[Adam Bishop]

Hi Adam, I hope you are well, mate?

What advice would you give to someone starting out in strongman?

How to factor events in to an other typical powerlifting-esque PPL routine?

Hi Charlie

The most common split for those wanting to keep things simple for strongman is a squat, press, deadlift, events day split.

With there being a lot of variation in the presses for strongman most will do some for of press on the events day as well.

My advice for anyone starting out is get strong on simple barbell exercises first. The military press and barbell deadlift must be your bread and butter. Squat will give overall strength and for your events day I would have some form of loading, press, moving and grip event in there each week.

Big focus on being statically strong on the barbell gym lifts and as efficient as possible on the strongman events – don’t train everything heavy! Most events like yoke or farmers walk are for time so treat them as speed events

[Adam Bishop]

Switched my log press sessions around today with the heavier one today and the lighter one on Friday which should work better for the deadlifts on Saturdays.

Strict log press 125×1 120x2x2
Log press 145×1 135x2x2
DB Lateral Raise 35×6 25×15
SA Lean Away lateral raise 25×8 14×16
Pressdowns 59×9 40×20
Gym Pin pressdown 27×10 17×15
Tricep triple set – 3×12/12/12
Bicep triple set – 3×12/12/12

[Adam Bishop]

I’ve never used them but for sure give them a go for a period of time and see if you like them.

If you see progression on an exercise then it’s a good exercise.

[Adam Bishop]

Events training today which all went to plan:

Bag toss 4×4 (20/20/25/27 over 5m)
Arm over arm – 3x15m
Atlas stones – loads of singles up to 180kg

Stones were the main focus today as I’m still feeling them out after the SIJ injury. All the reps felt easy which was great.

Weighed in at 149.1kg this morning so bodyweight is still ahead of schedule and I added another 50g of carbs to my diet for this week.

[Adam Bishop]

Rest day.

Headed over to Costco for a shop and did some driving to pick the mrs up from her ultra marathon.

Finished up the day with an evening dog walk – 45mins. Ready to kick off another training week with some events tomorrow

[Adam Bishop]

Strong session today – played around with my deadlift suits to find the best option for pulling a max in. Did my rep work in a single ply suit before getting the double ply suit on to see how it felt for a single on the same weight.

The double ply definitely fits me better and gives more pop so I think I’ll be going with that over the coming weeks.

Deadlift 380×5 380×1
CG Pulldown 138×10 93×20
Gym Pin cable row 80×7 60×15
SA DB Row 90×10 60×17
WG Seated Cable Row 99×10 79×13
BB upright row 65×10 45×18

[Adam Bishop]

Shorter press session today as I had some driving to do dropping the mrs off to do a 100km run – madness. Just got all the pressing in today and I’ll do the bicep work after tomorrows deadlifts

Strict Log Press 123×1 115x2x2
Log push press 141×1 133x2x2
Hammer Strength chest press 140×7 80×17
Cable Fly 45×10 35×20
Incline DB Press – triple set

Log press is progressing nicely and feeling strong. I’ll move the heavier of the two sessions to Tuesday moving forward to save some energy for pulls on Saturday now that they are getting heavier.

[Adam Bishop]

If it feels comfortable and doesn’t cause pain then some rounding is fine IMO.

It it hurts then no it’s not fine.

[Adam Bishop]

Hips and knee not feeling hang on today so I modified my legs session a bit.

Managed to set the leg press so I could practice going from a dead stop like we will have at the Shaw Classic – holy fuck that is intense! Re set weights a little to account for this and I’ll be sticking with the dead stop reps moving forward. Need to push these to 800+ in the next few weeks.

Leg ext 113x3x20
Dead stop leg press 650×10 500×15
Leg ext – drop set
Prone leg curl 100×10 75×17
Calf raise 178×14

[Adam Bishop]

Bit of a later session this evening as my training partner had a funeral to go to during the day. Means I’ll be up a little later tonight to get my final meal in but it was a good session.

Everything is progressing nicely and my log press is starting to feel strong again.

Circus DB Press 45x2x5
Strict log press 103x5x3
Log press 110x5x1
Seated DB press 65×5 45×20
DB Lateral Raise 30×11 20×20
SA Lean Away lateral raise 20×10 14×12
Pressdowns 59×8 40×18
Gym Pin pressdown 27×8 13×20
Tricep triple set – 3×12/12/12
Bicep triple set – 3×12/12/12

[Adam Bishop]

Hi Johan

The first part of the puzzle is establishing exactly what you have done before setting a rehab plan.

I would recommend booking in to see a physio to assess you in person. Once you know what you’ve done you can train it effectively and heal quicker.

Until then train around it as much as possible and avoid any movements that cause pain. If direct loading is not possible you can always train your non injured side while resting your injured side.

Supplement wise Join In, Cure coming and Osteo Pro are your best options for managing inflammation.

[Adam Bishop]

147.8kg this morning. 50g more carbs added daily taking me above 850g per day.

Felt great today. Cranked the throwing barrier up above 5m today and the bags flew over. Another easy 500 pull on the hummer tyre set up, increased the weights on the medley and reintroduced some atlas stones which felt good and didn’t cause any issues to my SIJ. Very happy strongman right here.

Bag toss – 3×4 (20/20/25/27)
Hummer tyre deadlift – up to 500kg
Medley – 280kg frame, 2x125kg bags and a heavy arm over arm
Atlas stones – several singles with the 140 stone

[Adam Bishop]

Rest day for me. Body feeling much better today actually. Kept my body moving with some bits around the house and an evening walk with the dogs.

Feeling ready to kick off another training week with some events tomorrow

[Adam Bishop]

Speed pulls this week for deadlift day. 8 sets of 2 on 305.

The speed work allows me to get more work done with a lighter weight and a longer period to recover from the heavier deadlifts which happen every 14 days. I pull these raw and focus on speed off the floor – a great way to maintain intensity while working on technique and set up.

Deadlift 300x8x2
CG Pulldown 138×6 93×17
Gym Pin cable row 75×10 50×17
SA DB Row 90×8 60×16
WG Seated Cable Row 99×7 72×20
BB upright row 62.5×10 42.5×18

[Adam Bishop]

Body still sore especially my hips so I decided to take a second rest day today and ensure I’m in a better place for deadlifts tomorrow which is the priority.

Had some massage today which helped a little but I know when I need a rest and my body is not ready for a session.

Speed pulls and back tomorrow