And Now For My She-Hulk Impression....

[shanmonster]

I did my first-ever Strongman training yesterday. I had a blast.

Bright and early, knightky and I headed off to CrossFit Division in Waterloo, ON.

The first lift we worked on was the tire flip.



This tire weighs an estimated 350-400 lbs. The big guy is Brian Nutter, one of our two trainers. Tobi partnered up on me for this lift, and we flipped that damned tire about a dozen times together before doing a minute of box jumps onto it.





Because Kyle is a beast, he can flip the tire by himself and barely break a sweat.



Next we worked on my previous nemesis: the Atlas stone. The first time I ever wrestled with one of these was at the Wasaga Beach UG competition last month. I thought it would kill me. This time, I had much better success. Lifting one of these suckers off a stable floor is magnitudes easier than lifting it from soft, shifting sand. That being said, it was still certainly not easy. I was smart this time and wore long sleeves, and I have very few marks on my skin from the rough concrete.

Here's Kyle doing the first part of the lift, which is getting it off the floor onto his thighs, and bringing his chest and chin in close contact.



I think Kyle's stone weighs about 120 lbs.

From there, it's an explosive thrust through the hips to slingshot that ball up onto the shoulder.



This poor Atlas stone must have had a flaw in the pour, and a chunk broke off earlier in the seminar. The estimated weight is about 70 lbs, and I was extra careful not to jam those sharp edges into my shoulder.

Next up was the farmer's walk. Here I am carrying 300 lbs. I surprised myself with being able to lift this much, because my current deadlift record is 200 lbs.



We had a brief lunch break, and then it was back at it with keg clean and presses. These were tricky because of the shape of the keg, and because they were filled with sand which slid around from side to side making the lift unstable. The diameter of the keg necessitates shoving your head way back to get the keg perched up on your chest before hoisting it overhead. Although I can lift barbells heavier than this, because of the awkward nature of the keg, this was pretty darned tricky. This one weighed approximately 75 lbs.



The next lift was similar, but the hand placement was a bit different. This was the log lift. In old-school strongman competitions, an actual log is used with holes carved into it, and pegs jammed in for hand grips. This is a new-school approach to the old-school lift: a big metal "log" with a base weight of 75 lbs. Plates can be added to increase the weight.

We learned two lifts. In the first, you first bring the log to your chest before pressing it up overhead. As with the keg, the diameter of the log makes it much more difficult to lift than a barbell. Once the log is on your chest, if it starts to roll at all, the lift is screwed unless you're strong enough to stop the roll. I'm not. I was able to do this lift at 75 lbs, but 95 lbs eluded me because of the rolling. I have confidence that with a bit of technique practice, I could do the 95-lb lift.

The second lift is called a Viper press, and in it, the log goes from thighs to overhead in one movement. I'm proud to say I was able to do this one on my first attempt.



Kyle made every log press look ridiculously easy. He strict pressed all the weights. I wonder how heavy it would have to be before he needs to push press?



The last lift of the day was a yoke lift. This one is a bit of a modification of the typical lift, but still did the trick. As with the keg lift, the weight is unstable. In this case, it's because of those dangling chains which add swing and momentum which need to be compensated for while you're walking.

Here I am, carrying about 300 lbs.



And here's Kyle carrying about 400 lbs.



At the end, we did another workout incorporating the farmer's carry and a backwards sledge drag. I did about ten or so 25'-50' sprints (I didn't count or measure distance) dragging 135 lbs. It sucked. I think I'm yelling "Rarrr!" in this photo or something. My quads were on fire.



All total, we trained from 9:30 in the morning until 2:30 in the afternoon. I'm amazed I'm not more sore today. But since I feel pretty good, I'm going to go do some lifting tonight.

I sure did get hungry afterwards, though, and devoured a huge amount of food. I train like a beast, and eat like one, too.