Training for Strongman Without Equipment

Bigger Stronger Leaner Powerlifting & Strength Sports
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Ok, i want to compete and seeing as no one is near me with equipment and the only thing i have is weights, and farmer handles im thinking this:

log press: jerkpress with the barbell, close grip incline presses

car deadlift: deadlifts and rack deads i think car deadlifting is slightly higher than normal right?

atlas: front squats cant do much else to prepare

farmers: got it covered

thats it for now looking at one on august 23rd, would be sweet to compete in teen division (16 hope thats young enough)

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Did i mention im looking for advice lol

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Check craigslist for used kegs to fill with water, sand, etc.

Rack pulls can be a decent substitute for a number of events.

If you know a decent welder, you can get a log made for pretty cheap. Just do a google search for some plans. I’ve seen some good ones out there, if you can’t find any let me know and I’ll look for some, but I don’t want to do the grunt work for you.

A yolk can be made with steel pipe and fittings.

Sand bags are cheap and available everywhere.

A long rope is easy enough to tie to a truck for a truck pull.

Pushing the truck is great for GPP.

Just go find some heavy objects and carry them around. Large rocks work great.

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How about zercher deadlfits for stone practice?? You’ve got to get low and there’ll probably be some lumbar rounding, just like with stones.

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Pull the sleeve off an Olympic bar you don’t use anymore and use it as a loading pin for stones.

Zercher’s and front squats, lots of deadlifts, lots of one arm and BB presses/jerks, cheat curls etc. Not an expert, but that’s what I would do.

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Maybe this for Atlas?

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I sent you a PM with some info that might be of help.

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[quote]bignate wrote:
Ok, i want to compete and seeing as no one is near me with equipment [/quote]

First of all, that part isnt true. There’s TPS in boston, and I know Dave Bourgeouis (sp?) and Justin Warren train somewhere in teh state. Make sure to check nastrongmaninc.com to see who your state chair is and he shoudl know where the training crews are.

I dont know if you have a license, or what your car situation is if youre 16, but if you have access to one, get to somewhere where you can get your hands on teh equipment. It’s tremendously important.

I drive an hour and a half each way every sunday, and while that may be the furthest out of my training crew, im sure there are others travelling further in other crews

That said, if you dont have a means of transportation, I would add thick bars to your list of stuff to aquire. This can be as simple as sliding two pieces of pvc over a barbell and gripping that.

I’ll also second kegs, especialy for pressing - having weight displaced out in front of you is a major theme in strongman. Be creative and try to mimic little things like hand positioning. Eg, dont use a barbell pushpress to simulate a log press, use dumbells.

Zerchers are also a great lift for conans and tons of other events. Facing into a power squat or hack squat can be good for the tire (KINDA, a little bit, not really) But nothing compares to stones. I will admit I’ve never used the barbell sleeve thru the plates thing, but I will say that stones are like nothing i’ve ever done before, and nothing I’ve ever done since are like stones.

Make sure you play with them after you contest if they’ll let you, just take every opportunity you have to get your hands on em

That said, dont stray too far fromt eh basics. Make sure youre squatting, DLing, pressing and cleaning. Dont get caught up in the minutia - I dont care whether its an oly squat or a power squat, I dont care whether its a push press, a push jerk or whatever.

Add in exercises for your grip and youre covering the basics. Get ricockulously strong in those and your inexperience in the events wont matter until you come up against someone who’s also strong in the gym lifts AND has implement experience.

and check out marunde-muscle.com

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Good call KBC my parents wont let me drive 20 min to a powerlfting gym nvm a strongman gym in boston, paxton power gym was open but stopped group training :(, my parents wont let me do the comp till footballs over >_< so for now ill just keep getting stronger, i like the atlas stones idea

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A lot of very solid advice here. KBC hit on something important. If you do nothing else, just get crazy strong in the basics. Be sure to add grip work and heavy overhead lifting. These two items seemed to be the most common weak link in people transitioning into strongman from bodybuilding and powerlifting backgrounds.

Zerchers are probably one of the better “no-equipment” strongman exercises you can do.

Thick bar work is great, too. It’s cheap and easy to get or make a thick bar, but if nothing else, just wrap a towel around the bar. You wont be able to cleans, but you can do other moves with the towel.

As far as that video for training stones without stones, it’s a neat idea, but it probably works best with bumper plates. The problem with regular plates is that they’re too thin. You might end up playing with 180 pounds that’s less than six inches thick. I don’t know, maybe I didn’t give this movement its fair shake when I tried it.

