-Chad’s Strongman Career

-Traits of Successful Competitors

-How To Assess An Athlete’s Strength and Weaknesses

-Training Strategies for Foundational Events

A PR is a Win

Success in strongman can be very different from person to person, depending on who you ask, and that’s a good thing. I think it’s important to for each strongman competitor to sit and consider that before moving forward. Yet one quote that seems to always ring true to every strongman, regardless of their level or experience were words from Zack McCarley, a 6 time national champion in the sport of strongman, and in my honest opinion, the most dominant 105 kilo strongman to date.

Zack and I were discussing a contest one day and he looked at me and said, “hey man, a PR is a win.”

Let me expand on a seemingly simply few words from the champ, because I’m sure every strength enthusiast is reading this, and is unimpressed with this statement and a very, “duh!” look on their face. I had just finished an event mid-contest and although I hit a personal best, I didn’t place as high as I had hoped in the event.

To get me out of my childish temperament, Zack pointed out to me, if you go to a contest, and PR in every event, and you still don’t win the contest, you were simply out-matched that day on those events. There’s no shame in that, and in fact, the opposite is true. You should be proud of the progress you made and happy with the PRs you’ve accomplished. A PR is a win!

Block Periodization 101 and the Season’s End

Alright, so what does that have to do with planning for a successful year in strongman competition? Well, with the NAS National Championships just passing last weekend, for a majority of the athletes and competitors, it marks the “end” of the strongman competitive “season”.

For the most part, if you were to go back to block periodization 101, and map out all the contests you had planned for the year, many strongman competitors would have the National Championships marked as their “Superbowl”, or at the very least, the “playoffs”, and unless you have qualified for a higher level show, this marks the end of your season. For everyone else moving on up in competition, congrats! The principles in this article will simply apply to you a little later on the calendar.

If we are trying to plan for future success, the first thing I do is reflect on the previous year’s progress and results. Sometimes you have to look backwards to move forwards. Although I still believe a PR is a win, sometimes that isn’t the win you are looking for, and you want to improve regardless. Hell, I’ve won contests where I hit PRs and I still wasn’t satisfied or content with my performance or outcome.

The nice thing about strongman though, is that it is very quantifiable and measureable. With that said, it’s also incredibly convenient that results are almost always posted shortly after a contest is concluded. Makes things very easy for an analytical competitor like myself.

Do Your Homework

To prepare for the upcoming year or season, the first thing I do is compile the results of each competition I did that year, as well as one or two other high level shows that I may not have had the ability to attend. Easy enough to do, since every federation and promoter usually makes the results and score sheets public and attainable.

Next, I highlight or mark my results from each contest I did, including the placing I finished on each event. If the athletes you compete against are the same group of people, I’ll group the similar events together, and see if I made any progress that year, both in terms of my performance and my placings against similar competitors.

This is the beginning of my data collection process, and is pretty much a self-reflection. I do encourage you to look for three things in particular

• Which events did I have the most success in? (typically your strengths)
• Which events did I give up the most points in? (typically your weaknesses)
• And which events did I see the most personal progress in? (Likely something you spend the most time on in training)

If you can identify those three things, your off-season is already off to a great start!

From here it gets a bit more interesting, or at least honest. My next suggestion is to critically evaluate where you were winning and losing events. Sometimes it’s hard to take an honest look of your own performance, and if so, I hope your friends and training partners are honest with you instead of a bunch of “yes-men” fan-boy type of friends. Luckily, I have Zack McCarley and he’s brutally honest with me (sometimes down-right mean and insulting haha). It gets a bit tricky from here though…

Know Your Enemy

I feel fortunate enough to say I think the lightweight class of strongman is a pretty well put together group of guys that I would call friends, but “know your enemy” sounded like a more catching title referencing some strategic war campaign. The principle is the same though, it’s good to know your competition and what you’re up against.

