G2B to Strongman

[Green2Blue]

I posted in my old log of how I recently competed in my first strongman. KB suggested I put some of my vids in here.

Before I do I want to explain what relevancy this has to TB. I’m still a massive fan of TB and want to give credit where credit is due.

I ran TB for a couple years. During that time I’ve never had such a great balance of strength and conditioning. I set PR’s in both categories during that time, and i don’t exactly have a young training age. I got close to a 3.5xBW DL running TB, as well as ran a half marathon (as a terrible runner, this was huge). AA also got me out of a massive rut with the Old Warhorse protocol.

I loved TB, and still do. But I’ve always wanted to compete in a strength sport. I signed up for a strongman competition a few months ago.

I did not do TB to train for strongman. The sport leans too heavily towards strength versus conditioning and is a bit too specialized. I did use a lot of concepts from TB in my training.

Conditioning: while it’s a strength sport, strongman still has a huge conditioning component. A lot of competitors gas out during events, especially medleys. I did 2 dedicated conditioning workouts per week (not far off from TB’s 3). Most of my conditioning came straight from TB2: hill sprints, Oxygen Debt 101, GC2, Fobbit Intervals with strongman movements, etc. I also did an E run once every couple weeks just like the Black protocol. As a result, I wasn’t even out of breath at the end of my medley event.

Rest Times: this is an important component of TB’s MxS work that I utilized. My static strength in the deadlift and squat were the highest in my division.

Total Body Training: I didn’t give movements their own day until my last couple weeks when I was peaking for the comp. The vast majority of my workouts we’re set up just like Zulu: two primary lifts per day twice a week.

My training was actually very close to running Zulu Black. I just did conditioning one less day per week and pushed my strength movements a little harder.

I competed in the open lightweight division. I skipped the novice division which is usually where beginners compete. I took second place overall in my division, by one point. I also qualified to compete at nationals. I took 1st place in every event but one. Unfortunately I did so poorly in that event, the overhead press, that I couldn’t catch up in points to take the lead.

Axle Squat: max reps in 60 seconds at 350 lbs. I stopped at 12 reps. 1st place.
https://instagram.com/p/Bc0CeyTAiyw/

Circus Dumbbell Press: max weight, 30 seconds per weight. Shown is my 110 lb attempt. I failed at 120 lbs. 6th place.
https://instagram.com/p/Bc0DmAvAPDS/

Frame Deadlift: max reps in 60 seconds at 480 lbs. I stopped at 23 reps. 1st place.
https://instagram.com/p/Bc0FC2og43v/

Load/Carry Medley: 175/200/167 lbs. Did it in something like 30 seconds. 1st place.
https://instagram.com/p/Bc0GJ4wA-Wt/

Atlas Stones: 205/225/245 lbs, then 185 lb stone of steel for reps. Tied for 1st place.
https://instagram.com/p/Bc0H4EVAcwz/

I’m already planning on my next competition in February. I still have a long way to go to be competitive at the national level, but that’s my goal. I will continue to use TB concepts in my training, because they’re awesome.

[Barkadion]

Awesome!! Love the vids! Squat is my favorite. I can see the blood pumping and the struggle of breath.

Really really great job!!

[Adski]

That’s fantastic! Awesome work all around, congrats mate!

[WallBilly]

Spiffy!

[mikhou]

Those vids were awesome!

mikhou

[Green2Blue]

Thanks gents.

[porks]

Great job man, really impressive!

On what lifts did you focus during your Zulu-like phase.
I want to use Zulu to prepare for a Strongman competition myself and would love to get some more insight from you.

[TBPenguin]

Congrats on your performance.

You did a nice job of being objective in your evaluations of each, the comments you made were interesting to read.

[Green2Blue]

Congrats on your performance.

You did a nice job of being objective in your evaluations of each, the comments you made were interesting to read.

Thanks. Sometimes I can get too carried away talking about training.

Great job man, really impressive!

On what lifts did you focus during your Zulu-like phase.
I want to use Zulu to prepare for a Strongman competition myself and would love to get some more insight from you.

Day 1: DL and BP
Day 2: SQ and OHP
Day 3: Conditioning
Day 4: Rest
Day 5: DL and BP
Day 6: SQ and OHP
Day 7: Conditioning
Day 8: Rest

Each MxS day also had a strongman event like stones or medley, and if I had time I did some accessories. Pulling movements were done as accessories.

My sets/reps weren’t the same as TB. While I took a lot of influence from TB, I also took a lot from 531, NEVERsate, and other sources. I’m a TB zealot, but I wouldn’t follow it exclusively for strongman if you want to be truly competitive. You need a little more strength and a little less conditioning.

[Barkadion]

I also took a lot from 531, NEVERsate, and other sources. I’m a TB zealot, but I wouldn’t follow it exclusively for strongman if you want to be truly competitive. You need a little more strength and a little less conditioning.

How do you like NS idea of doing conditioning and/or strongman movements before the lifting sessions?