Strongman comp is done and dusted, recovery / reload week this week. Nothing too heavy just getting in some movement and working off any rust.
Whats next? I have signed up for another strong,am competition on the 18th October. The competition will be held at the Royal Geelong Show, and I am guessing will be an out door event. Geelong is the second biggest city in Victoria behind the capital Melbourne.
What is the show ? The Royal Geelong Show is Victoria’s largest regional agricultural show, held annually at the Geelong Showgrounds in mid-October, featuring competitions for livestock and produce, equestrian events, live entertainment, vintage machinery displays, rides, showbags, firewsorks and activities for the whole family. The four-day event celebrates rural life, bringing the country to the city and offering something for everyone, from growers and artists to families seeking fun and entertainment.
The strongman competition will be on the Saturday and will feature the following events:
AXLE OVERHEAD RISING BAR FOR REPS
TRACTOR PULL
CARRY MEDLEY - 4 objects - Steel Block, Small drum, large Drum and Dinnie Handles
WAGON WHEEL AXLE DEADLIFT FOR REPS
CONANS WHEEL
I have entered in the masters U105KG class again, so no worry about dieting and I can actually grow into the comp.
There is a lot of things here that I have not done before so training over the next 7 weeks will be a little different.
@T3hPwnisher@Koestrizer any tips or comments on training for or doing these events would be welcome .
Exciting stuff, mate! Looking forward to the prep and comp.
I interpret the axle as: You do a rep, they slide on more weight, you do a rep and so on and so forth. Is that correct?
In that case the training will be pretty streight forward, getting good at max axle while not neglecting rep strength. Protocols for this would be things like EMOMs, cluster sets and replicating the actual thing. I would be doing 2 axle workouts per week, one focused on regular 1-rm training, peaking this up and the other one at technical efficiency and reps (alternating EMOMs and doing the rising bar reps with a fixed top weight for example).
tractor pull: Arm over arm, harness, harness with hand rope?
you can get a lot done with a sled here mate, both arm over arm or even harness pull can be replicated quite well. Have a look down my log for both to get an idea.
Carry medley is pretty straight forward, I guess. If you don’t have multiple objects (which I think you do), you can do things like 15m EMOM carries for sets of 10-15.
Just an elevated axle deadlift. Try to ask them about the bar height.
Conan’s wheel is an interesting one. Do you have access to a yoke? If so: Zercher Yoke carries. If not: Zercher marches (on the spot) with an axle for 30-60 seconds (this is harder than you might think, trust me, haha) - also good carry over to other carrying events
Similar questions to @Koestrizer here. I’d be curious if the wagon wheel allows straps (it should, but places are getting stupid about this) and what surface the tractor pull will be done on.
OK @T3hPwnisher and @Koestrizer my responses to your questions are going to be mostly vague, as this is strongman and of course the organizers have given little to no details on the events, Hoping more detail will come out in the next couple of weeks.
No idea, its says rising 10kg so maybe a few axles ready to go with the increments or you pick and axle and get points for each rep with heavier giving more points. When i know the answer I will share, but for training I will just clean and press a bunch of reps.
Again no idea. I think it will be a harness pull, but not sure of it will include a rope. My best guess is given the event is at the showgrounds (think giant grass area in the middle of a horse race track), I think the surface will be grass. We have a massive sled outside the gym that no one uses so I might try and pull that around the car park. Grip on the surface and footwear may be something I need to think of.
I asked about the height and they said around 16 inches but would confirm next week.
I think it will allow straps, sometimes they say no figure 8’s but I have figure 6 axle straps that I would use anyway so its all good. Going to add block pulls to the Wednesday gym session (instead of deadlift).
This one I have a few things to carry at home and we also have dinnie rings with loading pins in the gym so I can do some farmers carry with these.
No access to a yoke at my usual gym. I think we may have a chain yoke in the back gathering dust but not sure. I was going to add thick cambered bar zercher squats to my Friday sessions. Could also use this for walks outside or use an axle.
Walks, even on the spot, will have much more carryover than squats. Unless the height is not adjustable. Than you need a monstrous zercher squat, haha.
We ran into that once in a competition where we had to do a 300 kg conan’s wheel and against everyone’s expectations, the height was fixed. So most tall guys just zeroed (including me) because they couldn’t do a 300 kg zercher squat
yeah that would be fine, if you are used to squatting 2 times a week already. I just wouldn’t pile things on because I personally don’t think that zercher squats (for those events) are worth the squeeze, you know? Like they are good but won’t give you so much carry over that they are worth all the extra fatigue. That’s why I am arguing for replacing a different squat with them, so fatigue stays similar.
They would be a second and not my main squat. I figured the position would at least get my arms used to holding the bar at the front. But I hear you about the holds and marches being better in terms of carry over
For whatever you choose: Use an axle. It will be more similar to the conan’s wheel. The bar will be thicker (like a yoke) but it will give you a better idea. The main thing to figure out with conan’s is the bar position and the breathing (as well as upper back fatigue). That’s why I am so strongly arguing for the marches (much longer tut and teaches you to just keep marching when you really don’t want to/ feel like you are running out of oxygen). I am not worried about your arms in the sense of bicep strength.
Definitely squeaky wheel the promoter here. The more info you can get, the better.
If you’re truck pulling on grass, get some cleats. Where you’re at, I’m sure there is something suitable for rugby.
Big thing to remember with that axle pull is that the bar isn’t going to flex AND it will be slightly out in front of you. This means that ramping won’t work as well.
For Conan’s wheel, along with zercher style carries, I’d get in some sandbag work with the bag high up on your chest. Primarily: get used to learning how to brace while your lungs are crushed.
ha ha yep I hear you. I already messaged him about the axle dead lift height the other day I will give it until the weekend to see if more details come out and if not i’ll message him. He was pretty helpful last time so should be all good.
We do have these here and not hard to get, my only concern is that depending on the weather the grass here can be like baked concrete so pretty hard for studs to go in. May have to have other options depending on weather.
This is good to know, I should be able to feel this out in training.
If the ground is hard I’d get yourself some football (soccer FG boots), i use them at the moment in the UK for the 1 month out the years its not raining. They don’t dig in but you get some really good grip from them.
Like these, i look awesome when i play in these (i clean mine so they are white every week!)
OK @T3hPwnisher and @Koestrizer I have some more details on the events. Not sure it will change your comments or advice but I said I would share.
AXLE OVERHEAD RISING BAR FOR REPS
-This is as @Koestrizer thought, starting weight bar, you have 10 secs from the start to lift the axle off the ground. clean and press it, wait for down call and put it down. They will then add weight and you have 10 secs to go again. Keep going up in weight until you cant lift it. You can have multiple press attempts as long as the axle doesn’t come back to the ground.
TRACTOR PULL
This is harness pull with a rope to pull on also.
CARRY MEDLEY - 4 objects - Steel Block, Small drum, large Drum and Dinnie Handles
All implements carried 15m and must be placed in a drop spot, have to placed upright in the designated spot so cant just be thrown over the line. 4 objects in 60 sec
WAGON WHEEL AXLE DEADLIFT FOR REPS -
Can use straps and will start already strapped in. 60 sec, max reps, no touch n go reps. site now says 14 inches so I will check and adjust the block height next week.
CONANS WHEEL
As far as possible no time limit. Must be carries in crook of arms or on chest (not front rack). If it touches the ground you stop.
