Strongman

Programming for strongman has a lot of different variables. I like to simplify it into two primary phases; “Competition” and “Off season“.

I define “Competition” programming as training for a known event. You know what events will be in the upcoming competition and you are training for them.

“Off season“ training is any training that happens outside of competition periods. This training will focus on development of muscle mass, general strength and targeting any weak points you have.

A variable that is hard to take into account in strongman is the size of the lifter, as the range can extend from under 64kg female to a superheavy male weighing 180kg. It would be silly to give these two athletes the same program. Frequency and volume have to be adjusted for these groups. I have tried to make a middle of the road approach in these programs.

The programs below are my interpretation of different programming types and how they could work for you. In each of the four focuses are a 3 day, 4 day and 5 day program that have the same style.

These programs focus on standard events for strongman. If you have a competition coming up. You would be able to substitute similar exercises in order to be more specific with your training.

Technique focus

With a technique focus in strongman. I try to hit all the basic movements that are required for a strongman athlete. On top of this I put exercise variations that use tempos and pauses in order to learn proper positions, and reduce the overall load of the exercises.

Strength focus

The strength focused programs revolve around top end strength in static positions. A big part of strongman is just being Bull!@#$ strong. So driving up your singles on deadlifts and overheads will serve you well.

Volume focus

Strongman doesn’t only have one rep. So a little volume is needed. In this program we focus on exercises where you can hit a few more reps and maybe we can build a little extra muscle mass a long the way.

Balance focus

A balanced program in strongman is a mix of different competition exercises and different focuses. High reps on some, Pushing the top end on others.