Episode 117: Why Strongman Training Is Different

Let me start by explaining what makes strongman training fundamentally different from traditional barbell-based strength training, because the differences are significant and they matter for how you think about incorporating this work. In traditional powerlifting or Olympic weightlifting, you are working with standardized implements at fixed heights, along fixed movement paths, with loads that are measured precisely and incremented systematically. There is enormous value in that precision, and I am not dismissing it. But strongman training operates in a completely different mechanical and neurological environment. The implements are odd-shaped and awkward — logs, stones, kegs, yokes, farmer handles. The loads shift and move unpredictably. The movements require full-body coordination under extreme load in ways that a squat or a deadlift with a straight barbell simply does not replicate. What this means physiologically is that strongman training demands coordination across stabilizer muscle systems that conventional training often underloads. Your rotator cuff, your hip external rotators, the deep spinal stabilizers, the muscles of the forearm and hand — these structures get challenged in strongman training at levels that carry over significantly to athletic performance in almost every sport. The central nervous system adaptations from strongman work are also distinct. Because the loads are heavy, the durations are often longer than a single maximal lift, and the implements are unstable, the nervous system has to maintain high-threshold motor unit recruitment for extended periods. That is a training stimulus you simply cannot replicate by doing a heavy set of three on the squat, no matter how hard you work in that gym. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices