Strongman training: a 4-day weekly program

Strongman training is a unique blend of the basic lifts of the strength sports and competition events found in no other sport. The 4-day weekly program below emphasizes progress in the deadlift and standing presses, and includes practice of various strongman events. It gives a solid foundation both for beginners and for anyone who wants to structure their training better.

How many days a week should you do strongman training?

The first question beginners ask most often: how many times a week should you train? There’s no clear-cut answer — it depends on your daily schedule, your job and your family life. Of course it would be great to train every day, but when you work full time and have a hundred other obligations, you need to be realistic. Otherwise workouts will simply start getting skipped.

Most people can train 3–4 times a week, and that is perfectly sufficient. Jesse Marunde trained every day back in the day. Pudzianowski was famous for being able to train often and intensely while staying at a consistently high level. There was also talk that Jouko Ahola practiced strongman events every day — although judging by interviews with Ahola, a classic 4-day weekly split was the preference. These are exceptions, though: elite strongmen train that way because it’s their job. Their genetics support fast recovery, which the average recreational lifter simply doesn’t have.

It’s also important to consider your body’s ability to recover. The lower back recovers more slowly than the upper body — for many, that means once a week. If you train to the extreme and give everything you have every session, you need more time to recover. Training more often and less intensively is of course possible, but I doubt that approach will bring success in strongman competitions.

Monday — basic upper-body exercises for strongman

Start the week with presses. Use the push press or the standing press — vary the options from session to session: barbell, dumbbells, machine. Do 4–5 working sets and stay in a repetition range of 7–12.

After presses, move on to the lats. Strong lats matter because they help you lift stones better and are involved in every pulling movement — whatever you’re pulling toward yourself. Alternate between different exercises: pull-ups, bent-over rows with dumbbells and with a barbell. Here too, the rep range is 7–12 per set.

Next up is triceps. Choose basic exercises that load the whole triceps complex — French press, close-grip bench press and similar. Do 4–5 sets in a rep range of 6–10.

Monday finishes with biceps. Many strongmen and powerlifters think biceps training is only for bodybuilders — that’s a mistake. You need strong arms to pull a rope, grip a stone firmly and flip a tire. Quite a few powerlifters who have tried to switch over to strongman have torn a biceps for exactly this reason: their previous program neglected arm training.

For biceps, do the basics — nothing fancy. Biceps curls with a barbell or dumbbells, alternating, and hammer curls. Magnusson, by the way, has said that hammer curls in particular contribute a lot to lifting stones. Do 4–5 sets of 8–12 repetitions.

Tuesday — deadlift, squat and strongman specialties

Karl Gillingham — a former powerlifter and now a professional strongman — knows well why the squat and the deadlift take such a prominent place in strongman training. Tuesday is dedicated to both, but not both at full weight in the same session.

The plan works on an alternating basis. One week the squat takes center stage — intense and heavy, 5–10 sets of five repetitions — followed by stiff-leg deadlifts, 4 sets of 10 repetitions. The next week the heavy deadlift comes first, in a repetition range of 1–5, for 5–10 sets. It is followed that week by a lighter squat, 3–4 sets in a repetition range of 12–20. And so they keep alternating — one week one is heavy and the other light, the next week the other way around.

Tuesday also includes abs training. A strong core matters both in the squat and in pulling — don’t neglect it. Use basic weighted exercises: crunches, weighted sit-ups and so on.

Grip training is also part of Tuesday’s plan. Thick barbells, hangs, various grip strengtheners — all of it works well. A strong grip is needed in almost every strongman event.

Thursday — log press and traps

Thursday starts with lifting and pressing the log. At first, practice every weight from the floor to the chest with the cleanest technique possible. Only when the weights get very heavy should you start using the so-called shove method — pushing the weight through to the chest and up from there. For most of the time you should train this exercise with heavy singles: the goal is to get as much weight as possible from the floor to the chest and then up in one go. Do about 5–6 max singles.

The log is followed by trap training. Heavy shrugs with a barbell or dumbbells work well. Do 4–5 sets of 10–12 repetitions.

Thursday is also a second good day for arms. Use the same approach as on Monday, but swap the exercises — that way there’s no monotony and the muscles get different stimuli.

Saturday: strongman event training

Saturday is set aside for practicing the strongman events. Since standing presses got their attention early in the week, leave them out today and focus on the other events. You don’t need to try every event every Saturday. Pick the ones that put your whole body to work and wear you down in a variety of ways.

Good choices include suitcase carries, the super yoke (a special frame loaded with weights that you lift onto your upper back and walk forward with), lifting or carrying stones, tire flipping, and pulling a sled or a car. Don’t skimp on the weight: heavy in training, light in battle. Limit yourself to 4–5 events in one session.

Events that load the back are especially useful. That said, don’t overdo it. Overtraining comes on fast, and your strength disappears with it. Rotate the Saturday events from week to week instead of trying to get through everything in one go.

FAQ: common questions about strongman training

Are 4 training days a week enough to become a strongman?
Yes. For most people, 4 days is a perfectly good foundation. Some elite strongmen train more often, but their recovery capacity is exceptional and training is their full-time job.

Why is biceps training important for a strongman?
Strong arms are needed for pulling a rope, gripping a stone and flipping a tire. Several powerlifters have torn a biceps when switching to strongman, precisely because their previous program didn’t include any specific arm training.

How do you alternate squats and deadlifts on Tuesdays?
Alternate every other week: one week do heavy squats (5–10 sets) and light deadlifts (4 sets of 10 reps), and the next week do heavy deadlifts (5–10 sets in the 1–5 rep range) and light squats (3–4 sets of 12–20 reps).

Strongman weekly program at a glance

Monday:

• Push press or standing press
• Lats
• Triceps
• Biceps

Tuesday:

• Deadlift (heavy) / squat (light), alternating every other week
• Abs
• Grip

Wednesday: rest

Thursday:

• Log lift and press
• Traps
• Triceps
• Biceps

Friday: rest

Saturday:

• Suitcase carries
• Super yoke
• Stones
• Tire flipping
• Sled or car pulling

Sunday: rest

If you follow this split consistently for a while, you should end up with a solid base. And of course, eat well, recover and get enough sleep. No training program works without that.

Translated by: Janar Rückenberg

Illustrative image: Raivo Järvi

Source: Turg.Fitness.ee

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