'Ax-wielding diplomat'
With new workout plan, Arden Cogar Jr. makes case for banner year
But this year, Cogar has serious plans to change all that.
These days when the West Virginia litigator isn't representing clients in the logging and mining industries, Cogar has been hard at work in his home gym, training for a new year of lumberjack competitions — and a new beginning for himself.
"Last year, I was more like 270 (pounds), I was pretty chubby," he said. "I'm less chubby this year."
With a goal to improve his speed and accuracy in lumberjack events from past years, Cogar sought new ways between the 2007 and 2008 season to train and tone his body to compete against the top 32 lumberjacks in the world.
For most of his lumberjacking career, Cogar believed he could always train himself. But entering his 20th season on the STIHL series, he became determined to become the most efficient lumberjack competitor he could be — but decided he needed some help.
"I hired myself a coach for the first time in my life," Cogar said.
Specifically, he hired Coach Randy Hauer of West Chester, Penn.
But because Hauer lived hundreds of miles away from Cogar's mountain home in West Hamlin, W. Va., the lumberjack lawyer's training regiment took an entirely different form. "Hauer is a videotape technician," he said. "He critiques my workouts after I post them on YouTube."
Today the Philadelphia trainer reviews Cogar's taped video workouts and will either post comments online or pick up the phone. According to the trainee, Hauer's regiment works to re-train the central nervous system, thereby re-routing pathways between muscle and brain function. Cogar now firmly believes he doesn't need to stay bigger or stronger to perform any better — but rather just be quicker and more efficient.
"My new training philosophy is, to quote Ricky Bobby, 'I want to go fast,'" he said, alluding to the fictional race car driver played by Will Ferrell in "Talladega Nights."
"I had been training like a power-lifter, but if you look at the Olympic movements, they are so much more speed-based. Then, if you think about it, we're only using a 6- to 7-pound implement."
Cogar isn't the only STIHL TIMBERSPORTS pro integrating telecommuting workouts into their overall training: Mike Eash, Cogar noted, has also benefited from Hauer's online instruction.
But it's not all about training for Cogar, either.
Growing up around West Virginia's forestry industry, he developed a great knowledge of lumberjacking throughout his grade school years. And a future of successful competition in the sport would come naturally for the high-school athlete.
"It's been in my family for three generations, now four generations," he said. (His 73-year-old father still remains involved with lumberjacking and his 10-year-old and 7-year-old daughters have already both expressed interest in lumberjack sports.)
So when it came time to go away to college, Cogar chose to stay relatively close to home. He attended West Virginia University in Charleston and gained his undergraduate, graduate and law degrees in succession. After joining the WVU Woodsmen team, the Mountaineer freshman instantly fell in love with the competitive side of lumberjacking and began to pursue the sport more aggressively.
"It is just my hobby, but it's my passion."
Even after 25 years of competing in various lumberjack sports, Cogar's love of competition hasn't waned a bit, whether it's in court or on the STIHL stage. And with his new physique and outlook for this year, he's even more eager than ever for the new season to begin.
Defending clients in court and destroying wood blocks on stage, there's no doubt Cogar enjoys his double-life as a modern-day superhero.
"The unusual thing about me is that I wear a suit and tie four or five times a week," he said. "But on weekends, I make chips."
The STIHL TIMBERSPORTS Professional Series first round event will be held June 6–7, 2008 in Lehi, Utah.
