Strongwoman Training Log

Bigger Stronger Leaner Powerful Women
1

I’m going to compete in my first strongwoman contest in October in Sacramento. I just completed a figure contest but decided that “sport” is not for me. I’d rather lift heavy, be strong, and be a competitive athlete and not have to worry about dieting. I’ve only been training for 6 months consistently and currently weigh 115 lbs. I want to gain 15 lbs. and put on serious strength. I have a great trainer to help me, he is a pro strongman.

8/18/08

Barbell Push Press.
-bar x 5
-65 x 5
-85 x 4 x 2 sets
-95 x 3
-105 x 3
-90 x 5 x 2 sets

One-Arm DB Press.
-35 x 5 each arm
-40 x 5 each arm x 2 sets
-45 x 5 right, x 4 left

Seated Wide-grip Rows.
-2 sets of 8 with 90 lbs.
-2 sets of 6 with 100 lbs.

EZ-bar Tricep Extensions.
-3 sets of 8 with 40 lbs.
-superset w/
One-Arm DB Rows.
-3 sets of 8 with 30 lbs.

Face Pulls and Tricep Pressdowns.
-2 sets of 12 of each, no rest between

Chest Flys.
-2 sets of 12

2

Welcome to T-Nation!

Good luck at the King of the Iron Fist tourn…I mean the Strongwoman competition. This is the perfect place for you to post.

Good luck in October.

3

I like how said you WANT to gain 15 pounds…I’ll let you have mine, lol!!

4

Welcome. Good luck with the weight gain. It isn’t easy to gain the type of weight you want to gain.

I’ll be following your log. It looks like it will be pretty interesting.

5

8/19/08

Abs and Cardio for 30 mins.

Front Squats.
-75 x 5
-95 x 5
-105 x 5
-120 x 3
-130 x 3 x 2 sets
-110 x 5 x 2 sets

Static BB Lunge.
-85 x 8 each leg x 2 sets
-95 x 6 each leg x 2 sets

Zercher Squat off low pins.
-from dead stop each time
-95 x 5
-135 x 5
-155 x 5
-135 x 5

45 Degree Back Extensions.
-25 plate x 10
-45 plate x 8
-25 plate x 10

Lying Leg Curls.
-40 x 12 x 3 sets

6

[quote]ouroboro_s wrote:
Welcome. Good luck with the weight gain. It isn’t easy to gain the type of weight you want to gain.

I’ll be following your log. It looks like it will be pretty interesting.[/quote]

Yeah but now I will actually be eating and not starving myself. I was pretty dehydrated and low carbs at 115 lbs. I think I will be up to 125 lbs. in a couple weeks. If I can be 130 lbs. by the time of the contest I will be happy.

7

hey good luck with the comp in sactown. what’s it called??

8

Hey I’m currently trying to pack on some mass as well! Are you in Arizona? I live in Scottsdale! It’s nice to see another gal who is looking to pack ON the weight rather than “lose fat” or “tone up”. I think we are in the minority…

9

[quote]dejavued wrote:
hey good luck with the comp in sactown. what’s it called?? [/quote]

I’m not sure, the entry hasn’t been posted yet.

10

Yes k8thegr8 I’m in Phoenix actually.

I used to be the girl that wanted to “tone up” and “not get too bulky”. I did the aerobics classes for a few months and saw no results. It wasn’t until I started lifting heavy with squats, presses, deadlifts, and cleaning up my diet did I make progress.

It’s time for me to start eating!

11

Good luck in the competion. If your ever up in Prescott stop by Freedom fitness stop by and train with me. Or done in Scottsdale look up Matt at the real Freedom fitness. He is a really good trainer also. And again good luck.

12

After having gone through the Woodstock experience (strongman, not music festival),
maybe I can shed some light on the subject of strongman training.

IMHO there appears to be very little relationship between gym lifts and strongman performance. In strongman competition, there are too many variables and it’s too unpredictable.

In the gym everything is pretty well standardized. Bar diameter, length, plate size, bench height and width. It doesn’t matter if it’s OL or PL, the specs are pretty specific and detailed. Not so in strongman.

The farmers walk impliment that the 4 university girls trained with was 40" long, with a 6" high handle and used 45 lb. plates. From the vids that ouroboro posted from Woodstock, you can see what the competition impliment looks like. 5’ long and 6 x 6 square tubing with a 25 lb plate on each end. That puts the handle low for the initial start. Plus the handle was 1 3/8 in diameter. That’s a big handle for the female hand when there’s 121 lb loaded on it.

The best way to train for a strongman competition is to train the events and on the type of surface that you will compete on.
The university girl that had the best gym lifts couldn’t transfer that strength to the strongman events.

On the flip side, Elizabeth, who has only been lifting for about 5 months and has never DL over 172 lb. won the tire flipping event by 8 seconds. Ingrid, who can DL over 250 lb. only managed 18’ or about 3 flips. Lisa has only been training for 4 months and never DL over 150 lb. managed 51’.

The only 2 lifts that MAY have been helpful, were front squat to immediate push press and DB push press with a neutral grip.

Ouroboro has some very good gym lifts but couldn’t seem to transfer them to the strongman events. They are similar but definitely very different.

Hope some of this helps.

TNT

13

[quote]TNT-CDN wrote:
After having gone through the Woodstock experience (strongman, not music festival),
maybe I can shed some light on the subject of strongman training.

IMHO there appears to be very little relationship between gym lifts and strongman performance. In strongman competition, there are too many variables and it’s too unpredictable.

In the gym everything is pretty well standardized. Bar diameter, length, plate size, bench height and width. It doesn’t matter if it’s OL or PL, the specs are pretty specific and detailed. Not so in strongman.

