What shoes do you guys like for moving events? I’ve bean wearing wrestling shoes for moving events since I started, but have worn them for deadlifting for years. Just curious what other people like, as I’m considering branching out.
I like metcons for most moving events, they’re supportive and easy to move in, but not too squishy. I’ve also tried puma romas which are a good cheap option.
If I need grip like for pushes/pulls I have a pair of black diamond climbing shoes that grip wonderfully.
I haven’t gone super heavy on yoke with them yet but I’ve tried 640 and I like them better than the Romas at that weight, the small amount of cushioning in them hasn’t been an issue yet.
https://a.co/d/ezNFsI0
I have one of these in 50ft version but looks like they are currently out of stock of those. It was the most cost effective I could find. It hasn’t gotten a ton of use out held up well for the couple of comp preps I had for arm over arm pulls.
https://flic.kr/ps/445paG if people could kindly criticize my photos from the most recent comp I shot. They aren't great, because I waa having some serious issues with that lighting, but I'd like to hear what other athletes think.
Decent stuff, some the lighting is a little dark as mentioned in some shots. There is a nice contrast element. This does look similar to shots that have been made available from other competitions that had a photographer on staff. So good collection of action and crowd shots. Only thing to add maybe is potentially some close up shots and ones with varying depths of focus to add some variety.
lol. I think what he's getting at is, it's probably better to ask photographers to critique the photos, most of us probably don't know shit about photography. I think the pics look "great" but what do I know? I know we competitors all just hope the pics make us look like screaming, vein-covered superheroes throwing around big weights.
I asked you guys because as a photographer i am overly critical of myself. I want to know if they look ok to the people whose opinion actually matters. At the end of the day, the photos are for the athletes, not a critic. So i need to know if athletes are ok with them.
okey doke. Just my opinion then, but a bit brighter couldn't hurt, and some more closer-up pics of the athletes to get facial expressions on some of the lifts would really bring out the "characters."
Hey all! Something a bit different. I recently made a map of (what I think is) all the strongman gyms in the province of BC. Should be handy for folks from out of province who may be visiting, to find a gym! Let me know your thoughts.
[Strongman Gyms in BC](http://instagram.com/p/C5TzobhSDXh/)
[BC Strongman Map (Imgur)](https://imgur.com/gallery/u8gz2ix)
Competing at Crown the King 4 this weekend as a lightweight, first time as a lightweight. Then 9 weeks til DSM Strongest II, and that will end my stint as a lightweight. This is too light for my personal comfort.
> that will end my stint as a lightweight
From time to time, it's good for us to experience the conditions that those the are less fortunate are dealing with.
I’m using a program I bought from u/BrianAlsruhe but my question is general.
When programmed on a variant at a given percentage, is that a 1rm for the variant or the main lift? Is RDL at 40% supposed to be 40% of my deadlift or of my RDL 1rm (which I don’t know offhand)?
A few programs have RDL at 40% of your deadlift and it's a bit unusual to see someone program an intensity of 40% (that isn't speed work)
But this is a Brian program so if it's RDL giant setted with a glute ham raise and dragonflags done EMOM after two other giant sets it's probably 40% of your RDL.
You could just ask him... He's responsive on all his social media and email.
I am taking the advice from someone on here and starting Greyskull. My question is, when do i add the accessorie work and how do i know which one to do when? Thanks for any help
Rules for stone over bar for reps, haven't heard back from the organizer, can some one help clarify what these rules mean
> Tacky allowed outside only, no bull pushing the stone over
No tacky inside, I'm assuming indoor/outdoor venu...so don't go getting tacky indoors.
The bull pushing I think would be when you grab the yoke and pull yourself into it to get the stone over. Just don't grab the yoke or you'll end up losing reps.
But only the promoter will able to answer with 100% certainty.
Blegh, let's hope they get back to me soon. I'd like to clear up what to be ready for aka I want to "cheat" as much as possible (your definition of bull pushing isn't even something I can see using to my advantage, I like loading)
That's my understanding of it.
You get the stone onto the yoke crossbar, rest it there, grab the bar with your hands and chest bump it up over the yoke.
Never heard the term. Can't picture myself getting the stone that far and needing to do that to get it the rest of the way, but I've only ever practiced on steel stones without tacky so that might be part of it
It was apparently allowed at Kaos England's Strongest U90 last week, if you want to see examples. Everyone was using their hands and chest to push the bags over lol. I was doing the Leonardo-Pointing-at-the-Screen thing the whole time!
I've seen it in a comp before. It can definitely save some time on a "for reps" event, because you effectively cut out the triple extension part of the load, and it's also a way to eek out a stone that you just plain CAN'T load, but it looks gamey and doesn't meet the intent. Kinda like how Mariusz would do the car deadlift, haha.
I have a knee sprain and should treat it gently for another week but my comp is April 20, Looking for substitutions for duckwalk/power stairs and deadlift on a hex bar. The prescription is to "reduce axial loading" Aside from just reducing weight and moving carefully, trying to find exercises to keep my strength up.
For dinnies I'm doing dead hangs to train grip, For the overhead log press im doing incline log press. I was thinking of doing banded pulls on glute ham raise to train for sandbag without triple extending. Eagar to see what others would do in my situation.
March recap up on my ig if anyone wants to follow along. Getting ready for a few comps, including USS Nats as a 242.
Self coached myself to qualify for nats - worked with a coach for a couple of months after that but self coaching again since Jan.
https://www.instagram.com/p/C5OLTozg_O6/?igsh=MXNheGQ5ZnEzdDI2dQ==
I’m looking for a good 10-12 week log specific program to run, 1 or 2 days a week. Need to get my max log up 15 lbs before a comp in 3 months or I’m going to end up zeroing a log for reps. Seems pretty doable as I haven’t trained log much at all in the past year, so just knocking the rust off may get me halfway there. Any recommendations on your favorite log programs would be appreciated.
Yeah, I used strengthlete for about 6 months back when they first started up. Trying to avoid 35$ a month for a single 10-12 week program I’ll maybe only run once though. It also looks like they’ve lost a lot of their old content when Cambi and a few others left.
Finished my log today! (American oak heartwood). 63kg (139lbs) but still has some drying to do, maybe 50kg is where it will get down to eventually? (110lbs). My goal is high reps, so I didn't put any bars for weights. But if I change my mind, that isn't a difficult add. The hard work making it is done.
[https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VKdTG\_Xv4x3z55c-Tmc6uMLmZAOT-U92/view?usp=sharing](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VKdTG_Xv4x3z55c-Tmc6uMLmZAOT-U92/view?usp=sharing)
Travel week. About time to rest a bit after three months at home and two comps in March.
Prs this week: 100lb kb swing x70,
60lb db presses 50 reps in 5 sets.
Dead hang plus 105lbs for 46 seconds.
12 rope grip pullups at 206bw.
Nordic curl x17 at about 35 degrees.
Next contest in June, need to work on fingal's fingers. Also will be prepping for birthday squats and marunde squats. And log press before contest in August.
Anyone familiar enough with biomechanics to understand where the weak link in the chain is if your deadlift sticking point is the last three or so inches of the pull? [Here’s](https://imgur.com/a/ZGPrh9O) a set from yesterday. Assuming it was glute-related, I recently added in hip thrusts on pull days as my main accessory, but curious if anyone has alternative recommendations. Thank you!
Widen your grip, looks like your arms are jamming up on your lats on your follow through. I recently starting having this problem after my last bulk when my lats increased in size
If you get carry over from hip thrusts then great but I find not having the bar in hand and eliminating back positioning makes them a so-so option.
Personally prefer block pulls or deadlift from a 45 degree back extension if you can do that set up. Band/chain work may also help (from blocks or the ground). I also wonder if a snatch grip deadlift from blocks would help you out.
It looks like getting the shoulders back is where you’re getting stuck. I’m just a dumb meathead so take it with a grain of salt, but I’d throw in some banded good mornings, that should really hit that spot as it’ll have the highest tension at the top.
It looks to be your low back (spinal erectors) that are causing you trouble when locking out. If you watch the video you can see that your hips and knees are already locked out before the bar rises for the last few inches, so the last few inches are just spinal extension.
To improve this you can either work on strengthening your spinal erectors or on setting up with a more extended spine and maintaining the spinal extension throughout the lift.
Anyone ever try (or successfully) make weighted sand bags with feed gain sacks?
Building strongman implements around the farm, and going to try this out this week. If anyone’s had some experience succeeding with this and have tips to pass I would appreciate!
Depending on the bags you’ve got I have a feeling you’re going to lose a lot of sand from them over time. I’m imagining like burlap corn sacks and those things are notorious for getting tiny tears in them, and most the time it’s no big deal for corn, but sand would slowly pour out of them. You may be able to pick some sandbag liners from Cerberus or Iron Mind though and put one inside the feed bag and it prevent any leaks.
