In 2019 I was fortunate to spend time with Trey at World’s Strongest Man in Bradenton, Florida, as his helper in the Finals. It was an exciting time especially in the stone-off with Oleksii Novikov of which Trey won.
Many said that due to the large point difference between 2nd and 3rd place in qualifying that it was unfair to have a stone-off to knock one of these men out of the finals.
Trey didn’t make the rules though and was able to use his great stonelifting skills to beat the future 2020 World’s Strongest Man winner.
So after a couple of years it was time to catch up with him again.
Phil Burgess: First things first, how did you get into strongman?
Trey Mitchell: With American Football training, I liked lifting heavy weights and testing myself. I knew I wasn’t going to go to College for American Football but I wanted to keep doing something physical, and I’d watched Strongman on TV growing up. I wondered if I could do that instead so I found some local competitions, and started doing them and started progressing to where I am now.
Phil Burgess: So how many competitions did it take before you won Official Strongman Games, as I recall Colin Bryce saying that you were the first athlete to qualify for World’s Strongest Man by winning the Official Strongman Games.
Trey Mitchell: I should have kept count ?, but it has to be close to 100. I did a lot of competitions to get to the next level of competition in America, it’s very difficult here. You have to do local competitions, amateur ones, then win the National Amateur comp, just to get your American Pro Card, but America is the only country which does this. ?
I qualified for 2017 OSG via the online qualifier, as I didn’t get one of the 20 invites which were sent to some athletes. So I qualified and then went on to win the whole competition.
Then I had achieved what they wanted (Giant’s Live) of do the qualifier, win the OSG and then get the invite to WSM.
Phil Burgess: What competition result has meant the most to you in 2021?
Trey Mitchell: I got 4th place at World’s Strongest Man, based on some small mistakes I made I knew I could have done better and got 3rd at that competition. It wasn’t the highlight for the year, obviously winning the Brian Shaw classic was the highlight. That has to be the heaviest competition there ever was, and they were pretty gruelling conditions in the mountains of Colorado.
Phil Burgess: Where do you train, is it a home set-up or did I see that you train at a school?
Trey Mitchell: I’ve just started working at a gym which has recently opened up but for the last 6 years I was working out at my old High School. This is because before this new gym opened up they were only commercial gyms and you cant do strongman in a commercial gym.
I was friends with the coaches at High School and they said, that I could go and work out, and lift as much as I wanted to. I tried to go there, between the athletic classes so no-one else was training.
This opportunity has now opened up to run a gym and I can create a gym suitable for what I need and make a gym for strongman to get other people to come in to train for this.
Phil Burgess: How do you decide what competition you are going to go to?
Trey Mitchell: I take the opportunities which pop up. To be honest with you I’m starting to get invites for competitions based on my performances. If a World’s Ultimate Strongman invite comes up, then I’ll do it, as long as it doesn’t conflict with other competitions I’ve already agreed to compete at. I’m basically a free agent if you want to offer up enough money for me to compete for you ? Seriously I don’t have any animosity with anybody.
Phil Burgess: What is the most important lesson you’ve learnt in strongman?
Trey Mitchell: Well, you have to take care of your body and listen to it, you can’t just go 100% every day, balls to the wall. I’ve had plenty of injuries, some of the strongman competitors try and make fun and say “oh you haven’t had any injuries”. I’ve had pulled muscles, pinched nerves, torn bicep and triceps, torn hamstrings, pulled spinal erectors, torn labrum and what not.
You just have to look after your body, some people don’t invest as much in their recovery as they do into their training. Recovery is just as important because if you don’t take care of your body you just don’t get stronger.
My recovery approach is almost every method. Epsom salt baths are probably the easiest, but I also get soft tissue work with some body tempering. This is basically a heavy steel pipe which you roll across your muscles to break up the fascia and scar tissue.
I try and do mobility work before and after my training sessions.
I’ll do cold baths before sleep, as they help me sleep because sleep is an important for recovery too. Some guys have to use their CPAP machine, but I haven’t had sleep apnea confirmed for me. I can sleep without my CPAP and sleep just fine, but I get a whole lot better sleep with my CPAP, and it runs in the family.
Just taking Magnesium and Zinc before bed also will help improve your sleep.
Phil Burgess: You got 4th at Worlds Strongest Man this year 2021, what are you working to improve to get you on the podium next year?
Trey Mitchell: My grip is a limiting factor on some events, I didn’t move the frame in the heats but in the final I moved it, but dropped it 2 times and if I hadn’t have done this I would have got a far quicker time.
Other than that I have to fix up the little mistakes I made here and there.
For the keg toss for height, if I had thrown my last attempt over I would have tied with on points with 5 other people. If I’d have taken one step back closer to the wall it would have gone over. Just a little mistake like that killed me.
I’m also working on my work capacity for the last event the stones, I was just so drained going into it, and it’s supposed to be my bread and butter but I got 4th or 5th in it, because I was so wore out.
Phil Burgess: Whats the best log press and conventional deadlift you’ve done?
Trey Mitchell: Log – 455lb (207kg) at the Shaw Classic is my best. I thought I was going to get the 470 (213.5kg) on my last lift, but the log tilted on my thumbs, like it wanted to come down onto my face, but the power wasn’t there once it slipped.
Deadlift – 880lb (400kg) for a double
Phil Burgess: What about a max Atlas Stone lift?
Trey Mitchell: At the 2020 Arnold I went for the Atlas Stone World record, and a buddy of mine gave me some tacky to use, which I had used in training on my stones which worked really well. However the stone at the Arnold’s is professionally made and as slick as glass, so all the tacky came off my skin and stuck to the stone so there was nothing stuck on my hands or forearms, so I couldn’t pick up the 565lb (257kg).
After the record attempt was all said and done, and they were doing the interview with Tom Stoltman, I ran back and got some better tacky, and I was able to lap the 603lb (274kg) stone. In training for that record attempt I had hit 553lb (251kg) for 3 singles.
Phil Burgess: Finally, tell me what’s the link between Anime and Strongman, and who’s your favourite character?
Trey Mitchell: As a kid it was cartoons and as I got older, I realised there was a bit more to it. Other strongmen like Martins Licis and Gabriel Pena also like it. We grew up in the Dragonball era with strong guys getting stronger and I guess that influenced us.
As for my favourite, that’s tough…(long pause) The Anime is Baki the Grappler, and the character name is Hanayama. It’s pretty cool, you should check it out ?
