u/crawfordov24

Explosive reps at the end of a workout, copying Liam Brown

5kg PR on this variation, definitely a 2nd or 3rd rep with the atlas stone straight after the big bag. Things moving well towards the 200kg bag to shoulder.

A replica of the Odd Haugen Tombstone used at the Arnold’s albeit this one is much lighter.

Shouldered this last year before my appendix went kaboom and gave me gangrene and sepsis (7 months ago). Then had a big battle at Donald Dinnie Day 2026 with it, got it to shoulder there but not steady. Means so much to get this again post-surgery and for the first time with a t shirt too! Just can’t beat the buzz of natural stone lifting. This stone is my namesake stone (I got to name it because I was first to shoulder it) and it resides down at Transition Fitness, Montrose, Scotland for anyone wanting a lift.

One of my best ever sets and bag was freshly weighed, scales checked/calibrated with Cerberus calibrated competition plate just before weighing the bag.

Trying to build more speed

First to shoulder gets to name it and this was the most popular choice (pinched from Rossliftsrocks). The stone can be found at Transitionfitness, Montrose

Getting back to basics 6 months post surgery (complicated appendectomy with gangrene and sepsis). Have to wear a soft belt for now to stop my guts popping out of the x4 wound sites, hernias a major risk apparently.

When I was in the hospital and couldn’t get out of bed unassisted I set the goal to shoulder the Ardvorlich again this year. Goal reached. Happy days.

Gary Clarke getting to showcase his adaptive lifting at the Donald Dinnie Day Gathering 2026

Getting back to basics 6 months post surgery (complicated appendectomy with gangrene and sepsis). Have to wear a soft belt for now to stop my guts popping out of the x4 wound sites, hernias a major risk apparently.

Getting back to basics 6 months post surgery (complicated appendectomy with gangrene and sepsis). Have to wear a soft belt for now to stop my guts popping out of the x4 wound sites, hernias a major risk apparently.

As part of one of the first seated adaptive lifter stone tours. The lifter is Gary Clarke (strongmangary on the socials)

Congratulations to @seanurq for becoming the 3rd person, on record at least, to take the 410lb Ultach Alasdair Mhòr (aka Ultach na h airde a glaise)
to chest.

One of the most fascinating things about this stone is that the three recorded chest lifts were solved differently. That is part of the magic of stonelifting: different body types and approaches but still solving the puzzle.

As for “On record”. It is all we can honestly say.

I do not like the idea that modern feats mean less because they did not happen in the half-mythic past. Adding a new name to the story of an old stone is not disrespectful. It is how the story keeps living. There can be a real antiquity bias in stonelifting, where something feels more valid simply because it is older. The past is important, but modern history is still history.

Claims should make people curious, not dismissive. If someone claims a first, or one of only a few, the useful response is not “you can’t know that”. Ask around. Check old posts, videos, witnesses, buried comments, whatever exists. If the claim is wrong, respond with evidence respectfully.

The idea that we should stop recognising these feats because we can never know with perfect certainty is reductive. It treats uncertainty as a reason to say nothing, when it should be a reason to look harder. No record works from perfect knowledge. We work from the best evidence available, while staying open to correction. Could someone have done something incredible in private and never told anyone? Yes, maybe. But we cannot build a meaningful record around invisible performances.

@willholliday is why this is worth doing. Of the three lifts we know of to chest this stone, his was the most effortless, yet he is sadly the least known. He is criminally underrated, and any stone lifter is missing out if they have not seen that lift. I made a meal of this stone. Sean did a great job. Will made it look most easy, like there was another gear there if he needed it.

Recognising his place in the history of this stone means more people might go and watch, appreciate and savour what he did. That is the value of a ‘claimed record’. It preserves lifters and the stories that might otherwise be missed.