Strongman Trey Mitchell on Strength, Recovery, and Chiropractic Care

In this episode of the ICA ChiroCast, Dr. Brant Hulsebus sits down with professional Strongman competitor Trey Mitchell and Dr. Todd McDougle, chairman of the ICA Sports and Fitness Science Council.

Trey shares how watching the World’s Strongest Man inspired him to enter his first Strongman competition at just 18 years old. He discusses the years of training required to reach the professional level, the importance of competing strategically, and the recovery habits that have helped him remain one of the world’s top strength athletes.

Trey also explains how early back injuries introduced him to chiropractic care and why chiropractic has remained an important part of his training, competition, and recovery routine. Dr. McDougle offers insight into the unique challenges of caring for Strongman athletes and why sport-specific experience matters when working with elite competitors.

The conversation also covers:

• Trey’s journey from high school football to the World’s Strongest Man
• The importance of patience when developing strength
• Why athletes should not compete too frequently
• Chiropractic care for strength athletes
• Recovery following intense training and competition
• The value of working with chiropractors who understand a specific sport
• Advice for young and upcoming Strongman competitors
• The relationship between Trey Mitchell and Dr. Todd McDougle

Whether you are a chiropractor, athlete, coach, or fan of Strongman competition, this episode offers an inside look at what it takes to train, recover, and compete at the highest level.

Subscribe to the ICA ChiroCast for more conversations with athletes, sports chiropractors, healthcare professionals, and leaders throughout the chiropractic profession.

Transcript

0:06

Hello, and welcome to another edition of the ICA ChiroCast. Today's ChiroCast, we're gonna focus on the ICA Sports and Fitness Science Council, and I'm happy to have a couple guests today. Joining us today is a true titan in the Strongman world, Trey Mitchell, a multi-time America's Strongest Man winner and the World's Strongest Man finalist, known for his humble but fierce approach. We're also joined today by Dr. Todd McDougle, the chairman of the ICA Sports and Fitness Science Council. You guys ready to dive in? Yes, sir. Okay, Trey, what first drew you into this sport of the Strongman? So I grew up in, watching it on TV, just World's Strongest Man and IFSA, seeing the, run, and just really drawn to the sport, just watching it. Thought it was super cool watching the guys lift these amazing weights. And I did football a couple years in high school. So I just really enjoyed the challenge of myself physically, seeing what I could do in the weight room, just lifting heavier weights than, all the other guys. And after after foot- the last game of our se- senior season I just wanted to… I wanna keep on working out. Don't wanna get, fat and lazy like all the other guys usually do. And so it's I wonder if I can, do that Strongman stuff, and did a little research, found a local Strongman competition and, signed up for the team division. I was 18, still in high school. So just wanted to… I signed up for it and trained really hard, and won it, and it's just oh, I wanna do World's Strongest Man one day. And, after, let's see, that was in 2012 when I did my first competition. So my my first year in World's Strongest Man was 2019. Awesome. Along your way what do you think has been your toughest event or challenge, and then how did you find the way to push through it? What was my hardest event? Your hardest event or challenge, and what, how did you find a way to get through that hardest event or challenge? Just a Coming up through the sport or whatever was just, slowly building up the strength. And I was usually always stronger. I was definitely stronger for my age group. I was doing competitions in the open when I was 18. My first year, 18, 19 and 20. I think my first nationals, like amateur nationals, was, it was NAS at the time North American Strongest Man Strongman Corporation. And I get that was in 2013, so I was 19. And it, that was a big year. I think they said that was the biggest year they had at the time. Maybe might've been 60 athletes, Wow give