Jon Hergert

is the Freak Factory's Mad Scientist.  He always stands ready to calculate the pounds per square inch of a Hussefell stone or the amount of force need be applied to the ground in order to move a 50,000 lb dump truck at a 3% grade. 

Hergy is one of the newer additions to the Freak Factory and someone that has truly been transformed through the Freak Factory into a hybrid form of something resembling an intellectual/barbaric mutation of homo sapiens.   

The Herginator can be seen every weekend at the Freak Factory shouting out audibles to his fellow freaks in encouragement.  Lately Hergy’s audibles have turned into inaudibles as we can no longer understand a friggin word he is saying.  

But nevertheless, he is always there giving his energy to his fellow freaks and has unleashed his inner-freak upon the world.  In only a couple of months of training at the Freak Factory, Jon’s skill as a strongman enhanced enough to make an impression at California’s Strongest Man.   

His new found energy and proficiency were enough to place him ahead of many competitors who have been competing in the sport for years.

Prior to joining the Factory, Hergy dabbled in what would be considered by some to be a few obscure sporting activities to the average strength athlete.  It turns out that Jon was an avid long-distance bicyclist.  

Trudging up hills and down long winding roads, Jon excelled at this aerobic nightmare of a sport. After turning in his wheels, the Herginator decided to try his hand at a more anaerobic sport requiring agility, poise and tenacity- Dog Show Handling!!!  

The unrelenting ferocity needed to keep FiFi the Poodle’s tail perky is what drew Hergy in and since then has earned many heroic titles such as Most Fluffy and Most Shimmeringly Shorn Scrotum.  Since handling K-9s wasn’t enough to quell his inner savage, Herg settled for Strongman.     

All kidding aside, Jon is a great addition to the Freak Factory and his skill and energy is appreciated by all of the Freak Factory.  Jon is always analyzing ways to make things run more efficiently at the Freak Factory and is an excellent student and will soon be a great mentor to all future freaks that pass through our extreme playground.

Jon Hergert discovered the Freak Factory after attending a Northern California Strongman Event and witnessing either Scott Brengel or Beau Gertz win every event. After returning home to Yorba Linda, he met up with Scott and Beau at a local gym and trained with them. Scott and Beau decided to have Jon Boy Hergert try out for the Freak Factory.

Jon is a former USCF bicycle racer that in his peak form was 149 lbs and still 15 lbs too heavy. Several sides of beef, the real meat, 100 lbs of protein powder, a couple of hundred gallons of milk, and countless squats and deadlifts later, Jon weighs 215 lbs.

Jon has a brain but his employer requires him to leave it in his desk drawer at work so it isn't injured on the weekend.

While the brain is useful after events to figure out better more efficient ways to perform the events, it is definitely a liability during the events.

 Some of the “constructive comments” the brain comes up with that the animal instinct has to suppress are “you know, it would be a lot faster and easier getting this tire to the finish line if we rolled it rather than flipped it” and “if this was really a farmer’s carry, we would be carrying a couple of sacks of feed or a bale of hay, not two 250 lb iron implements.” Fortunately, lack of oxygen on training and contest days usually serves to sufficiently lower brain activity.

Jon Boy grew up in the corn fields of Nebraska, where cow tipping was the country strongman event of choice. After a while the cows would see Jon coming and hide in the barn. This forced him to move to California where the choice of events was broader and not so dairy oriented.

Jon's wife of over ten years is Sandra. She is a great supporter of Jon's and some of her photos can be seen in the Freak Gallery.

While engaged in conversation Jon Boy seems perfectly normal, just what you would expect from a civilized man with engineering abilities. It is not until you see him at the end of 50 feet with a 420 pound chain or in a harness pulling a 50,000 pound tour bus against air brakes that you catch a glimpse of the Freak Beast within Jon, the animal drive that will not let him quit. 

Some of our most heroic efforts here at the Freak Factory have been Jon's. He seems to reach a point of exhaustion or no further forward movement, then he dips into an untapped source of strength within him and he is off again.

Someday we will get him to eat his chicken with his fingers. Someday.

Jon is willing to try any feat of strength the Freak Factory decides to pursue. A Highland Games training day saw Jon experimenting with large weights at high speeds. This resulted in some of the most unusual and entertaining throws ever witnessed, and one particularly inspired move was even christened with a name. Several new strength athletes pulled a Hergert that day.

Jon's Quotes

• The air's up here!

• Are we buying chicken here or is this the Louisiana Purchase?

• That 12 inch log tore my ass up!

• I hope that new guy doesn't try to out-geek me!

• It's physics, plain simple physics!

• My loafers and I have been through a lot together!