Putnam County Resident Allen Richardson named Tennessee’s Strongest Man.
Richardson won the Men’s Superweight Division at the Tennessee’s Strongest Competition. Richardson said the event was his first major competition. Richardson can squat over 800 pounds.
‘Gym’s been my home since freshman year of high school, you know, lifting with football, and just that’s always been something I have taken pride in, is always pushing myself in the weight room to be strong and seeing where that amount of work pays off,” Richardson said. “Rather, it was in sports growing up or whether now, obviously, competing in it.”
While most people dread going to the gym, Richardson wakes up at 4am four days a week to work out. Richardson said his motivation is that he likes to keep getting stronger.
“Just any day I can go in and keep pushing myself, keep seeing where that limit is and keep pushing the limit higher, and higher, and higher, and just keep stacking,” Richardson said. “I mean, I had a guy a couple of years ago, probably around covid, asked me and said, ‘At what point are you going to stop?’ I looked at him and I said, ‘I don’t know, as long as I keep getting stronger, I guess what I am doing is working, so I’m gonna keep going.’”
Richardson is a teacher and assistant coach for several athletic programs at Cookeville High School. Richardson said he uses his passion to help student-athletes achieve their goals.
“Working with the freshmen specifically, you get kids who have never lifted before,” Richardson said. “That was me when I came in here, and it really helps me show them, ‘Hey, as long as you put the work in the weight room, you are going to see it translate one day.’ There’s a little story that floats around that my old high school head coach likes to tell about how I was one of the sorriest players he had ever seen. Then I worked for four years and ended up getting an opportunity to play in college. So it’s just allowing them to see, ‘Hey, you may have started here, but look where you can go,’ and just myself, but also letting them learn how to believe in themselves and how to push themselves in that way is really something I take pride in.”
Richardson said being Tennessee’s Strongest Man is an honor.
“It’s huge,” Richardson said. “Obviously, I am very proud. My home state, my community. And that was just something that having that title allows me to sit there and state my claim, like okay, it’s one thing to be the strongest guy in the gym or the strongest guy where you train. It’s another thing to go to an open competition and be competing against these other guys who have done these big-time meets and competing with them and overtaking them and getting to sit there and hold, okay, it’s not just oh I went threw up a big lift in the gym. No, I was there, people were there, pushing themselves to their limits, pushing for their best, and I still came out on top.”
Richardson thanked his family, the lord, and everyone locally who has supported him.