The best part of the words I’m about to write are coming from a perspective that’s been developed over years of being at the top level of the sport…. while not being afforded an offseason for years at a time. So, to the average person doing strongman this maybe “overkill“ in terms of what is required to get better.
Before exploring those concepts let's go ahead and look at who is doing strongman in America. Strongman to my knowledge is the only adult intramural sports system in America that goes from coast to coast, shoutout to Strongman Corp and USS. But this also means there is an age where long term athletes got to college, or play local minor league levels of their life long sport and then find strongman. At this same age we see adults seeking out strongman for the first time, strongman is a sport of lore and cool shirts. It's very welcoming to the never before athlete, the best in the world are comparatively super accessible when looking at other sports. So, we have masses of people inspired for these reasons to enter the sport which is amazing, however if you never learned to sprint then maybe you don’t need to explore your max capabilities on log press, or a farmers carry. The good news is, if you are this person your solution is oddly close to what I’d tell a lifelong athlete just at slightly different progressions.
The main issue we see with strongman is sports specificity is almost impossible to get away from. So, we constantly see its influence even in the off-season especially for new lifters who may learn new skills at different rates. But we often times see strongmen and women training like powerlifters year around because it's fun and easier. The never was athlete simply doesn’t know, the life long athlete is winning and knows but doesn’t care, the others don’t do strongman or don’t need to read this blog because they are winning and chasing bigger shows. There are few variables that will beat out hard work in this sport, but athleticism will earn you wins you were not “strong enough” to win.
Now the generic term “Be An Athlete“ is over used and under explained. Being an athlete results in a few social behaviors and developed training attributes that matter more than your vertical or 40-yard dash. Athletes retain abilities better after learning new skills meaning we can take longer breaks away from sport specific movement helping to minimize long term risk of injury, while being able to refresh these movements quickly when needed. They also have a training durability that comes from a body that is adjusted to moving in ways humans should, examples if you sit at work all day and then only take 500ish steps before you are at the gym training you have a problem. The requirements for being “Athletic” really won’t allow for that situation to occur very often. The biggest challenge I find is strongman will make you less athletic over time, which is why the off-season matters so much. Your contest season and contest prep burn our fuse at both ends; the off season will only make the fuse longer one direction. Once the fuse reaches its end, we generally see injury or regression, a proper off-season is your time to add some fuse back.
One of the key things we need to think about counteracting would be the waddle walk that happens from tight hips that will work its way into your stride when running. This is referring to the way people will carry a heavy farmers or frame and the influence it has on your walking and running stride. And before I hear anyone saying how unhealthy running is whatever that looks like for you, most of the time there are other health factors in your control that make running or a fast prolonged shuffle unhealthy. Now in this situation if you are adding corrective measures before running, your off-season may need to be a bit longer which means competing less often. Simple concept that we can apply across the board.
The issue mentioned above is often caused by a lack of unilateral strength from leg to leg from the knee to the toes and a coordinated connection from the quads, hams, glutes to everything below the knee. In short, we need to isolate each leg and focus on the movement patters of motions like lunges and Bulgarian split squats, focusing on how the stability of the knee and ankle, and using your feet and toes to anchor to the ground vs allowing the knee or foot to rollout when you begin to drive. Add some mobility sessions to your week, focusing on your hips and glutes (the 90/90 stretch is my go to) while progressively loading your unilateral movements of choice as you go. I highly recommend that most people step away from the barbell squat unless you lack proficiency in the squat and are still learning. But in general, a break from bilateral movements that load the spine will do you some good, leg press is a solid substitute.
The next Issue I found to experience a lot of myself is a decline in my thoracic mobility (butchers or butcher block stretch) coupled with but also maybe leading to dysfunctional scapula. This will negatively impact a series of events from pressing to throwing, to deadlifting. In my opinion this is because of the fact the majority of strongman events pull the body forward into anterior rotation or in spinal flexion while loaded, most people have a habit of doing this on there on without added load. Fixing this issue takes a bit of time, but most people never really figure out their shoulder or elbow pain is starting in the thoracic spine area and surrounding musculature.
Fixing this is usually means unloading the spine for a short period of time while you develop this mobility and adjust to how it feels having this new found ROM. I have found at a certain point it becomes a game; I want to have a healthy ratio of producing force while in or entering extension quickly, examples would be a full ROM max effort ball slam and a properly executed bag toss when mobility allows. I've recently added variations and progressions of the neck bridge, or the stretch I've posted videos of on my Instagram where I’m bent backwards over a GHD. While aggressive this is a solid stretch variation in my opinion, it is important whatever stretch or stretches you decide to go with you take into account we are trying to lengthen the pecs and when we have reached what will be your full extension, we want to be able to extend the arm locking out the elbows with your biceps just behind your ear both arms at the same time. This doesn’t sound to challenging until you realize this position shouldn’t be uncomfortable.
Now when exiting your off-season your goal should be to have a higher work capacity than when you entered it. The issue is most athletes will look back to specific events they suck at performing reps with VS scaling it down to a level you can build from. Example, can you move for 12 min straight at an aggressive pace in a WOD style work out? Would a 500-yard jog ruin your session that day? These questions need to be considered before you worry about a log for max reps or max distance carry.
My bullet points from my own off-season;
- Work up to a 500 yard jog 3x per week pre-training.
- Progress into ¼ mile weighted carry post training 1x per week.
- 8-10 minutes of unbroken movement each training day ( No barbells).
- 1-2 movements daily to help with thoracic extension.
- Throw every or every other week.
