From a young age, Owen Dion watched his stepfather, Thomas Hogan, lift big weights in the basement and waited to lift them on his own. This month, he’ll be headed to Arlington, Texas, for the World Strongman Games.
Dion, a senior at John Stark Regional High School from Weare, is the type of person who is constantly setting new goals and standards to meet.
He works out for eight consecutive days, segmented into two four-day cycles, before taking a rest day. In addition to hitting the gym for two hours a day, he attends Stark’s football practices every day in the fall.
“It’s really just convincing myself that I can do better. So I want to do better. I really like this quote by Socrates, where he says it’s a shame for a man to die without knowing the beauty of his body,” Dion said between football practice and his gym session on a school night.
The football player, shot put-thrower, and power-lifter applies a similar philosophy to his mind. His mother, Christina Hogan, explained that he’s not just brawn.
“He knows that if he wants time in the gym and he wants to be training, he has to make sure all of his papers are in, all of his reading is done, and he’s studying when he needs to,” Hogan said.
He’s a successful student with a 4.45 GPA, taking honors and AP classes, and is enrolled in Concord Regional Technical Center’s Criminal Justice program.
He’s hungry. Hungry to do better in school, hungry to lift more and constantly hungry for more food to gain muscle.
Dion competed in his first strongman competition in the summer of 2024 and won. Six months later, he competed with grown men, not teenagers, and placed second.
After building confidence, gaining weight and lifting more than ever, he was invited to compete in “America’s Strongest Teen,” where he placed first in the 15 to 17-year-old 105kg category.
Still only 17 years old, he stands tall at six foot, but his width and muscle gives the impression he’s even taller.
To win the national title, he lifted and cleaned a circus dumbbell weighing 125 pounds, duckwalked a 240-pound weight 40 feet, deadlifted 385 pounds for seven repetitions, and pushed a 335-pound “Conan’s Wheel” for three laps and 13 feet.
With the invitation to compete in Texas, he’s training harder than ever, and chowing down, too.
“I’m eating north of a 5,000-calorie track today, with a minimum of 225 grams of protein,” he said.
Day one of training is chest and back, mainly pressing and rowing movements. Day two is shoulders, arms and using grip-focused exercises. Day three is leg day, because you can’t skip leg day, but he has found it helps him tremendously with every sport he plays and his footwork for upper-body exercises. The fourth day is miscellaneous, but usually it’s some combination of those exercises.
“I change it depending on the events for the competition to just get me stronger in those particular events, while the other days focus on my overall strength and everything else,” Dion said.
As he explained his daily routine and weekly schedule, including sports, gym, school, football, and honors society meetings, one could not help but wonder how he, or anyone, could find so much time.
He hopes to continue down the criminal justice path, as many of his family members served in the military or in the police force.
“I like to be well-rounded. I don’t want to be stuck in a position where I can only pick things up, or stuck in a position where I can’t be physical. I like being both,” he said.
Somehow, he still makes a point to hang out with his parents and siblings on weekends. His invitation to participate in the World Strongman Games was a testament and affirmation that his hard work is paying off.
“It’s still, for me, surreal, so I can’t imagine how it must feel for him. Like this is stuff that you always dream about happening for your kid, you want them to succeed, and you want everything that they want to happen, like all their dreams come true,” Dion’s mother said.
As the competition approaches, Dion has started a fundraiser to help him and his family cover some of the costs of the trip, including travel, lodging, meals and some additional equipment.
His GoFundMe page is: “Owen Dion: From Small Town to World Stage“