You should already have the results from the higher level contests, and the good news is, the top doesn’t change too drastically when considering the top 15 or so placers. However, I do like to go back and collect a few years of competition results. Typically, I personally collect and compare the results from the previous two national championships, and the previous two lightweight world championships from the Arnold.

Just as you tried to identify your progress, try and do the same with your competitors. I’m not saying do this for everyone in your weight class. Instead, pick a few of the guys at the top, or maybe just the winner of each event, and try to find a trend in their progress on those events from the past two years. Once you’ve done this, consider yourself educated on the field of competitors

Collecting Data for the Sake of Collecting Data

I hate this. Collecting data just for the sake of it sounds a lot like useless busy-work to me. If you’ve followed what I’ve explained though, the data you’ve collected can be VERY useful, so long as you act on it. But what to do with all these strengths and weaknesses, and progress trends you’ve found?

It’s pretty simple really. If I know what kind of trend of progression my competitors are following, I can typically estimate roughly where they’ll be in a year. Granted this is an estimation and not an exact science, but if I know what they did last year to win a particular event, and they made so much progress in the previous year, I should have a rough idea of what will win a similar event the next year. That is already hugely beneficial if you are a serious competitor.

Couple that knowledge if your renewed honest reflection of your own strengths and weaknesses, you can lay out exactly what kind of events need the most work. I say “what kind of events” because as long as events aren’t standardized and chosen by each promoter, you can’t be sure what you’ll have to do at the next contest…but it also isn’t likely too different from the data you’ve reviewed (especially if you looked two years back).

Time to Plan Ahead

In case you didn’t catch the earlier small hint, I am a fan of block periodzation and using it for strongman. If you can block out sections of the calendar, even as simple as off-season, pre-season, in-season, and a block of time dedicated to the biggest contest of the year, you can start putting all the reflections and estimations you’ve made to good use.

It doesn’t have to be overly complicated, but I’ll use myself as an example. After winning the lightweight World Championship at the Arnold, the biggest issues I wanted to address and improve on included my static strength, particularly my overhead press.

Looking forward, with the most important contests of my calendar year being the NAS National Championships at 175 lbs in October, the 198 lbs World Championships in November, and the 175 lbs World Championships in March, I knew I had roughly 6 months to really focus on the issues of my static strength and overhead press.

A lot can be accomplished in six months, and I thought to myself, how can I best use this time to increase my strength? Well, there are three options that came to mind, technical efficiency was one, training specifically for maximal strength was another, and simply putting on more size and hypertrophy was the third.

I pride myself on being a very technically sound strongman, and contribute a lot of my success to it, so it didn’t seem wise to spend a lot of the six months on that. It was clear that I was still a little undersized as a lightweight (particularly is I planned on competing at 198 lbs in the near future), so I dedicated a portion of that six month block to a hypertrohic goal and training style. I followed it up with a simple idea that if I needed to be stronger statically, who are the strongest static lifters out there? Some would argue powerlifters, so why don’t dedicate some time to training like a powerlifter, before transitioning back into training for specific strongman contest performance?

Putting it All Together for a Successful Year

Each block had a specific focus, matched with specific goals that lead to some of the areas I felt needed to be addressed the most during my “off-season” as it is often difficult to address these in the middle of specific contest preps. Ideally, that time needs to be spend preparing for the contest at hand.

If you can take the time to address the methods I’ve outlined above, and then execute on those realizations you’ve made after reflecting on the previous year, I’d say you are setting yourself up for a very successful season! Especially when you consider what Zack told me years ago. If you act on the information I’ve described above, you definitely should see some impressive growth in you game as a strongman competitor come to fruition in the upcoming contests. Just keep in mind, “a PR is a win!”

Most tend not to be too strict on their daily intake, providing they get enough calories in to maximise their gruelling training schedules.

This can mean unlimited pizzas and ice creams for many as they have so many calories to pack into a day!

But what about when they are a little closer to an event?

It is vital that they reign in on the freedom they are enjoying and start to concentrate on fueling the body optimally for their best performance.

They are there to be the strongest man after all.

