Strongman Training

[jimbuick]

Let me preface this by saying, I am not a strongman competitor; yet.

But, I am interested in training for it. And ultimately getting as awesome as possible. (awesome is the adjective that I would use to describe people that excel at strongman competitions)

I am contemplating running the "Cube for Strongman" training cycle, and have already read the book (great read, if you haven't already read it). My only question is how did/would you do event days without all of the necessary equipment?

So, for those of you who have done something similar to this (I'm looking at you herder). How would you set up the event days? I obviously am not training for a competition in my near future so I don't have a list of events that I need to train up for, but I do know for a fact that atlas stones and block presses are not something I will be able to figure out at this moment.

What I have access to:

Log Bar
Prowler +harness+rope
30' Turf
Olympic Weights+Barbell
SSB
Human Dummies (of unknown weight. made by Title MMA)
Stackable Boxes (load up the prowler and use it to do loading exercises with the boxes maybe? probably not, sounds ridiculous)
Tires (of assorted weights)
KB's (up to 97#)

My ideas
Log Presses
1 Arm DB OH Presses
Sled Drags
Sled Arm Over Arm Pulls
Farmers Carries (with BBs)
Front Carries (grab a couple KB's at a time maybe?, use them for loading?)
SSB for yoke carries?
Tire Flips/Drags



That's what I've got for right now. Until I can talk someone in to mixing some concrete for me to make atlas stones lol. What do you guys think? Do you have any ideas that I could add for event days, or is this a good enough list to make some decent progress?

 

[Sean1332]

I have no idea on the subject, but, guy at my gym makes atlas stones...he said its pretty easy. I can grab the directions if you want. the concrete mix is the easy part.. I could see the SSB being used for carrys...hmmm trap bar farmers walk?

 

[jimbuick]

I have no idea on the subject, but, guy at my gym makes atlas stones...he said its pretty easy. I can grab the directions if you want. the concrete mix is the easy part..

I've poured concrete before, mixing isn't something I'm worried about. The rest of the process, probably incredibly hard.....

 

[jimbuick]

I have no idea on the subject, but, guy at my gym makes atlas stones...he said its pretty easy. I can grab the directions if you want. the concrete mix is the easy part.. I could see the SSB being used for carrys...hmmm trap bar farmers walk?

Didn't think about that, but I can definitely do that.

 

[Sean1332]

Didn't think about that, but I can definitely do that.

14" cambered bar is good for em too if you ever get access to one

 

[jimbuick]

14" cambered bar is good for em too if you ever get access to one

And front/yoke carries....

I want one now.

 

[herderdude]

Ahem. Allow me to spitball for a while. I'll update in a stream-of-consciousness fashion.

I like the SSB walks. Nothing wrong with using a barbell to do yoke walks either. You can do yoke marches. Load up weights in a rack and just pick one foot up and then the other. Plate carries are an exercise I love to do. It's definitely not hard to make stones.

Hell, dig a 16" half globe pit in the ground, fill it with concrete, shove three or four short pieces of rebar in it, let it dry 8+ hours, take it out, pour the other half and slam the first half you poured on top. Use some repair compound to smooth it out and boom. Stone. Look around outside. I don't know about you, but out here you can find big ass rocks everywhere. Look up the Husefell stone. It's a common strongman event based on a big rock sitting outside of a sheep's pen in Iceland. People travel out there to see if they can pick it up and carry it for a lap around the pen.

Take one of your moderate sized tires and do farmer's with it. Take med balls and throw them over your head like a keg toss. Oly lifter Vasily Alexeev used to take a 200lb barbell and throw it keg toss style many many times for GPP. I feel like we don't show enough love for the big Russian who set 80 world records, so here's a vid.

ALEXEEV the Great - YouTube

 

[herderdude]

Zercher walks would be awesome. Carry the bar in the crooks of your arms and walk with it. I like to do barbell farmer's too. Two barbells are hard to control. Sometimes use straps for your farmers to make it hard on other things. Plate holds, farmer's holds, wrap a towel around a barbell to simulate axle presses. Do stuff timed for 60s and then other times do it for a max. I saw a sweet one the other day for car deadlifts:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zu3TNZaa4qI

Two chainzzzz!

 

[herderdude]

Something similar to a block press would be to take a 100lb plate (or fashion two 45s together somehow) and press it. That would probably be more of a repetition exercise, but it would help. I like the circus dumbbell pressing idea. I tried to press my 130s circus style but was unable to. Shouldn't be hard to make some sandbags to carry for distance or throw over your shoulder for reps. I'm sure you could find empty kegs at the nearest beer store. If they won't give you empties, buy a quarter and a full keg, throw a massive party, and keep the kegs. Fill the kegs with water or shot or sand and you will have a very challenging implement. The wrestling coach at my alma mater would add a gallon of water to each keg each week as the summer went on.

As you get some event repertoire and things start getting easier (say a 10yd heavy prowler push only takes 30 seconds) then have another implement set at the end and come back with it, like a medley. Do heavy sled drags forward and backward, the arm-over-arm is a great idea. Find clips of any strongman competition you can find and constantly think of ways you could mimic that training. Try anything. If it's hard, keep it. If it sucks to do, then do it more often.

 

[herderdude]

Here's this, too. (Wink wink nudge nudge)

http://www.nastrongman.com/?page_id=2368

 

[ZiR RED]

Jim, check this out. Pat is classmate/colleague of mine who coaches a strongman team at Springfield College and competes in the 185 pound class on the national level himself. There is a lot of good info in these interviews/articles here:

http://samleahey.com/strongman-program-design-with-dr-davidson-part-1-assessment/#more-1617

 

[jimbuick]

Awesome link Jason!

Thanks!