The strongman evenes for the wee competition im entering have been first draughted. I had a sneak preview last night and from what i remember...

Farmers Walk - appx 80kg per hand
Log press
Deadlift
Grip strength test (static)
Viking press*
Atlas Stones - 50 - 100kg Stones

think there was one or two more. We are going to do a tyre flip if we cvan aquire a reasonable weight tyre for the event as the one the organiser has access to is about 400kg and is about 3 1/2 foot thick . Plenty of farms about near me and i know the area well from prowling around looking for unsuspecting sheep. Ill see about a tractor tyre.

There may be some sort of squat involved aswell.

Anyway..questions are..how should i be looking to structure my gym routine, bearing in mind i dont have strongman equipment available at the moment so will just have to train in a suitable manner.

There is so much reliance on grip strength. I s this something is hould do a set or two of at the end of each session? maybe just pick up the 65kg db's and hold them for as long as possible? (biggest dumbells we have!)

I don't have much advice to give you, never having tried strongman lifts, but good luck, sounds a lot of fun. Somethiung I'd like to get into one day (and if I ever join this Folkestone gym, they have lots of strongman equipment \o/).

I also know a place where I can get tractor tires, unfortunately I don't think it'd fit on my 2nd floor flat's balcony.

Two main exercise choices are-

PushPress/Push - jerk if you can get the technique/flexibility
Deadlifts - Double OH without chalk, then with chalk, then mixed grip w/chalk. Incrementally challenge your grip.

Then you want some extra static grip work, grab a pair of DBs, hang from a towel with weight added is a good one and thick bar stuff is the best, but obviously dependent on equipment.

Structure wise, there's many options! I'm currently doing 3 full body sessions and you don't need to complicate it.

eg.

Mon- Deadlifts (heavy), Chest (5x5/6x4)
Wed- PowerClean to Push Press (Heavy), DB rows (6x4)
Fri- Chins (heavy), Squats (5x5), Dips (6x4)

Few exercises, pretty heavy and lots of volume- lots of work on what's needed.

Just make sure you get your hair cut Rabby

Dont turn up for your comp in a BSD t-shirt looking like this

Just win. Dont worry about anything else - and dont listen to those that say its about participation! NONSENSE! Its about winning!

karlos has got it right, but i would really try hard and find somewhere which has the equipment, there is an unbelivable amount of technique in strongman comps and loads of sneaky tips to make things easier. If you can't get yourself training with the equipment search google and see if you can find any tips on how people do stuff or even youtube it.

Ment to say...the deadlift is 180kg for as many reps as possible. my current 1rm is 185. I know i can get this up to 200kg very very soon though and hope to manage a few reps in the next month at 180kg.

log press will be starting at 80kg - 100kg.

LOL @Ader

Feck you @Mark

Karlos. I can do splits fine although never did much practice at them. these would be handy for the log press although i dunno how the neutral grip on a log wil compare to the overhand grip of a normal press on a bar.

Ash. there is a strongman gym but its the guts of 30 miles from my house although not so far from my work. I might see my training partner if he is into going up some times at the weekend.

KP. Im not going to try and win, Im going to try and not come last mate . there is plenty of big guys from the guy with their name down i can beat easy but they will pussy out of it when they see the weights involved..leaving the big strong mofo's and well...ME

Rab wrote:Karlos. I can do splits fine although never did much practice at them. these would be handy for the log press although i dunno how the neutral grip on a log wil compare to the overhand grip of a normal press on a bar.

It will certainly be harder to jerk. You can't rest it on your shoulders and drive through them like you can with a bar. You also have to lean back more because it will be further out in front of you. This probably means you need stronger abs.

I posted in your journal about how you can train stones.

Just like any sport, practising the events that you will be doing is key. I know that doesn't help, but that really would make the difference.

Karlos has the best suggestions so far I think.

You seem to be good at chins, so do towel chins. Wrap two thick towels round a chin-up bar and chin up holding onto them. That will develop some immense gripping strength. Sounds easy but it isn't.

Do Farmer's Walks with the heaviest gym DBs. Maybe wrap a small towel round the handles to make them thicker to work the grip even more.

Cheers for those posts. Ful body work is what i have been doing and ill stick at that.

Health. our dumbells go up to 65kg and they have pretty thick grip on them as it is. Ill give th towel suggestion a try mate. Cheers

I'll turn up with a "go rab" teeshirt on for moral support. That should help big time

Rab do you not have a trap bar at your gym? Because farmers walk isn't just about grip, you have to have the legs and cardio to move with a pretty heavy weight (almost certainly more than 130 kg total).

burningnun wrote:Rab do you not have a trap bar at your gym? Because farmers walk isn't just about grip, you have to have the legs and cardio to move with a pretty heavy weight (almost certainly more than 130 kg total).

No trap bar, but we have up to 65kg dumbells. been doing a farmers walk with the 51kg but its getting easier now so going to step t up to 55kg or 60kg maybe.

Good enough replacement?

Probably as good a replacement as you're going to get. Better than what I have at least.

I would think possibly harder as the DB's swing and aint a fixed framed weight?

I think they would just be a different kind of hard. As Scott says you want to get as close as possible to the event you are training for.