By Author Matt Mills.
I’ve been involved in Strongman for 29 years now, and one thing I love to do is write programs. My last program, a hybrid of strongman and powerlifting, was extremely popular, but it was written for intermediate to advanced lifters. One of my goals, both in my writing and in owning a gym, is to introduce new people to the sport. This program is designed just for beginners. The exercises are very basic, so as long as you have strongman implements, you should be able to follow this with no issue. You can use this program to get you into strongman, which is what I would recommend, or to get you ready for your first competition. With the latter, you may just have to swap out the events I wrote for the ones you have in your competition.
This is a 16-week program with a deload week right in the middle. I recommend taking another deload week right after the last week. Progression is very, very simple: start slow. There are RPEs (rating of perceived exertion) throughout the events to guide you. A common mistake beginners make is overshooting these. An RPE 8 turns into a 10, and you wonder why the next week you can’t go up in weight. If you are not familiar with RPE, I would like to start by explaining it backwards. An rpe 10 means you couldn’t do one more rep, or go any further. RPE 9 means you could maybe do 1 more rep, or go another 5ft on a carrying event, and so on. If you are a true beginner to lifting, I would recommend setting the RPE to 6 for the first week. Each week, make small increases (don’t worry, it will get very difficult soon enough). After the first 4 weeks, you can start to push. The accessory lifts all have rep ranges for good reason. Only increase the weight when you can hit the highest rep on the first set as the reps should decrease on each set if you are training hard enough. It is crucial that you train with proper form as you increase weight/reps. You are not making real progress by letting your form suffer to move more weight.
Weeks 1-8
Day 1
1 Log clean and press 3 x 6-8
2 Axle close grip bench press 3 x 6-8
3 Meadows row 3 x 10-12
4 Neutral grip pulldowns 3 x 10-12
5a cable curls 2 x 10-12
5b V bar pressdowns 2 x 10-12
Day 2
1 Seated hamstring curl 3 x 10-12 Alternates: Glute ham raise, Nordic leg curls
2 SSB squats 3 x 6-8
3 Yoke 3 x 60ft rpe 6
4 Bulgarian split squat 2 x 10-12 hold dbs or ssb on back
5 Ab wheel rollouts 2 x max OR plank 60s
Day 3
1 Seated barbell shoulder press 3 x 6-8
2 Incline swiss bar bench press 3 x 6-8
3 Dips 3 x 8-10 weighted if you can, or a dip machine, or bench dips
4 Dumbbell lateral raises 3 x 12-15
5 Chest down incline db rear delt raises 3 x 12-15
Day 4
1 Deadlift 3 x 5 rpe 8
2 Farmers walk 2 x 60ft
3 Stone load 2 x 6-8 –this can be a keg load or a sandbag
4 Neutral grip pull-ups 3 x 8-10 –do these weighted if you can, or use a band for assistance, or pulldowns
5 Hanging leg raises 2 x max, last set do a dead hang for as long as you can
Deload week, drop all weights to 65% before starting “week 9” (I know, technically this is a 17-week program with the deload)
Weeks 9-16
1 Axle Press away 3 x 3-5 clean once
2 Axle close grip bench press 3 x 6-8
3 Meadows row 3 x 10-12
4 Neutral grip pulldowns 3 x 10-12
5a cable curls 2 x 10-12
5b V bar pressdowns 2 x 10-12
Day 2
1 Seated hamstring curl 3 x 10-12 Alternates: Glute ham raise, Nordic leg curls
2 Pause Front squats 3 x 5 –if you are unable to properly rack a front squat, you can flip around an SSB. If this is not an option either, pause a normal back squat. Pause in the hole for 2 sec.
3 Sandbag or Keg carry 2 x 100 ft –pick either a sandbag or a keg, carry for 50ft then back 50ft. Each week, you are going to increase weight if you can, OR increase distance
4 Bulgarian split squat 2 x 10-12 hold dbs or ssb on back
5 Ab wheel rollouts 2 x max OR plank 60s
Day 3
1 Seated barbell shoulder press 3 x 6-8
2 Incline swiss bar bench press 3 x 6-8
3 Dips 3 x 8-10 weighted if you can, or a dip machine, or bench dips
4 Dumbbell lateral raises 3 x 12-15
5 Chest down incline db rear delt raises 3 x 12-15
Day 4
1 Deadlift 3 x 3 rpe 9
2 Farmers walk 2 x 60ft
3 Stone load 2 x 6-8 –this can be a keg load or a sandbag. Choose a different implement to load from week 1-8. If you used a stone, use a keg, for example. If you have no other options, then stay with what you have.
4 Neutral grip pull-ups 3 x 8-10 –do these weighted if you can, or use a band for assistance, or pulldowns
5 Hanging leg raises 2 x max, last set do a dead hang for as long as you can
About the Author
Matt Mills (AOS, PN1, CSCS) is a strength coach and the owner of Lightning Fitness, where he helps athletes and lifters build strength, resilience, and performance that carries over outside the gym. He’s been a long-time elitefts columnist, sharing practical training and coaching lessons from the trenches. Learn more at Lightning-Fitness.com.
