Articles: Training tips by Dr. Ken Leistner
May 11, 2005
Most strength trainees are a bit compulsive about their workouts. They study the programs that have brought success to others, review their training logs, and constantly fine tune their routines. Sometimes when a specific exercise has brought good results, they tend to keep that exercise in their routine and either overwork it, overwork the involved musculature, or fail to see that a change-of-pace in terms of sets, reps, or utilizing another movement could be beneficial. Its obviously important that a strongman competitor has to use some form of squat in his or her program and some form of deadlift. However, it is necessary to avoid going too heavy too often if one is to avoid injury. Many fail to view the overall program and understand that the squat, deadlift, stone lifting, yoke walk, farmers walk, Conan's Wheel, and almost any other lifting/carrying movement involves the hips, thighs, and low back. Pushing the squat and/or deadlift weekly can lead to trouble over time, but its tough for many to either back off or just not do the movement for a week or more. Using the stones as "the pulling movement" of the day or week is a concept that many trainees don't embrace. They'll lift stones as part of their event training but rarely or never IN PLACE of the squat or deadlift for that week. Repetition stone lifting with an appropriate sized stone gives an excellent load of work to the hips, thighs, low back, and upper back and can be a great substitute or that change-of-pace we were noting earlier. For many of our pro and college football players, we have used the stones as the only pulling type of movement in the entire program for up to a month at a time. Following a hard set of squats with 2 x 10-15 in the stone lift (floor to chest or floor to platform and back-to-the-floor) is an intense, hard, and stimulating workout that can prevent overtraining and injury.
—Dr. Ken
May 18, 2005
A Successful Piece of Advice from Bryan Neece
by Dr. Ken
Bryan Neece won initial acclaim as a drug free trainee who made won the U.S. Strongman championships and a trip to the Worlds Strongest Man Contest. As one of the nicest individuals to ever be involved in the sport, he also won the respect of all who met and competed with or against him. As a teacher and counselor in southern Indiana, Bryan has spent many years enjoying his vocational profession and the influence he has had on many young people. As a long time trainee who has done almost everything in the Iron Sports from bodybuilding to strongman, he wanted to provide even more influence, knowing the positive psychological and self-image enhancing effects of effective weight training.
Approximately one year ago, Bryan took on the task of providing full time strength training instruction to the students in his school district and the program has already provided dividends for the athletic teams and general student body. Bryan includes some of the strongman type of exercises he used in competition and in training during his own successful career. He noted that "We workout over a 4 day period (I limit it to one major exercise because their intensity for more does not exist and I have 50+ people to train). One day a week we get out the tires, FW, sleds and I make up different contests. I have the Jr. players divide into teams and we do a whole bunch of mini comps. They really get into it and it makes training fun." Fun and effective. Bryan is another who believes in and has his all of his trainees focus on the basic, "big muscle" movements such as squats, press, bench press, row, pulldown, deadlift, and various pulling movements. The addition of the specific strongman event type of exercises provides another dimension and a higher level of training for his athletes. Everyone at NASS wishes Bryan and his students continued success and we hope to see Bryan on the circuit in his role as one of the most informative and entertaining announcers we have.
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June 3, 2005
Some Comments from Chris Doyle, University of Iowa Head Strength and Conditioning Coach: Part One
by Dr. Ken
Many strongman competitors know Chris Doyle. Chris is a heavyweight competitor who has done well in the amateur ranks and moved forward some time ago into the pros. His demanding and time-consuming schedule as the University Of Iowa's Head Strength And Conditioning Coach does not allow much time for his personal training nor traveling to competitions. That Chris is dedicated to his lovely wife Tia and his children (and my wife Kathy just loves the very Irish names of his boys!) compounds his training and competing situation. However, Chris is aware of the value of adding strongman type movements to the Iowa football preparation program and it has paid huge dividends.
The University Of Iowa's football fortunes have taken a tremendous jump since the hiring of Head Football Coach Kirk Ferentz. His staff is highly respected by the NFL coaches who scout his players and this year's draft reflects that. Five Iowa players were drafted and that makes fifteen draft picks in the past three years. Five of these players have been walk-ons, players who did not receive a scholarship offer to play at Iowa. These are guys with ability but are usually a step too slow or undersized to play or merit a scholarship offer in the Big 10 or other major conference. These are the players that win scholarships because of their work in the weight room, because of their progress which allows them to get bigger and stronger to eventually play well enough to be full time contributors to the program. Five walk-on players who developed to the point of becoming NFL draft choices? That is a record of some sort I'm sure.
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September 8, 2005
Some Comments from Chris Doyle, University of Iowa Head Strength and Conditioning Coach: Part Two
by Dr. Ken
I have known Chris for years, long before he became a collegiate strength and conditioning coach. When Chris was an offensive line coach at The College Of The Holy Cross in Massachusetts, he recruited the New York Metropolitan and Long Island areas. He often recruited high school players I trained and enjoyed staying at our home instead of a hotel. He enjoyed home cooking, training in the basement or at the gym, and time to relax and watch football game videos of the recruited players as I nagged him to remain awake until 2 or 3 AM! At Iowa, he took the knowledge he had accumulated as a football and strength coach at his various stops, and applied it very successfully. The inclusion of strongman movements has really made a difference in his program.
"As far as implementing strongman movements into our training, early in the cycle we focus on building work capacity. In the final phases we move into competitive strongman training."
Some of the exercises that the Iowa gridders do include: Farmers Walk, Tire Flips, Wheelbarrow, Sled Drags, Sandbags, and Truck Push. I have a great video of Chris, Karl Gillingham, and some of his players and assistant coaches training in the Iowa weight room. Wow, impressive is not the word as a great like Karl inspires the Iowa linemen to compete and train as hard and intensely as the best of the professional strongmen. The results are obvious in Iowa's performance but if you observed how hard Chris has these guys work, it is no surprise. "These movements are typically done on Tuesdays and Fridays at the end of the day. As you know they can be demanding and require significant recovery. Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday are off days for us, thus we get the needed recovery from this training." Demanding indeed when coupled with the running, drill/skill work, and lifting that the Iowa players do but this inclusion of strongman events in a top level football program indicates that there is a place for strongman training as part of an overall program for athletic preparation. Thanks Chris, continued success to you and the Hawkeye’s.
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