or take in the open division. And I placed top top half just north of the top half. And mid of the pack. And just, it was just slowly coming up in the sport. After, so long it was just me and a couple other guys just going back and forth trying to get to the next level of, the pros, competing, World's Strongest Man and America's Strongest Man. Awesome. So we're on a chiropractic podcast here with the ICA, so how has chiropractic care influenced your performance? And maybe even talk about a little bit of your recovery time because of chiropractic. Yeah like I had some backage, back issues growing up just from injuries being on a farm, just, a kid playing around and, and getting injured. Like I was trying to set up a pull-up bar in a, hanging from a tree limb in my backyard and trying to do a pull-up. The, it was hung, it was tied together with rope, the bar tied with rope, and the knot comes loose and I land on my tailbone and I had back pain. And then I'm walking through my barn and it's the door, the floor is muddy and slippery, and I slip in a… I catch myself on a bar or whatever just to keep myself from falling. And I pinched a… What was it? I think I pinched my L4 and L5, and this was, like, when I was 16, 17. I, that's when I started going to chiropractic, trying to fix that L4, L5 pinch. And took a couple of sessions, but that really helped that helped me and that's what started on my, path of, seeing chiropractic and taking recovery s- more serious. Having to go to a chiropractor and- Seeing someone instead of just taking some time off, just lay around. Yeah. But yeah definitely being in the sport of Strongman in the sport where you push yourself, physically so rough, like anybody that pushes someone, pushes your s- body to the limits on anything, like you're gonna wear your bo- body down and you need to maintain it. So like I've gone to chiropractic pretty regularly, and like when I met Todd at those Strongman competitions coming up, like I n- figured out he's definitely knows a lot more about the human body, a Strongman than, the average chiropractor. Yeah. On that note, Dr. McDougle, do you wanna tell us a little bit about what it takes to adjust the Strongman like Trey here? Trey, until you stand in front of Trey, you don't really realize how big Trey is. Okay? And Trey has one of the widest backs and one of the narrowest waists, I think, in Strongman. So I think, to say it gently, Trey is a freak of nature, and when you get in there and you take care of somebody as big as he is, you have to try and leverage everything you can to make sure that, one, you don't hurt yourself, and two, you don't screw up Tr- Trey's day and reduce his performance in any way. Very good. So tell me about how you guys first met I think I'll let Trey tell that story first time I saw you was at that competition in Shreveport in 2013. That was the first time. I didn't get… I didn't go up to your table or anything, but I saw you. There was this one guy in the lighter weight class at that competition it was a yoke, and his hip dislo- located, and the guys had to drag him off, and they put him on your table, and he was able to walk right after that. And then I think I s- saw you at the nationals that year in Denison, Texas. Yep. And, yeah. Definitely saw you afterwards the next morning whenever you were, crying a little bit from seeing so many athletes that day. I tell you what- Yeah, there were so many that, at that competition I remember cramping up so bad. Went to the IHOP after, And it was a late night, too. And you remember the… it rained that night. Yeah, it was a flood. And, Oh my gosh, it was crazy. But that was at Chad Smith's burger place, right? There in Denison. And yeah, they had the the big floodlights on, and the rain was coming down, and there I was with my wooden table still going at it. But you're right. I worked so hard that I went and my… It went to the IHOP, and my body cramped so bad I couldn't get out of the IHOP booth. I remember you saying that. It was terrible. It was absolutely terrible. But, Dude, that- Yeah … yeah, that year they s- they changed it up or whatever, so the women and the lightweight men went first, did all the events the f- you know, in the morning. And then they had the middleweights go, and then the heavyweights

open class didn't go until 5: 7:28

00 PM, which was- Oh, it was late. It was so late, and everybody was exhausted, right? Yeah. And it was warm that day, too. Yeah. Yeah, it was a normal a 60 or whatever October- In, in Texas. In Texas. I remember s- some of the northern guys, they said they weren't ex- … it was Texas, it's gonna be warm, and they get there, it's 60 degrees. Yeah. Yeah. I remember I had… I did have a fleece on, come to think of it. But yeah, what a long day. It's so funny because, it, from that point forward, Trey and I were… We were like peas and carrots. Weren't we, buddy? Good old country boys. Yep. Yeah. Yeah. Now, you grew up you, you grew up on a farm, right? And your family still owns the farm? Yeah, it's basically just a homestead farm or whatever. We d- just grow some vegetables for ourselves, and if we have extra, we give them away to friends and family. When my dad was, younger, before they had me, they actually had a actual farm, like- Either 25 or 50 head of cattle. They- Oh, wow … dairy cattle that they milked twice a day. Pigs and goats and, horses. I had a lot of dogs growing up and one horse, and a chicken, but that's it. Yeah. You gotta be careful trying to milk those horses. It comes out all at once. Yeah. So yeah, Trey and I, we've been to a lot of international events together over the years, and I was so happy to see he finally hit that podium this year 2026 for World's Strongest Man. He's already, been accustomed to winning some big things. He's won the Shaw Classic, for example, and he's done… You've done pretty well over at Giants Live too, I think, haven't you? Yeah, I've made the podium q- a couple of let's see three second place finishes and a third at Giants Lives. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, definitely- And- The biggest ones so far is winning, Strongest Man on Earth twice, and then, now finally broke so just have gotten fourth place a couple of times at at the Arnold Classic and, World's Strongest Man and finally, get the podium. Yeah, it was a great moment for us that have been rooting for you for so long. You've been so close to hitting that podium at World's Strongest Man several times. Yes, and I appreciate the support from all the guys. Yeah, definitely body was pretty beat up going into the competition, and got Dr. Todd and Mike to work on me during, before and during the competition to keep my body running. After the competition yeah, I'm feeling pretty good and everything, and then the next morning, that's when it hits. Train wreck. Yeah. And then, traveling too. That never helps. Yeah. Having traveled all over and done all these events and competitions I know you've seen Dr. McDougle, but you've seen other chiropractors too. Have you seen the advantage of seeing a chiropractor more trained working with Strongman athletes versus a standard chiropractor? Yeah, definitely seeing the ones that work on Strongman br- and, top level athletes are much more beneficial than the ones that only see the average human being. They, they're not accustomed to seeing athletes, seeing their body. Like they c- they can be maintained and helped. I've, tweaked my back and had to go to normal chiropractors and, it, they're helpful, but yeah, definitely not to, to the level of, the guys that see the high level athletes. I, I've taken care of a hockey team for 24 years, and I can always tell if they're left or right-handed- … when they lay on my table based on their shoulder stuff. Yeah. So I've always seen that the more you take care of a sport, the more you see the trends and stuff like that. So w- if I was an up-and-comer, which I, at 52, I am not an up-and-comer, but if you saw an up-and-comer, what advice would you give that up-and-comer? To the up-and-comer? Just have fun and, take it easy. Don't compete all the time. You don't get stronger from doing competitions. That's where you test it. Just maybe every three to four months, just have fun with it and, talk to the other athletes at the competition, make friends. About recovery. I know like when I was 16, and you were talking earlier, I know I didn't have to stretch after an event. I knew I'd just bounce right back because I was 16. Yeah. Do you find to give some advice like that too about, taking it more serious at this young age so you don't feel at an older age? Yeah, definitely. Yeah, definitely you need to take your recovery seriously. I started taking it, serious- more ser- more serious as I went on and everything. But yeah, always tried warming up before the, before my workouts and, I didn't always stretch afterwards still don't. But yeah, you definitely want to stretch after, com- after your workouts and, after competitions, you do wanna take some time off three to four days, just to let your body, relax and, from that. You do wanna go to, maybe go to the gym just to move around, not lift weights, just to maybe do a little bit of cardio and just to go through motions of some stuff. But you're, yeah, don't go for a workout."Oh, I'm not sore, so I can go work out", start training. Sure. My question I was gonna ask you is how do you balance the raw strength stuff with the o- because chiropractic's also so much about wellness. So how do you balance your everyday strength and the wellness? I think you kinda just answered that. Okay, good. Yeah. And then I always like to as we get near the end here, I always like to… first of all, before we get to the end what's next for you? Next competition is North America's Strongest Man in Victoriaville, Canada. That's the end of July, the 25th and 26th. Yeah. Coming fast. Yeah. Yeah, it's coming up quickly. Good to, good events for me. Like I've, I won that event in 2023 and, really enjoy it. It's a fun in Canada they, they do come out to support the, Strongman. It's one of the biggest draws to wherever they have, hold the competition. Very good. What's one of your most famous or favorite competitions to go to? Which is the one you get most fired up for? I don't know. That's a very good question, the get fired up. I think the Arnold has a really good crowd because the, what they do now is they have a big bleacher section, just facing the stand where they're, where we're doing the competition. And so the… And it's usually filled with all the fans, so like you get a lot of energy from the crowds just cheering you on during the event. I've been there several times. They're almost like claustrophobic, it's so crowded. Yes. An awesome place to be. As we're wrapping this up, Dr. McDougle, anything you wanted to throw in here that I f- didn't ask? No. I just, I'm so happy that Trey had the opportunity to go ahead and share a little bit of his journey and the importance of, chiropractic and the care that he's received and how beneficial he feels it has been from all of us, who have had the opportunity to go ahead and help him, grow and then, be successful and try and stay on top during the process. And for me personally, Trey's one of my favorite guys and he's just like my little brother. And I, every time I see him, it's just, it's a breath of fresh air. And so yeah, that, that's pretty much all I have, for the most part. But I love you, man. You're good people. Thank you. I really appreciate, letting me come on here and like you, all you, all y'all guys do for us athletes. Thank you, Trey. Thanks for tuning in and if you like what you're hearing or listening to, make sure you hit or subscribe. And if you'd like to learn some of the stuff Dr. McDougle teaches, make sure you come find us at the end of July next year in 2027. I don't want to ruin anyone going to see Trey compete at this year in July, so come see us next year at the end of July and we'll have a little convention conference symposium where you can learn from some of the top ICA sports chiropractors. So to our guest, Trey, I'll say thank you. Dr. McDougle, thank you again, and look forward to seeing everybody soon. And Trey, the ICA Sports and Fitness Council always wishes you the best of luck. Thank you so much, guys. Thank you.