The farmers walk impliment that the 4 university girls trained with was 40" long, with a 6" high handle and used 45 lb. plates. From the vids that ouroboro posted from Woodstock, you can see what the competition impliment looks like. 5’ long and 6 x 6 square tubing with a 25 lb plate on each end. That puts the handle low for the initial start. Plus the handle was 1 3/8 in diameter. That’s a big handle for the female hand when there’s 121 lb loaded on it.

The best way to train for a strongman competition is to train the events and on the type of surface that you will compete on.
The university girl that had the best gym lifts couldn’t transfer that strength to the strongman events.

On the flip side, Elizabeth, who has only been lifting for about 5 months and has never DL over 172 lb. won the tire flipping event by 8 seconds. Ingrid, who can DL over 250 lb. only managed 18’ or about 3 flips. Lisa has only been training for 4 months and never DL over 150 lb. managed 51’.

The only 2 lifts that MAY have been helpful, were front squat to immediate push press and DB push press with a neutral grip.

Ouroboro has some very good gym lifts but couldn’t seem to transfer them to the strongman events. They are similar but definitely very different.

Hope some of this helps.

TNT

[/quote]

Hello,

I am not an expert as some of the posters to your thread have been, but doing cardio when trying to gain muscle can be counter to your goals. You might want to go extremely light on that for a while.

Good luck in your efforts

14

[quote]ComixGuy wrote:
Hello,

I am not an expert as some of the posters to your thread have been, but doing cardio when trying to gain muscle can be counter to your goals. You might want to go extremely light on that for a while.

Good luck in your efforts

[/quote]

15 mins of cardio a couple times of week is not going to prevent me from gaining muscle. I’d like to keep some conditioning and try to put mostly muscle weight on. Believe me, I’m not doing anything long distance or endurance type cardio!!

15

8/21/08

Had a long, busy day but managed to squeeze a workout in. Didn’t do as well as I hoped.

12" Rack Deadlifts.
-95 x 5
-135 x 5
-185 x 5
-205 x 3
-225 x miss
-195 x 3
-205 x 3
-205 x 2

Pull-ups.
-3 sets of 6

Pull-throughs.
-3 sets of 15

DB Hammer Curls.
-20’s x 8 x 2 sets
-15’s x 15

Axle Cleans.
-63 x 5 x 2 sets
-73 x 3 x 2 sets
-83 x miss
-83 x miss
-73 x 3 x 2 sets

Farmers Walk.
-110 x 50 ft. x 2 sets

16

[quote]AZStrongwoman wrote:
8/21/08

Had a long, busy day but managed to squeeze a workout in. Didn’t do as well as I hoped.

12" Rack Deadlifts.
-95 x 5
-135 x 5
-185 x 5
-205 x 3
-225 x miss
-195 x 3
-205 x 3
-205 x 2

Pull-ups.
-3 sets of 6

Pull-throughs.
-3 sets of 15

DB Hammer Curls.
-20’s x 8 x 2 sets
-15’s x 15

Axle Cleans.
-63 x 5 x 2 sets
-73 x 3 x 2 sets
-83 x miss
-83 x miss
-73 x 3 x 2 sets

Farmers Walk.
-110 x 50 ft. x 2 sets[/quote]

Is the 12" rack pull the same height as a conventional deadlift? I’m trying to figure it out based on the bruises on my legs.

How hard do you find the axle cleans. I’ve never tried them. I’ve just watched and they look hard as hell.

17

I was told bar height with 45’s on is 9" high. This was a little higher than that, but my legs and butt were so sore and I haven’t done deadlifts in awhile. I will get stronger! No bruises though from the rack for me.

I hate axle cleans now ha ha! I’ve done 95 lbs. from the hang on a bar for 5 reps but I couldn’t get 83 lbs. My hands were slipping and I felt it through my thumbs a lot.

I need to be able to do a 100 lb. axle clean and press comfortably for the OH medley in Sacramento so I’ve got some work ahead of me on the axle clean.

And I agree, they are hard as hell, but I’m going to try to avoid using a continental form…that looks like it hurts a lot!

18

I am really excited for your log!! I am trying to gain about the same amount of weight. You are doing really good. I look forward to reading your log.

19

[quote]AZStrongwoman wrote:
I was told bar height with 45’s on is 9" high. This was a little higher than that, but my legs and butt were so sore and I haven’t done deadlifts in awhile. I will get stronger! No bruises though from the rack for me.

I hate axle cleans now ha ha! I’ve done 95 lbs. from the hang on a bar for 5 reps but I couldn’t get 83 lbs. My hands were slipping and I felt it through my thumbs a lot.

I need to be able to do a 100 lb. axle clean and press comfortably for the OH medley in Sacramento so I’ve got some work ahead of me on the axle clean.

And I agree, they are hard as hell, but I’m going to try to avoid using a continental form…that looks like it hurts a lot![/quote]

I bruised pretty good the first time or two doing continental cleans. But its fine after that.

I’ll be doing the Sacromento contest as well.

Good luck!

20

8/22/08

Abs done between sets of pressing.

Flat Bench Press.
-bar x 6
-60 x 6
-70 x 4 x 3 sets
-75 x 4
-80 x 4 x 2 sets

Floor Pin Press Lockouts.
-85 x 5 x 5 sets

Assisted Dips.
-4 sets of 8 w/ 90 lbs.

Incline DB Press / Flys.
-20 x 8 / 10 x 12
-20 x 8 / 10 x 12

Triple-Set.
-cable flys 12 reps
-hi-row pulldowns 12 reps
-scarecrows 12 reps
-repeat once