I also recommend kegs, if you can get nothing else. You can do a lot of half way decent event mimics with kegs. Keg loading for stones. Overhead pressing. Throws. Carries. Get some chain and hang two kegs from a barbell and do some yoke walking. Hell, you could even use a pair of full kegs for farmers.

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Zercher, Zercher, Zercher.

Deadlifts AND squats.

Can’t stress that enough.

Also: http://www.ontariostrongman.ca/Resources/training/strongmantraining.html

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Just to add to everything above, if you are not using the implements HAMMER your grip.

I’ve only done one contest, but at that contest in talking to some of the guys, I was much stronger on the power/gym lifts than they were. They outperformed me though, partly due to my inexperience with implements, but largely because after a couple events my grip and forearms were DEAD. I could barely make a fist.

Doing several events where everything is thick or you have to hang on to some bizarre shit is a hell of a lot different than 3 max deadlifts! LOL

Good luck and have fun!

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[quote] Matt wrote:
Just to add to everything above, if you are not using the implements HAMMER your grip.

I’ve only done one contest, but at that contest in talking to some of the guys, I was much stronger on the power/gym lifts than they were. They outperformed me though, partly due to my inexperience with implements, but largely because after a couple events my grip and forearms were DEAD. I could barely make a fist.

Doing several events where everything is thick or you have to hang on to some bizarre shit is a hell of a lot different than 3 max deadlifts! LOL

Good luck and have fun![/quote]

thnx, the one implement i have is farmer handles, so ive been using them after my deadlift work out and i want to work up to 200 in each hand for 30 sec, i usually do 3 sets working my way up from 110 so far ive done 180 in each hand which is decent i think, ive also been adding more hammer and reverse curls to work the forearms as well.

thanks fro all the input guys

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Fun exercise I like to do for grip: Towel Farmer Walks with Trap Bar.

Wrap a towel around each TB handle and grip just the towel, walking for a distance/time. I usually wrap TWO towels around each handle (for a total of four towels) because I will be barely able to wrap my fingers around the towels, and will thus really put my grip into overdrive.

Or better yet, my two training partners and I will set a certain distance (this wednesday was 25 walks across the distance of the gym) and take turns doing these Towel Farmer’s Walks, each time going as far as you can until you can’t physically hold the weight any longer and drop the bar. We do this one week, time it, and then next week try to beat the time.

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http://www.ontariostrongman.ca/Resources/training/basic_primer.html

http://www.marunde-muscle.com/forum/index.php?
This site has many Strongman all over the country and in your area. Good place to start and get lots of info.

Oh yeah lots of Professional strongmen post there as well

Phil Phister
Travis Ortmayer
Josh Thigpen
Terry Hollands
Kevin Nee
Marshall White
Karl Gillingham
Steve Macdonald
Svend Karlsen
Derek Poundstone

Like I said, good site and all the answers you need.

Good luck and see you there!

16

[quote]kingkrs wrote:
http://www.ontariostrongman.ca/Resources/training/basic_primer.html

http://www.marunde-muscle.com/forum/index.php?
This site has many Strongman all over the country and in your area. Good place to start and get lots of info.

Oh yeah lots of Professional strongmen post there as well

Phil Phister
Travis Ortmayer
Josh Thigpen
Terry Hollands
Kevin Nee
Marshall White
Karl Gillingham
Steve Macdonald
Svend Karlsen
Derek Poundstone

Like I said, good site and all the answers you need.

Good luck and see you there![/quote]

Pfister and Svend were one-offs (or I think two threads, in Svends case.) I dont even remember the last time steve was active. Josh every so often, and Kevin and Terry occasionally but not as much any more. Just for the record

17

[quote]KBCThird wrote:
kingkrs wrote:
http://www.ontariostrongman.ca/Resources/training/basic_primer.html

http://www.marunde-muscle.com/forum/index.php?
This site has many Strongman all over the country and in your area. Good place to start and get lots of info.

Oh yeah lots of Professional strongmen post there as well

Phil Phister
Travis Ortmayer
Josh Thigpen
Terry Hollands
Kevin Nee
Marshall White
Karl Gillingham
Steve Macdonald
Svend Karlsen
Derek Poundstone

Like I said, good site and all the answers you need.

Good luck and see you there!

Pfister and Svend were one-offs (or I think two threads, in Svends case.) I dont even remember the last time steve was active. Josh every so often, and Kevin and Terry occasionally but not as much any more. Just for the record
[/quote]

You’re such a stickler for details.