[quote]KombatAthlete wrote:
I know you have said in the past that you were a monstrous bencher in high school but weren’t developed overall, so what was your lifting like in college? I know you have mentioned that you focused on front squats, snatches instead of power cleans and back squats, but I am curious as to the other details.
Also, what kind of routite/training split would you reccomend to an intermediate level trainee that is the antagonist of a hard-gainer, putting on muscle easily but also fat if the conditions aren’t right? My goals are both strength and size.[/quote]
As far as my training in College goes… well I was Track & Field throughout. Even though I was a hammer thrower I spent 5 days a week throwing, doing plyos, and sprints. For the lifting, simply put just your basic NCAA DI program. Balanced of course, but focusing on the olympic lifts and lower body. I would hit lower body lifts at least 2-3 times a week and didnt bench for 5 years…lol
Your routine depends on what you’re training for besides strength and size. Are you an athlete? Right now i am not training for anything besides size but I am also not training for Strongman right now. If you are just looking for strength and size but are worried about body fat I would just watch the cardio and diet. You should be able to keep off the body fat with cardio and diet I wouldnt let it affect you workouts. Just throw some HIIT in with a decent diet and you should be able to still make gains without putting on extra bad weight. As far as you program design is concerned, let me know what you’re doing and I can let you know what i think.
[quote]Zarathustra wrote:
MachineAZ wrote:
Rebending of the knees are only NOT allowed on the Viking Press event.
All other press events are anyhow lift.
Curious. In that case, two more questions for you all:
Why isn’t it called the two-hands anyhow? Seems strange that in an event called ‘press’ you don’t have to.
Why do I see so many videos of competitors using such minimal leg drive and ‘pressing out’ the top half of the movement? Is it because of the awkwardness of the log to jerk, or simply because their OH press strength is much, much better than mine?[/quote]
the two hands anyhow is already a lift. If you look at some of the old school saxon stuff you will find it.
I have yet to see a strongman competition where the overhead event didnt involve a press. You may get some guys with decent leg drive out there, but never to the point where they do not have to lockout the weight. If you ever see the log snatch as an event let me know, Ill be there
2)Usually most heavies will get away with near strict presses because they can. If you ever see the Nowack bros compete you would realize that there is some decent olympic lift technique out there too.
You are right about the awkwardness too. With 300+ pounds on a bar I have decent leg drive. With a 300+ pound log its a completely different story. Because of the diameter of the log your chest gets pushed back kness go over the toes etc … it gets difficult
Raymond Bergmanis (sp?) is a great example of olympic technique in the log press. Was far outsized by many other guys, yet he beat them on a regular basis using the split style. I love watching that guy lift, he’s perfect. If the big guys with massive lockout strenght got the split style down, it would be sick.
Do you guys know whether there are any strongman competitions in Texas that would be appropriate for a beginner? I have an interest maybe doing it but would need it to be a local competition geared to amateurs. I noticed that Phill has posted a thread that he is entering one in Nebraska in July. Thanks for any advice.
Hey Brad, any suggestions as to basic equipment for someone looking into strongman? I’m looking to expand from gym/BB-only lifting. I was thinking maybe a sled and a log?
Also, I’m starting to throw at college-any advice for a new guy to the sport? Any strongman-type stuff you’d think might carry over well?
[quote]MetalMikeXVI wrote:
Hey Brad, any suggestions as to basic equipment for someone looking into strongman? I’m looking to expand from gym/BB-only lifting. I was thinking maybe a sled and a log?
Also, I’m starting to throw at college-any advice for a new guy to the sport? Any strongman-type stuff you’d think might carry over well?
Thanks[/quote]
This is what i would buy/make/find in order of importance:
tire
log
farmers
yoke
There should be a sled in every gym, so i didnt put it up. They all take up little space and you can get a lot out of all of them.
As far as the throws are concerned… I would hit the olympic lifts hard for both the throws and strongman. Strongman events that would help with throws:
obviously keg or weight throws for height or distance
Tire - same reason as the olympic lifts, to be fast and explosive
Log or axle work for your presses will help with grip as well
I think all good throwers who have gone to strongman have done very well. The training should basically go hand in hand. Let me know how things go…
Sadly my gym/college has no sled, so I’ll have to have my brother make one of those (he’s only in high school welding but a sled looks easy enough). I really wish our team had one-sled work seems like so much more fun than jogging for 10 min.
Tire eh? I remember reading Poliquin saying that’s one of the trickier things to start up, with the technique and risk of pulled biceps and all. I’ll just have to be careful. Finding one shouldn’t be too hard-I’m in the middle of PA, should be enough farmers. The question is where I’d put the thing.
Thanks lots for the tips, and I’ll be sure to let you know how things turn out.
I am just beginning to get interested in strongman, but I really don’t have a good idea about where to begin reading up on it. Any suggestions?[/quote]
If you want to avoid injuries take up stamp collecting. Strongman isn’t for you.
Injuries and setbacks come with the territory. If you move heavy weights and push your body to the absolute limit, you will eventually incur some sort of injury or have pain.
