With the partnership with Crossfit boxes, we had the equipment shortage figured out for the barbell lifts and everything was going smooth.
At some point, our crossfit partners asked if we couldn’t create a course on “strongman training”. I had written a couple of articles on strongman training and supervised the Brazilian strongman team at the Arnold’s twice but I am not, nor will I ever be, a strongwoman. I can describe biomechanical and metabolic aspects of the events, but that’s it.
I decided that this would be called the “odd objects training” course since we could modify it according to demand in time.
I invited coach Luciano Dias, who had been teaching courses with me for years at the NABBA programs, and we created a weekend course. After the conceptual class, we divided the space into six stations according to movement type (and, of course, equipment availability):
- Carry/walk drills: yoke, farmers’ walk, sandbag walk, etc
- Flipping drills: tire flip, “flat-object” flip
- Overheads: log lift, dumbbell press, push-press, jerk
- Atlas stone
- Dragging and pushing: sleds and prowlers
- Throwing: kegs and other throwing objects
As with barbell lifts, some of the events can only be properly executed with years of practice. The course helped coaches introduce certain drills into their athletes’ strength routines with proper technique and knowledge about the foundations.
I did design a competitive strongman training program ONCE for a friend. Nobody knew anything in Brazil and I was “as good as it gets” at the time. It was an interesting learning experience for the two of us (he did well) but sports-specific training needs to be addressed by specialist coaches. For all my strongman doubts I consult Kalle Beck because he is a specialist and a good one. For my evidence-based articles from the column, click on "articles" here:
