Athletic Training for Strongman 

Strongman is a sport that involves many different events and requires many physical attributes. Many events in Strongman require a high dose of athleticism and speed, yet most strongmen/women do little to no training to raise these qualities. The three big movement patterns that someone can do as a strongman competitor to build speed and athleticism are sprints, jumps, and throws. Throwing events are becoming increasingly common at high-level competitions, with sandbag throws for height being the most common. However, the Arnold Pro had a stone throw for distance. Since these events are becoming more common, many strongman competitors do a decent job of training throws. However, since there are no jumping events and many strongmen do not take runbacks seriously, they do not train jumping or sprinting. 

Medleys and Runbacks 

It should not be a surprise that being faster will help someone win an event with a runback, and these events are getting more and more common in Strongman. Almost all high-level competitions recently have had at least one carry medley, and the sport is including them more and more every year. These events allow more athletic strongmen/women to shine and are often easy points since many competitors will slack off when training them.

As important as it is to be able to run fast in a run back, it is equally important to be able to stop fast so that you can grab the next implement. If you are very fast but can not decelerate, you can accidentally run past your implement or simply will not run as fast as you can so that you can stop in time. In a sport where seconds matter, that can add up to over three implements. This is why Strongman competitors need to train both acceleration and deceleration. 

Speed Reserve 

Most Strongman competitors will talk about strength reserve for moving events, such as if you can carry a 900-pound yoke 50 ft, you will be faster with a 700-pound yoke. What no one talks about is a speed reserve. Someone who can do an 800-pound yoke and run 4.7 40 will be faster at 700 pounds than someone who runs a 6.0 40, no matter how strong that person is. This concept essentially means that while strength affects how much you slow down at heavier weights, being faster allows you to slow down less and still maintain a competitive time. There is an obvious limit to this on heavier moving events like yoke or farmers because you should have a shorter, choppier stride in order to be more stable, which is the exact opposite of how someone would want to run a 40.

Still, the training to be faster will create neurological adaptations that will help you be faster on every moving event, and the tendon adaptations can help make you both faster on heavy moving events and more injury resilient. Of course, the ultimate combo is just to be both strong and fast.

The Force Velocity Curve 

As you can see from looking at the chart, things require more force, and they get slower. A deadlift at 90% will move slower than a deadlift at 50%. This makes a lot of sense to most people. What people forget about it, though, is that typically, raising the lowest part of the curve will help the entire curve to an extent. If someone is fast but can only squat 

225, then getting stronger will help them get faster. The same thing is true on the other end. If someone can deadlift 800 pounds but can not jump for shit, then getting them more explosive and spending some more time on the speed strength side of the graph might be the missing link for them to break a stubborn plateau. Essentially, if you can grind out heavy weights but can not explode with light weights, adding some jumping, dynamic effort work, or Olympic lifting could be what pushes up that maximal strength. 

Injury Prevention 

Sprinting and jumping are both very proven to help strengthen tendons and ligaments in the lower body. I know multiple Strongman who have had Achilles injuries and strains on moving events because their bodies just were not adjusted to the force being applied to the Achilles. Doing enough volume on moving events to adjust to their systemic load truly is very difficult; however, jump and sprint training can impose equal amounts of force on the lower body without having the systemic hit on recovery. This is because the demand of force absorption and redirection in sprinting and continuous jumping movements is similar to the demands in those joints in moving events but without the axial loading, which is what makes moving events harder to recover from. One of the best ways to avoid lower body injuries is to build up your ability to stick to a depth drop.

In my prep for the Arnold and PSL, I built up to SL Depth Drops over 40 inches. Knock on wood, I have never had a non-contact injury, thanks to training focused on force absorption, whether I'm playing rugby or competing in Strongman.

Sample Program 

The nice thing about speed training for strongman is that you do not need a lot of it, and it works very well as a warm-up. Sprinting recruits a ton of motor units and has an activation effect that will typically make your lift better afterward. Below is a sample of what a three-times-a-week program could be.

This program should not take more than 20 minutes three times a week and can be done as part of a warmup, or as a stand-alone workout. Three times a week is a good starting point for most people since it allows a rest day in between every sprint session but the higher frequency allows for a bit more total weekly volume while lowering daily volume. If you are planning on using sprint training as part of your warm-up  make sure that there is not too much volume so that it is potentiating, not tiring. You should feel good and ready to throw around some weight after.

Aidan Howell, also known as the World's Strongest Mullet, is a professional strongman and strength coach. He has won a national championship in strongman, placed in the top 10 at the OSG, and took second at the Arnold. Aidan has also helped multiple athletes qualify for nationals in Olympic weightlifting, powerlifting, and strongman. He holds a degree in exercise science from Springfield College, as well as certifications as a CSCS and USAW. In addition to his strongman career, Aidan works with field sport athletes as a strength and conditioning coach.