Nutrition plays a crucial part in how they perform at a show and vital in recovery between events.

If you have seen a strong man event, which I am assuming you have or are aware of them in reading this article, you will know how physically demanding the day is.

So it is a combination of both the training and the nutrition leading up to the event that will place those competing in the best position for winning.

The key is in the food source choices.

A serious competitor will start to ‘clean’ up their diet a few weeks out from the event, optimally 4-6 weeks of serious attention to diet.

The concept isn’t really too different from that of a bodybuilding competitor wanting to achieve their best physique.

But in this case it is to achieve maximum strength and endurance to see out the day.

On average, 5-7 meals will be consumed throughout the day to meet the high calorific requirements of the competitor and the food sources should be considered.

The breakdown of your meals should be as follows:

Allow for more lean protein sources.

Opt for protein sources such as chicken, turkey, fish, egg whites, lean steaks and lean pork. To meet additional protein requirements you can also opt for supplemented whey protein. Avoid food sources such as sausages, bacon, hamburgers (unless over 90% lean) – these foods are difficult to digest due to the amount of fat naturally occurring in the meat. 1-1.5g per pound of body weight should be included in your day. This allows for muscle recovery and enhance muscle growth.

Fuel up with carb sources.

Carbohydrates are the bodies preferred source of fuel and for a strong man event, fuelling the body is vital. The competitors that run out of fuel too soon simply do not eat enough carbs. You want to aim for 2-3 grams of carbs per pound of bodyweight per day, and up to 4lbs per day on event day. Low GI carb sources will provide you with slow releasing fuel throughout the day, so opt for things like oats, brown rice, wholemeal pastas, sweet potatoes, etc. Ensure you eat plenty of vegetables and fruit to meet your micronutrient profile. It is an idea to have some high GI carb sources available to you during the more intense periods of the event – things like jelly beans or energy gels can provide you with some fast and effective energy release.

Don’t forget your fat.

Fat is required for hormone function, joint health and brain function, just to name a few. It can also be used for fuel if carb sources start to get depleted. So it is vital that you don’t miss it from your diet. The crucial element when it comes to fat is that you need to source from healthy fat sources. Good sources of healthy monounsaturated fats include olive oil, mixed nuts, avocados and peanut butter. Essential omega-3 fats are contained in oily fish such as mackerel or salmon, as well as flaxseeds and walnuts. Aim for 30% of calories from good fat sources.

Don’t overlook water.

Water is essential. Both protein and fat metabolism require water. Added electrolytes will help you stay hydrated as the sport is very demanding, and you should aim for at least 1 gallon per day, not the 8-10 glasses that is generally recommended.

In order to ensure you have enough fuel for the event, and to get those heavy lifts, you must be eating more than your daily calorific requirement.

If you don’t you simply won’t be performing optimally and won’t last the event.

To compete like a strong man it is essential you eat like a strong man!

Still on the fence?  Here’s a basic overview of Alex’s training methods that have helped pro powerlifters and strongmen run 5ks while improving their total or placing in shows, Special Forces candidates survive selection, and athletes of all stripes boost their performance in ALL realms simultaneously.

1. 5 Questions with Alex Viada

2. Alex Viada on the Strong360 Podcast

3. Minimizing Injury Risk from Running:  Considerations for Larger Athletes

4. So You Want to Run?  Endurance Training for Strength Athletes Part 1

5. So You Want to Run?  Endurance Training for Strength Athletes Part 2

6. Special Endurance Sport Considerations for Strength Athletes

7. The “Quick and Dirty” on Strength Training for Endurance Athletes

8. A Guide to Strength Training for Endurance Athletes, Part 1

9. Strength Training for Endurance Athletes, Part 2

10. Practical Considerations for Combining Cardiovascular Training and Lifting

If you’ve made it this far, you should have a good idea of Alex’s methods that The Hybrid Athlete discusses in FAR more depth.  Do you need more work capacity to continue getting stronger?  This book is for you.  Do you need more strength to run or cycle faster, while making you more injury-resistant?  This book is for you.  Do you train for any sport that’s not a pure strength sport or pure endurance sport?  This book is definitely for you.

