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.
Here, I’ll discuss some of my favorite Strongman exercises for making your athletes super fast and angry!
Tire flipping
This exercise is a staple in Strongman and a big part of the football strength programs that I design for my athletes. If there ever was an exercise that trains the entire body from “the rooter to the tooter,” it’s tire flipping.
Getting your hands on a 300-, 400-, or 700-lb tire is a lot easier than most people think. Also, the best part of this piece of equipment is that it’s free! All you need to do is look in your phone book for a tire company in your city. They’ve got tons of these things, and they need to dispose of them, which costs them money. They’re as happy as hell when someone calls and says that they’re willing to take one off of their hands for free. The biggest issue will be finding a way to transport it to your facility. Many times, the tire yard will drop it off for you. Make sure you give the delivery guy a nice tip.
Car push
It’s as simple as it sounds—push a car. That’s it. But make no mistake, this exercise is not only fun and brutal, it’s actually very useful. When pushing a car, it’s essential that you lean forward, which creates a “positive knee angle.” This develops the quads, which are the dominant muscles being activated during short sprints and change of direction.
This is probably the most practical exercise to perform from an equipment stand point. All you need is an automobile and the bigger the better. I’ve heard stories about Mike Alstott and how he used to push his Jeep around campus in college to get in football condition. If Mike Alstott does it, it’s got to be good!
Farmers’ carries
I’m often asked, “What are the best overall exercises for strength and conditioning?” My answer without hesitation is always farmers’ carries. There is nothing that this exercise doesn’t do. Besides a killer conditioner, farmers’ carries train the arms, legs, core, shoulders, neck, grip, eye lids, eyebrows, and ear lobes like nothing that I’ve ever discovered.
What makes this exercise even more incredible is that anyone can do it anywhere with little or no equipment. Everything from the torpedoes that you see those beasts on ESPN2 carry to milk jugs filled with sand will get you strong and crazy fast.
Sand bag carry
This is another exercise that is easy to put together. In fact, when I first started training athletes at a local park, this is all I had to use. I simply went to Home Depot (there may be one in your city), bought a few 80-lb bags of pea gravel, threw them into contractor bags, and duct taped them shut. After a while, I noticed that we needed heavier bags so I bought a few large army duffle bags and tossed the smaller bags into it. Now, I’ve got bags from 40 lbs to almost 300 lbs!
This exercise is as simple as pick it up and go! But make no mistake, it is not easy. This exercise goes on my list of the best overall body conditioners.
Keg clean and press
We’ve all used or taught someone to use the famous Olympic lifts, in particular the power clean and press. And for good reason. They train the whole body, and they produce faster and stronger athletes. But I do them a bit differently.
When you use a half-filled keg to clean and press, you’re playing a whole new game. First of all, the neutral grip is more specific to football, especially if you’re a lineman. Second, the water (or beer) that you used to fill your keg will be sloshing around in there, which turns this exercise into a real core conditioner!
If you want to get brutally strong and fast, you’ve got to add this super Strongman exercise to your routine.
Sled dragging
This is a staple in all of my training programs, and I use this exercise for several different reasons.
First, upright forward sled dragging is a great posterior chain builder. Nothing gets those lazy glutes into tip-top shape like sled drags. Second, backward sled drags do for the quads what forward dragging does for the glutes—fries them! Third, when done for distances greater than 50 yards or with short rest intervals, this is one of my favorite work capacity/conditioning exercises. Finally, because your legs are always moving in a concentric fashion, there is minimal soreness associated with doing this exercise. You can drag today and max effort squat tomorrow.
Keg carries
A thick, strong, and powerful upper back is paramount for building upper body strength that lasts. Everything from an increased bench press to decreased risk of shoulder injuries is associated with having a strong set of traps, rhomboids, and rear delts.
Nothing builds a strong upper back in conjunction with leg strength and agility like keg carries. Carrying kegs weighing between 50 and 300 lbs for short distances is one of my favorite ways to train generally weak and unathletic athletes to build endurance, strength, and mental toughness.
I’ve got a video at http://HulseStrength.com, which shows a great example of how to set up a “keg run.” You can train several athletes at the same time with a set up like this.
Keg or sand bag loading
Want to increase speed and jumping capacity? Keg, sandbag, or stone loading takes even the flattest ass and turns it into a J-Lo. And we all know that a strong set of glutes is synonymous with explosive hip extension and speed.
Strongman training isn’t just for those 300-lb beasts on ESPN2. It’s a great way to train even the most de-conditioned athlete and turn average boys into hulking men. In Part 3 of this series, I will show you exactly how I add these exercises to my training programs. Stay tuned!
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