After only eight months of practice, Port Townsend’s Ryan Gutierrez won first place in his weight category in the recent Pacific Northwest Strongest Man competition, qualifying him for the national event this fall in Las Vegas.

Although he’s been practicing for Strongman competitions for less than a year, the Port Townsend High School Class of 2004 alum has focused on developing his physique his entire life.

“I powerlifted for a few years before I got into Strongman,” said the 32-year-old Gutierrez, who stands 5 feet, 9 inches tall, but makes an impression, with a weight that hovers between 215 and 221 pounds.

“I’m light for my weight class, since I compete at 231.”

Before powerlifting, Gutierrez played football at high school and junior college levels, until a torn hamstring forced him to redirect his considerable energies.

“Heavy lifting helps me release my rage,” Gutierrez said. “I can just go crazy on the weights, to the point that it becomes peaceful. It’s almost Zen,” he said, laughing.

Gutierrez’s strength training takes up four days a week, with from one to two hours per training session, and a visit to the Dungeon Fitness Gym in Bremerton every other week for more intensive training.

While his regular training sessions include squats, dead lifts and overhead presses, his gym visits focus on event training specifically, and include Atlas stone loading and frame carrying.

“I try not to train more than 80 percent of my maximum the rest of the time, but that goes up to 90 percent as I get closer to a competition,” Gutierrez said. “It is possible to overtrain. You can fry your central nervous system. That’s why you need to get enough sleep.”

SUFFICIENT SLEEP, CALORIES

While athletes typically aim for eight or nine hours of sleep per night, Gutierrez admitted that he’s been averaging five hours lately, as he strives to balance his competition training with his construction job.

Another commitment is Gutierrez’s eating regimen. While he deemed his intake of 5,000 calories a day “nothing crazy,” he noted that he needs to eat about every three hours, with plenty of water.

“The biggest thing is developing your mental toughness,” Gutierrez said. “You have to learn to endure pain as you maintain your grip, and your lungs are burning, and your cardio is working so hard,” Gutierrez said. “You keep telling yourself, ‘It’s just 10 more seconds,’ as you find it inside yourself to push harder.”

While Gutierrez was already interested in the Strongman competition, he credited his friend Nate Bolling with persuading him to take part in the Jan. 13 Pacific Northwest Strongest Man and Woman competition at the Dungeon Fitness Gym in Bremerton.

“Nate’s been competing nationally since he was 19 or 20, and he’s 28 now,” Gutierrez said. “It’s tougher to motivate yourself when you’re training by yourself, without a partner. You want to train harder than you’ll have to perform on the day of competition. That being said, you have more energy on the day of competition, because everyone’s watching you, and you don’t want to mess up.”

Even as he deemed overhead presses to be “my Achilles heel,” Gutierrez won first place in the middleweight category of 201-231 pounds, which qualifies him to compete nationally in Las Vegas later this year.

“The top three placers at nationals go on the pro card against the biggest guys,” Gutierrez said. “It’s the sort of stuff ESPN covers. I’ve got a long way to go before that, though.”

In the meantime, Gutierrez is considering competing in Oregon or Washington state again this spring, just to keep his skills fresh and measure them against other groups of competitors.

“There’s always an increased risk of an injury that could put you out of commission, the more of these you do,” Gutierrez said. “On the other hand, you want to push different limits and get a better idea of where you stand.”