Join the thousands who are already learning from this amazing resource.  Get your copy of The Hybrid Athlete today!

Training is not for showing off, it is not necessarily for PRs, and it isn’t where your best performances should be happening. Training is the time to build your general and specific qualities that you will then test and express in competition. So with that in mind, the measure of a great training plan shouldn’t be how many PRs you produce within the training process, but rather how well it helps you perform on the competition platform (or mat or field or court).

For me, the process of building my lifts in training and successfully testing them on the platform is based on four primary factors: 1) training in a relatively fatigued state; 2) using exercise variations and accessory work correctly; 3) making lifts and building confidence; 4) approaching training with a calm and focused attitude.

Training in a Relatively Fatigued State

I am not concerned with setting all-time PRs in the course of training; I’m concerned with my training setting me up for all-time PRs in competition. Achieving this means that I’m performing relatively high workloads during the course of a week, workloads that will induce fatigue and, with proper recovery, will improve my fitness. It is this fitness-fatigue relationship that is critical to manage to maximize meet day performance. These levels of fitness and fatigue will vary throughout the course of the training cycle, but the important thing to understand is that you aren’t always going to feel good for training. You aren’t always going to be ready to set lifetime PRs, and having those feelings doesn’t mean that you’re overtraining – it just means you’re working hard, which is what has to happen for improved performance.

Learn more about programming for maximum performance in A Complete Guide To Putting Your PRs on the Platform, Peaking for Powerlifting, and Periodization for Powerlifting-The Definite Guide.

Using Exercise Variations and Accessory Work Correctly

When you’re selecting and performing exercise variations and accessory work, you need to constantly keep the question “How is this helping build my competitive lifts?” in your mind. If you can’t come up with a good answer to that question, you need to re-examine why you’re doing that exercise or why you’re doing it in that manner.

Exercise variations and accessory work’s role is to build the competitive lift. That means you need to strategically select them to build your specific weak points, and you need to perform the exercises in a manner to strengthen those areas without detracting from your energy to train for/recover from your primary work. Strategically selecting the exercises will mean that you have a good understanding of where you’re missing a lift, why you’re missing it, and which exercises can best be used to address that area (but that’s a topic for another article). The manner in which you perform these lifts is critical, because striving for PRs in things beside the competitive lift can actually be a negative for a more qualified lifter. Within the context of a meet training cycle (8-12 weeks leading up to a meet), you need to prioritize your work more and more toward the competitive lifts and make sure you’re using your other work to build them up. Doing this means that you’ll use exercise variations for primarily submaximal work in sets of 2-8 reps to build the specific musculature needed to improve your technique in the competitive lifts; that accessory work will be done for sets of 6-15 to further build hypertrophy there. I would encourage you to always leave 1-2 reps in the tank on exercise variations and accessory work, but the occasional burnout set on small exercises is fine.

Go more in depth on this topic inside Strong360 with my 20-minute video lecture, All About Accessory Work.

Making Lifts and Building Confidence

Missing lifts doesn’t build strength; making them does. If you go an entire training cycle and make every single lift, what are you thinking when you get under the bar? That you’re going to make it, because that is all you know how to do.

It is imperative that you are smartly choosing your training weights so that you’re making lifts, building strength, and – equally important – building confidence. True maximal lifts, 100%, 10 RPE are the most stressful lifts to your body and nervous system; they are also the most likely to cause technical breakdown and chance of injury. Once you are experienced enough to know what it truly feels like to push to 100% or 10RPE and succeed, it isn’t something that you’ll need to include very frequently in your training. Conversely, if you are less experienced and haven’t felt this as much, you need to learn how to do it. This still won’t be an every-session thing or an every-week kind of thing, but you’ll need to do it every few weeks until you feel more comfortable with that strain.