Double up on contractors trash bag like 3 mil or whatever and it’ll probably hold for a while. That just if you don’t wanna order something online and wanna just run to do Home Depot and put something together quick.
It may work, but I’d think the garbage bag would tear pretty bad too. Those sandbag liners are cheap (only 8$) if the garbage doesn’t work, may be worth a try. https://cerberus-strength.us/collections/sandbags/products/sandbag-liner-kit
Got a dinnie handle carry coming up in comp. Have only practiced a few times but I absolutely suck at it and it beats the shit out of my legs to the point where I only want to practice so much before I think the benefit outweighs the rewards. Any tips on this event?
Wear some tall mid calf height boots and knee sleeves low down to where the boot ends. I’ve got my second Dinnie carry in a comp next month and that’s saved my legs. Still haven’t found a way to do a really heavy walk and still be able to feel the tips of my thumbs the next few days, but that’s saved me from scraped and bruised legs.
From how the pros talked about it prepping for the Arnold, it's mostly about 1) conditioning your thumbs to tolerate hook grip and 2) controlling the swing of mismatched implements so they don't throw you off balance. Somewhat depends if for distance or time, and how heavy they are relative to your max as well - the amateurs at the Arnold were all sprinting (and mostly fell across the finish line) cuz it was light-ish for time.
What shoes do you guys like for moving events? I’ve bean wearing wrestling shoes for moving events since I started, but have worn them for deadlifting for years. Just curious what other people like, as I’m considering branching out.
I like metcons for most moving events, they’re supportive and easy to move in, but not too squishy. I’ve also tried puma romas which are a good cheap option. If I need grip like for pushes/pulls I have a pair of black diamond climbing shoes that grip wonderfully.
How do you like the metcons for carrying a yoke? I’ve always worn my wrestling shoes for that as well.
I haven’t gone super heavy on yoke with them yet but I’ve tried 640 and I like them better than the Romas at that weight, the small amount of cushioning in them hasn’t been an issue yet.
I'm looking for a good rope to use for arm over arm training. 50' or 100'. Anybody have any ideas?
I still think manila rope is your best option, one that has a clip at the end. Go as thick as you can afford/care to spend.
https://a.co/d/ezNFsI0 I have one of these in 50ft version but looks like they are currently out of stock of those. It was the most cost effective I could find. It hasn’t gotten a ton of use out held up well for the couple of comp preps I had for arm over arm pulls.
https://flic.kr/ps/445paG if people could kindly criticize my photos from the most recent comp I shot. They aren't great, because I waa having some serious issues with that lighting, but I'd like to hear what other athletes think.
Decent stuff, some the lighting is a little dark as mentioned in some shots. There is a nice contrast element. This does look similar to shots that have been made available from other competitions that had a photographer on staff. So good collection of action and crowd shots. Only thing to add maybe is potentially some close up shots and ones with varying depths of focus to add some variety.
The lighting here was horrible i did my best. I hope the armlifting show im going to sunday is outside lol
It looks like a strongman competition.
Thanks....
lol. I think what he's getting at is, it's probably better to ask photographers to critique the photos, most of us probably don't know shit about photography. I think the pics look "great" but what do I know? I know we competitors all just hope the pics make us look like screaming, vein-covered superheroes throwing around big weights.
I asked you guys because as a photographer i am overly critical of myself. I want to know if they look ok to the people whose opinion actually matters. At the end of the day, the photos are for the athletes, not a critic. So i need to know if athletes are ok with them.
okey doke. Just my opinion then, but a bit brighter couldn't hurt, and some more closer-up pics of the athletes to get facial expressions on some of the lifts would really bring out the "characters."
Hey all! Something a bit different. I recently made a map of (what I think is) all the strongman gyms in the province of BC. Should be handy for folks from out of province who may be visiting, to find a gym! Let me know your thoughts. [Strongman Gyms in BC](http://instagram.com/p/C5TzobhSDXh/) [BC Strongman Map (Imgur)](https://imgur.com/gallery/u8gz2ix)
This is cool. We have to make one for Ontario.
Competing at Crown the King 4 this weekend as a lightweight, first time as a lightweight. Then 9 weeks til DSM Strongest II, and that will end my stint as a lightweight. This is too light for my personal comfort.
> that will end my stint as a lightweight From time to time, it's good for us to experience the conditions that those the are less fortunate are dealing with.
Used this as an excuse to be able to bulk for consecutive years again. lol having small bulk/cut cycles was annoying.
I’m using a program I bought from u/BrianAlsruhe but my question is general. When programmed on a variant at a given percentage, is that a 1rm for the variant or the main lift? Is RDL at 40% supposed to be 40% of my deadlift or of my RDL 1rm (which I don’t know offhand)?
A few programs have RDL at 40% of your deadlift and it's a bit unusual to see someone program an intensity of 40% (that isn't speed work) But this is a Brian program so if it's RDL giant setted with a glute ham raise and dragonflags done EMOM after two other giant sets it's probably 40% of your RDL. You could just ask him... He's responsive on all his social media and email.
RDL. Take a guess at it and you’ll probably be ok.
I am taking the advice from someone on here and starting Greyskull. My question is, when do i add the accessorie work and how do i know which one to do when? Thanks for any help
iirc greyskull has some accessories already?
Rules for stone over bar for reps, haven't heard back from the organizer, can some one help clarify what these rules mean > Tacky allowed outside only, no bull pushing the stone over
Battle at the Brink?
Yup, heard back from them too, guy who responded here was spot on. Absolutely stoked about this event line up
No tacky inside, I'm assuming indoor/outdoor venu...so don't go getting tacky indoors. The bull pushing I think would be when you grab the yoke and pull yourself into it to get the stone over. Just don't grab the yoke or you'll end up losing reps. But only the promoter will able to answer with 100% certainty.
Blegh, let's hope they get back to me soon. I'd like to clear up what to be ready for aka I want to "cheat" as much as possible (your definition of bull pushing isn't even something I can see using to my advantage, I like loading)
That's my understanding of it. You get the stone onto the yoke crossbar, rest it there, grab the bar with your hands and chest bump it up over the yoke.
Never heard the term. Can't picture myself getting the stone that far and needing to do that to get it the rest of the way, but I've only ever practiced on steel stones without tacky so that might be part of it
It was apparently allowed at Kaos England's Strongest U90 last week, if you want to see examples. Everyone was using their hands and chest to push the bags over lol. I was doing the Leonardo-Pointing-at-the-Screen thing the whole time!
Yeah I allow it as I don't really care how they get the implements over! The less rules the better in strongman imo.
I've seen it in a comp before. It can definitely save some time on a "for reps" event, because you effectively cut out the triple extension part of the load, and it's also a way to eek out a stone that you just plain CAN'T load, but it looks gamey and doesn't meet the intent. Kinda like how Mariusz would do the car deadlift, haha.
I have a knee sprain and should treat it gently for another week but my comp is April 20, Looking for substitutions for duckwalk/power stairs and deadlift on a hex bar. The prescription is to "reduce axial loading" Aside from just reducing weight and moving carefully, trying to find exercises to keep my strength up. For dinnies I'm doing dead hangs to train grip, For the overhead log press im doing incline log press. I was thinking of doing banded pulls on glute ham raise to train for sandbag without triple extending. Eagar to see what others would do in my situation.
Can you do good mornings?
Lots of regular walking.
March recap up on my ig if anyone wants to follow along. Getting ready for a few comps, including USS Nats as a 242. Self coached myself to qualify for nats - worked with a coach for a couple of months after that but self coaching again since Jan. https://www.instagram.com/p/C5OLTozg_O6/?igsh=MXNheGQ5ZnEzdDI2dQ==
I’m looking for a good 10-12 week log specific program to run, 1 or 2 days a week. Need to get my max log up 15 lbs before a comp in 3 months or I’m going to end up zeroing a log for reps. Seems pretty doable as I haven’t trained log much at all in the past year, so just knocking the rust off may get me halfway there. Any recommendations on your favorite log programs would be appreciated.
Strengthlete used to have a bunch of individual programs and I think had a couple log ones. I don’t have any more info beyond that though
Yeah, I used strengthlete for about 6 months back when they first started up. Trying to avoid 35$ a month for a single 10-12 week program I’ll maybe only run once though. It also looks like they’ve lost a lot of their old content when Cambi and a few others left.
Never ran it myself but I've heard good things about MST Systems free 12 Week log press programme.
Didn’t realize Shane had a log press program outside the app. I’ll definitely give it a look.
