Carrying a heavy cross in your arms while it crushes your ribcage, bashes into your legs, makes you see stars and ponder the meaning of life may not sound like everybodies cup of tea but lucky for most strongman competitors, we are not everybody and this is no tea party! Strongman carry events are very demanding and requires some specific skills and training to master them.
Meet Barry. This is what our newest strongman tool has been named and is closely related to “black betty” our infamous duck walk items made by Stand or Submit. They are a match made in hell would be a cruelly designed torture medley if someone was to use them together in competition…. But let’s not get carried away now. How do we train for such things? There isn’t really anything special about it and technique varies widely depending on what you will be carrying. Often how things look and how they feel can be very different and this is why I recommend using a variety of carries in training to work on the different aspects that are important for an event like this one. Here are what I consider to be the most important component of preparing yourself for an event like this one;
BREATHING
This is probably the most important part, followed closely by grip. Once you’ve got the implement up and are moving with it you won’t get far if you can’t breathe. It is not comfortable and never will be. Plain and simple. You must learn to adapt and this is why using a variety of carry implements helps. For me personally the Zercher Yoke carry is my worst so I like to do it more than other variants. I find it the hardest to breathe with and have found practicing with it improves my other carry positions too. Focus on keeping braced and using short sharp paradoxical breathing. It is critical that you don’t breathe too quickly and make yourself hyperventilate or gas yourself out prematurely. This takes practice and learning what pace you can move at and matching the breathing accordingly.
GETTING A GRIP
The position which you carry the implement on the body varies for everyone and again for males and females due to obvious anatomical reasons. The biggest issue I find is arm length and size. Long arms can be beneficial to wrap around certain implements and too long to sit properly on others. Arm size is less of an issue and if guys like Vytautas Lalas and other pro strongman with 23 inch biceps can manage so can you. Just be weary of where the implement presses into your arms as it can quickly become uncomfortable. Always pick the implement up and move with it a bit first to gauge how it sits and how it is likely to feel after 10,30 and even 60 seconds. Again this will take practice and using different implements such as kegs, sandbags, Zercher carries, husafell stones, atlas stones and whatever else you can get your hands on will make you more comfortable with being uncomfortable in the event.
CORRECT FOOTWORK
Anyone who has trained with me knows how much emphasis I place on getting your footwork right. If you stumble you can cost yourself seconds, the event and even your teeth. Having a strategy on these events is important. Some people definitely do better with going all out from the start and covering as much ground as fast as possible before the body gives out and others do well with setting a pace and making the most of the clock. Again each implement will affect how you CAN move differently. For example our new friend Barry will be much harder for the vertically challenged due to how it will hit their legs therefore a wider stance walk will be better. For those over 6”2 it will be far less of an issue. Practice, practice and practice.
TRAIN SMART
Going for max weight and max distance every week is not the smartest idea for anything. You might get away with it for a while but ultimately it won’t last forever. I like to mix it up with this type of event and alternate sessions of interval work to accumulate volume and max distance runs to focus on higher intensity work. For example, using around 70-80% comp weight for 5-10 rounds of a set distance. The distance would be based on what you manage to do in the first max distance session. For max distance work I like to start at 80-85% comp max and work up each session until we hit 100% comp weight 1-2 weeks out. Do 1-2 max distance runs at the chosen weight for the week.
MENTAL TOUGHNESS
This is one aspect you have absolutely 100% control over. This event is hard, it is not “fun”, it is not glamourous, it’s not comfortable. How you set your mindset before the event is critical. There are many ways you can work on this and everybody responds differently to different stimulus. Whether it be meditation, visualisation, chanting and screaming or otherwise just make sure you are prepared for the event. Do whatever it takes to get your head in the game and when the event starts make sure you are in your zone/happy/angry place or wherever it is you go for a strength endurance event like this one.
Signing off,
