My boyfriend comes home bragging about his latest strongman accomplishment. “I just pushed a 12,000 pound U-Haul truck 70 feet in 17 seconds!” he exclaims. “Oh yeah,” I counter, “Well, I pushed 50 pounds of groceries around the supermarket in less than one hour!” Then I sigh. It just doesn’t seem like a huge feat of strength. Surely it was a feat of endurance and extreme patience, and if have you ever grocery shopped on a Saturday afternoon in a Publix in South Florida, you know exactly what I mean. But all of my guy’s strongman training got me thinking. I was watching his body transform and his confidence soar, and I was muddling through bodybuilder workouts in the gym and seeing less than impressive results. I watched him training outside in sunny Florida and actually having fun, while I was bored to tears counting reps and sets stuck inside a dark gym. Could I incorporate some strongman exercises into my routine and make it effective for my fitness and weight-loss goals, I wondered? Would training like a strongman mean that I would be compelled to enter a competition, or could I just do it for me? All of the exercises looked dangerous and as rehabilitation professional, safety is always one of my primary concerns. Was I going to get hurt doing these crazy things? And most importantly, was I going to end up looking like one of those huge strongmen that you see on television? Well, I decided to conquer all of my fears and give it a try. I’m still alive and injury free, I’m in the best shape that I’ve ever been in, and I feel like a strongwoman. It is a great confidence boost when you know that you are strong enough to do anything you set your mind to.

Conquering Lifting Boredom
I have been lifting weights for over 15 years and let’s face it – there are only so many unique routines you can try and only so many different ways to work a muscle. You can read all of the standard bodybuilding and fitness magazines for the “latest exercise” or the “professional bodybuilder’s routine,” but after awhile, it all just seems the same. Counting reps and sets, turning your hand in or out, chest and tris, back and bis, or push and pull programs – been there, done that. What I needed was something to inspire and challenge me. I needed something to take me out of the doldrums of another boring workout and make me eager to exercise. Strongman training was it. Pushing trucks and cars, running with weighted kegs, and walking for speed and distance with heavy weights was thrilling! I felt the rush of adrenalin as I attacked the truck, trying to move what seemed like an immoveable object. I was constantly surprised by my own abilities and became very proud of my accomplishments. And I wasn’t the only one, either. My boyfriend liked to brag to everyone who would listen about my crazy training and how strong I was. After training sessions I would feel invincible, although quite exhausted! Every workout left me with the urge to do more and I couldn’t wait until the next training day.

Do I Want To Look Like Magnus ver Magnusson?
What happens to a woman’s body when she trains for strength? Does she end up looking like a blocky strongman and lose her feminine traits? Of course, this was an important consideration for me. I wanted to be in the best shape possible, but still look like a woman, not a she-man. I’d like to be muscular, lean and strong, not fat and slow. When I saw my boyfriend’s body composition changing for the better, I thought that strongman training might have some benefits for women, too. I saw the fat melt off me and my muscles getting tighter. I can tell you that pushing a car or truck consumes a tremendous amount of calories in a very short period of time. You use every muscle in your body and exhaust yourself in less than one minute. You can’t even compare those results with a StairMaster or aerobics class. If you could, why do you have to spend 30-45 minutes on the StairMaster or one hour in the aerobics class? I challenge you to push a car or truck 70 feet forward and backward and compare it to your aerobics class and tell me which is the harder workout. And I know that many women, including myself, are always looking for ways to do more things in less time. Strongman training is an extremely efficient use of our precious time. The majority of our muscles are worked by lifting, pushing, and pulling weighted objects, and our cardiovascular system is challenged by the intensity of the exercise in short bursts of time. What a bang for our fitness buck! The beauty about strongman training is that you can’t do it for long periods of time. If you can, the weights are too light and you need to progress. Women shouldn’t worry about getting magnificent muscles like Magnus ver Magnusson. Women don’t have the same levels of testosterone as men (the anabolic hormone responsible for increased muscle mass). Most of the time, if a woman is so muscular that she looks like a man, she is possibly taking a substance to do so. The benefits of strength training for women are improved body composition (less fat and more toned muscle) and increased bone density. So put away your fears of looking like She-Ra and step up to the reality that strongman training can give to your physique.

