My first Strongman comp

[Hedgehog]

Hedge, the event training pattern you describe is logical and I have used it. Particularly with the stones and OHP. It gave me great results! I loaded all 5 stones at my comp yet only trained with up to 280lbs (field stone). Most strognmen go by feeling which is one of our down falls. If your back is sore on event day, stay away from stones, cleans, and deads. But what if your back is always sore? I think reworking Westside even further than I have is in the near future. When I used westside just the way you are supposed to, I got my bench up over 400lbs fast! And all my other lifts were improving every week. Now that I am on a 3 day schedule it is a little more difficult to decide what should be done and when. Yeah, Mon=Max Upper, Wed=Max Lower, Sat=Event Day, but there is not one day to work only on speed. You can do it on event day, I do, but then you feel as if you have wasted it. This day is what you train for! Not to mention that you want to see what you can do before your next competition which may be in only 5-6 weeks. It is hard to limit yourself to only 3-4 comps a year, I've only done one and I already feel it.

My best advice for anyone in strongman is to talk to an experienced decathlete or decathlete coach.

These guys have a whole strategy, with them competing in everything from discus and shot put to javelin  and pole vault to 110 meter hurdles.

Not saying strength athletes should run hurdles, but we can learn on how to structure a whole season, and how to structure weeks.

This goes for powerlifters as well IMO.

-Hedge

[Stubborn]

I'll have to meet a deca coach then!


I agree that we can all learn from one another.


What have you adapted into your training based upon decathlete training styles?

[Hedgehog]

I'll have to meet a deca coach then!


I agree that we can all learn from one another.


What have you adapted into your training based upon decathlete training styles?

It's a lot of things really.

I got one of the best sprint coaches around pretty close, as I am a big fan of Track and Field, we talked about the 100 meter dash and one thing he mentioned was how sprinters often gets an inbalance in strength between quads and hams, and that will cause the hamstring tear.

The quad becomes too strong, the hamstring cannot "hold up".

So when I had a little hamstring problems a month ago, I started to pay more attention to training the hamstrings, have included some stiff leg deadlifts in my training. I have a feeling the hamstring problem won't come back.

Another thing he mentioned is how little time the sprinters spend in actual top speed (max effort), since that is so rough on the body. Less than 1 hour each year.

This added to my belief that if I want to train real hard, I need to back off the training intensity between the max effort days, or max effort lifts.

Finally, Track athletes do quite a bit of plyometric jumps. I am going to start doing these 2-3 months out of the meet.

I've already started to do medium long sprints once a week, 40-60 meters. These first couple of times, I'm being very careful though, not wanting to tear up the hamstring or shit like that.

On a final note: I believe what sets "Pudzi" apart from most, isn't his awesome strength. It's his incredible endurance. He is able to lift max for 90 seconds. Always.

I think more strongmen should leave their egos at the door, and start training to lift sets for 90 seconds instead of try to get as many reps as possible. Lower the weight if necessary, but get the stamina to stay the course.

Just my opinion after seeing some strongmen in training.

-Hedge

[Slin1]

I am using a plan that was made by Travis Ortmayer and Odd Haugen. Its a 3 day Westside type split. Tuesday = max upper/dyn lower; Thursday = max lower/dyn upper; Sunday = events (2-3 depending on how you feel and what needs work). Its pretty intense but I am going to keep with it and increase my cardio/flexibility/recovery exercises and see how it works out. I only DL every two weeks anyway. I got my best BBing/strength gains when my cardio was better and I used to do manual labor all day. I think its what Im missing, cardio. I will be doing 3-4 days of "cardio" a week, including light tire flips, light farmers, walking, and truck pulls. This will also help as Im looking to shed 10-15 lbs of fat. If I lost 20lbs I could go into lightweight and wreck it, but I'll stay with the big boys.

Thanks for the input Hedge. I may try it later on.

LIFT

What is dyn?

[Stubborn]

Dynamic, sorry.

[rccs]

Can't argue the results, but I think he would be even better with more event training?

Problem with most strongman training IMO, is that it's max effort most of the time. Very few events do you train lighter in.

I think it would be very wise to write something like a 4 week layout, with only one or two gym days and two event days.

Eg Log lift

Week 1 Light workout. 3's with the Moderate weight

Week 2 Max Reps with moderate weight

Week 3 Light workout. 3's with the Moderate weight

Week 4 Heavy singles, max effort lift

You could do this on one of the event days, and do one or two other events during the event workout.

A lot of my friends who train strongman don't have any set protocol. Even though they got so many events, they still only, at best, take the next week and the past weeks workouts into account.

Strongman competitors could learn a lot from how decathletes writes their training systems IMO.

-Hedge

I am in total agreement. BTW do you know what kind of training is Zydrunas Savickas doing? Does he spend anytime at the gym?

[Hedgehog]

I am in total agreement. BTW do you know what kind of training is Zydrunas Savickas doing? Does he spend anytime at the gym?

I know he's got a powerlifter background. Big squat and deadlift in competition, and good bench too.

I remember that I asked him about his training a couple of years ago, but I can only remember that he said something about "squat". So I can tell you he squats , but other than that, sorry, don't know.

-Hedge

[The Squadfather]

I know he's got a powerlifter background. Big squat and deadlift in competition, and good bench too.

I remember that I asked him about his training a couple of years ago, but I can only remember that he said something about "squat". So I can tell you he squats , but other than that, sorry, don't know.

-Hedge

i can't even imagine how huge that guy is in person, probably looks like a wall.

[benchmstr]

i can't even imagine how huge that guy is in person, probably looks like a wall.

he is fucking huge,i pride myself on having big beefy hands and when i shook his hand it swallowed mine.i have never had that happen before.

bench