Liberty University staff member to compete for Virginia’s Strongest Man

Spencer Mather’s favorite word in the dictionary is discipline.

The 30-year-old stands at 6 feet, 2 inches and weighs nearly 400 pounds. He serves as Liberty University’s Director of Print and Mailing Services and is pursuing a doctorate in strategic leadership through the School of Business.

Discipline is everything to Mather. Over the past six months, he has been training for Virginia’s Strongest Man competition, taking place on Saturday in Ruther Glen, Va.

Mather has been a dedicated gym enthusiast for years. He has reached incredible milestones with powerlifting and the equipped bench press. Two years ago, Mather became the fourth person in the world to press over 1,000 pounds without assistance from performance-enhancing drugs.

Mather hesitated to enter in the Old Dominion’s premier competitive strength event because of his new role as a father. He and his wife, Julie, welcomed their son, Lincoln, in April. Participation would demand hours of training and rehabilitation each day, and it would take time away from his family. But the unique aspects of Virginia’s Strongest Man captured his interest. While his previous competitive strength events involved activating one muscle group, Strongman competitions test strength, stamina, and conditioning through a wide gauntlet of strength classes.

“I found that to be the hardest thing about Strongman,” Mather said. “You can’t just be statically strong. … All six different events fatigue your muscles in a different way, so you have to be strong in every angle.”

Saturday’s event will challenge 100 competitors, filtered by weight class, in six strength tests: a keg toss, 800-pound tire flip, sandbag carry and load, log latter, maximum 18-inch deadlift, and a secret event that will be revealed at the competition.

“There’s a lot of strategy that goes into these events,” he said. “You don’t necessarily have to win every event to win the show. So, I could place in the top three in some of these (sets) and win, because other people might do poorly in something else.”

The variety of categories has required Mather to diversify his training regimen, closely monitor his protein, vitamins, and caloric intake, and be intentional about recovery to ensure his body reaches peak performance.

Mather’s day begins at 4 a.m. A three-hour gym session precedes a full workday at Liberty, followed by a recovery protocol that may include ice baths, massages, and occasionally chiropractic adjustments. Once home for the day, he only has three hours before bedtime. Liberty’s Club Sports provided the ice baths, and Virginia Sport and Spine Institute (VSSI), located in Forest, Va., assisted with Mather’s recovery and chiropractic adjustments.

“Time management is huge,” said Mather. “I don’t really have much social life right now during this heavy season. But if you want to do something great, you must be willing to sacrifice. And I’m willing to sacrifice a few hours with friends to do something that I probably won’t be able to do for a super long time.”

Mather also earned his B.S. in Business and M.A. in Executive Leadership from Liberty.

“LU has provided me a lot of opportunities to grow in my management and leadership abilities in different roles and departments,” he said. “Campus recreation has provided me a great place to work out and build my powerlifting and Strongman lifestyle.”

Mather said that without the support and encouragement from his wife, who has commanded most of their newborn’s caretaking, he wouldn’t be mentally or physically capable of chasing his goal of becoming Virginia’s strongest man.

“All thanks and glory go to the Lord for giving me the ability to do what I do, not only in the gym, but also in my daily life. That’s first and foremost to me,” he said. “The teamwork that my wife and I have been able to do through this whole season has been a huge support to me, and I definitely couldn’t do this without her.”

Mather will be competing in the Super Heavyweight division, Open Men. If he places well on Saturday, he will be invited to the national competition, scheduled for later this year.

“I want to be an example to my son,” said Mather, whose ultimate career goal is to be an executive leadership coach and help develop and train leaders. “I want him to see that a life of fitness and strength is something that will get you really far in life. Motivation fades. … but discipline gets you up. Maybe someday he will look back and see that I became Virginia’s strongest man while raising him.”