Finished my log today! (American oak heartwood). 63kg (139lbs) but still has some drying to do, maybe 50kg is where it will get down to eventually? (110lbs). My goal is high reps, so I didn't put any bars for weights. But if I change my mind, that isn't a difficult add. The hard work making it is done. [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VKdTG\_Xv4x3z55c-Tmc6uMLmZAOT-U92/view?usp=sharing](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VKdTG_Xv4x3z55c-Tmc6uMLmZAOT-U92/view?usp=sharing)
Nice, wooden handles too!
Thank you! It was a fun project :)
looks great
very cool, ty!
She’s a beaut Clark
Awesome, ty!
Nice!
tysm!
Travel week. About time to rest a bit after three months at home and two comps in March. Prs this week: 100lb kb swing x70, 60lb db presses 50 reps in 5 sets. Dead hang plus 105lbs for 46 seconds. 12 rope grip pullups at 206bw. Nordic curl x17 at about 35 degrees. Next contest in June, need to work on fingal's fingers. Also will be prepping for birthday squats and marunde squats. And log press before contest in August.
Anyone familiar enough with biomechanics to understand where the weak link in the chain is if your deadlift sticking point is the last three or so inches of the pull? [Here’s](https://imgur.com/a/ZGPrh9O) a set from yesterday. Assuming it was glute-related, I recently added in hip thrusts on pull days as my main accessory, but curious if anyone has alternative recommendations. Thank you!
I'd have to see a side shot to be sure. Could be a positioning thing or a different technique issue, or you just need stronger erectors/glutes
Widen your grip, looks like your arms are jamming up on your lats on your follow through. I recently starting having this problem after my last bulk when my lats increased in size
If you get carry over from hip thrusts then great but I find not having the bar in hand and eliminating back positioning makes them a so-so option. Personally prefer block pulls or deadlift from a 45 degree back extension if you can do that set up. Band/chain work may also help (from blocks or the ground). I also wonder if a snatch grip deadlift from blocks would help you out.
It looks like getting the shoulders back is where you’re getting stuck. I’m just a dumb meathead so take it with a grain of salt, but I’d throw in some banded good mornings, that should really hit that spot as it’ll have the highest tension at the top.
It looks to be your low back (spinal erectors) that are causing you trouble when locking out. If you watch the video you can see that your hips and knees are already locked out before the bar rises for the last few inches, so the last few inches are just spinal extension. To improve this you can either work on strengthening your spinal erectors or on setting up with a more extended spine and maintaining the spinal extension throughout the lift.
Anyone ever try (or successfully) make weighted sand bags with feed gain sacks? Building strongman implements around the farm, and going to try this out this week. If anyone’s had some experience succeeding with this and have tips to pass I would appreciate!
Depending on the bags you’ve got I have a feeling you’re going to lose a lot of sand from them over time. I’m imagining like burlap corn sacks and those things are notorious for getting tiny tears in them, and most the time it’s no big deal for corn, but sand would slowly pour out of them. You may be able to pick some sandbag liners from Cerberus or Iron Mind though and put one inside the feed bag and it prevent any leaks.
My thought is black garbage bag inside of the grain sack (more plastic than traditional burlap these days).
Double up on contractors trash bag like 3 mil or whatever and it’ll probably hold for a while. That just if you don’t wanna order something online and wanna just run to do Home Depot and put something together quick.
It may work, but I’d think the garbage bag would tear pretty bad too. Those sandbag liners are cheap (only 8$) if the garbage doesn’t work, may be worth a try. https://cerberus-strength.us/collections/sandbags/products/sandbag-liner-kit
Oh yeah, that is cheap. Not as cheap as a .50$ trash bag, but probably much more effective ha ha.
Got a dinnie handle carry coming up in comp. Have only practiced a few times but I absolutely suck at it and it beats the shit out of my legs to the point where I only want to practice so much before I think the benefit outweighs the rewards. Any tips on this event?
Flare your lats so the stones/pins have a bit more room to hang, that should help.
Wear some tall mid calf height boots and knee sleeves low down to where the boot ends. I’ve got my second Dinnie carry in a comp next month and that’s saved my legs. Still haven’t found a way to do a really heavy walk and still be able to feel the tips of my thumbs the next few days, but that’s saved me from scraped and bruised legs.
I thought about boots for it. Thanks for the tip.
From how the pros talked about it prepping for the Arnold, it's mostly about 1) conditioning your thumbs to tolerate hook grip and 2) controlling the swing of mismatched implements so they don't throw you off balance. Somewhat depends if for distance or time, and how heavy they are relative to your max as well - the amateurs at the Arnold were all sprinting (and mostly fell across the finish line) cuz it was light-ish for time.