| Travis Ortmayer | |
|---|---|
| Born | Travis Ortmayer August 9, 1981 |
| Residence | Cypress, Texas |
| Other names | The Texas Stoneman |
| Occupation | Strongman |
| Height | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) |
| Weight | 300 pounds (140 kg) |
| Competition record | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Strongman | |||
| Competitor for United States | |||
| World's Strongest Man | |||
| 5th | 2008 World's Strongest Man | ||
| 5th | 2009 World's Strongest Man | ||
| 5th | 2010 World's Strongest Man | ||
| Arnold Strongman Classic | |||
| 10th | 2007 | ||
| 3rd | 2009 | ||
| 3rd | 2010 | ||
| Fortissimus | |||
| 5th | 2008 | ||
| 4th | 2009 | ||
| IFSA Strongman World Championships | |||
| 10th | 2005 | ||
| 10th | 2006 | ||
| Qualified | 2007 | ||
| IFSA Pan-American Championships | |||
| 2nd | 2005 | ||
| IFSA Strongman World Team Championships | |||
| 2nd | 2005 Team Pan-America | ||
| All-American Strongman Challenge | |||
| 2nd | 2005 | ||
| 1st | 2006 | ||
| 1st | 2008 | ||
| 3rd | 2009 | ||
| Giants Live | |||
| 2nd | 2009 Mohegan Sun Grand Prix | ||
| 1st | 2009 Viking Power Challenge | ||
| Strongman Super Series | |||
| 1st | 2008 Madison Square Garden | ||
| 1st | 2009 Stavenger Grand Prix | ||
| Strongman Champions League | |||
| 2nd | 2008 Latvia | ||
| 3rd | 2008 Holland | ||
| 3rd | 2009 Serbia | ||
| 2nd | 2009 Ukraine | ||
| 3rd | 2010 Germany | ||
| 3rd | 2010 Finland | ||
| 1st | 2010 Holland | ||
| America's Strongest Man | |||
| 3rd | 2006 | ||
| 2nd | 2009 | ||
| 1st | 2011 | ||
Travis Ortmayer (born August 9, 1981) is an American Professional Strongman athlete from Cypress, Texas. Travis is the owner of Athletic Nation [1] gym. Travis is nicknamed the Texas Stoneman due to his many world records in the Atlas Stone event.
Travis's strongman training complex is called "The Unit" and his father, Roger Ortmayer, trains with him. Travis is supported by his mom, Sonja Ortmayer, his sister, Tara Ortmayer, and his wife Lucy Ortmayer. Travis was born in Lake Tahoe, Nevada.
Contents |
Travis started out training Bodybuilding in his early teens and eventually decided to train and compete in Powerlifting. Travis then met Marshall White[2] who introduced him to the Strongman sport. In 2002, Marshall and Travis formed "the Unit" strongman training grounds in Cypress, Texas. "The Unit" was also joined by World's Strongest Man competitor Josh Thigpen[3] and professional strongman Jim Glassman.[4][5] Travis earned his ASC (American Strongman Corporation) Professional Strongman card by winning the 2004 NAS (North American Strongman) Amateur USA National Heavyweight Championships.
IFSA (International Federation of Strength Athletes) split from the TWI (Trans World International) World's Strongest Man contest after the 2004 contest. IFSA is the official governing body for the Strongman sport. IFSA held the first ever Pan-American World Championship Qualifier in 2005 at Sao Paulo, Brazil. Travis Ortmayer competed in this qualifier and placed 2nd.[6] Travis also set a World Record for the Atlas Stones : Light Set strength event. His placement qualified him to compete in the inaugural 2005 IFSA World Championship being held in Quebec, Canada.[7] During the World Championship, Travis set another World Record in the Atlas Stones, this time with the Heavy Set. Travis ultimately placed 10th overall in the World Championships.[8][9]
In 2006 Travis eventually won his first international competition in Cyprus at the IFSA Cyprus Grand Prix.[10] This was one week after attaining a pectoralis injury at the 2006 World Strongman Challenge in Tulsa, Oklahoma.[11] Travis went on to win all three National Championship Qualifiers.[12]
At the 2006 USA National Championships, Travis was 1.5 points away from victory and took home 3rd place.[13] His performance however earned him an invite [14] by strength sport historian Terry Todd to compete in his contest, the Arnold Strongman Classic[15] Classic contest, 2007, in Columbus, Ohio.[16] Travis also qualified to compete in the 2006 IFSA World Championship being held in Reykjavík, Iceland.
