Strong Man Training Tips and advice

Many people that start training for strongman have no idea what they are supposed to do. They just go to training and lift heavy things with very little fore thought. Many times they decide what they are going to do for their first event as they chalk their hands.

Lots of athletes come to strongman from powerlifting. Some start in Olympic lifting and some others from Highland Games/Track and Field. Hard, heavy labor has also given the sport some excellent competitors. These are all great starting points and many have done well with these backgrounds.
The Sport

Hopefully this article will provide the beginner with a good primer, as our years of study and practice have given us some training insights. The sport of strongman requires limit strength and lots of it. It requires explosive speed strength. There are many events that require plenty of strength endurance and there is also a huge need for tremendous and enduring grip strength. The mental aspect of strongman is extremely important as well. You have to be able to tap into a deep inner strength over and over again to overcome pain, fear and exhaustion. You have to drive through when the normal person would be left gasping on the floor. Some might call this intestinal fortitude. You've gotta have some of that. Being a little nuts helps too. Strongman is not about who is strongest, meaning who has the most ability to lift the heaviest weight. Limit strength is powerlifting. Speed strength is Olympic weightlifting. Strongman is a hybrid where all of the different types of strength are applied along with technical skills on a given set of events on a particular day.

Strongman is not just for the genetically gigantic. It is for anyone willing to lay it on the line and push themselves to the absolute max. As fans, one of the things we like about strongman is the historical nature of many of the events. Most people can relate to the objects being lifted. A 700lb deadlift doesn't mean much to the general public but they sure understand the concept of someone flipping over their car. It is a sport with many diverse athletic requirements and not everyone can do it. The fact that the events are not standardized makes the sport unique and it requires well-rounded preparation. You simply lift or move whatever heavy objects happen to be lying around. It is also one of the only sports where your fiercest competitor will finish an event and come over and cheer you on.
Events Training

There are lots of people that are strong in many of the gym lifts. This is a good foundation for strongman but it is typically not enough to win contests. Your average gym rat probably won't be able to load a 220lb stone on the first try. You simply have to find a way to train the events. Make friends with a welder, start a group and pool resources or call your nearest strongman equipment vendor, but you have to train with the implements. Since a normal human can't practice all of the events all of the time, there should be a logical method in choosing which events to train and when and how to do them. We all have an event that we are either not good at or hate. That event cannot be ignored. It is probably even best to do it first. As an example, the log press is a weak event for many. Spend a lot of time working it first in your training and it might even end up being one of your better events.

You'll also want to try to vary the type of events that you are doing on a given day. Your back would probably not forgive you if you attempted a max single stone, max Farmer's deadlift, heavy tire and max weight Super Yoke all in the same day. Work some events heavy and some lighter and faster and then switch it up the following week.

Event Categories:

Listed below are event categories, which have several events, listed under them by type. They cover the general requirements and lifting abilities that a competitor will need to master in order to excel in strongman competitions. Many of the events complement each other, for example, getting good at the Farmer's Walk will help you with the weight bearing walking ability you will need in the Stone Circle and the Super Yoke.

We've looked at all of the different events that we can find and attempted to break them down. We also went through each event and tried to list assistance exercises that can be done in the gym in the absence of the implements.

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We've found that the front squat, deadlift, power clean and the Zercher lifts show up quite frequently. These lifts are only but a few that will help in your events in Strongman. A competitor needs to figure out which lifts they will need to reduce and eliminate weaknesses. Assistance training can very easily be broken up into a training system similar to Westside. You can have lighter speed work reminiscent of certain events coupled with extra work for the smaller stabilizing muscles. You can also have a max effort day where you choose lifts that are similar to an event and push the max up. One difference in training similar to Westside is that you will have to implement some training for strength endurance events like the log press. There isn't much use for repping ability in a powerlifting contest so you have to modify your training around this. Everyone needs to figure out which type of training they need at different points. Training events and competing are the two best ways to figure this out. You also do not want to just train your favorite events. In other words, don't put two hours into the stones and then some token work on a few other events. This is a big mistake because event consistency wins contests.

Periodization of Strongman Training

Total Performance Sports doesn't follow a traditional "western" method of periodization, although we do periodize our training.

We have found that adapting Westside powerlifting methods work great for most events. Let's use the log as an example.

Here is a sample of what we used for our last contest, (Northeast Strongman Showdown, 2002).

10 weeks out we started with 60-65% of our 1-rep max and do max reps on week 1.

Week 2 would be 50% of 1-rep max with a light band configuration in the rack for ten speed triples after a good warm-up. Week 3: 3-4 sets of clean ands presses for max reps with 70% followed by speed work in the rack with the bands for 6-8 doubles.

Week 4 - Heavy lockouts in the rack with the log suspended from heavy bands (Reverse Band Presses) Heavy means heavy. We worked up to over 400lbs at lockout..

Week 5: 10 sets of Speed doubles with bands followed by 2-3 max singles.

Week 6: same as week 4 plus heavy hammer curls

Week 6: Speed work with bands at 60% of 1 rep max plus heavy hammer curls

Week 8 same as week 4 with increase in weights

Week 9: attempt maximum reps with contest weight

Week 10: off

Using this model, Murph's log press went from a 230 1-rep max to the contest weight of 275 with no problem. At the end of this phase Bob pressed a 300lb 10' log for a single with ease.

Every person in our training group saw substantial gains in their 1-rep max over a 10 week periods.

The sport is getting heavier at an alarming rate, and we feel that without the use of bands for speed, there is no way our team could have been able to handle the tremendous increases in weights we have seen locally in contests.

Preparing the Super Yoke and Farmer's Walk

The Yoke and Farmer's Walk compliment each other, as they are both similar events. They do however, require different strength protocols than most of the other events. Bands and chains don't apply. What we did was apply speed days and max effort days similar to Westside on alternating weeks.

For Example: See chart, your weights might be different, these were used for heavy weight loading.

From the chart you can see alternate heavy/light loading for opposite events, and speed days, alternated with "strength" days. This is an unconventional periodization programs, but it is remarkably effective, without over-training, given that the amateur has built up the strength base to support this work load.

The loading patterns would continue in similar fashion until 1 week out from contest day, where a full week of rest is in order prior to competition.

This cycle would last 10 weeks, with week 10 being off. These events are done on different days also.

Stay tuned to Monster Muscle Magazine for more in this series of Strong Man training articles. Good luck, and good training.

About the authors:

C.J. Murphy is the owner, and head strength coach of Total Performance Sports in Everett, Massachusetts. He is an award-winning trainer with multiple certifications, and over 13 years experience in the trenches training many athletes to championship levels. He is also a competitive strongman athlete.

Bob Jodoin is the director of strength and conditioning for Total Performance Sports. He is also a trainer with multiple certifications as well as an accomplished powerlifter and strongman competitor.