Kennedy prepped for world strongman challenge
Sergeant Travis Kennedy has had the names of the competitors he’ll meet at the Official Strongman Games world final in Texas pinned to a board in his home gym in Auburn for months.
“They don’t know what’s coming,” he says. “I’ve done this competition already five times, just envisioning it.”
As he pulls his truck across the parking lot at West Kings District High School or up and down his dirt road, or fills it with big rocks – knowing other people are in “cushy” gyms, he’s dialing in on the “real drag” of that effort.
“Just wait ‘til I take this out on them. I’m doing this the hard way.”
The hard way has already won him the 2024 Strongman Corp Canada title, after seriously taking up the sport in 2022. The goal now is to win his OSG division through two days of competition November 20 to 23 and get a berth at the March 2026 Arnold Amateur Competition in Ohio, “where, if I make the top three, I can shake his hand.”
Kennedy is a Canadian Armed Forces aviation systems technician, working with 14 Air Maintenance Squadron at 14 Wing Greenwood as the CP140 Aurora periodic maintenance supervisor.
“I’m just a normal guy – but angry,” he jokes, describing his workout and competition prep mentality. “I’m almost 39, competing against young guys. I have an aging body – but I have the mindset, and I won’t get carried away. I’ve embraced that mental strength: it’s part of the process.”
Kennedy isn’t shy about sharing his training highs and lows online (Instagram @trkenned1987). Any successes he has are “good – it’s what scares people,” he says.
“The bad? That’s what shows the training like it is: no excuses. I do everything I possibly can do. There will be mistakes in competitions, but I’ve done the competitions at home 60 times already, so I can stay mentally in check. I’m not leaving any stone unturned.
“Now, I’m more technically sound – I feel good. Now, here we are.”
Track Kennedy through the competition
Over two days at the College Park Center – The University of Texas at Arlington, Sergeant Travis Kennedy, with 45 registered athletes in the men’s 231 pound/ 105 kilogram division will compete in four events:
Log press challenge
Athletes clean and press a log for max reps within a 60 second limit. They may choose from several weighted logs; a single rep completed with a heavier log will remove all reps from a lighter log. Reps with a heavier log will ALWAYS beat any reps with a lighter log. Athletes may go back to a lighter log if they fail a heavier log.
Timber frame carry
Athletes carry a timber frame over 100 feet/ 30.5 metres, within a 60 second time limit.
Deadlift ladder
Athletes deadlift a series of four bars, increasing in weight, in the fastest time, within a 60 second time limit.
Sandbag steeplechase
Athletes carry a sandbag 25 feet/ 7.5 metres and load it over a bar, run around or under the bar and carry it another 25 feet/ 7.5 metres and to a platform. Then, they run back to a second sandbag and repeat the process, as fast as possible, within a 60-second time limit.
Follow all the results online at https://scores.strengthtech.app/day-1-2-2025-cerberus-strength-official-strongman-games-3/m105?locale=en