Travis attained a shoulder injury and a thyroid problem, and lost 25 lbs. Travis competed in the 2006 IFSA World Championships. He maintained his Atlas Stone : Light Set world record, but lost his Heavy Set world record to the 2006 Champion Zydrunas Savickas. Travis placed 10th overall.[17][18][19]
Travis then went on to compete in the exclusive 2007 Arnold Strongest Man competition. During the Timber Frame Carry, he injured his right foot. The timber frame dropped on his foot when his heel made contact with the apparatus. During the Hummer Tire Deadlift, Travis injured his back. Travis was waived out of the competition by the attending doctor. Travis did come back to compete in the final event, the Circus Dumbbell press. Travis placed 10th overall.[20]
Travis then went on to compete in the 2007 Fresno Pro-Am (USA National Championship Qualifier). Travis won this contest[21] which qualified him to compete in the 2007 America's Strongest Man (USA National Championship). During the USA National Championship, Travis re-injured his back on the second event, the Tire Deadlift, and pulled out of the competition[22]
Travis has since gone on to compete in two team contests. The USA vs. World contest put on by Al Thompson in June 2007[23] in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA was his first. Travis and his team (Derek Poundstone, Van Hatfield, Nick Best and Walt Gogola) pulled out a victory against the three of the top five European strongmen in the World, (Zydrunas Savickas, Vasyl Virastyuk and Andrus Murumets. The contest was a tie going into the final event, the Atlas Stones. Team USA pulled out a victory in Travis's signature event to capture the win overall.[24] His next team contest was the World's Strongest Nation held in Ukraine in August 2007. This time Team USA consisted of Travis along with Derek Poundstone, Tom McClure and Brian Shaw. Team USA place 2nd overall.[25]
Travis recently competed in the IFSA World Open Championships in Geumsan, South Korea. This contest consisted of three events and was a qualifier for the semifinals of the actual World Championship contest. Travis was victorious at the World Open. He competed in the semifinals held during the following two days. His 3rd place at the semifinals was not enough to qualify for entry into the IFSA World Championship.
Travis and his father Roger Ortmayer opened up the elite personal training gym Athletic Nation during early 2007. Travis worked the microphone at the Arnold Strongman contest in March 2008. Travis married Lucy Ashton on 3/8/2008 at his home in Cypress, Texas.
Travis took some time during late 2007 to let his body recover and to build up base strength levels. He achieved his goal of an 800 lb deadlift on December 1, 2007 in a powerlifting meet. Since then he has gone on to win every contest he's competed in to date, March 15, 2008. In doing so, he has qualified for the World's Strongest Man Super Series 2008 and America's Strongest Man 2008. Travis was invited to compete in the Fortissimus - Decathlon of Strength competition held in Canada the last weekend of June.
Travis competed in the Strongman Champions League 2008 Latvia contest and finished a close second behind Zydrunas Savickas. He beat out champion competitors like Mikhail Koklyaev, Andrus Murumets, and Oleksandr Pekanov.
On April 2, 2008 Travis signed on to compete against Mariusz Pudzianowski and Derek Poundstone at the Madison Square Garden Super Series on June 21, 2008. On June 21, 2008 Travis won the Madison Square Garden Super Series by defeating Derek Poundstone.
In September 2008, Travis competed in his first World's Strongest Man competition. During the qualifiers, Travis took first overall in his qualifying group. Travis still finished in 5th place overall in the finals.
Atlas ("Manhood") Stone
Ring of Stones: Light Set
5 Stone Series
Overhead Log Press
Timber Carry
SUV Deadlift
Squat
Bench Press
Deadlift
Total
Professional Competitive Record - [1st (13),2nd (6),3rd (8) - Out of Total(39)]
Performance Metric - .909 [American - .943 International - .875]
| Professional | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th | 10th | INJ | DNQ | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| American | 11 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 19 | ||||||||
| International | 7 | 7 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 31 | |||
| Combined | 18 | 9 | 10 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 50 |
COMPLETED CONTESTS
Amateur Competitive Record - [1st (7),2nd (1),3rd (2) - Out of Total(12)]
Performance Metric - .941
| Amateur | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th | 10th | 11th | 12th | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| American | 7 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 12 |
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