Killer Weekend Strongman Workout
This past Friday I got a call on my cell phone around 9 PM. It was Rick Walker, who has written many of the articles we have in our strength and conditioning articles section.
CHECK OUT THE REST OF THIS KILLER POST AFTER THE JUMP
“What are you doing tomorrow?” he says.
“Nothing’s planned buddy,” I said.
“You want some company?” he said.
“Oh hell yeah!” I told him.
If you don’t know Rick, he is the first person I am aware of to ever hold a grip contest East of Ohio, and he did so in September 2003. It was that contest that got me interested in pursuing competitive Grip strength.
Over the years, Rick and I have gotten together for some awesome workouts. Each one was several hours long and consisted of everything from Strongman training, to Powerlifting, to Grip Feats and Steel Bending. These workouts are always intense and we always push one another to keep going and hit PR’s.
These types of workouts are awesome, and I encourage anyone who loves to lift to attend workouts of this kind. If you are used to working out alone, when you get together with other dudes with similar training styles, you can really have a lot of fun and set new PR’s.
One advantage of these special group training sessions is that you can get a spot from one another, which in and of itself can lead to bigger numbers if you are used to training solo.
Another benefit of working out with special occasion training partners is that they might be able to see something in your technique that you are not able to pick up on or your normal training partner isn’t seeing. Rick was able to show me something with my sumo deadlift technique that made my lift feel much better for me.
Finally, these sessions can just simply make you push yourself harder because you want to put up as big of numbers as you can with the other guys. Your heart starts pumping, the adrenaline gets going, and you end up doing stuff that can even surprise you.
If you have the opportunity to attend or set one of the sessions up, I encourage you to do so, because you will not regret it. You will have a great time! And that is what it is all about. Your workouts should give you enjoyment.
So, this is what Rick and I got up to yesterday. You’ll see this workout had everything but the kitchen sink in it:
1. Deadlifts – I got 515 Double Overhand after not deadlifting for about a month. Got 520 to my knees before right hand grip slipped. Rick got 605 matching his best pull since focusing on his next lifting comp.
2. Overhead Press (Log) – I got 280 on my second try, matching my best since 2005. Rick couldn’t get comfortable under the log, having not used one since about 2005.
3. Muscle-ups – I thought for sure with Rick there I’d get one. Tried 5 or 6 times, but just couldn’t get up there to catch myself above the bar.
4. Farmers Walk – Implements weigh 174 lbs. We did four trips down and back about 200 feet total maybe. Rick did his with a massive dark brown beard that looked like it had something metallic sticking out of it. It looked like something left over from the Roswell crash. I told him if he dyed it white he would look like a lawn gnome.
5. Tire Flip (780lbs) – Been about a year since I flipped this tire. Worked up to a slow set of 3. Rick had trouble keeping his footing under the tire but managed 3 good sets of 1. This was great being able to flip this so easy without practicing for a year or so.
6. Prowler – Pushed up hill using the vertical handles and pushed back down using the bottom horizontal handle for as far as we could go, then switching to the top handle. Two sets each. It was during the Prowler work that i realized Rick had taken at least two and maybe three breaks to urinate, while I still hadn’t gone, so I must have had some dehydration going. We just kept going
7. Thick Bar Lifts – Picked up the bell and tried to hold it off for 3 sets of 6 each hand. My hands were so wasted from the farmers and tire I could not get the Inch off the ground one handed. Also worked on the Slater Loadable, weight 127. After this round, my forearms were totally brutalized.
8. Club Pendulums – I love this movement. The Demolition Club is so big that it is full body movement but it still kicks your forearms’ asses. Used the 89.5-lb Demolition Club for Pendulums. I hit sets of 6. Rick had never done this but managed to master the movement and end on a good one before we went upstairs and proceed to devour mass quantities of beef and various salads.
I put together a highlight video of yesterday’s workout. If you double click on the video, it will take you to YouTube and if you can give it a thumbs up, I’d really appreciate it. Also, feel free to leave a comment either here on the site or over at YouTube.
Here you go:
Look for a follow-up video sometime soon, as Rick says next time I need to come to his place and that it is going to be “Walker Rules” this time around.
Keep up the great work with your training.
-Jedd-
Ultimate Forearm Training for Baseball | How to Bend Nails | How to Tear Cards | Feats of Grip Strength Explained | How to Build Your Own Equipment | How to Lift Atlas Stones | The Sh*t You’ve Never Seen | Sled Dragging for Athletes | The Road to the Record DVD
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Tags: deadlift, farmers walk, grip, grip strength, log press, prowler, strongman, tire, tire flipping, training session, workout
June 28th, 2010 at 10:58 am
It was a great time bro and I cant wait for round 2.
This time we will kick it off with a set of 20 rep squats, then some log front squats! LOL!
It was great to see you and get some good lifting in.
-Rick
July 2nd, 2010 at 1:59 pm
thinking back to when you did the forearm training for baseball, do you think it’s better to do the work with the hammer or the swings with the club? what i saw was to serious men taking the training to the next level! nice work!
July 2nd, 2010 at 6:50 pm
Best comment all week
“He is wishing he didn’t have that beard, its holding him back”
Awesome stuff gentlemen.
July 3rd, 2010 at 9:47 am
Both are great. Take note that the hammer swings were only like 16 to 20 pounds while the club that Rick and I swung was like 89.5 lbs. So they are very different. But both killer.
January 12th, 2022 at 5:40 pm
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