Over the years I’ve experienced many failures and some success in this sport. Success does not come easy, usually takes a lot of hard work to achieve, and the results are not always seen as quickly as you‘d like. Failures on the other hand, they come easy! They can be caused by many things such as lax event training, loss of mental focus while competing, or even issues with your gear.
I’d like to share with you what I’ve found to be the four key ingredients to success or failure in lumberjack sports. All of these ingredients build upon each other to determine your level of success. If you are missing even a single element, you’ll likely end up with a disaster.

Fundamentals
The longer I am in this sport, the more I realize the importance of the fundamentals. Understanding the fundamentals of each event is necessary, and the proper execution of them is vital. Oddly enough, as I look at and study any sport, the same thing rings true. Without proper execution, the rest doesn’t really matter.
Now there are many different techniques that have proven to be successful in all events. One thing that rings true is that although competitors may apply different styles or techniques to an event, the actual result of that technique is usually the same. For example, you can look at several champion axemen and see that their swings are vastly different; but when you look at how the axe is hitting the wood, you’ll find a lot of similarities (axe presentation, placement, etc). These fundamentals are extremely important and they have to be learned before you can truly advance in the sport.

Natural Ability
A competitor’s natural ability is a key ingredient. When I say natural ability, I’m not necessarily talking about how quickly someone is able to pick up the sport. It’s more about their natural physical abilities that will help them in the long run. I believe these three abilities are power, quickness, and athleticism.
Power and size are not necessarily the same thing, although they have been known to overlap. There is nothing more common in this sport than a huge guy that hits like someone half his size. Power is about using your strength to apply force to an axe, saw or other lumberjack tool. It can be trained to some degree, but I think it‘s largely a natural ability because much of it is determined by coordination. Quickness can definitely be taught or trained, although many people are naturally quick. Also, it’s important to note that quickness and speed are not the same thing. In this sport, quickness is a far greater asset than speed.
In my opinion, athleticism is the most important factor. You can train to become stronger and quicker, but athleticism can’t be taught. You either have it or you don’t. I’ve met many woodsman/farm boy types that are handy with an axe, plenty strong, and seem to take to the sport quickly. But unless they have the athleticism to tie it all together, they don’t get very far.
The reason that natural ability follows the fundamentals is simple. A huge part of success is applying the fundamentals to your natural ability. You need to figure out what works best for you. The best competitors are able to take the fundamentals and mold them to their strengths. I knew early on in this sport that power was my greatest asset. I took the approach that I needed to harness that, and form my technique to cut each log in the fewest hits and saw each log in the fewest strokes. Trying to become a speed sawyer or chopper just didn’t make sense for me and it would’ve been foolish to take that approach.

Gear
The third ingredient is gear or lumberjack equipment. The best competitors usually have the best gear. This is not a coincidence. The “best gear” isn’t the same for every competitor though. Ideally, as you become more aware of your technique and ability, you will know what gear to buy that suits your style. However, if you haven’t fully developed your technique or can’t acquire the best gear, you’ll have to suit your style to your equipment. Finally, sometimes your best gear isn’t the best cutting, but rather something that you are comfortable using. Let me give you a few examples:
When I first began competing at high level contests, I always borrowed Arden Cogar Jr’s single saw. His saws are extremely aggressive and work well for him because he has excellent technique. I am not as skilled and have to rely on weighting the saw to do well at contests. With his gear, I was usually hit or miss. Most commonly, I would hang the saw once or twice on every cut. Occasionally, I would rip off a fast cut, but there was no consistency. This past season, I found a saw that suited me perfectly. It’s aggressive, but not so hungry that I am hanging it up on my cuts. Most people would prefer to use Arden’s saw, knowing that it is very aggressive and capable of winning the event. But in my case, taking both my shortcomings as a sawyer and natural ability into account, I would rather take my current saw as it is the “best gear” for me.
My current bowsaw blade is relatively competitive, but it simply can’t keep up with the top blades that are at most competitions. Because of that, I have changed my technique accordingly. Although I’ve always cut with a lot of pressure, with my current blade I have to weight it an obscene amount to make it cut. The challenge that I’ve found is that I’m always walking the fine line of weighting the blade without overloading the frame. Some folks may think that it is foolish to cut this way, because it has changed my technique and can hurt me in the future. But the bottom line is that I don’t like to lose, so I’ll do what I can in the short term to be competitive. As such, I’ll suit my style to my equipment until I’m able to find a better blade and I‘ll adjust my technique at that point.
Comfort with your equipment is important, and I think this is especially true with axes. I’ve owned some axes from both Jim Hunt and Mike Eash that have cut incredible and are very “free in the wood” (don’t tend to get stuck). In the right hands, they are certainly capable of setting a record any day of the week. But believe it or not, I tend to use a very average axe the most. Why? The handle is perfect and I like the weight, size and shape of the axe. There is a comfort level that exists because I feel like I have more control of the axe. Don’t get me wrong, I still use the exceptional axes and they work great. But sometimes, there is no substitute for an axe that’s familiar and comfortable. Some of my fastest times have come from average axes that are free in the wood. When the wood is very good, at least in North America, just about any axe will cut it well anyway.

Mental Game
The mental game is basically what puts pulls everything together and is the most complex ingredient of all. An entire book could be written on the subject, and I certainly don’t feel like I’m the best candidate to write it. What I do know is that a large part of the mental game is about focus and intensity.
Focus is necessary to actually be able to perform at a contest or show. If you are not able to get properly focused, you can’t perform to the best of your ability. Intensity is something that varies for every competitor. For me personally, I need to be very intense and aggressive when chopping to get the best results. I do my best when I chop aggressively and just trust that my experience and training will take over. If I try to apply the same mentality to sawing, I almost always fall short. I’ve realized that in order to do well with sawing, I need less intensity and more focus on my technique during the event.

Bottom Line
The quality of these ingredients is very important, but you also have to know how to combine them to make the recipe a success. The time you spend training is how you improve the quality of these ingredients, but not everyone is cooking the same dish. Some competitors are making a Christmas dinner and need to spend a lot of time training to get ready each year. Others are just microwaving popcorn as they rely heavily on their experience. I’m always experimenting with different ways to improve, and a lot of the time I find that the quality of my ingredients aren’t up to par. “Oh man, I burned the fundamentals again!”