Creating multiple ways to PR is a great way to build confidence as a lifter. You can PR by weight on the bar, number of reps, or quality of work being done. I’m sure you have weight and rep PRs, but understanding that doing the same weight and reps for more powerful, technically sound reps is also a way to indicate progress.

I am an advocate of taking 10 pounds off the bar and racking a weight 1 rep early to help save the lifter’s body and build confidence. If your PR is 380×3 in the squat, what is the difference in stimulus between doing 390×3 and 400×3? Probably pretty negligible, but the stress difference between doing 390×3 at a 9 RPE and 400×3 at a 10 RPE could be pretty significant as it relates to your recovery and performance in subsequent training sessions.

Training sessions do not exist within a vacuum, so your squats on Monday will have an impact on your bench training the next day and your deadlift training the day after (or however you organize your training). Having an understanding of this means that maybe going for absolute maximal effort and PRs every session isn’t in your best interest, because for every high you have in your training (high arousal, high stress, high intensity), there is likely to be a low that follows it. So while having high stress training is important, you have to consider all your training within the context of a bigger plan. Racking the bar 1 rep early on a max-reps set or taking 10 pounds off the bar can allow you to still have great, quality training while slightly reducing the stress and impact one session has on the next.

Doing this also helps me build confidence. When I can walk away from a set telling myself I had 10 more pounds or 2 more reps, it is a great feeling. For example, in September, I squatted what was a huge beltless PR of 705×3. I know that day I was capable of doing that weight for at least 4, probably 5 reps; but had I gone for a 4^th rep, I could have found that I was only capable of 3 reps or that 4 was the absolute most I could have done. Walking away from that session telling myself that I’m good for 705×5 is a much more powerful, positive, confidence-boosting idea than knowing that 705×3 was the best I had, in the chance that I missed the 4^th rep.

This PR set was a big confidence builder for me, in addition to being a strength builder:

Approaching Training with a Calm and Focused Attitude

Calm yourself down in training, and focus on the task at hand (not on putting on a show so people on YouTube think you’re really hardcore and badass). For me, part of this means avoiding listening to “pump-up” music while I train or using stimulants during training. Often I lift in silence, usually just to whatever is on in the gym (I train on my own in the corner of a CrossFit gym), sometimes to music that I normally listen to (not tough guy music, sorry), and occasionally something to help me get fired up. People will often comment: “Man, if you had a better song on, you would have lifted 20 more pounds.” No. The answer is no. Music doesn’t lift any weights, and if you’re reliant on that, it will eventually not be there and you’ll fail. As far as the stimulants (caffeine, pre-workouts) go, I used to adhere to this much more strictly; in fact, I’d never even had a cup of coffee before November 2013. Now I do drink coffee, and sometimes before a big session will add an extra espresso shot or two, but this is VERY RARE. However, I make sure to cut coffee for a few weeks before competition to re-sensitize myself to the effects of caffeine. Then on meet day, I will take in 1,000mg+ of caffeine. Doing this will heighten my senses even more at my meet and help improve meet-day performance more than someone who is reliant upon stimulants for every session.

Hopefully these four tips will help you take a step back and critically think about what you’re doing in training and why you’re doing it. The best powerlifter, weightlifter, strongman, etc., is not the person with the coolest training videos and most likes; it is the person who performs the best in competition. Taking these four steps will help ensure you are building your lifts rather than constantly testing them without seeing results.

Bonus:

Why do people always say things like, “Of course his technique broke down, it’s a max lift” or “nobody’s technique looks perfect on a 1rm”?

“Good” technique is good not because it looks nice, but because it is the technique that produces the best result. Keeping that in mind, a max lift with a technical breakdown is not truly a maximal lift; if more efficient (aka, better) technique was used, you would have lifted more. Now of course, these technical breakdowns will occur, but don’t excuse them as just what happens when you do a 1rm. Rather, understand that whatever broke down is a weakness that needs to be addressed through strategically selected exercise variations and assistance work.

