Strongman or strongman training has been around in various forms for many, many years with the modern day strongman events having origins that date back to ancient times. One thing we know for sure is that using these movements and events builds superhuman strength and mental fortitude not found anywhere else in the strength sports. Incorporating strongman movements into your program can reap huge rewards for your conditioning and barbell lifts. As the premier strongman gym in Melbourne we take great pride our strongman program at Iron Revolution. As such we incorporate strongman movements into our training daily or where possible for the individual
Three of my favorite lifts are the Super Yoke, Farmers Carry and the infamous atlas stones. The benefits for each lift are numerous including upper back and grip strength, improved midline stability and explosive lower body power. I like to begin programming one event day per week depending on the phase of training you are in and your current strength levels.
While the technique intricacies are not suitable for a short article like this you should aim to seek the advice of a qualified coach to help you learn proper technique for these events, as they can be EXTREMELY dangerous if you do not know what you are doing. Click here to book in a trial with me at Iron Revolution Nothing beats hands on experience for Strongman training. Safety should be of the highest priority when performing strongman training or any activity that carries an inherent high risk. I understand that a lot of lifters out there want to get as strong as possible with out using a lifting belt and for the most part believe it to be a great recommendation. However I HIGHLY recommend that beginners and intermediate lifters use a weight belt for the yoke carry. The Super yoke is an example of an exercise where you will be using supra maximal weights so extra care should be taken to prevent injury.
The Super Yoke
The Super Yoke has long been a strongman staple event and will help build tremendous strength through the trunk, upper back and legs. No matter which way you look at it if you are able to support a yoke on your back with over 3 x bodyweight then you MUST have a super strong core, upper back, posterior chain and quads to pick that sucker up! Obviously starting with something a little lighter would be more sensible. I recommend people start at 1.5 x bodyweight or around 80% of your back squat 1rm (whichever weight is LOWEST) for multiple sets at 20m to learn the correct technique and build proper conditioning in the event before pushing things too far. You should be covering the 20m in well under 30 seconds for at least 2-3 sets before increasing the weight.
The Farmers Carry
The Farmers Carry event is a grueling test of grip strength, core stability and leg speed. Carrying your max deadlift or more and trying to walk with it as fast as possible will put even the strongest grip to the test. Grip strength is paramount in many sports and will help improve your overall strength. My recommendation is to begin with roughly 60-75% bodyweight in each hand to 30m distances. You should be able to perform multiple sets for the distance in less than 20 seconds before increasing the weights. A great idea is to perform a static 10-15 second hold at the end of each walk to maximize the grip strengthening effect. Aim to build up to bodyweight in each hand while increasing the walking distance gradually.
The Atlas Stones
Nothing builds brute strength through the posterior chain, upper back trunk and develops explosive drive through the hips quite like stone lifting. There is a bit of controversy surrounding how best to include stone lifting into your training. What needs to be understood is that once the size and weight of the stone increases things change fairly significantly. The stone becomes harder to get a solid grip on, harder to lap and much harder to either shoulder or even place over a bar. For beginners it is wise to master the technique first with a lighter stone. 30-50kg for a female and 50-70 kg for a male is wise to begin with. Shouldering the stone is the easiest way to start from an equipment perspective, as you only need yourself and the stone. 3-6 reps per set with a pause once the stone is shouldered. Anywhere from 3-5 sets is a good start and if you really want to push it go max reps for 60 seconds for 3 sets.
Putting it together
There are many ways to include strongman training into your regime. The best way for most beginners and intermediates to start is to include 1 event day per week. Our Saturday sessions at iron Revolution are a great example. We include 3-4 events programmed into the training cycle, which we add to the end of the week for those on our powerlifting programs or general strength programs.
Our beginner program has an emphasis on improving base strength and proficiency in the lifts, improves strength endurance and towards the end of the training cycle max strength.
For those on our competition programs we utilize our specialist facility to include the competition events in the program more frequently. This requires closer monitoring of factors such as volume, intensity and overall recovery.
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