My First Show - 3 Months To Go

Training Powerlifting
1

So I am 99% set to take the plunge on my first strong man event on June 7th.

There are 4 categories of competitor. A, B, C, D. A being the easiest and D the hardest.

I think I’m quite clearly a B. I’ve put the C group as a comparison.

The 5 events are:

Event 1 – 18t Truck pull;

B 20m, C 30m.

Event 2 – Tyre flip

B: 300x8, C: 400kgx5,

Event 3 log press (race to 6 reps)

B: 100kg, C: 120kg

Event 4 – Moving Medley

B:

Frame Carry 180kg, Shield Carry 100kg, Keg Carry 75kg, Yoke 200kg

C:

Frame Carry 220kg, Shield Carry 100kg, Keg Carry 75kg, Yoke 250kg

Event 5 – Atlas Stones to 4ft platform

B: 80, 90, 100, 110, 120kg

C: 80, 100, 120, 140, 160kg

My current training is 531 hard gainers, 4 times a week. 1 lift each work out and then accessories and I’m pretty comfortable with this. I love the lay out and the work load.

My current rep maxes are:

Trap Bar dead lift – 155kg for 20

Squat 147.5kg for 7

Press – I will be aiming for 70kgx5 (this needs work)

Bench – I will be going for 100kg 5x5 next week.

One Arm Row – 45kg x 11.

I’m after any training tips for making to most of the next 3 months. I’m not going to change too much. I think this would be foolish. I’m making good ground as I am. But I wonder if its worth tweaking to suit some of the events.

My ideas are:

Add front squats on the dead lift days. 1 working set of 5-10. To help with stones and loading medley.

Drop bench as a main movement? This seems too drastic. But I want a way to focus on the overhead work 2x a week.

I have a large tyre at my house. I will start using this at the weekend. It’s a bit light (175kg) but I can add weight but strapping 20kg plates to the top as I’m flipping it. When is another issue. I’m going to have to figure out how to programme this all together.

As I said my out line is hard gainers, so I thought this would work:

531 trap bar dead lift + drop set on straight bar, with front squat. Then face pulls and press ups super set to [50-100] reps.

531 press, with bench and bent over row (350 method) and ab roll out. I will add tyre flips here – either lighter for conditioning or heavier for strength.

531 squat, with widow maker set followed by bent over row and pull downs. Lunge (BW) for reps.

Push Press – working to a set of 5-10. Incline bench SS with pull up (3 sets to max) with banded triceps push downs. Finished with Trap Bar Farmers Walk or Tyre Flip.

As the date get closer, I have access to a strong man gym locally that does a Sunday AM training session However for the time being I coach under 7’s rugby for my son so I’m not able to make it.

Any feed back or thoughts will be very welcome.

2

You’ll definitely want to take a few trips to the strongman gym to get your hands on the implements if the contest weights will be heavy for you. I didn’t touch a log until contest day my first time around and it kicked my ass.

Can you invest in a sandbag for training? It wouldn’t be perfect, but it would help for training stones and front carries.

3

Planning some trips to the local gym. I’ve dropped my rugby for the remainder of the season bar 1 game. So that’s saturday free for that.

I’ve done some events training before. I have a tire and I’ve done 2 sessions with stones and farmers walk (a long time back). And technically these events are tougher than I first thought.

I had my eye on a sand bag on Amazon. It’s like £40. Holds up to 150kg of sand. I think if I can pick up 100 for reps /125kg for 1 I’m in a good place.

4

If you are able, go for the Rogue sandbags instead of the one on Amazon (which I am assuming is an Ironmind). The Ironmind was the first that I bought because it was cheaper, but it can leak sand pretty badly when it inevitably comes undone.

The Rogue has yet to spill any, and it feels more solid. I will be ordering more from them.

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