I recently decided to take a break from my competitive strongwoman career. After close to three years, I’ve competed in more than ten competitions. Included in this have been two national events, each followed by the Arnold World Championships. The only real break I had was when I broke my ankle.

After this last Arnold World Championship, I came home and immediately got bombarded with the question, “When’s your next competition?” “What are you training for now?” I found myself looking for the answer. I absolutely hated answering the question with, “I don’t know.” It took a few weeks of being sad, upset, and torn to finally decide that not knowing was perfectly okay. I was searching for an answer for other people, not for myself.

So to answer that question: I’m next. The answer is me. Not the next competition or PR, but me.

Take Time to Reflect

I’ve taken the past three months to work on me. I was able to focus on recovering from a past injury, spending more time with my daughter, getting home earlier in the evenings, and focusing on a few other goals, like passing my final term of chemistry. These things had nothing to do with training.

Having this time of reflection made me want to share a few tips for those of you who are struggling with taking a break:

1. Find your why. Determine the reason behind your why and always pursue that.
2. Make sure that what you’re chasing isn’t for anyone else but yourself. Is someone else pushing you towards your goals? Are your goals yours and yours alone? It’s easy to fall into the pattern of wanting to please your fans, friends, family, and especially your coach. Don’t mix their excitement for your success with the need to be always competing. If they’re in your corner they will understand shifts in goals and support you 100 percent.
3. Ask yourself how long has it been since your last break. Our bodies need time to reset and recoup. That means lightening the load and frequency. The best athletes in the world take rest periods. Be nice to your body and learn to listen to it. Don’t wait until it’s screaming at you and you end up injured.
4. Be selfish. Take time for yourself and don’t feel bad about it!
5. Set new goals. Do you want to start doing more activities outside the gym? Lose weight? Commit thirty minutes a day to mobility? Read a book? Get that landscaping finished at home? Just because you’re not training towards a competition doesn’t mean you can’t be focused.

I know making the decision to take a break is scary. It’s change. It’s a new routine. It feels like we’re giving up something that is like oxygen. I put almost three years of blood, sweat, and tears into strongman. I felt like I was breaking up with the love of my life. Dramatic I know, but you get the picture.

Focus on what this break can do for you. Use it to discover yourself and unleash more potential. The competitions will still be there after your break, and you’re still going to be the great athlete you were before. Maybe you’ll be even better.

The post Athletes, You Need to Take a Break appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

The events in strongman fall under four categories of movement: push, pull, carry, and load. Some of the equipment you need is hard to simulate without the exact items used in the events, so I consider these to be staples for your training. Other equipment falls under the “nice to have” category and may not be as common in competitions. These events can be simulated by training these four movements with other equipment.

Push

This category includes any event where the weight ends up overhead. The implement starts on the ground, so you’re really doing a clean and press. Strongman has many implements for the clean and press, including the log, axle, circus dumbbell, and keg.

In my opinion, the log is one of the more beneficial implements to have in training. It’s a specific movement that is hard to get a feel for with other equipment, and it’s also a common event to strongman, so train it often. The keg to overhead is a similar movement to the log. If you have a competition coming up with keg events, make sure to find one to get a feel for it ahead of time.

To get used to a wide grip that you’ll use on the axle, you can buy Fat Gripz and attach them to a barbell. Fat Gripz can also be used to train the circus dumbbell. Just attach them to any dumbbell to practice the single arm press.

The log is one of the most beneficial implements to have on hand in training. Simulating it with other equipment is difficult.

Pull

This is where you’ll find the rope pulls (performed with a truck or other implement) and deadlifts. My strongman career has only included two rope pulls, so I don’t consider training them to be a huge necessity. Rope pulls do require some technique training, so if you have a competition coming up that includes them, make sure to try them at least once. You can use a heavy sled or prowler to simulate the implement. Load it up, keep your feet stationary, and practice your arm over arm.

You’ll see the deadlift at almost every competition in some form: tire deadlift, deficit, rack pulls, reps for time, or max weight. Train them all. This is where you’ll want to make sure to have an axle. It changes the deadlift by moving the weight in front of you a bit more due to the diameter of the bar. The Fat Gripz would come in handy if you can’t get an axle, but it doesn’t allow the weight to be in the correct spot. Axles aren’t expensive, but a welding friend could come in handy.

The axle challenges your grip and technique due to its width. This should be a common feature of your training.

Carry

There are many possibilities for a carry event, but the most common are the yoke, farmer’s walks, and medleys which can include sandbags and kegs. Farmer’s walks are going to be present in almost every competition, and handles are easy to obtain, so I consider them a definite must. I also think the yoke is an implement you don’t want to be without.

Both of these events tend to be heavy. If your body hasn’t performed under a heavy load, you’re not going to be ready in competition. If you’re new to strongman, your body needs to get used to moving under these heavy weights. Grab a barbell, load it to a moderate weight, attach heavy kettlebells with bands on each side, and walk 60-100ft with the barbell on your back. This will get you used to carrying weight that shifts with each step. The equipment used for carry medleys varies, but you can practice by picking up heavy, awkward objects and going 60-100ft as fast as possible with them.

Whether you use a sandbag, keg, or Husafell stone, make sure it’s large enough. You can even do a Zercher carry with your yoke, or use a barbell with the kettlebells. Get uncomfortable. It should be hard to breathe. When the training is hard, you’ll be ready for anything (but stay safe!).

There is nothing comfortable about a heavy loaded carry. Get used to it.

Load

Loading events involve taking an implement and putting it up onto a platform or over a bar. Sometimes you’ll carry the implement a distance, or other times you’ll pick it up in front of the platform to load it. The following implements are used for loading:

• Sandbags: Cheap and small enough to store easily. Sandbags run about $70.00, and at a home improvement store $10.00 will get you 100lb of sand. Load it up!
• Kegs: Kegs can be found on Craigslist or online. I’d anticipate $100.00 per keg. Load these with sand also.
• Stones: Stones are great to have, but they take up a lot of room and can be more expensive because you have to buy the stone mold kit and there is an art to pouring the concrete. If you have a competition coming up with stones as an event, just make sure to get your hands on them a few times beforehand.

The triple extension for loading is key for all the implements associated with this event. To work your triple extension, use the end of an old barbell or make something similar out of piping. Load it with a few plates and secure them with a band. Practice picking up the weight from the floor through triple extension to get it as high on your chest as possible. Repeat. A lot. You can even lift slam balls over your shoulder to help practice this technique, as long as they’re heavy enough. Work that triple extension and get used to moving fast while carrying the weight in front of you.

Basic Equipment for Your Strongman Foundation

These are the implements I find are essential to have on hand for your strongman training: 

• Log
• Axle
• Yoke
• Farmers carry handles
• Sandbags
• Kegs

I only scratched the surface of events, but gave you a general idea of the equipment a strongman athlete needs in order to be ready for competition. Be sure to train each of the four movement categories. Get stronger, feel uncomfortable. Welcome to strongman.

More Strategies for Strongman Success:

• The 6 Main Types of Strongman Events (and How to Train for Them in the Gym)
• An Introduction to Implement Training: Get Strong Like a Strongman
• 4 Needless Mistakes You’re Making in Strongman Training
• New on Breaking Muscle Today

Photos courtesy of Erika Drinkard.

The post Must-Have Equipment for Strongman Training appeared first on Breaking Muscle.