stone and other equipment that literally only he could use! He spent the whole day with us and even went out to eat with us and gave us great training advice. Mike always said how he struggled to make ends meet since when he wanted to take a leave of absence to go to strongman contest he actually was let go from his teaching job. To make ends meet he started training people but didn’t have a lot of luck getting clients. We never understood why more people didn’t train with him at the time. Simply mind blowing. But he never quit and kept working on all his goals both in his business and in training. He always did the right thing and never cut any corners. As we grew closer I asked him to do a seminar at our gym. We struggled to fill the seminar which really annoyed me but I made sure we got enough attendees to give him a decent pay day. I will never forget the expression on my mom’s face when he walked through the door! He was afraid that he was going to kill us at first but as she got to know Mike she realized that he was just a big teddy bear and such as nice guy. One of the nicest guys I have ever met to be honest! I always stay in touch with Mike I always to tried to help give him solid business advice and always wished him luck at his contests. It was cool at the Crossfit/Strongman comp that Mark and Ian entered he literally sat by us and talked to us during all the breaks and we grew closer and closer. That was the moment that it really solidified that we were good friends. We weren’t just fans of his. He saw us as equals and he always supported what we were trying to build at Gaglione Strength. This is when I met Keri for the first time I believe. She is such a sweet heart and is one of the most supportive and kind people I have ever met. Fast forward a bit. Big Mike opened up a Crossfit gym called Crossfit Gamma. Listen to this. This shows how big Mike’s heart is. A girl named Irina was very sick and got cancer. Her parents didn’t have any insurance to pay for her chemo therapy. It was all out of pocket. Big Mike used his grand opening to be a fundraiser for Irina. They raised thousands of dollars for her! Such a big heart. When she spoke thanking Mike I started to tear up. I wish I could remember her exact quote but she said something to the effect of cherishing each day and just live life. Be Happy to be alive. It was very touching. His gym really started to take off. I was so happy for him and Keri since I know they both struggled for many years and things started to look very good for both of them. We then saw him at Ian and Brandon contest in PA the next weekend and again we got to hang out with him and Keri for a bit and enjoyed each others company for several hours often times being interrupted by crazy fans who would ask how much he would bench… you get the idea! One time big Mike responded “I bench 700 pounds” (which he can’t) and the guy said “Oh thats pretty good”. Big Mike always had a good sense of humor and could always spot a civilian! I am glad that I got to call big Mike my friend. For being one of the best in the World and an All time record holder in several pressing event he was with out a doubt the most humble and giving STRONGMAN competitor I have EVER met period. It is fitting that we got the news on Thanksgiving because it really puts things in perspective and gave me a light of insight. I will NEVER take for granted the time I have on this earth. Live each day like its your last. Literally like that it could all be taken away from you. I am so blessed to have such a great team supporting and I so thankful to be doing what I love to do each and every day. For this reason I want to put on a BIG SHOW to HONOR MIKE JENKINS! Big Mike always supported my cause and this is my way of giving back! Let’s honor Big Mike and make this contest blow up! SHARE COMMENT through E-MAIL, FB, TWITTER, and WORD OF MOUTH!
Posted on: Sun, 05 Jan 2014 13:53:07 +0000
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