Mr. Brad Cardoza, first let me tell you that you are a big inspiration in my training. Your very motivational, but I just have a question,
how do you and how did you stay lean all the time?..I’m gaining weight for a competition in April of 2007, but I just want to know how you stay lean often…
Any tips you could give me on staying lean while gaining weight and getting strong?
Well, I’ve done about 24 meets so far. Here’s a brief list of the more common injuries I’ve seen.
Torn calluses/abrasions.
Torn muscles, especially the bicep.
Back injuries of every stripe.
Head injuries.
Before proceeding bear in mind that 2,3, and 4 are relatively rare (in my experiences). The most frequent injuries I’ve seen at meets are garden variety cuts, scrapes, and bruises. The bigger stuff tends to happen during training.
Scrapes are fairly easy to manage, just pop for arm guards and learn to use plenty of tacky. Maintaining your calluses and learning just how much chalk to use can go a long way in keeping your hands healthy.
It is fairly easy to tear a bicep if you’re using poor form. The most important take home point here is that your arms should be rigid most of the time. This means no flexing the elbow during a tire flip.
Even with proper technique bicep pain seems pretty common. I’ve been addressing it with a few sets of 100 mini-band curls a week on any week I’m doing event training.
Back injuries typically show up when you’re using crap form. Learn proper pulling mechanics and learn to maintain proper hip balance. Olympic lifting will force you into best practice here.
Lastly head injuries are almost always caused by bad pressing technique. Don’t bounce any implements off your head. The other gotcha is learning how to rack an implement. If you roll a log just a little too high on your neck you will cut off blood flow to the brain. If you start to feel even slightly woozy with an implement in the rack position, just dump it.
funny you mention the poliquin strongman book. I was at one of his seminars and asked him some questions about that type of training. For once, he was somewhat speechless. We were at the guys facility who wrote the book with him (Art Mc something ?) THis guy Art answered all the questions on it.
really knowledgable guy and owns a kick ass place north of boston i think
Do any of you guys own that book about strongman training by Charles and Art?
If so, any thoughts…or is it simply information I can get off the net?
Thanks.
My foremost objective in training for strongman ( and for purely recreational purtposes) has always been to avoid or prevent injuries.
What common injuries have you seen in your time in the sport and what general advice would you give in avoiding them.
Thanks.[/quote]
Just thought I might chime in on this one.
Yes, you will have some injuries in strongman or whatever way you decide to train. However, you may not be aware that olympic weightlifting has one of the lowest rates of injury of ANY SPORT. That is due to the fact that weightlifting is primarily a linear sport (very little side to side movement). From what I have read, albeit not extensive research, the olympic lifts can be added to your strongman routine and be beneficial.
On the other hand, strongman has you moving in all types of directions, hence, more injuries. If you’re just training strongman for recreational purposes I will be very interested to hear the responses you get about avoiding injury. I agree about avoiding injury…I never want to be that father on the street that is so crippled up with old weightlifitng injuries that I can’t toss the pigskin around with my child.
My thought is that training and avoiding major injury certainly can be done, it will just take some discretion in your training methods.
Looking foward to see what Brad has to say on this topic…
I started doing them yesterday figuring it would transfer over well.
Wow where they rough, I figure it will help with getting my body used to holding weight in the lockout among many other things.
My foremost objective in training for strongman ( and for purely recreational purtposes) has always been to avoid or prevent injuries.
What common injuries have you seen in your time in the sport and what general advice would you give in avoiding them.
Thanks.[/quote]
As far as common injuries are concerned, I have experience with most of them. Machine is right, if you are worried about injuries and you are serious about the sport you must be willing to train as smart as possible and deal with them as they come.
Over the last few years I have been through an umbilical hernia, abdominal hernia, torn bicep tendon, torn gastroc/soleus, partial hamstring tear, herniated disc, broken foot, blah blah blah There are a lot of ways to train smart, but like machine said when you are pushing your body to the limit all the time you have to expect them to happen.
I guess if i had to change one thing about my training it would be my heavy pulling frequency. When doing stones, tire, deads etc… your low back will take a beating. Dont pull heavy more than every ten days or so. If you need to get tecnique work in on events and have already pulled heavy that week just hit them for speed. I have seen just as much benefit from doing light stones and tires for speed as I have from hitting them heavy and being fatigued all the time.
[quote]Brad Cardoza wrote:
I guess if i had to change one thing about my training it would be my heavy pulling frequency. When doing stones, tire, deads etc… your low back will take a beating. Dont pull heavy more than every ten days or so. If you need to get tecnique work in on events and have already pulled heavy that week just hit them for speed. I have seen just as much benefit from doing light stones and tires for speed as I have from hitting them heavy and being fatigued all the time.
[/quote]
This is a great point, although I know the best strongman deadlifter in the country Kevin Nee deadlifts very often.
For most people, with all the event work your low back will be sore a lot. I deadlift very seldom. I pull heavy about every 3 weeks (rack pull, floor, etc.) and occasionally if I feel good will pull moderate in between that time.