Strongman Conditioning

[Chevy Humphrey]

I was wondering what yall fellow avid strongman competitors do for your conditioning during your training? Sprints, mile runs, hill running, etc......

[adam keep]

Best conditioning I've done is just circuit training. My conditioning has been a strong point for me always and this has been my conditioning training since the beginning.

I try to do 3 exercises with 1 pardio portion. Something like pullups, medicine ball throws and skipping rope or sprints.

My conditioning today was 3 min as many rounds as I can of 10 rows on the concept 2 rower, skip rope for 20 skips, 5 dips, then I did exercise bike for 40 pedals and 40 skips on a rope for 4 min as many rounds as possible.

Doing my conditioning like this has allowed me to keep my cardio high without sacrificing any strength. At 105kg I still deadlift 740lbs, log press 374lbs, front squat 495lbs, and my strongman events are all pretty speedy.

Try out the circuit training with some strongman events (like a medley) or with just stuff you can set up in the gym. I even use situps and pushups as part of the routines.

[Chevy Humphrey]

Thanks man. I will try your training method. I appreciate the help.

[terry_hollands]

I have been following Adam's method for the last two weeks! It is great conditioning for strongman. Give it a try and prepare for it to be very taxing.

[Bill Crawford]

I think of this type of conditioning as a way to get strong without sacrificing strength. Terry, I believe you were a Rugby player. How does that influence your training?

[terry_hollands]

I think of this type of conditioning as a way to get strong without sacrificing strength. Terry, I believe you were a Rugby player. How does that influence your training?

To be honest I have always been quite lazy with my conditioning work. I have never had problems with medleys and running events probably due to the miles of running I did while playing rugby. As I have got older this is something I have had to address. The closest I have come to conditioning work has been running medleys. My training has changed loads this last year (actually a lot to do with Adam's Keeps idea's) and have increases the volume dramatically. My opinion on strongman fitness is it is important to be able to work at near 100% for 60-90secs so that is how you should train. Obviously going over that up to 3 mins you are pretty much assured you can work for even 90secs if you have to. Being able to run for 10 mins at a medium speed is nowhere near as beneficial in strongman as being able to go flat out for 90 secs

[Lance.Holland-Keen]

So, conversely Terry, if you went back to Rugby would you train like you used to, or train how you do now?
Because jogging around at medium speed probably wasn't the best conditioning for Rugby either.

Great to see you on here.
And, got to say, even though we're (technically) Aussie's now, we'll be rooting for you and Loz at WSM!!! (and that's no disrespect to Warrick).

[Bill Crawford]

Thanks for the reply Terry. I think that your years in Rugby are very evident as you appear incredibly light on your feet. Great advice that should be used for training. Thanks again Terry.