September 19, 2024 – Story and photos by Joshua Ross
Anthony Pickering loved playing basketball. Like most kids, he played everything, but basketball was his main sport. His passion for basketball drove him to practice harder and workout regularly to gain a competitive edge. Then, something unexpected happened – “I ended up falling in love with the gym more than I did basketball.”
The new love and passion he found at the gym 15 or so years ago will culminate this weekend as he competes in the 2024 Strongman Corporation National Championships in Greenville, SC.
From Basketballs to Barbells
His path to this point started before his high school basketball days. His family moved from Quincy to Hull when he was in elementary school, but he continued to go to St. Joseph until 7th grade when he began attended school in Hull.
“I come from a big blue-collar family,” he explains. “So I was working with my father from when I was 12 or 13 on jobs he would be doing in his painting business.”
When he wasn’t working for his father, he cleaned toilets in exchange for a membership at Phil’s Fitness First in Cohasset. Phil, the owner and ex-pro bodybuilder from Philly, took him under his wing and gave him his first exposure to the bodybuilding world.
“I just fell in love with the culture,” Pickering says in retrospect. “The environment was always such a positive place. Also, having Phil kind of as a role model, showed me how to work out. At the time, he might have well been the Incredible Hulk to me. The guy was an absolute beast of a man. As a young man, it was inspiring me to be strong and healthy.”
The realization of the importance of working out complemented his successful career in basketball. He was captain of the basketball team and came up just short of the state semi-finals in his junior and senior years.
Jim Quatromoni, Anthony’s former Hull High School basketball coach and current Hingham High School Athleteic Director remembers him as a model of consistency.
“Anthony was an extremely motivated student-athlete,” recalls Quatromoni. “You could be certain that he would bring effort and intensity to practice or games, every single day. Anthony’s work ethic was infectious. He had high expectations for himself and it pushed his teammates to expect more from themselves.”
Like many kids graduating high school, he knew the college path wasn’t meant for him. He tried to get his union card in the trades and do some work for his father, but the work opportunities were “lean” at that time. He found work at Panera Bread to earn money, which was eventually spent going out at night and on the weekends. At some point, it hit him that he needed more structure in his life.
“I’m like 18 or 19 and I’m just kind of working my ass off but I’m also in the state of really no direction and like just partying a lot and just kind of going a little crazy.”
He quit his job at Panera and walked into a new gym in the Hingham Shipyard called Bodyscapes and just like his first job at Phil’s, offered to do anything they needed. He started working at the front desk and interacting with clients. The drive, passion, and personality that he had always had, was now being focused on something he enjoyed and excelled at.
Over the next five years, with encouragement from management, he got his personal training licenses and certifications. He also built up a large clientele and when the opportunity presented itself, moved out on his own renting a small space at the CrossFit Bare Cove. There he met Mike Monarch, the current owner of Mass MVMNT.
“God’s funny how he works,” reflects Pickering. “I believe he just puts the right people at the right time, and then, you know, Mike saw what I was doing with my clients back here, and just really was impressed. But he was also intrigued with what I was doing, and then he was looking at opening up the spot, and then before you know it, it’s, like, six years later, here we are with Mass MVMNT, and it’s been a great journey.”
The Road to “The Arnold”
Anthony did his first strongman competition in 2014 with a lifting buddy who was putting on a competition. While he was mentored and friends with many bodybuilders and strongmen competitors, he had never experienced an actual competition.
“I walked in there with my tail between my legs,” he says humbly. “I had no idea what was going on. I just went out there to have some fun and I did not do well as far as placing goes, but I had a blast as far as just the challenge of it. It being so different from anything else I’ve ever done.”
There was something that felt right with the competition that had been missing from his life since the end of his basketball career.
“But what drew me in the most was the community,” he goes on to say. “The camaraderie of the strength sport community, whether you’re doing CrossFit, strongman, olympic lifting, powerlifting – it’s a very inclusive group. I think I was missing that ever since I stopped playing sports. I found that next competitive thing to start training for and driving towards.”
He competed the next few years and made it to Nationals out in Vegas in 2017. Realizing he was limiting himself by being in a lower weight class, he spent the next four years focusing on his nutrition and training and moved up to the 231 lbs. weight class.
This past August he won the Connecticut Strongest Man competition, which earned him a spot in Nationals, where he’ll compete against 40-50 of the strongest men in the country.
The event is over two days with three events each day. The first day of events consists of Conan’s Wheel, a deadlift, and a sandbag toss. The second day starts with the log and axle ladder, then a farmer’s carry, and ends with sandbag steeplechase.
What would be a successful weekend for him?
“If I finish top-10, I will be ecstatic. A podium finish, I would be out of this world. I’m not writing myself off that I can’t do it. I’m going down there. I believe I can. But for this event, a top-10 finish, that would be awesome. That would be a really big milestone with this type of contest.”
A top-10 finish would earn him an invitation to The Arnold Sports Classic in February in Columbus. Yes that Arnold. Named after the legendary bodybuilder, actor, and governor, the four-day event features six sports in 26 categories, including strongman. 50,000 athletes attend the festival which is described as the “show of all shows” in the competition world.
Leading by Example
Monarch, who trains with Pickering every day and will be competing in the National Master’s Strongest Man himself in November, saw something special in Anthony years ago. So much so, that he made him his head coach after opening Mass MVMNT.
“This is such a big part of his identity,” explains Monarch. “It’s what drives him. He takes all his successes and “failures” personally. He takes it to heart. You’ll hear him in the gym celebrating when things are going good.”
The two of them will train for hours while classes are going on at the gym. It’s hard not to notice them. Tossing a 300 lb. sandbag over a four-foot high bar will grab anyone’s attention.
“He’s practicing what he preaches about training and like we preach it here in class all the time,” Monarch says. “We want to socialize and have a good time, but really, to get the most out of it, you’ve got to put the most into it. And he does. He puts his all into it.”
Pickering has full control over planning the workouts for the classes, as well as the training for competitions. Monarch says he’s always reading and researching to gather information and knowledge around fitness and coaching. So it’s not surprising when he says he has five coaches helping him prepare for the competition. Going all in for something he’s passionate about.
Something he mentioned in one of his answers was that he’s been sober for seven years. Just like his training, when he decided to get clean, he didn’t do it alone. He surrounded himself with others who experienced what he was going through and went to meetings every day.
“Whether it’s his workouts, his sobriety, or his coaching and programming aptitude, he applies himself,” Monarch points out. “He never just goes through the motions.”
Pickering’s experiences have shaped his views on overall health, not just physical health.
“I think we live in a society today where a lot of people are walking around sick and need to get healthy,” he says solemnly. “It goes way beyond just your physical appearance. I believe it’s your mental, your spiritual, your physical; it’s everything. And here we’re trying to embody more of that holistic approach of working out for the body but also doing the right thing outside the gym to keep your mind right, eating well, and feeding yourself well because a lot of us are walking around so stressed. How do we combat whatever our environment is outside of the gym if we’re not feeling good?”
When you talk to the people who are impacted the most by his actions – his clients, they will almost always mention his passion for wellness first. He wants to help people help themselves. Just like when he played basketball 15 years ago, he still has high expectations for himself, which translates into his clients expecting more of themselves.
His one bit of advice for those who haven’t yet started their journey to wellness –
“I think the biggest thing is just find something that maybe scares you a little bit and gets you out of your comfort zone and go for it.”
If you would like to watch Anthony compete on Friday and Saturday, the live stream link can be found here. He competes in the 231 lbs. weight class.