Success through strength: FRCE teammate finds new passion in strongman training

When Matthew Umbel decided to pick up a new hobby, he also picked up sandbags. And logs. And a couple of medals along the way.

Umbel, who works as a pneudraulics technician in the Beyond Capable Maintenance Interdiction Shop at the Fleet Readiness Center East (FRCE) detachment onboard Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort, South Carolina, had entered the world of amateur strongman competitions.

Now – less than a year after he first started training – Umbel has qualified for a national-level competition after placing third in his category at Immortal Strength, a strongman competition held Aug. 23 in Tifton, Georgia. That showing earned him an invitation to the 2026 America’s Strongest Master, the strongman national championship for athletes age 40 and older.

“It was a little surprising to do so well in my first two competitions and qualify for nationals, but this is exactly what I started training for,” Umbel said. “I’m proud of how far I’ve come in such a short time, and I’m excited to have a chance to represent the command, the air station and my training partners at the national level. I couldn’t do any of this without a team of great family, friends and coworkers supporting me, and I really hope I’ll be able to make them all proud.”

Umbel’s interest in strongman came as an extension of a desire to improve his physical fitness, which itself was sparked by a Biggest Loser-style competition among coworkers at FRCE’s Beaufort detachment. An active-duty Marine from 2004-2012, Umbel had set aside much of his physical training after leaving the Marine Corps.

“When we started the competition at work in 2020, I started going back to the gym again and realized that I didn’t really lose any of my strength from before. In fact, I had actually gained some,” he said. “I wanted to see how far I could go with building on that.

“After about four years, I had actually reached all my strength goals and accomplished everything I set out to do, and I needed a new goal to reach for that would keep me motivated,” Umbel continued. “I wanted something else to do with all the strength I built.”

Umbel spoke to the installation’s High Intensity Tactical Training (HITT) coordinator, who invited him to come train with a group focused on strongman.

“It was a good fit, right from the start,” Umbel said. “I did that one training session, and I just fell in love with it. I went home and ordered all the equipment I needed. I couldn’t wait.”

Most weekends, Umbel can be found training with a team of strongman enthusiasts, which includes the HITT coordinator and one of the Marines who works in the shop with Umbel.

“Sundays are our Strongman Sundays,” he explained. “We’re usually outside for about three to four hours. We’ll do a yoke run anywhere from 50-100 feet, then do overhead log presses, deadlifts, lots of squats, sandbag carries or farmer carries. It depends on our next competition and the specific events that it will entail – we train specifically for that competition.”

For Umbel, who has worked in his position at FRCE for six years, striving to be the best is a natural extension of his worldview.

“My goal is to be the best at everything I do, so I want to be the best 40-year-old strongman in the country,” he explained. “I want to be the best depot-level pneudraulics technician in the country, too. When I was an active-duty Marine, I was a fixed-wing hydraulics mechanic in the same work center that I’m in now – that’s what I’ve been working on my whole career.”

Bryan Holland, the F-18 branch manager at FRCE’s Beaufort detachment, agreed that the strongman training reinforces the work ethic Umbel brings to the job every day.

“Matt is a strong leader, and in the BCMI shop he teaches the Marines to work on hydraulic parts, actuators and servos,” Holland explained. “The Marines look up to him, and he has several that are following in his footsteps for their physical fitness. He’s always more than willing to provide guidance, whether it’s on repairing a component or being healthy and strong.”

For Umbel, staying healthy and strong is a top priority for both life and work.

“As I am aging – I’m not really a cardio machine,” he laughed. “Being in the gym and building muscle is going to help me create longevity, so I’m able to stay healthy and do this job longer.

“The best thing about this job is being with the Marines and being able to teach them what I know – I love being a positive influence on them,” Umbel continued. “The environment here is like the camaraderie when I was in the Marine Corps, and I missed that. So I want to keep doing this for as long as I can.”

FRCE is North Carolina's largest maintenance, repair, overhaul and technical services provider, with more than 4,000 civilian, military and contract workers. Its annual revenue exceeds $865 million. The Beaufort detachment employs 30 workers in support of maintenance for the F/A-18 C-D Hornet, an all-weather, twin-engine, multi-mission tactical aircraft. The depot provides service to the fleet while functioning as an integral part of the greater U.S. Navy; Naval Air Systems Command; and Commander, Fleet Readiness Centers.