In part one of “How to Open a Warehouse Gym,” you learned of my struggles as a student of fitness, a personal trainer, and an employee of a mega-sized “health club,” where most worthy trainers are treated like cogs in the big malfunctioning machine of the fake fitness facade.
When I was four-years-old living in Long Island with my parents, my uncle ran into some hard times. He had just gone through a tough divorce at the age of only 23
At this point, we’ve discovered how Strongman training can be a viable substitute for Olympic weightlifting to develop brutally strong football players who not only display explosive physical capacities but have explosive attitudes as well. If you’re anything like me, you’ve become excited at the prospect of training your athletes with the fun and highly effective exercises like tractor tire flipping or stone loading discussed in the Part Two of this series.
In part one of this series on Strongman training for athletes, I made the argument that Strongman training may be a great option for building strong and explosive athletes and a viable substitute for Olympic lifting.
You might disagree, but hear me out on this. As an ex-college football player and currently a strength coach, I’ve found the utilization and teaching of Olympic lifts to be tedious, inefficient, and downright boring. As a college athlete, I hardly found the patience to learn the correct lifting technique for the power clean. Although I held the St. John’s University power clean record in my freshman season, muscling 335 lbs (152 kg) off the platform, my technique was completely flawed. My attempt looked more like an axle clean and press in Strongman than the smooth pull of an Olympic weightlifter.
The latest installment in our “How We Use The Prowler” series comes from Elliott Hulse of St. Petersburg, Florida.
It’s unbelievable. Over 31 percent of the typical mini-van driving, TiVo watching, Lucky Jean’s wearing, Prozac popping, spray-on-tan sporting American hasn’t taken a crap in the last three days!
This strength program is a combination of several styles and programs that I have discovered in my ten years of experience. You will read about systems that I’ve learned from Joe DeFranco, Dave Tate, and Louie Simmons. You will learn philosophies that I’ve adopted from BFS’s Greg Shepard, Mike Boyle, and Paul Chek. I’ve learned a ton by training with Strongman champion, Tom Mitchell, and watching videos from the Parisi School.
On this program, you’ve got to eat. If you are skinny and weak, you need to eat a ton of food. And don’t just tell me that you “eat a lot.” I get this answer from many kids, and when I take one look at what they really consume, it turns out to be nothing more than a few slices of Elio’s Pizza and some cereal all day long.
Aristotle has been recognized as perhaps the greatest thinker in western civilized history. I once heard that all philosophy is just footnotes to Aristotle. When it comes to maximizing our mental capacities and potential, it would be safe to say that any program or advice that a man like Aristotle could deliver would be greatly welcomed.
Football season has just ended and you’ve quickly realized that you’re only half the man you were in August. Losing 10–20 lbs during the football season is typical for most high school and small college athletes. But you’re not typical.
Size and strength doesn’t have to mean injury.