Strongman/ woman is becoming an increasingly popular training style at all levels, with people realising the massive benefits to both strength and endurance.
If your idea of the sport involves freakishly strong men able to lift insane amounts of weight yet lacking general fitness and health, then this statement might surprise you. However, strongman isn’t just for the biggest men on the planet anymore.
Whilst it’s true that many of the World’s Strongest are still freakishly big and strong, the events are moving away from just static strength and now also focus on lifting and moving heavy weights over a set distance/ time. This not only means athletes have to be strong, but they also need extremely good endurance.
It’s this changing nature of the events that is encouraging fitness and strength enthusiasts alike to take an interest in the sport. Whether that’s incorporating functional training events into their programmes, or taking it further and entering competitions, it is becoming more and more popular for both men and women of all abilities.
INCORPORATING STRONG TRAINING INTO WORKOUTS
Whether you’ve realised it or not, you can now see elements of strongman in most training disciplines, from CrossFit to bodybuilding. You may even be more familiar with the term ‘functional fitness' which is becoming an increasingly popular training style. And central to this, is strongman style workouts.
So regardless of your training style, if you’re looking to increase your functional strength, you should consider incorporating strong training into your workouts. But how? Below we’ve put together some of the core strongman events you can easily incorporate into your programmes, to add some variety and increased benefits including strength, endurance, stability and power.
Farmers carry – The original loaded carry. Holding weight in each hand and walking for a set distance or time. These can be easily incorporated within warm ups or as finishers. There’s also many benefits as it targets your entire body for functional strength.
Log clean and press – A total body movement with huge benefits for upper body strength. The awkward size makes it much more challenging to stabilise the movement, and engages your entire body to get the log overhead.
Loadable dumbbell press – Build strength, power and stability. Focus on form and then gradually increase the weight.
Apollon wheel deadlifts – Switch up your deadlift training and add in some apollon wheel deadlifts too. Using an axle bar further adds to the variety and challenge of this event, adding an element of grip strength.
Yoke carry – Move heavy weight, over a long distance, in the least time. A true full body, functional exercise that will test your strength and endurance.
STARTING COMPETING
If you’ve been incorporating some of the above events into your training programmes and have ended up feeling the draw for the sport, or you just want to try diving in at the deep end, you may be thinking about entering a competition. But how? Well you’re in luck, as there are Strongman/ woman competitions up and down the country that anyone can enter!
In line with the sport, comps are also becoming increasingly popular, with different categories for all levels. It’s not just the big World’s strongest men that get to compete. There’s first-timers, novice, inters etc. There’s also a massive rise in Strongwoman, with UK’s strongwoman also being aired on TV later this year.
If you’re looking to start competing and want to up your training in preparation, there’s plenty of strongman style training programmes out there and specialised personal trainers. Many of the World’s Strongest men also have their own programmes or coaching sessions that may be worth looking at. It’s also useful to find training partners with a similar training style to you, so you can motivate and help each other along the way.
So you’ve got your training prepared for competing, but how do you enter a comp? Most Strongman comps will have an event page on Facebook. You can find one in your local area, look at the details (date, events, categories etc.) and if it suits you, then go for it!
GETTING THE RIGHT KIT
As you can see, the sport of Strongman/ woman is on the rise, and it’s definitely not slowing down any time soon. If you’re becoming interested in the sport, or want to take your training to the next level, whether that be through incorporating events into your training or entering a comp, you’re going to need the right kit. There may be gyms in your local area that specialise in Strong, or you might want to purchase your own equipment to either train at home, or even take along to your gym.
When purchasing Strongman/ woman kit, make sure you’re going to a reliable manufacturer and supplier, especially with the more specialised equipment. At Rebel Strength, our roots are in Strongman equipment, and we supply competitions from grassroots up to World’s Strongest Man. Take a look at our Strong equipment here, and if you have any questions don’t hesitate to contact us.
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