Lukáš Patera - Strongman and entertainer from North Bohemia, who won Loglift Madness

If you follow competitions and fights of the strongest people in the Czech Republic, you must have noticed the name Lukáš Patera. He is a former successful decathlete who, due to injuries, switched to the hardest sport in the world and became a strongman (in fact, Lukáš's problem with athletics was definitely cardio :D, although what can we say, strongmen also sometimes run a lot).As you could read in the previous article, Lukáš excels mainly with his pressing strength and holds the national record for the highest weight lifted per one-hand 116 kg.

In the coming days, Lukáš is going to break the record again, so we recommend following him closely on his social media. Compared to other open strongmen, Lukáš doesn't look very massive, he weighs around 120 kilograms and I dare say that's a pity in the heaviest category, where fighters usually weigh 150+ kilograms. Lukáš also likes to entertain people on the internet with a series of funny videos from the gym and Strongman Force club he founded in Liberec, and as a musician he's quite good at it :).

Not many people in fitness will have as much experience across sports as Lukáš, his background and training from the decathlon gives him some insight into areas that others don't.

Lukáš appeared in the last fight of the Czech Power Wars series and as the winner of the "loglift madness" we bring you another exclusive interview below.

Questions & Answers:

Lukas, tell the readers how a decathlete becomes a strongman!

For me, it wasn't a transition from one sport to another. In 2009, I finally retired from athletics due to lingering injuries, and it wasn't until 2015 that I started training again. Through working out, I discovered the sport of strongman and was immediately hooked, so I took to it headfirst.

What do you think about your participation in the Czech Wars and is there anyone you would like to face or directly challenge?

I enjoyed my participation. Mostly I got to know a bit of the behind the scenes of the wars and I really enjoyed it. I would like to challenge someone really strong, for example Austrian Nemo Tasic is great in one-handed. Michal Tichy would be the home team. 100 kg one-arm repeats in a similar style to the loglift. 700-800kg against Čestmir Šíma or Jiří Vytisk.

You're known to be a former decathlete, how would you compare your performance considering the change in sport, are you as good in strongman now as you used to be a decathlete?

I'm definitely not. Athletics has only been with us for over 100 years. Strongman has been around since the 70s. So logically, athletics is much further along, a much larger base of athletes and therefore much more competitive.

Your best competitive achievement and what are your ambitions in strength sports?

My biggest achievement is the bronze from the World Championships in athletics, then in strongman 4th place at the Arnold Classic Europe and also the title of Czech champion in one-handed. I would like to stay at it as long as possible and I would also like to make a success on the international scene.

How do you see strongman sport in the future? Do you feel that more people are interested in it or is it more of a show for the people and a real sport for a few brave people?

Strongman sport has a lot of potential in our country in the future. Thanks to social media it gets a lot of exposure and it's also very attractive to the audience, so I see it positively with strongman.

You founded Strongman Force in Liberec, and you have some promising talents in the club, how did you come up with the idea and are you heading anywhere?

Before I started training for the 2016 season, I started a Strongman Force page to find some sparring partners. Well, the very first one that caught on was Dominik Husek, who became a pro after one season and the very second one was Jarda Svoboda (u105), who this year is going to compete in the European Team Championships, European Individual Championships and even the World Individual Championships. Then more and more started to come and today I train not only strongmen, but also other athletes and "normal" people who want to train for fun or to shape their physique. In the future I definitely want to expand the base of strongmen in Liberec and Prague. Since the end of summer I have been working mainly in Prague.

There are a lot of people who are mainly focused on physical physique, focusing on performance, results, form. How do you perceive the development and adjustment of the mental side ("head"), do you also pay attention to the training of the mind, or do you not take it as an important thing?

The head is very important, in fact almost the most important. And just a brief comment on that, we all know it. It's got to be kind of close to home. Unnecessary stress, but also over-motivation are not good factors to perform at your best. So yes, we often break down the psyche.

Advanced exercisers or even beginners who also want to change sports, what path to take to "strength" development. What do you think they should especially not neglect and what should they watch out for? With regard to your recent injuries.

I will not be avoiding injuries anymore. I have a displaced lower vertebra where a fatigue fracture from overuse mainly due to a barbell when I was 15, 16 years old. So if you're around 16, definitely don't be in a hurry. It's better to squat 300kg at 25 and keep pushing it than 25 0kg at 16 and quit at 20 like I did with athletics for your health. Another thing is warm up and stretching, no one should forget that. There's more to it of course, but that would be 5 pages :D

Supplements are still a big topic in the fitness field, take them by the shovelful or take them subtly and judiciously, how do you approach supplements?

Not at all! I have protein and creatine, but I still don't take it regularly. I've always found it most helpful to eat meat and cheese properly. Oh, and the best ionic drink is beer...unless it's 20 :D but one or two after a workout is ideal.

What are your most TOP supplements that you can't imagine a packed workout or strength race without?

Beef, pork, ermine, beer and chocolate during races!

Luky in conclusion, please tell us why people should seek you out and what you have coming up in the near future?

This is my farewell to you all. Thank you for the opportunity to talk to you and you should seek me out mainly because of my experience in athletics, from which I draw to this day the development of strength, dynamics, technique in events and systematic training aimed at the peak of the season.

You can follow Lukas in the duel, in the previous article from the background of the power wars.

Lukáš Patera Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/lukpaty86/?hl=cs
LukášPatera Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFe1Lb5vapkxj-ZVI3Zyj7Q