Anyone here traned and/competed in strongman events?

[Lord Vutulaki]

Im kinda fading on the "powerlifting lifestyle" (lol term at my gym), its getting too popular/wankerish and Im frankly getting a little over all the volume I need to get results (I respond to volume not going into beast mode all the time where I get hurt)

We have a strongman event that my gym is hosting early next year. Anyone had any experiences?

Im kinda interested in any differences in volume/diet/body composition/recovery anyone has experienced between the two.

Guessing SM traneing results in more injuries vs PLing

SM guys seem to be in better shape too possibly due to the cardio element but there are some giant fat fucks in both sports

 

[Chocolate Shatner]

I did a few events.

The big thing that a lot of it comes down to is that for SM, event familiarity is just as important as being straight up beast mode. So while most strongmen do spend a lot of time doing more traditional training, they have to adjust and incorporate event training into their cycles as well.

For example, one local event I did, there was a deadlifting event. Only 110 kilos (this is Japan) but on a smooth fat bar axle type device. Most reps in 1 minute. The guys who did best weren't the biggest deadlifters in the event, but the guys who knew how to adjust for the fatter grip and how to incorporate as much bounce from the floor into their lifts. The biggest deadlifter in the whole show actually did only middle of the pack, because he did perfect form deadlifts with a pause at the top and bottom to reset. Meanwhile, I beat him by 6 reps because I was bouncing shit, barely getting my shoulders and hips squared before going back down, and spent the first thirty seconds basically RDLing the fucking thing because I knew I wanted to save my thighs for later.

As for diet and etc, a lot of it is the same. If you're doing a weightclass event, you're going to need to diet or cut if you are on the borderline. That being said, as SM tends to have smaller events, you can get fucked sometimes. My last event, I cut water to make sure I got to 100 kilos exactly. I step on the scale, 99.9 (fuck yeah!) and then start to rehydrate, only for the event organizer to tell me 5 minutes before the first event that since they didn't have a lot of entires in the higher weight classes, that the 90, 100, and 100 plus categories are all getting combined to make it 'more competitive.' So I ended up being in the same weight class as a fucker who didn't diet and already weighed 20 kilos more than me.

The other thing to remember with SM as compared to PL is that it really is a matter of 'that day.' When every comp is different, events are different heights, different weights, etc, there is rarely, until you get to the upper echelons, any fixed standard to use as your measuring stick for a personal best. As such, things like what happened to me above can really fuck with you and piss you off.

 

[Lord Vutulaki]

I did a few events.

The big thing that a lot of it comes down to is that for SM, event familiarity is just as important as being straight up beast mode. So while most strongmen do spend a lot of time doing more traditional training, they have to adjust and incorporate event training into their cycles as well.

For example, one local event I did, there was a deadlifting event. Only 110 kilos (this is Japan) but on a smooth fat bar axle type device. Most reps in 1 minute. The guys who did best weren't the biggest deadlifters in the event, but the guys who knew how to adjust for the fatter grip and how to incorporate as much bounce from the floor into their lifts. The biggest deadlifter in the whole show actually did only middle of the pack, because he did perfect form deadlifts with a pause at the top and bottom to reset. Meanwhile, I beat him by 6 reps because I was bouncing shit, barely getting my shoulders and hips squared before going back down, and spent the first thirty seconds basically RDLing the fucking thing because I knew I wanted to save my thighs for later.

As for diet and etc, a lot of it is the same. If you're doing a weightclass event, you're going to need to diet or cut if you are on the borderline. That being said, as SM tends to have smaller events, you can get fucked sometimes. My last event, I cut water to make sure I got to 100 kilos exactly. I step on the scale, 99.9 (fuck yeah!) and then start to rehydrate, only for the event organizer to tell me 5 minutes before the first event that since they didn't have a lot of entires in the higher weight classes, that the 90, 100, and 100 plus categories are all getting combined to make it 'more competitive.' So I ended up being in the same weight class as a fucker who didn't diet and already weighed 20 kilos more than me.

The other thing to remember with SM as compared to PL is that it really is a matter of 'that day.' When every comp is different, events are different heights, different weights, etc, there is rarely, until you get to the upper echelons, any fixed standard to use as your measuring stick for a personal best. As such, things like what happened to me above can really fuck with you and piss you off.

Thanks man great post