A year and a half ago, Nick Best was on the mend. After tearing a lat muscle in April 2021, it was unclear when the athlete would again go full throttle in training and competition. With less than two weeks until the 2022 Official Strongman Games (OSG), the versatile athlete seems to be back at a complete strength capacity.
On Oct. 30, 2022, Best shared an Instagram clip of himself finishing a 272.7-kilogram (600-pound) deadlift for 16 reps from a narrow conventional stance. Per the caption of Best’s post, his demonstration of deadlift power and endurance came only a few days before his 54th birthday on Nov. 3. This specific deadlift set might have been motivated by a celebration of his latest age milestone. The athlete utilized lifting straps and also wore a lifting belt to help him with the pulls.
[Related: How to Do the Trap Bar Deadlift — Variations, Benefits, and Common Mistakes]
With this deadlift in the account, Best is currently in the final stages of his preparations for the 2022 Official Strongman Games (OSG). Best will compete in the Men’s Masters 50-plus division at the contest that will take place on November 11-13, 2022, in Daytona Beach, FL. It will be Best’s fourth appearance at the competition, and his first competitive strongman appearance since the 2020 World’s Strongest Man (WSM). (Note: Best returned to powerlifting at the 2022 World Raw Powerlifting Federation (WRPF) FQ Classic 2 in a first-place performance with wraps in the Masters 50-54 division.)
Even without a formal contest on the way, Best would likely be hard at work training some kind of skill in his spare time. The athlete regularly makes it a point to share his unique progress on his Instagram profile. Most recently, he notably carried a 700-pound Yoke 50 feet in seven seconds in late October 2022. Before that, he dragged a 315-pound tire 25 meters back and forth at the midway point of the same month.
Here’s the list of confirmed events and the schedule for the 2022 OSG:
2022 Official Strongman Games Events
Day 1 — Friday, November 11th, 2022
- Viking Press
- Farmer’s Walk
Day 2 — Saturday, November 12th, 2022
- Axle Deadlift
- Sandbag to Shoulder
Day 3, Finals (Top 10 athletes in each division) — Sunday, November 13th, 2022
- Car Walk
- Circus Dumbbell
- Atlas Stones
[Related: The 12 Best Hamstring Exercises for Muscle Mass, Strength, and More]
Aside from Best, other notable competitors who will appear in their respective categories at the 2022 OSG include 2018 World’s Strongest Woman (WSW) Rhianon Lovelace, four-time World’s Strongest Man (WSM) Žydrūnas Savickas, 2020 Ukraine’s Strongest Man (USM) Pavlo Kordiyaka, and Axle Deadlift American Record holder (299.4 kilograms/660 pounds) Nadia Stowers.
In the Men’s Masters 50-plus division, specifically, reigning champion Michael Saunders will return to defend his title. As a former OSG champion in 2016, a potentially revitalized Best might be the person who can topple Saunders off his perch in Daytona Beach, FL.
Featured image: @nickbeststrongman on Instagram
