33 - Andrew Bolinger

Andrew Bolinger, founder of The Strength Edge, joins us on This Pint Has 20 Ounces to chat about Calgary’s powerlifting and strongman community and why he founded The Strength Edge as a place for the city’s strongest men and women to get together and train together.

A self described misfit, Andrew was having a hard time finding a gym where he could do strongman training and got wind of a group of guys who trained in a parking lot on Sundays. The first time he showed up he wasn’t quite sure what he was in for and started looking around for the strongest people he could find and asking them if they were there to train strongman. After only a few confused responses he eventually found 3 guys and a shipping container, flipping tires and lifting heavy stuff. Before long he recognized a big flaw with this arrangement - they couldn’t train in the winter, which made it pretty hard to master the events when they could only train for half of the year.

From here they’d get set up with their first indoor “gym”, a double wide ATCO trailer by the airport. From there they moved to a larger commercial facility which would ultimately turn out to be a mistake since the owner wasn’t a big fan of the strongman community. Andrew and his strongman cohorts started running into a lot of trouble with their equipment or supplies going missing and so he decided to take things into his own hands so they could control their own destiny. With some help from Smash Conditioning they’d get their own dedicated space right in the Currie Barracks but their fast growing community would soon find themselves needing even more space, and a couple moves and multiple expansions later they’ve made a home for themselves with a dedicated facility in Calgary’s NE with The Strength Edge.

After our history lesson on Calgary’s powerlifting community Andrew walks us through the history of strongman and associated sports, a story that goes back more than 1000 years. After all, lifting rocks and other heavy things has been a tradition in cultures all around the planet. From ancient Scottish fertility rituals to Siberian moss wrestling proving your strength has been a primal part of human fitness through millennia.

Following Andrew’s show of strength we talk to Mama T, asking questions sent in by listeners just like you. We start out by finding out what Mama T would choose for her last meal, and after an initially shocking answer we dig a little deeper and get ahold of T’s family recipe for Hodge Podge. We also share some tips and tricks on how to get free burgers for life.

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Have a question for Mama T? A story from the bottom of a beer can? Send it in and we’ll read it anonymously on-air! DM us on instagram @wildrosebrewery or email it to Nick - [email protected]

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Andrew Bolinger - The Strength Edge: website | instagram