Hey guys, just joined a gym that has several strongman activities available such as log press, kegs, tire flipping, etc. as well as sledgehammers for the tires and a prowler.
Can you guys point me in the direction of an author to read that integrates this stuff well?
And also, do you have a strongman day, per se, or do you integrate them into regular strength workouts?
Thanks for any help guys.
I train my deadlift, incline press, push press, and back squat year round. In terms of events I think you should train farmers, stones, tire, and some form of implement clean and pressing year round. You don’t have to do everything at once. I do either stones or tire on deadlift day. Implement pressing on incline press day. Farmers on squat day.
You don’t necessarily need an event only day. Once you pick a specific meet and know the events, then you can get a little more specific with your training.
How to incorporate the movements I think really depends on what you are currently training for and what your goals are. what is your current routine look like?
Right now I work off of kind of a modified DeFranco program… very similar to his “Washed up Meatheads” article but with more low rep assistance work, I guess you could say, in the fashion of “Westside for skinnny bastards.”
So basically one ME upper day, ME lower day, and then a Rep/explosive Upper day. I work in a lot of boxing work as well, such as heavy bag/speed bag work, sometimes in my main workout, sometimes as a supplement on off days.
My goals are size and strength. I’m not training for event per se, so it’s really wide open as to what I can do.
In that case I would just sprinkle the stuff in your training throughout the week.
for example do tire flips at the end of a lower day for conditioning, farmers walk after deadlifts, etc. On a upper day play around with doing log press instead of military press. Clean & Press each rep log presses are some great conditioning. You can also do a medley, don’t need to go super heavy if you don’t plan on competing. Farmers walk followed by tire flip, throw the prowler in, etc.
If there is a group that trains the events on the weekend that is another option to just do a strongman event day with them. At least the first few times as they will get you familiar with the implements.
[quote]Kalle wrote:
In that case I would just sprinkle the stuff in your training throughout the week.
for example do tire flips at the end of a lower day for conditioning, farmers walk after deadlifts, etc. On a upper day play around with doing log press instead of military press. Clean & Press each rep log presses are some great conditioning. You can also do a medley, don’t need to go super heavy if you don’t plan on competing. Farmers walk followed by tire flip, throw the prowler in, etc.
If there is a group that trains the events on the weekend that is another option to just do a strongman event day with them. At least the first few times as they will get you familiar with the implements.[/quote]
OK. That’s what I’ve been doing pretty much. I’m hoping that eventually I can get the owner of the gym to do some kind of strongman competition day for the guys that workout there like I’ve seen DeFranco’s place do on YouTube, but the place is still very new so it’ll be a while.
As far as the kegs go, what can you do with those? Military press I figure, but what else? Can’t really throw them because of the area the gym is in (parking lot).
[quote]FightinIrish26 wrote:
[quote]Kalle wrote:
In that case I would just sprinkle the stuff in your training throughout the week.
for example do tire flips at the end of a lower day for conditioning, farmers walk after deadlifts, etc. On a upper day play around with doing log press instead of military press. Clean & Press each rep log presses are some great conditioning. You can also do a medley, don’t need to go super heavy if you don’t plan on competing. Farmers walk followed by tire flip, throw the prowler in, etc.
If there is a group that trains the events on the weekend that is another option to just do a strongman event day with them. At least the first few times as they will get you familiar with the implements.[/quote]
OK. That’s what I’ve been doing pretty much. I’m hoping that eventually I can get the owner of the gym to do some kind of strongman competition day for the guys that workout there like I’ve seen DeFranco’s place do on YouTube, but the place is still very new so it’ll be a while.
As far as the kegs go, what can you do with those? Military press I figure, but what else? Can’t really throw them because of the area the gym is in (parking lot). [/quote]
Depending on weight you can press them. Both mainly just carry them. Keg carrys as part of a medley are great for conditioning.
It was already said above, but if you’re not specifically training for a contest, and you’re just looking to add these in for fun and change of pace, then just add one or two event/lifts each workout. Tires are a great finisher to lower body days and/or general conditioning. Logs can be a main lift or assistance on upper body days.
As far as kegs, you press them, carry them, load them, throw them (maybe).
[quote]FightinIrish26 wrote:
[quote]Kalle wrote:
In that case I would just sprinkle the stuff in your training throughout the week.
for example do tire flips at the end of a lower day for conditioning, farmers walk after deadlifts, etc. On a upper day play around with doing log press instead of military press. Clean & Press each rep log presses are some great conditioning. You can also do a medley, don’t need to go super heavy if you don’t plan on competing. Farmers walk followed by tire flip, throw the prowler in, etc.
If there is a group that trains the events on the weekend that is another option to just do a strongman event day with them. At least the first few times as they will get you familiar with the implements.[/quote]
OK. That’s what I’ve been doing pretty much. I’m hoping that eventually I can get the owner of the gym to do some kind of strongman competition day for the guys that workout there like I’ve seen DeFranco’s place do on YouTube, but the place is still very new so it’ll be a while.
As far as the kegs go, what can you do with those? Military press I figure, but what else? Can’t really throw them because of the area the gym is in (parking lot). [/quote]
I really hate pressing kegs.
You can load them like people do stones, I actually prefer this as it puts less strain on the biceps with pretty much the same movement. I agree with Crow adding them into a medley example
farmers walk 50ft keg carry 50ft tire flip 50ft
If you have multiple kegs you can set them up away from a platform(25ish ft) carry one load, run back, etc.
[quote]malonetd wrote:
are a great finisher to lower body days and/or general conditioning. Logs can be a main lift or assistance on upper body days.
[/quote]
Tires and that prowler…that thing fucking sucks. I did it as a finisher for my deadlift day… and holy fuck I’m dying and I didn’t use much weight. Surpised that my traps hurt a good deal from it as well.
It was my first time though so there’s that adaptation period for me to get used to doing a movement I haven’t really done anything like since HS football.
In the off season of strongman I do one day a week of implement training, here is some great stuff from the Ontario Strongman: http://www.ontariostrongman.ca/Resources/TrainingResources.html
I like to have a specific event day. I’m doing Westside Sun, Tue, Thur but like to fit an event day in Saturday morning. I like to mix in heavy events for some ME work followed by some lighter events for conditioning. Tire flips coupled with sledge hammer (If your place has any empty kegs, then you can slam them in place of a sledge), yoke coupled with slosh pipe, log with sled, etc.
There’s been a good bit of carry-over to my judo and jiu-jitsu.
Sledge hammer and keg