Mark Chaffer is a Strongman, and he won the 2018 America’s Strongest Disabled Strongman!! He was ready to do something nice for himself – to get professional portraits, for personal use. Maybe one day we will take some in-action lifting shots too, but this session was awesome and I loved learning more about his passion.
A note from Mark about high goals and achievements…
I won America’s Strongest Disabled Man this year in Columbus Ohio. It’s my second year doing strongman after transitioning from power-lifting. My disability is that I have a brachial plexus injury from birth, which hinders my strength, stability and mobility in my right shoulder and arm. The right arm is actually 3″ shorter than the left. The things we did at ASDM were lifting rocks, pulling trucks, heavy carries, sandbag toss for height, and a single arm press. My best event was the yoke carry, which is a loaded frame that sits across your shoulders. I moved 700-lbs 50 feet in 7 seconds. The thing I like the most about strongman is actually watching other people move and adapt to the challenges they face. You can learn a lot about your own body by watching others. I find strength sports extremely empowering, there’s always a new challenge and I keep exceeding my own expectations. Strongman lets me feel resilient and powerful even on the days where my arm isn’t cooperating.
You can follow Mark at his Instagram handle, ineffective_platemath.
Enjoy some outtakes below:
