Pro Strongwoman in Under 3 Years (with Inez Carrasquillo)

When I started Strongwoman, I was still over 300 pounds because I switched the week after. I struggled. I couldn’t front carry things, because I was too big.

Farmer carries was rough for me because my legs were pretty big. They would knock into them, and I’d drop them all the time. I struggled with log because I couldn’t just get it over my belt. I couldn’t clean it. Then, as I slowly started losing weight and getting more fit, things just got a lot easier for me.

Welcome to the “BarBend Podcast,” where we talk to the smartest athletes, coaches, and minds from around the world of strength. I’m your host, David Thomas Tao. This podcast is presented by barbend.com.

Today, I’m talking to Pro Strongwoman Inez Carrasquillo. She has had a rapid rise in the sport of Strongwoman. She competed in powerlifting for just over a year.

In that time by the way, she set the American squat record that still stands. Then after less than three years earned her PRO Card in Strongwoman. It’s an incredible journey, an incredibly rapid journey in the sport.

Today we talk about obstacles she overcame, her weight-loss journey and transitioning between sports, implements that she had to learn and adjust to.

If you’ve ever been interested in getting involved in Strongman or Strongwoman, this is a good look at someone who’s done it and done it incredibly well to get to the top of her game in a very short period of time. I hope you all enjoy.

Really appreciate you talking the time to join me today. For those who don’t know much about you, give us the highlight reel of how you introduce yourself as an athlete?

My name’s Inez. I am a professional Strongwoman. That means I got my PRO Card which you can get it at various different ways in the sport of Strongman. I did get my PRO Card at the Arnold Amateur World Championship this year.

That seems like it’s the best place to get your PRO Card, right?

 It’s the most satisfying, I think just because you could get your PRO Card at a pro-am if you podium. There’s three PRO Cards that are given out, but at the Arnold specifically, only one PRO Card is given out, so it’s special in a way.

[laughs] That’s the best PRO Card, the tier one PRO Card. Let’s call it that.

You’re at the Arnold with all these big names, it’s mind-blowing to see them around you and competing before or after you.

I’ve completely interrupted you and interrupt your train of thought, but I have to dive in here. The PRO Card, you know the big fake check, so they send you the real check in the mail. Do you get handed an oversized novelty card? Is there an actual card?

 [laughs] No, there isn’t. We get an email.

It’s so disappointing. I was hoping you could pull out an actual physical card. You’re opening your wallet, you’re like, “Oh, I’m so sorry,” and you drop it out, it’s like a light flex when you’re pulling out your ID or something like that.

I’m sorry, it’s like PRO Card. [laughs]

 For any brands listening to this podcast, that is the best way, sponsored actual cards. Give people laminated or printed cards, that’d be so cool like IDs. Anyway, that’s completely off the rails.

You’re Pro Strongwoman, you got your PRO Card this past…earlier in 2022, right?

Yes, in March.

Tell us a little bit about that. Obviously, it went well, spoiler alert. Tell us a little bit about the competition?

 I’ll go to my beginning. I only started Strongwoman in 2020, at the end of 2020.

Oh, wow!

 I truly did. I was a powerlifter since the beginning of 2019 and I got very bored. I totaled 1,450 at a meet in October at one of my home gyms. Literally, the day after, I was like, “I’m going to sign up for a Strongman meet at the same gym just to see if I like it.” Then I met my coach, Alec Pagan.

He messaged me on Instagram and was like “Hey, do you want to do Strongwoman seriously? I got a few people DMing me about you and I think you can be one of the best of the best.” I was like, “Who is this guy messaging me?”

I was like, “I am a powerlifter still, I’m doing this for fun.” He’s like, “Let me program you for a few weeks, see how you like it. Let’s do this first comp, get it under your belt.” I was like, “Fine. Sure, let’s do it.”

I won that meet and I was like, “Wow, this is so much better than powerlifting.” It was so much faster. The meet was only like two hours long, instead of powerlifting where you’re sleeping for three hours in between bench and deadlift. I loved it. I loved the fast pace of it. Everyone was super supportive.

Then he said I had to make a decision whether it was to wait for the kern because I qualified for all those big powerlifting meets or if I wanted to stay with Strongwoman and four weeks do Beast of the Bluegrass, which back then that was a Platinum Plus Show which are now Pro Ams and Strongman Corp.

That was an Arnold invite, so I was like let’s do it. Let’s go to Beast of the Bluegrass in Kentucky, great meet and I did win and I got my Arnold bid. Then COVID shut everything down in 2021, the Arnold was cancelled. I wasn’t able to compete in 2021. I needed more experience under my belt so we signed up for the Rainier Pro Am, which is in Seattle.

I ended up getting second place by three points to the GOAT, Victoria Long, which was really awesome. She’s one of my heroes and that was a great experience because I was one of the amateurs competing against some of the best pros in North America.

Then after that, I was invited to official Strongman Games in 2021. I tied for third. I was so close, I made a lot of mistakes. I’m so new to competing in the sport I just made a lot of dumb mistakes that I’ve been really working on. I’ve dominated three events this year, the three that I’ve done. First was the Arnold, then literally the weekend after the Arnold I did Beer Stone in Texas, I won that.

Oh, that’s Gabe Pena’s event correct?

Yeah, great meet. It was super cool to have the Army trucks that we were pulling Hemtts and like great meet. A lot of events that I’ve never done before. I’ve never done a truck pull, I’ve never done a Husafell for distance. They were the Husafells that were molded after the real ones which was super cool.

Sticks and Stones created that. I thought that was really awesome. Then I just did the Rainier in June, the Rainier Pro Am II and that was another great meet.

 I’m going to backtrack again. You started powerlifting in early 2019?

Yes.

Did you have any strength base before that?

For a few years, no. I had a baby in 2016 so from 2016 to ’19, I wasn’t really doing anything. I ended up developing a binge eating disorder after I had my baby due to postpartum depression. It happens. I got up to 330 pounds at my heaviest.

I decided to join a gym and people were like, “You can powerlift, you look like you’re strong.” I was like, “I don’t even know what powerlifting is, so I guess I can try it.” I met my powerlifting coach at Rockwell Barbell in Chicago, Matt Blankenburge. He was so great to me. Took me under his wing and taught me how to unleash that strength I had inside of me.

I was a college volleyball player, I played D3 for one year and I’ve also been a track athlete in high school so I have a base, but really never anything with lifting related.

Got it. Nothing that was a dedicated strength sport so to say.

Yeah, no.

 So really in three and a half years, you built quite the base of strength and then built on top of that. I think it’s an oversimplification to say the base because now you’re at a professional level. This is the biggest testament to mom strength I’ve ever heard is what your story is right now.

The thing that I love most is that he gets so excited when I come back from a competition and have a medal or something and he tells all his friends at school like “My mommy can pick up a car.” [laughs] I’m like, “That’s a little overstatement.”

It’s kind of an overstatement and you do a car deadlift and it’s like, “Well, he’s got a point,” you know?

He makes it so it looks like I’m picking up the whole car so you know. [laughs]

OK, let me put it this way. Of all the crazy yarns kids like to spin, his is the closest to reality. It’s one degree removed, not seven degrees removed.

Exactly. Yeah, you’re not wrong about that.

Do you have any competitions coming up? We’re almost in October, we’re recording this September, what is it September 23rd? We’re almost done with this year. Do you have anything coming up for the rest of this year?

Actually, yeah. I have three more competitions coming up in a very short amount of time which I think that’s just the way I compete. I have official Strongman Games in November and then literally two weekends after, on the 26th, I’m competing at Giants Live — The USA vs. the UK. First time I’m ever flying out of the country so I’m a little bit nervous.

Then in December, I’m doing America’s Strongest Woman. That’s in Vegas this year.

Quick tip, if you’re flying out of the country for the first time and you’re going to the UK, it’s totally fine. They speak the same language mostly. You’re going to be great. It’s a great stepping stone to the rest of the world.

 I don’t like flying, I’m too big, I’m almost 6’2″, I’m 240 pounds, I always get an aisle seat somehow and I’m apologizing to the people next to me that I don’t fit. [laughs] Then my knees touched the seat in front of me, it’s a hot mess.

 I don’t think I’ve ever met any strength athlete who likes flying because regardless of the size, the size you are, strength athletes don’t like getting too stiff. Everyone’s always sore. Everyone gets off. If you squat regularly and you squat heavy and you pull heavy, you’re going to get off a plane and you’re not going to feel good, right?

Yeah, you’re not. Your joints are all swollen and you’re sluggish and it’s not fun.

The dry air and things like that. I think a power move would be if you have a…for those strength athletes who have CPAPs, to bring a CPAP on the plane. I’ve never seen that, but that would be the real power move for the open class, the real big folks who need that, but that’s my opinion.

As far as flying tips go, has anyone in the Strongman community given you tips for your first international competition or your first time traveling internationally to compete?

The biggest tip was bringing my gym stuff on the plane with me.

It doesn’t get lost. Your baggage doesn’t get lost.

I can replace clothes, I can replace whatever but I cannot replace my belt. I cannot replace my lifters, I can’t replace my wrist strap. Bring that on the plane with you, keep it secure next to you because everything else I can figure out later. [laughs]

 Got you. Your carry on is the bag with a belt wrapped around it basically?

Even domestically, yeah. My servers bag, I could put four belts in there. I could put it in the overhead, two pairs of shoes. That utility bag rocks. I bring that as my carry on and got everything in it.

All right. That’s a good tip. What about nutrition leading up to a competition? That’s something that you ask 10 people, you’ll get 15 different opinions on it. What are your thoughts there? Are you bringing any food or snacks with you or supplements? What’s going to be your nutritional routine out of the country?

Funny you bring that up. I started with a nutritionist maybe two weeks ago. My weight has been fluctuating like crazy. After OSG last year, I weighed in about 235 at OSG. A few weeks after, I weighed in at 218 and then I got back up to 240, 230. My weight’s been super crazy.

My coach was like, “You need to be more consistent with your weight because your leverage keeps changing, your mood is shifting. Things are too much,” so we needed to be whatever. This will be the first time I actually have a plan of eating and what I’m going bring to any of my competitions.

Everything else I’ve been winging it. I eat gas station sandwiches and to whatever I found at the airport. [laughs]

Look, I’m going to tell you, no one ever felt their best performance wise after eating a gas station sandwich. I can attest, or gas station chicken wings. That’s what really gets you, because if it was late at night, you think those are a good idea or the taquitos, they are not. You’re not going to feel great the next day.

I won all my competitions, so maybe it’s a good-luck charm. [laughs]

I know but imagine how much more you could win. I’m giving you a hard time. It’s funny you mentioned getting bored with powerlifting. No disrespect to powerlifting. A lot of powerlifters listen to this podcast. All the powerlifters out there, we love you, we love you. Your sport can get a little boring to some people. We love you, but it’s just three loves.

I was one of you.

 For a brief period of time, for a little over a year. Let’s talk about some of the movements in Strongman where you excel. I’m tending to think shoulder to overhead here, which is something you’re pretty superlative at. Talk a little bit about that or any other modalities in the sport of Strongman, Strongwoman that you excel at?

When I was powerlifting, I was over 300 pounds. It was strength moves, a lot of weight.

Mass moves mass so to speak.

Yeah, basically. I was very heavy. I still have the USPA National Squat record.

Cool.

Still. I was like, “Man, I’m keep that for a while, I’m going to take that.” I was over 300 pounds. I wasn’t doing any cardio or anything because I was deadlifting heavy, benching heavy, squatting heavy every week.

When I started Strongman, Alec was like, “Hey, we’re going to run, you’re going to have to lose weight.” He’s like, “That’s going to be very important because you’ll not be able to move.”

Movement is so important to the sport of Strongman. A lot of strong men that I know and I talk to with my gyms and stuff are like, “No, just static strength’s fine. I don’t run.” I’m like, “If you just do static monsters, that’s fine, but if you want to do a whole meet, you need to be a well-rounded athlete.”

I say athlete because we do very athletic things at Strongman. My big issue is, I have a 5’6″ wingspan and I’m almost 6’2″. I have very short arms, so deadlifting is very rough for me. My lockout stand near five feet in the air. [laughs] I struggle with deadlifts. It’s getting better. I finally hit my PR that I hit when I was over 300 pounds a few weeks ago.

It took two years to build up back to that after losing almost 100 pounds. I love overheads, short arms, great overhead. I learned how to split jerk in 2021 when I had that big break from the Bluegrass to Rainier. I’ve been doing split jerks, I’ve ended up split jerking a 315 pound log from the ground.

I’ve hit a 330 pound axle, and I love moving events. I love sandbags, I love stones. I don’t like yoke, that’s the one moving event that I’m not great at. Long legs, they flop around like I’m Bambi or something.

 [laughs] That’s a great visual with hundreds of pounds on your back by the way, anyway.

 Farmer carries I love. I like things that push you to the limit. Rainier was a good example this year. It was 90 seconds of yoke and farmer’s back and forth, and it was for distance for 90 seconds. I wasn’t expecting to win that event because I’m like, “I’m not great at yoke, but I can run for 90 seconds.”

I was like, “I’m not going to stop.” That’s where I excel. If it was for speed and a heavy yoke, I wouldn’t win at that event but endurance wise, I work on the endurance part of the sport because if I’m not the strongest, I at least want to be able to be the fastest or the one that can go the longest, if that makes sense.

That’s a huge part of the sport. Static monsters aside, where it’s just about doing things statically on one stage, this is a sport with a ton of movement and you mentioned having to lose body weight. If you’re 100 pounds heavier, that’s 100 extra pounds you have to carry.

When you’re moving objects across the floor, when you’re covering this distance. You talk about doing it for max distance. If you weigh 330 pounds compared to 230 pounds, that’s like adding another 100 pounds to the yoke, basically.

When I started Strongwoman, I was still over 300 pounds because I switched the week after. I struggled. I couldn’t front carry things because I was just too big.

Farmer carries was rough for me because my legs are pretty big. They would knock into them, and I would drop them all the time. I struggled with log because I couldn’t get it over my belt. I couldn’t clean it. Then, as I slowly started losing weight and getting more fit, things got a lot easier for me. Deadlift, no. Deadlift got worse.

Some things really did get worse.

[laughs] I imagine there’s something about…I remember the first time I did farmer’s carries in a gym with handles, not just like kettle bells or heavy dumbbells. I remember I didn’t really focus on…I just focused on gripping and I wasn’t focused on keeping them from oscillating back and forth.

They started clinging into each other. Then I tripped over them because they criss-crossed in front of them, kind of jackknifed or whatever. It was basically like one of those 1990s commercials where someone’s in the kitchen and everything expect the blender explodes and it’s like, “Is this you when you’re cooking?” That’s what I felt.

 Yeah, one of infomercials.

Yes. One of those infomercials were like, “Are you tired of it?” It’s like someone dropping everything really dramatically. That’s exactly what I felt like.

Oh, yeah. That was me in my first few weeks of Strongman. I was like, “What the hell did I get myself into?” I was like, “Should I go back to powerlifting?” “This is hard.” I had like a keg. I didn’t even know to pick it up. I had stone-steel, which if there’s ever a meet with stone-steel, I will not be there. I hate that. If I can’t use tacky, I don’t want it.

For those who aren’t super familiar, when people think Strongman or Strongwoman, they think the Atlas Stones. We think of concrete poured molded stones that weigh a certain amount and oftentimes you’ll use tacky, which is basically tar or this sticky stuff you’ll put it on your arms.

It’ll help you get grip, but the stone is steel, is like it’s weighted. You could open it, you can adjust the weights inside. It’s steel and you can’t use tacky on it, right?

Yes, spray tack or tact towel usually, which is not helpful whatsoever. [laughs] I don’t care what anybody says. It does not work.

 You’re basically picking up something with like…The only grip is the friction you create from squeezing, basically.

Yeah, it’s a lot of squeezing. It hurts and I love tacky. I love the smell of it, I love using it.

You have shorter arms so I assume that that’s probably not a benefit if grip is an issue on a stone?

Yes, I need to stick myself to it.

 [laughs] Like Spiderman.

Like Spiderman, yeah. At the Arnold, there was a max stone over-bar event for the armature women and I had a 365 pound stone but luckily I think it was like a 22 or 24 inch stone, it wasn’t one of the bigger ones.

Got it.

I can only imagine a 400 pound stone being too wide for me to pick up, but I will literally put tacky on my neck if I have to because I want 400 pounds. [laughs]

You have to get your chin under there, please don’t do that. I don’t want you to lose a jaw.

Let’s talk a little about your training. You mentioned your coach. Are you still with Alec? Alec’s still your coach?

Yeah, Alec’s good.

Alec, he’s been a BarBend contributor. I live pretty close to Alec weirdly in Brooklyn, so not to dox myself here. I spent a lot of time with Alec really good. I met him through the weightlifting community.

He coaches across sports. Alec if you’re listening to this, we love you. Multi-talented guy, good job. Walk us through what a training week looks like for you?

I’ve been in prep pretty long because of this year I don’t think I’ve been outside of prep for longer than two weeks, so everything’s been very event-focused and getting good at the things that I struggle with in competition. I rush.

I don’t pay attention to queues, I get in my head about weights and stuff like that. Alec makes sure I step back. I think about what I’m trying to do and I don’t push stuff so fast that I’m like, “I need to hit comp weight this week and I’m 10 weeks out or something.”

Which I do, I call him crying all the time and I’m like, “I can’t do this way, I’m failing, I’m going to lose.” He’s like, “Buddy, we’re 12 weeks out, you need to chill out a little bit.” That’s how I am though, because I’m very hard on myself.

Training’s rough, I train five days a week. I usually have an overhead day, a deadlift squat day. I usually alternate heavy weeks with deadlift and squat, so I don’t need to deload but one will be a speed week then I have a heavy week, etc.

Then it’s usually three event days because the OSG has two overheads, I have two overhead days, and then I have a farmer’s and a yoke day.

Wait, two overheads, that seems like a place to your strengths.

Yeah, but I don’t have the attachment at my gym for the Viking Press so I’m making it up as I go. I’ve been using those rogue thrusters, which are terrible. I don’t recommend anybody do that for Viking Press unless you’re super wide because all they do was wobble side to side.

Every single stabilizer in my shoulder has been sore. I’ve never felt parts to my shoulder before be that sore, but anything I can do to replicate a Viking Press I’ve been doing and I’m learning how to do the men’s 12 in circus dumbbell because that’s going to be at official Strongman this year.

Got it. Just because you’re strong overhead with a fixed implement, the circus dumbbell is very different.

It’s very technical. On the regular women’s dumbbell high press, like a 180, 185 on the [laughs] men’s 12 inch, I’ve hit 160 for one and it was pretty sketchy. The handle is so large, and I don’t have big hands but the mass of it on our shoulder, it’s very hard to get in position and then you’re fumbling with it.

The ones I have are not the cylinder ones, they are the ones that are globe. They’re not super tight, they roll around on your shoulder. I’m complaining a lot because I don’t want to do this event. [laughs]

I do love circus dumbbell, it’s a challenge. If you’re good presser, it’s that one event that’s like, you have to be super tech. You can’t just use your strength to push it up, you need to focus and be in a good position and actually be technical with it.

 For folks who aren’t familiar with these thick handle dumbbells, if you’re just, “I don’t use that stuff a lot. For me, my hands are so used to diameter of a dumbbell.” Imagine taking a soda can, that’s basically the diameter of these things. Imagine at your dumbbell, it’s even more than fat grips.

If you add fat grips or something. Imagine pressing something that’s like holding a soda can and that’s effectively what it’s like, you can’t get…It’s very difficult and if it starts rotating in your hand, you’re screwed.

 If you don’t get it in position, if you’re struggling up there, your elbows are going to get lower and lower, and you’re not going to be able to press it. It’s a challenging event but I think it’s a good event because it challenges everybody. It’s going to be fun to watch how everybody comes together and tries to figure this out. I’m excited about it.

 A little bit like a puzzle. I do appreciate you sharing that you call Alec when you feel like crying sometimes. I do that. I think I’ve called Alec crying but I don’t have an excuse because he’s not my coach.

I’m like, “I need someone to listen to me.” He’s like, “Go to therapy.” I’m kidding. Alec again, if you’re listening, I’m completely joking, but maybe not really. Who in the sport do you really admire?

 That’s a good one. Donna Moore is probably an obvious choice. She is amazing. She’s the sweetest human in the world. I admire her so much and I admire her going from a heavyweight to a middleweight. She’s competing as a middleweight now.

She should also do a bodybuilding competition right now. She’s ripped.

I admire her quite a bit. I admire Victoria Long. She’s a monster. She won the Arnold Pro this year. She’s strong, super humble. She helps everybody around her. She’s a great person. I love my teammates Erin Murray, Gabby Dixon. Those are my two rocks. We’re a team, but we’re also good friends.

On the men’s side, I admire…There’s a few. I love Rob Kearney because he comes out. He’s not as big as the other dudes, but he is super confident and he outpresses them and I love a presser. That impresses me. It’s like, you don’t have to be the biggest person to be the strongest, which I’m pretty light for an open woman. I admire him.

He’s another split jerker like you.

I love it. It’s something different because you see guys that have been doing this work for a long time, and they stripped or push press. He’s out there split jerking the same weights and that’s awesome.

Yeah, I mean look there’s…play to your strengths, right? Rob’s not the…Rob got his start in CrossFit, so think about going from…

Terrifying.

Yes, terrifying. Actually, Mitchell Hooper got his start running marathons, and that’s the more terrifying transition.

Oh, yeah

To go from…

He came out of nowhere, it was awesome.

He went from running marathons to competing in World’s Strongest Man in exactly four years.

Which is insane.

He was a pretty good marathon runner. Anyway, I absolutely digress. Rob’s also a good friend. He’s a BarBend contributor. We love him to death. I’m a little biased when we bring his name up in a good way.

Where is the best place, or best places, for people to follow along with your training, competitions, your progress in the sport?

I do have Instagram. My name is inez_strongwoman. I post every day. It’s like a daily routine, and I’ve been trying to really promote the open women’s classes here at Official Strongman’s Games. I just created a reel today, so if you’re listening, please go to my page, share the reel, because the women’s part…

I’m biased because I’m a woman, but the woman are so fun to watch because for so long we were not on the same…I can’t say we because I have only been in the sport for so long, but women have not been on that same platform that pro men have been on and equal prize money. Saying if men are on ESPN, women are on ESPN, that sort of thing.

Lynn Morehouse has done such a good job of putting us on that same stage. I really recommend watching how insane these weight classes are going to be this year for the women, so that’s like my thing right now is I’m really trying to promote that. Then also, I have a YouTube channel, you just look me up by my name.

I don’t really post too much on YouTube, but I’m going to start posting more on YouTube, because I think that’s a good way of putting a lot of training, a lot of tips, stuff like that.

 Your YouTube channel, just so folks know, are just your first and last name?

Yes. I think that’s what it is, it’s my first and last name. I post some random…they have reels or something on YouTube now. They’re called shorts, I think. I’ve been trying…I am not good at stuff like that. TikTok and reels and all that stuff, I have to call people to ask them how to do stuff because I’m not good at that.

 You’re focused on what you’re focused on, right? You’re focused on training, you’re focused on being the best at what you do.

I’m 28 and I can’t figure out how to make a TikTok and I have to ask my 14-year-old sister how to do it. [laughs]

 I’m not going to touch that one, so you…

 I’m not going to touch that one. It has been fantastic on that note, getting to know you. Thank you for sharing a bit about your story and your journey. Looking forward to seeing you the rest of the year and beyond at these competitions, and appreciate you taking the time.

No, thank you for having me.