Practicing in the ranges where these technical breakdowns occur will not correct them; rather, it will just further ingrain them. To correct them, you need to find the weights that break down your technique (and I’m talking about a true breakdown, not your knee caving in 1/8 of an inch), and then do volumes of work at 65-85% of that weight with your perfect technique. (I say “your perfect” because we are built differently, and there isn’t a universal best technique. If there was, we would all do it.) Build up the strength to express your perfect technique on heavier and heavier weights. Then compliment that training with the accessory work that is right for you.

The best technique is the best because it allows you to most efficiently express your strength. Don’t become complacent in allowing technical flaws to limit your potential.

Related Articles

[Strong360] All About Accessory Work

Complete Guide to Putting PRs on the Platform

Here on the East Coast, we are saturated with high-level Strongman competitors.  If you look at the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic region, we have gyms like Punch Kettlebell (Norwalk, CT), Lightning Fitness (Windsor, CT), Ironmill Gym (Harrisburg, PA) and Brute Strength (VA) – just to name a few – that serve as homes for some top-notch Strongman athletes.  My point in stressing the quantity of high-level Strongman athletes in this region is to also stress the depth of competition.

My partner for the competition was lightweight Pro Strongman and 2013 North American Strongman national champion Rob Kearney.

Going into the comp, we were honestly pretty anxious.  Expectations for our performance were pretty grand. Rob and I were competing up a weight class.  Typically, I compete at middleweight, and Rob competes in the LW pro division.

We felt the heat of pressure and expectations for other, slightly political reasons. Rob actually came out as gay within the past couple of months.  Story upon story was written, providing all with access to his journey.  More than anything, I think it was an opportunity to embrace an underrepresented group and make an encouraging gesture to those who may be struggling with making a similar proclamation.  What does this have to do with lifting? Well, not too much if you choose to remove our identities as individuals. So you can say, “Ah, I don’t care what you are, just lift,” but at the end of the day one of the reasons why we compete is partially to engage with others. Me, I’ve been gay for ages, so I’m all “corduroy bear” in my homosexuality.

The events were:

Max Log Press
I shat the bed on this event. Back to the drawing board AGAIN to work on pressing. Rob hit a 360# log press, went for 400, and just missed it by a bit.

12” Deadlift with Chains
I believe Rob’s DL weighed 705 with chains. He hit a few reps there, and I hit 22 reps in a minute with 275 and chains.

Couples Tire Flip (1000# )

11 reps – our timing was a bit off and we tied for third in this event.

Sandbag Medley and Load
Atlas Stone Load

We faired pretty well in the medleys and loads.  Overall, I was pleased with our performance for the day and we came out with the win!

Training Updates

My nutritional programming is being coached by Mike Mastell.  I feel more energetic and powerful under his dietary structure.  I’m consuming slightly more carbs than usual and I absolutely feel more lively.  Following my heavier sessions, I’m taking in 45 grams of dextrose.  Before, I was consuming those carbs at the start of my sessions.  So far, so good.

I will also be working with Brandon Lilly for my powerlifting training.  He’s running me through a program called Cube Predator.  I’m extremely excited about this.  Brandon has prescribed some back-building movements that will surely spread my current situation. Every session, I’m doing lat-building work. Look up Lilly shrugs. … You’ll thank me later.   My goal is to build strength for a while, compete in a PL meet, and see where things go from there.

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The Juggernaut Method and Strongman

Strongman is for Everyone

After a 13-year rugby career, Philadelphia area resident Maya Camille Winters began training for strongman events in 2009. Just three years later, she became the middleweight champion of North American Strongman, with a second-place ranking in the Strongman Fitness World Championship. Maya also holds an elite-level powerlifting total, as well as world and national-level powerlifting records in the 148-pound weight class.

Sponsored by Juggernaut Training systems, Heavy Athletics Nutrition and Frontline Crossfit, Maya continues to compete in strongman, powerlifting, and CrossFit. In an effort to share her fervor for heavy lifting, she trains athletes in heavy lifting disciplines. Currently, she instructs a strongman class every Sunday at CrossFit 215 in East Falls, PA.

