Addressing Weaknesses

Been training for amateur strongman since January, have recently had to give up all contact sports (rugby for 13 years) and have always used the Strongman as an accessory to my gym work for Rugby.

I have long limbs and a short wide torso so my DL is pretty solid, been training it once a week since January with great progress. OHP has recently been getting better but still needs work. My squat is my real weakness.

As my gym whilst at Uni doesn’t have strongman equipment I’m building foundational strength to carry over into my events training in the holidays. Does anyone have any tips on getting squats up for people with long legs? My real power seems to be the transfer of power from the glute/hammies into the hip drive/quads, any tips would be greatly appreciated

Current Stats:

Age: 20
BW: 206
DL: 450 for 3 reps
OHP: 225 for 3 reps
Box squat: 331 + 56lbs chains for 1
Front squat (ass to grass): 236 for 3

Where do you stall in your lifts? And what type of form break downs happen? You should also post videos, from your numbers you look like you’re lacking in leg strength with a front squat that weak unless it is a mobility issue. For me I have longer legs and a shit ton of squatting/hamstring work where I force myself to use my legs seems to help.

i have the same issue as you with my squat, i stalled in my progress at 315 box squat. i found that working in some heavy lifts with the step in trap bar on leg day helped improve overall power over time. i know the trap bar lifts are essentially deadlifts. but they work your gluts/hammies because the grips place your hands beside you instead of infront like conv DL and recruit the glutes and hammies more than your back.

To DSSG

For box squats it’s the carryover point from glutes off the box to the hip/quad drive, it’s really keeping the drive though my legs and the transfer into the hip hinge once the weights get near the edge of my limit. My front squat is pretty shoddy, I’ve only been doing them about 5 weeks, and this is my first time doing them olympic style. Having been training for rugby for so long my legs are glute/hamstring dominant, my quads clearly need some work. Would you recommend taking a break from box squats or conventional deads and focusing on more quad dominant lifts?

To Canuck1990

Yeh I think trap bar deads are gonna have to be cycled in, mostly to improve my initial drive. I learnt how to do deads properly with a trap bar, but over the last year have fallen in love with the conventional bar.

In brighter news, just got the details for my first comp. It’s April 27th

Dead lift - 200kg (450lbs) max reps for 75secs

Log press 80kg (180lbs) for max reps for 75secs

Steam engine pull 15 metres for time

3 tyre flips 320kg (720lbs) tyre, 240kg (540lbs) yoke for 20 metres and fingals fingers, all for time

90kg each hand farmers walk for distance

Any tips you would give for training for this comp? DL looks like the hardest, the weights for everything else, except the yoke look doable.

Cheers Leo