Lo/Rez Training

Training Training Logs
848

… and I’m back from my vacation. I’ll talk about it later.

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Before I left, I’d been perusing a number of strongman training logs trying to pull out some general training approaches and particularly looking at how they trained the pressing work. The basic formula for the good pressers seemed to be: 1) dynamic work early in the week, 2) static work later in the week.

Pretty much every training session, whether pressing or pulling or squatting was 1) ramping the lift, maybe with a backoff set, rep ranges driven by whether their next contest was 1RM or max reps based; 2) an overloaded variant of that lift; 3) ONE accessory lift, and usually for high reps.

So, for instance…

  1. Regular Deadlifts, ramped sets of 5, 3 total sets at that daily 5RM, one backoff set
  2. 18" Deadlifts, ramped sets of 3
  3. RDLs for sets of 10

Or

  1. Strict Overhead Press from Rack, ramp to a 3RM, no backoff
  2. Floor Press, ramp to a 5RM
  3. JM Press for sets of 20

Nobody seemed to use or care about percentages on any lifts. However, rarely was a set below 3 reps, and rarely was it over 8 reps. Unless it was accessory work, and then 15-20 seemed to be pretty common, for 3-5 sets.

–

Sometime around then, I asked CT his thoughts on Axle Clean technique. There are a few ways to do it, and since I know he’s been training with some of Canada’s strongman competitors, and maybe worked with a few (can’t remember), I figured he’d have some insight. Also to get some advice on how to train for the axle clean itself, since it’s not the same as a barbell clean. I ended up with a full training routine for the axle clean and press, which was a lot more than I expected.

Pressing Day 1:
Axle Strict Press 5x3-5 (clean for first rep of each set)
Axle Clean 5x3-5 (not sure if double-overhand or continental yet)

Pressing Day 2:
Axle Push Press 5x3-5 (clean for first rep of each set)
Zercher Deadlift 5x3-5

Pressing Day 3:
Axle Strict Press to Push Press, 3-4 sets, use the same weight as Day 1, get 4-6 strict then switch to AMRAP push press
Axle Double Overhand Clean to Continental Clean (same thing as above)

I think, realistically, I probably have all the information I’ll ever need to know about training for this. This is probably about as complicated as it ever needs to get… not just for the clean and press, but for any lift.