Maya is an art professor at West Chester University and Cheyney University, where she teaches fine arts and art theory courses. Her studio practice has earned her national recognition and an extensive exhibition history.

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By Dr. Quinn Henoch

If you regularly put weight over your head – snatch, jerk, overhead press, compete in strongman – this is an article you need to read to keep your shoulders strong and healthy.

There is Only One Type of Periodization

By Greg Nuckols and Dr. Mike Israetel

Part 1

Part 2

Before you try to set up a training plan or go program shopping, you need to understand the nuts and bolts of what makes a program effective.

Fall In Love With Training Again

By Alex Hormozi

More goes into training that JUST the sets and reps.  Getting invested in the process, and finding ways to push yourself while loving the process cannot be overlooked.

Dialing In Your Diet For YOUR Goals

By Dr. Mike Israetel

What are the key features that separate effective diets from ones that are doomed to fail?  This will help you figure out what features are the most important for your goals.

A Different Approach to Mobility

By Dr. James Hoffman

If your warmup takes you an hour, or you think mobility means moving like a contortionist, this article is for you.  Your mobility work should be specific to the task at hand.

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If you’re brand new to the sport, you shouldn’t be training like Rich Froning.  Here are the things people mess up the most often.

Supplemental Work For The Olympic Lifts

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If you’re a weightlifter, everything should contribute to improving your snatch and clean & jerk, but the classical lifts aren’t enough on their own most of the time.

Strongman Training For The CrossFit Athlete

By Kalle Beck

Strongman events are becoming more and more common in CrossFit competitions.  This article will let you know which ones will give you the best bang-for-your-buck in training, and help you avoid some typical mistakes non-strongmen make when trying to throw strongman lifts into their training.

I view Crossfit as the MMA of the fitness world. You need to be well versed in a variety of disciplines and skills, with no holes in your game to be a top-performing athlete. In MMA, most athletes will have a general coach and see specialists to develop certain aspects of their game (Jiu Jitsu, boxing, wrestling, diet, etc).

You see this happening more and more in Crossfit as well. People have their main coach, weightlifting coach, gymnastics coach, nutritionist, etc. Even if you don’t have a specific coach, these skills are still practiced regularly. Yet you see very little of this regarding strongman movements.  Or if they are programmed, in it is with little direction or thought to how to properly do the movements. Some people even neglect doing them at all, despite their prevalence in competitions (5 of 13 events at the Crossfit Games).

One of the main reasons is due to the lack of access to Strongman equipment. Of course, this can be remedied by checking out the Strongman Gym Directory.  The other reason many people neglect proper programming of Strongman movements is due to how Strongman is viewed. People see it as “just picking up stuff” – as a sport of brute force rather than one requiring substantial skill. It is not understood how technical some of the events are, and how being a bit more proficient in them will be beneficial for your performance in CrossFit competitions.

Now that we’ve discussed the “why” lets discuss the “what.” What movements should you focus on?

I break down what events to practice, based on with three main factors :

1. Prevalence: How likely it will be to come up in a WOD. Look at past contests. This is not a guarantee in the sport of “constantly varied,”  but it’s as good as we’ve got. What I see are Sled pushes/pulls, Atlas Stone/medicine ball shoulders, front/shoulder carries (sandbag, logs, barrels, etc) & Farmers/Yoke Walk

2. Technical Difficulty: The more technical the movement, the more emphasis should be placed on learning how to do it correctly (similar to the Snatch and Clean & Jerk). None of the movements in Strongman are anywhere near that technical, but some are more technical than others. These events should have the biggest emphasis put on them initially, as we all know being technically proficient in your movement is key to performing well.  These events include Atlas Stones, Yoke Walk and Log Press

3. Athletic Benefit: This is the real reason to diversify your training right? You want to be as well-rounded of an athlete as you can be. The Strongman movements that provide the most athletic benefit with the least amount of risk are Farmers Walk, Sled drags/pushes and front carries.

