Strongman training - anyone tried it?

[SevenStar]

so I'm at a sub shop saturday afternoon and this guy says "I see you're wearing a tank top, when are you gonna come work out with us at the spa?" Turns out he's a personal trainer who worked at the gym which that's in the same plaza as the sub shop. I told him I already lifted somewhere, but thanked him for the offer. There happened to be one of those strong man competitions on tv, so I jokingly said "I'll be caught up to those guys in about a year" So he tells me that if I'm serious I need to train with him. I'm thinking , but asked him if he knew anyone that competed in them. He started naming a handful of people, one of which sounded familiar. So I described the guy - coincidentally he's one of the bouncers that works the same floor as me on the weekend.

That night I talked to him about it. Turns out that they have a huge set up with all the strongman stuff at one of the local highschools - he coaches there, so they gave him permission to use school space for his strongman equipment. They train on mon and wed in the gym and sun at the school. I'm in thai classes on mon and wed at the exact time they are lifting, but I have my own lifting schedule anyway. He and another one of the bouncers that started working with him invited me to join them at the school on sundays though for the strongman stuff. They said it works muscles a lot differently (at least in feeling) than typical gym stuff so they'd take it easy on my the first day. I've got something to do this coming sunday, but next sunday I may go train with them and see what I think about it.

[Royal Dragon]

I have never done it, but what little i do know is that the methods work the whole body, engageing multiple muscle groups, and they shy away from exercises that isolate individual muscles. This is why they can achieve so much compared to regular lifters. I think Power lifters have a similar view as well.

For that reason alone, i think it would be far better than regular western weight lifiting for Kung Fu.

[Chief Fox]

I was gonna say that it couldn't hurt to give it a try but in reality it may hurt A LOT! Give it a try anyways. Could be fun.

[SevenStar]

I have never done it, but what little i do know is that the methods work the whole body, engageing multiple muscle groups, and they shy away from exercises that isolate individual muscles. This is why they can achieve so much compared to regular lifters. I think Power lifters have a similar view as well.

For that reason alone, i think it would be far better than regular western weight lifiting for Kung Fu.

Yeah, that's about what I'm thinking. But, I wouldn't say "western weight lifting". I would say bodybuilding. strength training does not fall into the same category and focuses on compound lifting. I think one of the bigger benefits is you are lifting stones and various irregularly shaped things, not the symmetric barbell or dumbell.

[Royal Dragon]

Yes, I agree. It more accurately mimicks the actual work load the human body would be performing.

One of the guys at the club we just opened is into old school strong man stuff too. I'm hopeing to sample some of his methods when the time is right.

In addition to that, there is just something really cool about really primitive "caveman" methods!

[SevenStar]

These guys kicked my arse yesterday. If there was anything like superhuman strength and chi blasts, I'd say that it's these guys who would have it. I'm used to being the big guy in the bunch - the giant among small people - but in this case, I am the smallest among giants. These three guys are former bodybuilders turned strongman competitors.

We started with three sets of situps with a 45lb weight behind our head. from there, we hit deadlifts. we did sets of 3 - 5 with however much you could do. They were 585 and up, while I topped out at 455. Next was the frame carry. it's this big frame the you stand in the middle of, and each corner of of the frame allows you to place weights on it. They had two 45 lb plates on each corner, for a total of 360lbs plus the weight of the frame, that they carried for like 40 yards, and timed it. I had one 45lb plate and one 25lb plate on each corner, as I'd never done it before. Next, we used my weight (the 45's and 25's) to do shrugs for 3 sets of 10.

after that, it started to get fun. They have a 733 lb tractor tire that they flip like 8 times. Next was the sled and keg. you pick up a 250 lb keg and carry it like 70 feet, where there is a 250lb sled. Place the keg on the sled and drag the sled back to the starting point. we only did one set of that. We finished up with pullups (they did 4 sets of 10 - I couldn't pull of 10, but did what I could) and then ran a mile.

All in all, it was great, and I am sore as he11 this morning. I'll be back next sunday for sure. I think next sunday we are picking up logs and stones.

[Fitdoc]

Hey T,

yeah, strongman training is different than traditional bodybuilding or powerlifting. I am a competitive bodybuilder, but i like to incorporate some strongman methods into my training. For example, i use a variation of the farmer's walk for my trap training. A couple months ago, i trained at a gym which had a strongman's area, and i did the tire flip for my leg training that day. The tire flip is definitely a compound exercise as my legs, traps, arms, and shoulders were sore the next day.

If you can incorporate some strongman stuff into your regular weight training and martial arts, i say, do it. You man even consider alternating cycles of traditional weight training for a few weeks with strongman training for a few weeks. Keep us updated.

[Wood Dragon]

How do you guard against injuries such as hernias, with all that heavy lifting?

[IronFist]

^ Don't hold your breath when you lift, and pull your anus up (think of like if you're stopping the flow of urine... that muscle... come on you know what I mean). Or maybe that last one prevents hemorroids. I can't remember. But I heard it's good to do when DLing and stuff.

[SevenStar]

^ Don't hold your breath when you lift, and pull your anus up (think of like if you're stopping the flow of urine... that muscle... come on you know what I mean). Or maybe that last one prevents hemorroids. I can't remember. But I heard it's good to do when DLing and stuff.

it's the PC muscle. I can't remember what PC stands for, but they were saying that squeezing and releasing it repeatedly also helps control ejaculation, making you into a sex god.

[SevenStar]

How do you guard against injuries such as hernias, with all that heavy lifting?

we all have amazing qi levels.

seriously, it's all in the techhnique. Also, When DLing, we wore belts.

[SevenStar]

yesterday was a "light" day, as they are competing in utah this weekend. The weight classes for those are amazing. lightweight is like 175 - 225. heavy is 226 - 299, super heavy is 300 and up. one of our guys is about 6'2 and 267 - solid muscle, no gut at all... I thought it was impossible to look like him without roids, but I guess I was wrong...

This sitelet has a pic of the big ass tractor tire I mentioned that we had to flip over:

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/strongman7.htm - the pic is on page 3, but all of the articles are good.

Why am I postig here? this should all be in my blog...