The third annual Lift Hard Live Easy Classic will take place this year in Aberdeen with a few minor changes.

The founders of Massenomics, Tanner Baird and Tommy Defea, are putting on the third powerlifting and strongman competition, this year at the Best Western Ramkota Event Center. They moved the competition with the intention of improving the overall experience of the event.

“This year, one of the things we changed, we switched the event to be held at the Ramkota Event Center. The prior couple years, we’ve been in the Odde Ice Arena,” Baird said. “An effort to make it a little bit better for spectators and competitors.”

The Lift Hard Live Easy Classic has grown every year, going from about 60 contestants in the first year, to about 125 this year from all four corners of the United States, and a couple Canadian Provinces.

“We try to make it a little bit bigger each year in some ways and hopefully a little bit better every year so we kind of take what we’ve learned from the prior years and build upon them,” Baird said. “This year, we’ve got 125 competitors and it’s between two different sports. It’s powerlifting and strongman. … I think the people are coming in from like close to 25 different states including also a couple Canadian Provinces.”

The people that are competing this year not only represent regions from across the country, they also feature a variety of ages and occupations.

“Really brings a wide variety of people, men and women, too. I say guys, but it’s really a combination of men and women, both. And the age range and demographic is really wide,” Baird said. “Guys in their early 20s and guys in their late 50s and everywhere in between and every sort of point in their life. A lot of college age people in on it, and then there’s doctors and lawyers and police officers, you name it.”

So why do more than 100 people come to Aberdeen for a powerlifting and strongman competition? It has a little something to do with the 484 podcasts that Massenomics have produced creating a strong community from people around the globe.

“A big reason that’s successful is because of this really strong online community that we have that basically stems from our podcasts and Youtube channel,” Baird said. “We’ve been podcasting for just about 10 years now and there’s a group of hundreds of, really thousands that are listeners and support the show, and then they’ve become friends with each other over the years.”

With Baird, Defea, and Massenomics based out of Aberdeen, their audience has heard over the years about everything in Aberdeen. So, their following looks forward to the fun moments Aberdeen has to offer.

“Aberdeen’s particularly fun. It’s our biggest one and it’s our most fun because we’re from Aberdeen, so we’ve talked so much about local Midwest and Aberdeen culture stuff over the years that people come here and they’re excited to go to odd things,” Baird said. “The rock that’s in front of Q’doba in town here that people get stuck on. We’ve shared pictures of that so that’s Brock the Rock, so a lot of people go get pictures with that stupid rock.”

In addition to “Brock the Rock” and other inside jokes from the Massenomics Podcast, Baird has put on a 3-day festival of sorts for the participants coming into Aberdeen.

“It’s called the Lift Hard Live Easy Classic, so the lift hard is really that Saturday lifting event and the live easy is everything else. It sort of turned into a festival,” Baird said. “We have activities for them Thursday night. There’s a welcoming meet and greet, and that’s at Lagers this year. … Friday during the day is weigh-ins and administrative stuff to get ready to compete on Saturday, and then Friday night is a big gathering in my backyard. … Saturday night there’s an after party, so it really turns into one day of competing, but it’s a 3 or 3 and a half day event.”

It’s also a festival for the spectators. With the event starting at 8 a.m. and going until about 5 p.m., spectators can watch the powerlifters first, which features bench, squat, and deadlift, and stay for the strongman which includes moving obscure objects like an Atlas ball and even check out multiple vendors in between.

“Whether you’re a competitor or just someone watching, there’s something going on all the time. That’s part of it too why we moved to Ramkota, we actually have several booths and exhibitors set up, too,” Baird said. “There’ll be about 10 different booths set up in the event center of people selling stuff, or showing product off and that sort of thing. Making it a little bit more of a festival.”

Although Baird competed in it last year, he will look to help the event run as smoothly as possible, while Defea will still be competing.

“I have the luxury of getting in at the last minute if I want to. I’m probably not gonna do it, but my partner who owns and runs Massenomics with me is Tommy Defea, and he’s gonna compete in the powerlifting meet for sure,” Baird said. “It’s a big load to both put it on and compete in both, so this year I’m taking the approach if I do get in on any of it myself, it’ll be fairly minor and mostly just for fun.”

The meet will start at 8 a.m. on Saturday, and the duo is looking forward to the event, as well as the support from the Aberdeen community.

“We’re excited for it, and we like anyone that comes out from the community of Aberdeen. We always enjoy that,” Baird said. “We get quite a few people that maybe don’t know much about any of it, and they come in and have a good time. So, we’re excited for anyone that wants to come check it out and get in on the action with us.”