How to implement Strongman into your routine:

Now that we’ve covered why to do Strongman and what Strongman movements to focus on, lets break down how to implement Strongman into your routine. The number 1 way I would suggest is finding a Strongman group near you using the Strongman Gym map. Training with a group focused on Strongman will be a nice change of pace every month or so, and much like going to a weightlifting gym to learn weightlifting, it makes sense to go to a Strongman gym to learn proper technique on Strongman movements.

If this is not a possibility I recommend to train the specific events as such:

Log Press: First go read my previous article Log Press 101 for proper technique. After that, it can be used for either strength and conditioning. For strength, work up the same way you would in the clean & Jerk, utilizing sets of singles and triples to a max set. For conditioning, I recommend 8-10 rep sets, cleaning each rep. This can be thrown into any style of WOD as well.

Farmers & Yoke Walk: I recommend doing runs of 50-100ft of either implement EMOM for 5-10 minutes. This is a great way to add some conditioning to the movement as well. Do not load to a weight where you lose midline stability, especially with the yoke. You should be able to move at a fairly fast pace. Your footwork should be smooth.  If it’s not, you can tell that the weight is too heavy.

Sled Pull/Drags: Try this one. Do arm over arm pulls with a heavy sled for 60-100ft and push it back. Complete as many rounds as possible in 10 minutes.

Atlas Stones: My advice is to learn how to load onto a platform or over a bar that is higher than your chest before practicing stone to shoulder. This will ensure you are using triple extension through your hips to pick up the stone, and not using your upper body/biceps which leads to a common injury with Atlas Stones: biceps tears. After you have mastered that, I think doing sets of 3 EMOM stone-to-shoulder is great, along with doing AMRAP for 30, 45, or 60 seconds. These principles can be implemented in just about any WOD as well.

Three Common Mistakes Utilizing Strongman movements

Earlier I made mention of the risk/reward of movements, and I would like to quickly cover some of the biggest mistakes I see when people use Strongman movements in their training.

1. Picking up Atlas Stones with bent arms: This is not the correct way to pick up an atlas stone, much the same way when a beginner learns to snatch they have a tendency to pull with their arms, rather than using their hips. The same applies to Atlas Stones. Your arms should just be hooks and you should have a high hip position at the start of the lift. It’s more similar to a deadlift than a squat.

2. Marathon Yoke Runs: If it appears in competition that is one thing, but doing extended runs with the Yoke is a great way to ask for an injury. Mile-long Yoke runs are testing nothing but your durability and mental fortitude. The yoke is very hard on your body as it places a big weight directly over your spine. Be careful when programming this movement, and limit the distance you carry it.

3. Continental Cleans: We have all seen that “Crossfit fail” video of a bunch of people bringing the bar first to their stomach, then to their shoulders. This is a technique utilized in Strongman out of necessity when going for max weight. The thick diameter of a non-rotating axle makes it impossible to clean it with a double overhand grip (its too big to hook grip) BUT if a weight is light enough, we will still power clean it in a Strongman competition. Any Axle programmed in a WOD should be light enough that the athlete should be able to power clean it. Only use the continental out of necessity.

Takeaways:

If you’re serious about being competitive in CrossFit, you need to become proficient in the Strongman movements.

The best way to do this is to find a Strongman gym within driving distance to learn from Strongman competitors, similar to how you’d seek our specific coaching for weightlifting.

Make sure to give extra practice the Strongman movements that are the most difficult to learn.

Be careful when programming Strongman movements, always keeping in mind the risk/benefit ratio.

Related Articles:

3 Movements to Make you a Strongman (or Woman) by Kalle Beck

Training For Everything by Chad Smith

Kalle Beck has been competing in Strongman since 2007 as a lightweight, with career highlights including 2012 California’s Strongest Man, 2012 Washington’s Strongest Apple, Numerous top 10 finishes at America’s Strongest Man and 6th place at the 2013 Arnold World Championships. He runs a website devoted to information on Strongman www.startingstrongman.com

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