Where’s The Competition?
I have never been a competitive person when it came to sports. I never competed in group or individual sports in my life, except for a brief stint on a soccer team that my mom (not a sports aficionado) coached when I was eight. I was never very good at team sports, but I liked physical activity. That is how I gravitated to bodybuilding. It was just me against the weights. I never considered entering a bodybuilding contest because I felt that the criterion for winning was too subjective. So I was hesitant to begin a training program that had as its ultimate goal a competition. I wondered if it would be worth tackling this kind of training if I didn’t want to compete. I did some investigating on strongman websites to see what was available for women. I found out though, not to my total surprise, that there were no strongwoman competitions, just the stereotypical “best body” contests during the strongman competitions. Rather than feeling slighted though, I felt relieved. For my first foray into strongman training, I didn’t want to have the pressure of a competition over my head. I just wanted to compete against myself.

Call The Ambulance
I always looked at training first from a health point of view and then from an aesthetic point of view. With all of my medical background and experience, I knew how important strong bones, muscles, and lungs were for overall health and longevity. As a rehab professional, I analyzed my workout routines to incur the least harm and potential for injury. So why in the world would I endorse strongman training? Yes, in principle, the exercises are extreme and do seem crazy. But with a suitable strength base, appropriate form, necessary auxiliary exercises, sufficient rest, and proper nutrition, the strongman training program can be quite safe. Especially if you never compete, because most injuries happen in the heat of a competition when you throw logic out of the equation and try to win at any cost. As I told you before, I have lifted weights for many years and I have also done many hours on the StairMaster and in aerobics classes. However, I don’t think that you need an extensive background before you begin a strongman program, but you do need a base of strength and conditioning before embarking on this advanced routine.

Eat Like A Strongwoman
An extremely important part of any fitness program is nutrition. You can train as hard as you want, lift all of the weight that you can, and still see no positive changes in body composition, energy levels, and health without the proper fuel for your engine. As a strongwoman, I tried to eat like a strongman, only much, much less! I still had decreasing body fat as one of my goals, so I had my registered dietitian (who conveniently is my boyfriend) develop a bodyfat-loss strategy for me. It consisted of 6 small meals a day of approximately 250 calories per meal. He developed specific ratios for my carbohydrate, protein, and fat intake based upon my body composition and goals. I train in the morning and prefer not to eat before my training sessions, which isn’t the best plan for energy and muscle building, but I replenish my carbohydrate and amino acids by consuming one high-glycemic protein shake immediately after my training session, and another shake 11/2 – 2 hours later. I also drink a low glycemic protein shake before going to bed to combat any lean body tissue that can be lost by dieting and fasting for extended periods of time. Eating small meals more frequently distributes my calorie load evenly throughout the day, so I’m not dumping a huge amount of calories into my body at any one time. This eliminated the excess calories going into fat storage. I also like the idea of eating frequently because my next meal wasn’t very far away. My diet focuses on fresh fruit and vegetables, lean red meat, fish, and chicken, protein shakes, and carbohydrate/protein bars for convenience. I have incorporated this eating strategy into my daily routine and feel that it is the best approach for staying lean and healthy. In addition, I drink plenty of water, especially when exercising, and take antioxidants to reduce free radical production from heavy training. I’d like to add that adequate rest certainly helps the body rejuvenate, repair, and prepare for the next training session, but that is one aspect of my training program that I am always lacking!

The Exercises and Training Program
Day One
Superset exercises and rest 2-3 minutes between supersets
Perform 5 sets of 5 repetitions of each exercise
Make this a high intensity day and you’ll lift 85-95% of your 1RM (maximum amount of weight you can lift one time).
Squats supersetted with Sit-ups
Deadlifts supersetted with Anterior Reaches
Leg Press
Car/Truck Push for 70 feet forward and backward x 2 sets, 3 minute rest between sets

Day Two: Rest

Day Three
Superset exercises and rest 2-3 minutes between supersets
Perform 5 sets of 5 repetitions of each exercise
Make this a high intensity day and you’ll lift 85-95% of your 1RM (maximum amount of weight you can lift one time).
Bench Press supersetted with Bent Over Barbell Rows
Military Press supersetted with Pull-downs
One-Arm Rear Reaches
Clean Holds
Abdominal Rotations

Day Four – Rest

Day Five
Finish each exercise before beginning the next
Take only a 1-minute rest between sets and 2-minute rest between exercises
Perform 4-5 sets of 10 repetitions of each exercise
Make this a low to moderate intensity day and you’ll lift 65-75% of your 1RM (maximum amount of weight you can lift one time).
Clean Pulls
Squats
Lunges or DB Step Holds
Push-ups
Pull-ups
Barbell Curls
Dips
Woodchops

