Anyone do strongman training?
 

I'm going to try these basic lifts out, but I'm unsure of what tire weight, etc. to use.
Anyone have any advice, stories, whatever on strongman stuff? I also want to know where I can find a good-sized tire around here.

http://www.defrancostraining.com/art...-athletes.html

I know Gold's in Richmond has a tire...

curious, what's the reason behind wanting to do strongman stuff?

flipping tires, farm walk, toss ..etc. are great ways to condition and tax your body. You're able to train your body in a more practical and functional sense opposite to movements done in the as isolation. How often do you curl an object in your life? Now think, how often do you pick objects from the ground, carry objects from one place to another?

As for the tire weight, 250 is a fairly easy lift for most people, but of course not knowing your abilities its really hard to tell.
Are you more interested in doing a strong man contest or just adding them into your routine as a form of strength/conditioning?

I am a weightliftter but I train with strongman and Powerlifters. We all compete. We have tires ranging from dinky to 1000lbs if you are interested. Get a tire from a farm; tractor tires are useless to them. BUT, how are you going to transport it?

It helps if you are athletic as there are medleys in comps. Good forearm strength (nothing you grip/hold will be like that of a barbell), posterior chain, and hip drive.

There are some great exercises but clarify your intentions first and shoot me a PM if you are serious about training. And how much do you DL right now?

I'm more interested in adding them to my routine for strength/conditioning. I just find that deadlift strength is the only lift that has some form of applicability to real stuff. I'm going to be doing brick laying in the summer so I also want to get strong for that.

I'm 5'5 150lbs deading 315 for 3x5. For the forearm thing, I'm a climber, so my forearms are relatively strong, I only use overhand grip when I dead. What weight of tire would be good?

I'm also going to try doing some pulls on my car in neutral for 50 yards or so. Not sure what these are called. I'm also going to try/learn keg tosses, and sledgehammering a tire.

@sas - Anything I get started on, I get pretty serious on. But I'd like to see how this works out. I'm pretty excited about it. What other exercises you talking about?

edit: You also mentioned hip drive - is there a technique to this? or just experience and whatever works? I'm guessing that avoiding a rounded back is important.

Only a handful of the top PL will use overhand grip so that's something to think about as you start to lift heavy. Not to discourage you but you may want to try and experiment. I too, use an overhand grip since my focus is Oly lifts and not PL

I'd say, a 450-600lb tire will be good. If this is more for conditioning, you would want to get 4-6 flips consecutively. You need at least 3 flips to establish a rhythm. No point in flipping a big tire once. The guys that I train with flip a 650lb tire normally 5 times and to give you an idea, they DL around 6-800.

Important: When picking out your tire, make sure that it is no too worn out as it will provide no grip if the tire is completely smooth. Try flipping it first at the farm before dragging her home.

Mimics a Sled Pull. Do you have access to a prowler? Yoke walks are also good, and keg tosses- be careful what you fill them up with. More water, means less stable.

Hip drive is crucial and being connected with your body. Unlike bodybuilding, most lifts require athleticism and coordination. It will help if you can fire all your muscles and to increase speed. Kettle ball swings, (one arm) kettle ball snatches, and power cleans are a good start as very applicable to sports, and strongman. Just make sure you do not reverse curl. Fire your hips forward. And work on your traps.

http://www.ironmind.com/ironmind/exp...over132_lg.jpg

Thanks for the info sas. Yeah the whole coordination and athleticism thing interests me the most. I've kind of shied away from power cleans because I've heard that form is just something that you have to learn in person for that lift. What do you recommend?

Also - so I'm going to do this, I'm pretty excited but I'm also somewhat unsure about the whole process - is there anything that you think is essential for a beginner to know?

You are correct (I assumed you knew how to clean properly), cleans require instruction and the last thing you want to do, is put your body at a comprimising position. I've been fortunate enough to play sports at an early age that require strenght. Cleans, Kind of like the squat- they have a notorious rep. from dumbasses doing them improperly and spreading their gospel. However, you can still do lifts that incoporate a form of speed like a clean shrug or clean pull. That will give you a sense of building speed and using your hips and traps together to execute 1 lift. Check out this vid:


Then, work on your rack speed and catching the bar and voila- you have a proper clean. I believe, this is a great starting point. You are working on a big lift that you can pull heavy loads that require firing all your muscles together. And trust me, you will know when you do them right, the bar should increase speed, and feel lighter.

As you can tell, I love this stuff so don't hesistate if you have any questions.

Thanks again sas - yes I just started working on the clean and the shrugs in your video.
It feels pretty awkward I have a few q`s about the lift:

Is the bar supposed to take as straight a path as possible as I lift it from the groundÉ If it does, where should my forearms be (what pathÉ) in the motion of bringing the bar onto my shoulder girdleÉ t feels as if I`m doing some sort of reverse curl, where the bar goes above my shoulders and then is lowered down.

And I`ve been practicing with just the bar or just the bar with 25s on each side. It feels to me as if when I go for the triple extension, I`m jumping and I get too much air. It just feels really airy, not right.
I`ll take a vid of myself, you think you could critique itÉ

Edit:
what do you mean by rack speedÉ When I`m shrugging at trip. extension, am I trying to get the bar as fast as possible moving upÉ And at what point do I bend my elbows, and in which wayÉ I`ve been using this article to dissect each portion of the lift, but I`m unsure which path and the timing of my arms.

http://www.tmuscle.com/free_online_a...he_power_clean

Bar is supposed to be as close to your body as possible. It will be impossible to keep it straight however. Forearms should not bend until you are finished your second pull and shrug. This is a common mistake of many lifters- they prematurely arm bend. Why this occurs, is normally you do no feel comfortable trusting your hips, traps to do the majority of the pulling. It feels more natural to use your arms to pull but when the weight gets heavy, no matter how big your arms are, it will not be feasible. Trust your pull and traps. Arms are more for guiding the bar.

The bar should not be above your shoulders- sounds like the bar is crashing and not receiving properly. Again, this is a common beginner mistake. This is most likely a sign of looping the bar- keep the bar closer.

Not a jump- more of a natural extension when you get up on your toes. There is another school of thought that implies you should always have contact with the floor whereas some feel a small jump is fine. I emphasize small. You are indeed jumping with the bar- but not literally.

How quickly your whip your elbows to receive the bar and to get into the receiving position. There should be no crashing- as this makes recovery harder.

Best thing to do is, post a video. But based on what you told me, I would guess the following:

1. Premature arm bending
2. lack of shrug or hips firing forward
3. Bar crashing due to looping.

Nothing to be concerned about though, seen many atheletes at the university level with same issues. Nothing that can not be fixed. And keep in mind, you chose a lift that requires attention to detail and DEDICATION. Don't expect to learn it in a day. That is why, I always start ppl off with just that simple movement from the hang. Just a short explosive pull and shrug. You don't mess around with starting from the floor since it can mess up your second pull. By starting from the hang, you address that most beginners have horrendous starting position which kills and speed or momentum.