33 Reasons to Train Strongman

by Chet Morjaria

Contributor - Strength Training, Strongman, and Olympic Weightlifting

Strongman training is about true functional strength. It is about lifting heavy, awkward objects (like those you encounter in life) and getting them from A to B - whether that is from the ground to overhead, or from one end of the room to the other. Strongman is about getting you strong to a degree that you never thought possible.

Here are 33 simple reasons why you should train strongman:

1. Moving Heavy Loads Over Long Distances, Quickly - This is strongman, and the foundation of functional movement.
2. Keeping it Real- Real objects, real challenges, real grit. Strongman is the real deal.
3. Primal Movement - All primal movement patterns are covered - pushing, pulling, lunging, squatting, bending, twisting, and walking - with load. Lifting odd loads and performing these movements is in our DNA.
4. Farmer Strength - Strongman builds that strength you wish you had. Raw, slightly unnerving, old school, brute strength that can only be built out in the real world - or through strongman training. It’s that edge to your strength that can only be gained through working with odd objects.
5. Carries - Loaded carries are a staple of strongman. Carries should be a staple of everyone’s strength training. Therefore logic dictates that everyone should do strongman!
6. Carryover - The carryover from strongman training to other strength training is huge. Squatting will not necessarily improve your yoke carry. But carrying a yoke will improve your squat.
7. Enjoy Yourself - It’s hard. It’s heavy. It often involves blood, sweat and tears. But when all is said and done, it is fun. Not just the fun-after-it’s-over type of fun. Strongman is this-is-seriously-fun type of fun.
8. Gain Muscle and Lose Fat - At the same time. Yes, it is possible.
9. Surprise Yourself - You can carry more weight on the yoke than you have probably ever had on your back before. You can carry more weight on farmer’s walks than you have probably ever picked up off the ground before. Break down those mental barriers - your body can lift more than you think.
10. No Negative - One of the positive aspects of many strongman training movements (such as sled pulls) is that there are no negative/eccentric aspects, making these exercises relatively easy to recover from.
11. What Did You Do this Weekend? - “How was your weekend?” “Pretty good, I put three times my bodyweight on my back and took a walk with it. How was yours?” ”Um...”
12. The Clue is in the Name -It’s STRONGMAN. It gets you STRONG.
13. Body Blast - Nothing blasts the central nervous system quite as much as shifting heavy loads quickly over distance. Don’t believe me? Try doing high-volume yoke carries.
14. Step Away From the Barbell - The barbell is an incredible strength training tool, partially because of its uniformity. However this is also its downfall. Strongman techniques are varied and non-uniform. Use strongman training to mix up the objects you train with to provide a bridge between the barbell and the world.
15. Strongman on a Shoestring - Sure, it’s nice to have the toys. But strongman can be done with a simple formula of minimal kit, minimal fuss - and maximal attitude.
16. Open for Business - Strongman is open and accessible to all. It’s easy to understand and easy to pick up (no pun intended.)
17. Low Tech - In a world where it’s all about getting the latest technology in the palm of your hand, strongman is refreshing low tech and simple. It’s about getting the heaviest weight in the palm of your hand.
18. Hips and Flips - Flipping a tire and shouldering an Atlas stone are just two of the ways that strongman develops phenomenal hip power that will help you implicitly with the rest of your lifting.
19. Pulling Power - In what other sport do you get to pull a truck in the name of training?
20. Look at Me - Come on, admit it. You love posting pictures of you doing cool looking stuff on Facebook. There’s not much cooler looking than strongman training. Actually, there’s not much cooler than strongman training.
21. Strongman Is Strongman - Everyone knows it, they have seen World’s Strongest Man at some point during the Christmas re-runs. There are no confusing office conversations about whether it’s bodybuilding or powerlifting or weightlifting or the one-that’s-on-the telly-at-the-Olympics, or was that one of the other ones? This alone makes it worth training instead of a barbell-related activity.
22. Fun in the Sun - Strongman is a sport best done outside. Okay, depending on where you’re reading this the sun part is optional. But the fun part comes as standard.
23. Anytime, Anyplace - No platforms, no racks, no anything. You don’t even need a roof over your head. It’s not uncommon for strongman athletes to train in yards and car parks.
24. All Day Every Day - You can start now with objects you have in your house and garage. What do you mean you don’t have a beer keg at home?
25. Out of the Ordinary - They are everyday objects, but this is not the type of training you see in your typical gym every day. You have a right to walk about with a smile on your face and a glint in your eye after a tough strongman session.
26. Zombie Apocalypse - When the zombies come, it’s all well and good being able to run fast. However, you need to be able to carry supplies and push the boulder back over the opening of the cave you have trapped the zombies in.
27. Grip and Core - Strongman training will train these two much-deliberated aspects of strength though the very nature of the sport - holding on to things and moving with them (or trying to keep them still.)
28. As Old as Time - Think back to some of the old time strongmen, incredibly strong human beings such as Arthur Saxon, The Amazing Sampson and Louis Cyr. Hold on, what was that term? Oh yes - strongmen.
29. Short and Sweet - For those who have little time to train, strongman provides a huge amount of “bang for your buck” in a very short time frame. Rarely will an event in strongman last over 75 seconds, yet these events pack a hefty cardiovascular kick and metabolic punch.
30. Finish It Off - Perhaps you are in the middle of a training cycle and are unable to commit to strongman training fully (yet.) Strongman is perfect for a short, sharp, and effective finisher to your workout.
31. Strength Cocktail - Strongman is a beautiful mix of different strength aspects: static strength through isometric events such as the deadlift hold, strength endurance through events lifting for reps such the log clean and press, and maximal strength through events for load such as a max squat to name just a few.
32. Strongmen - The uniqueness of strongman draws people in and the challenge it provides brings people together. It translates very well to scaling up to teams - think car flipping and plane pulls.
33. It’s About One Thing Only - When you are all together, it’s not about what shape your body is or what you are wearing. It is about what you can lift - plain and simple.

I hope this article has infected you with the urge to lift heavy odd-objects on a frequent basis. If you do this already, then I’m sorry. The strongman bug is incurable. You must learn to live with the fact that you are simply going to get unreasonably strong. Good luck.