Day 5: Rest

Day 6:
Warm-ups like squat jumps and track and field drills like skips, hops, cariocas and side shuffling
Car/Truck Push for 70 feet forward and backward x 3-4 sets, 3 minute rest in between sets
Keg Runs for 70 feet x 2-3 sets, 3 minute rest in between sets
Farmers’ Walk for 100 feet x 2-3 sets, 3 minute rest in between sets
Keg Lift and Load for 2-3 sets, 1 minute rest between sets

Day 7 - Rest

Strongwoman Exercise Descriptions

Abdominal Rotations
- Use stretch tubing or a cable attached to weights at chest height.
- Stand next to a tubing/weight stack and line up your shoulders to it. This puts your face at a right angle to it.
- Grasp the tubing or cable handle and step arms length away.
- With legs shoulder-width apart and knees slightly bent, extend your arms in front of you and rotate your torso. Use your abdominal muscles to work against the resistance.
- Work from left to right for a given rep count and then do the same number of reps from right to left (this means facing the opposite direction).
- To give you a better idea of the movement pattern, simply stand with your arms out in front of you and rotate all the way to your left. Now rotate back towards your right. Your hands moving through space will form a semi-circle.

Car/Truck Push
- Set up at the back of the car/truck with your arms extended. Have a friend put the car/truck in neutral and steer and time you.
- I like to use both feet to start the push and then switch over to a normal running pattern (ie one foot then the other).
- Keep your head up and try to keep your arms straight, so that you can transfer more leg and hip drive into pushing the truck.
- Stay low and move in a straight line. Too much lateral movement will kill your efforts.
- When you’ve hit 70 feet, run to the front of the car/truck and sit on the bumper. Extend your arms back so your hands are resting on the bumper too.
- Extend your legs one at a time to push the car/truck backwards. If your legs are on fire, you are doing this right.

Clean Holds
- As an early preparatory exercise for Farmer’s Walks, I used this to increase my grip strength. Holding something in front of your thighs is harder than when your hands are on the side of your thighs.
- Grab a barbell, using a regular grip.
- Deadlift from a rack or the floor (the floor is harder) to lockout and hold for 60 seconds.

Clean Pulls
- Set up like a deadlift, except use a hook grip and keep your hips lower.
- Pull the bar past your knees and at the lower third of the thigh, move your knees and hips forward.
- Extend explosively into a top shrug position.
- Do not let your hips kick up past your shoulders.

Dumbbell Step Holds
- This is another preparatory movement for the Farmer’s Walk.
- Grab a DB in each hand and step up and down using a low step (2-4”).

Farmer's Walk
- Grasp a heavy object in each hand and walk - that’s it.
- I like to walk a 100-foot course and then come back. Early in my training I focus on increasing the weights I can walk with. Then I focus on speed for the actual distance.
- Tips: Start with your wrists flexed. As you lift the weight, it will straighten your wrists out. Make sure you are balanced before trying to walk fast with the weight.

Keg Lift & Load
- Set up a 30-50 pound keg in front of a 4-foot high platform.
- Time yourself as you lift and ”load” each keg to and from the platform.

Keg Runs
- Set up a 70-foot course.
- Grip a 30-50 pound keg with one hand high and one hand low.
- Deadlift it to chest-height and start running till the end of the 70-foot course. Put the keg down, run back to the starting point, and run back to pick up the keg.
- Repeat running with the keg 5 times.

One Arm Rear Reaches
- Use either stretch tubing or a weight stack and cable set up.
- Face the base, extend your arm overhead, and pull the tubing or handle behind you. Emphasize your shoulder blade pulling and the arm just going along for the ride. It is a short range of motion if you perform it right.
- This can be done with one or both arms, and/or on one or both legs.

Anterior Reaches
- This is an abdominal movement.
- Face away from some tubing or a weight stack.
- Grab the tubing/handle and extend your arms overhead.
- With your arms extended overhead, use your abdominal muscles to flex your trunk. Keep your arms in the same plane as your torso and don’t allow your shoulders and arms to do all the work. This is great for training the abdominals in a very explosive fashion.
- After your flex forward, return back to the starting position by using your abs to slow you down. Be careful that you don’t come back too fast.

Wood Chops
- This idea is from Mel Siff.
- Use stretch tubing or a weighted cable.
- Set up in between two pulley stacks like you are going to do cable crossovers. Grab a handle from only one side and with the arms overhead, move diagonally across your body to the opposite foot. You will be simulating chopping wood, hence the name.
- Switch and do the other side after each set.
- You should feel this in muscle all across your midsection.