How To Deal With Challenging Strongman Exercises

Truth be told, yes it is. Challenging strongman exercises do pack a punch and provide you with great results when done properly and correctly.

The yoke carry is one of the most popular and grueling workout that provides challenging strongman exercises with its intense approach towards lifting and power bursts to maximize muscle activity and strength.

In order to do this the proper way, let fitness expert and strength trainer Logan Gelbrich, share some valuable insights.

The Yoke Carry

The yoke carry is one of the most challenging of the strongman exercises. Here’s how to effectively perform this move.

Popular in strongman circles, the yoke carry traditionally involves carrying a weighted metal frame on your back. Though there are other variations, our focus will be on the traditional carry. There may not be a more effective way of moving the largest loads quickly than with the yoke.

Set up the yoke so that there are 4 to 6 inches of clearance when you stand with the implement. Any less and slight deviations in balance during the carry can make the implement touch the ground, and any more clearance may eventually impede the loads that you can stand up to carry.

There are two common hand placements when carrying the yoke. The most common in the strongman community is to have your hand pressing out into the uprights below shoulder level. This method makes for the fastest transitions and allows for the greatest limitations in flexibility. Many CrossFitters place their hands on the crossbar outside shoulder width, not too dissimilar to a back squat. Use whichever is most effective to bear the load. Read full article…

Once you have started, you often feel motivated to see it through the end, especially when you feel that you are exerting a lot of effort into your workouts and this is what challenging strongman exercises can do for you.

But truth be told that as you go along, there comes a point when you feel that you’ve had enough and start to wane on your strongman routines leading to fatigue and eventually, burnout.

You start to develop a mental barrier as strength training may take its toll on your daily routines due to its intense need for physical effort and strength

Sometimes it takes more than will power to break through these mental barriers to actually divert your attention to help motivate you through your training workout and exercise programs.

In his article, strength coach Charles “Tank” Tankersley of Primal Strength Gym helps you get through that hurdle and re-direct your focus to your strength workouts.

4 Ways To Bust Through Strength Plateaus

“If you’ve been lifting long enough, then you’ve probably hit strength plateaus before.  It’s inevitable.

While it’s an awesome feeling to be breaking personal records (PR’s) day in and day out, the reality is that it’s just not sustainable.  Enjoy it while it lasts because as soon as you hit a sticking point, the process of getting past it can be damn frustrating.

But it’s okay.  I’m here to help.  Here are 4 surefire ways to help you eclipse those strength plateaus and get back on the fast track of smashing PR’s.

I came across this technique in one of the bibles of strength training called “Supertraining” by Yuri Verkhoshansky.

The technique is fairly simple and the logic is sound.  The idea is that you get your body familiar with training loads that are much greater than your current 1 rep max just by supporting the weight or training with the weight in a limited range of motion.

If you have ever done drop sets, the logic is similar.  In a drop set, you take a load and do it for a specified number of reps, and then reduce the weight and do another set.  On the lighter set, the weight feels much lighter than it actually is because your body just trained with a heavier load and your body is able to pump out more reps (usually).  Drop sets are normally used in high-volume training and focused on hypertrophy, not 1 rep maxes.

Supramaximal adaptation training is built around a similar premise, but is treated in a much different way than you would a drop set since we are going for pure strength gains.

For one, the loads that you use will be considerably higher than your 1 rep max.  I used this type of training to get over a sticking point in my squat, and the loads I used to do it were over 100 pounds more than my 1 rep max.

Secondly, you will probably use this type of training for several weeks before you attempt a new 1 rep max.  For my squat, I trained with “supramaximal” loads for 2 weeks before going for a new PR.  Unlike a drop set, you don’t simply train one set with a higher load, and then immediately go for a new record.  Patience is key, and take the time to let your body adapt.

Third, this type of training is not meant to be done with a full range of motion.  For some, just supporting the weight may get you to where you need to be.  When I used this to train for a new squat PR, I regressed to box squats with the higher loads to get my body adapted to the much heavier weight.  Then when it came time for my new PR, I ditched the box and went for it.  I set a new PR by 10 pounds. Read full article…

Sometimes all it takes is some good motivation to start breaking through the mental barrier which causes you to lose focus on your workouts.

In the next article, Invictus fitness author Josh Bridges shares some practical thoughts on how to overcome that mental barrier and start working your way to better fitness.

Breaking The Mental Barrier

The mind is a powerful thing, it can help you get through tough times, or it can cause you to crumble like Greg Norman in the ‘96 Masters. The strong learn how to handle and control their mind when it starts to rant, rave and tell them to stop what they’re doing. The weak let it take over and OWN them.

Is it possible to develop strategies to break your mental barrier?  Absolutely. I prevent this little boss in my head from taking over in a couple of ways.

When that voice inside your head is screaming at you to “put down the barbell” or “get off the bar,” you fight back with one more rep. Completing just one more rep when everything inside of you is telling you to stop is a sure way to grow your mental muscles, and the next time you might do two more reps. Over time, this builds and you begin to control that voice. Read full article…

So stop pressuring yourself and start motivating your body to break that mental barrier by adding a bit of psychology to put your body to work and push further, especially when dealing with challenging strongman exercises.

Pairing your workouts with the right training program, diet and supplementation will greatly help in enhancing the desired results of your regular workout. MusclePharm BCAA provides the full-spectrum formulation of branched chain amino acid complex that fuels muscle development, aids in fat loss, reduces muscle breakdown and increase lean body mass.  This lethal mix of training and nutrition guarantees the best results.

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