Collaboration! The 4 Strongman Moves You Need to Incorporate Into Your Training

Last month I did a collaboration (OK fine. At this point it was the month before last) with one of my awesome friend and IBBF Pro Tiana Gonzalez on CrossFit moves that every body builder should do – and it was a lot of fun and helpful. So I decided to make it a thing moving forward every month- so here we are!

This month I am going over some strongman (and woman) moves that are have a great translation over to CrossFit. To do these I visited Greg Moya, USMC Veteran, coach and owner of Devil Dog Fitness in Hialeah Gardens. Greg is no stranger when it comes to hard work and functionality- which is what makes him the perfect person for this collaboration.

I hope that you learn some new moves to incorporate into your training regime- or to just mix things up a bit- all in the name of fitness!

Atlas Stone Cleans

Okay so this one was really weird for me. But hey- so are most things that you’ve never done before.

Why are these so great for CrossFitters?

Hip power, baby! This move really teaches you how to engage your hips which will translate to your Olympic lifts. The reason is because if you don’t do this right then you simply won’t be able to get the stone to your shoulder. (That and you might also injure yourself if you try to do more weight than what you’re ready for.)

This helps to teach you body awareness and control with precise timing and movements- making it a great additional to the training for all of you who are working on proper clean and/or snatch technique.

How-to

Deadlift the stone up into your lap

Cuddle it. Nuzzle it. No seriously- wrap your arms around, chin on the stone- leave as little space as possible. Think about it as finally having that hottie in the gym/box that you can’t keep your eyes off of all to yourself and just wanting to snuggle the shit out of them. Gross. Those are your thoughts? Haha- just kidding. Seriously though get in there and hold it for a second.

Now this was the weirdest part for me. So you do this twerk thing. Once you are paused cuddling this big ass rock you then straighten your legs and immediately extend your hips. Like the opposite of what you would do in a deadlift. You might want to spend some time practicing here. I’ll wait.

Okay cool you got it. So now the next thing you do is quickly move your arm over arm to get that ish onto your shoulder by standing straight up. No steps forward or back. Yea I know. It’s hard. Start light.

Want To Give It a Try?

Start learning in pieces. Try with a medium weighted slam ball. Practice your deadlift and then you move on to the hip action and rest of the movement.

Try:

3×10 Slamball Deadlifts

3×10 Straight legs to hip drive with arm over arm follow through

Axel Bar Cleans

If your know me then you know I love anything that involves lifting heavy things. So I was all about this. Which reminds me- maybe I will do some of these this week…

Why are these so great for CrossFitters?

Grip baby, grip. And hip power of course. But for real the grip

How-to

There are 2 ways to go about this:

As long as you are familiar with how-to perform a technically sound clean then you can do that
This is the more strongman-esq way to do it
- Deadlift the bar up using a switch grip (whew- that was easy)

- Now time for some tricks. You are going to have to poke your sternum out so that you can make a little pitstop on the way to your shoulders- called The Area Just Below Your Ribs Before Your Abs Overlook

- Do a dip so you can use your hip drive (think of punching the ground with your heels) to get the bar up onto your sternum overlook (HA. Just look at my face)

- When you do this you are also quickly reversing your switched hand to an overhang grip (hope you had your Wheaties. Just kidding. I hope you don’t eat that. But I hope you had breakfast for sure)

- OK now it’s time for the pull under. Dip if you need then high pull it and drop under

- You did it! Now just stand up. #Success

Want To Give It a Try?

This is another one to piece together. Deadlifts, the pop from hips to sternum, the pull under

Try:

Double Overhand Grip Deadlifts – 4×10-12 at a heavy weight
The Pop From Hips to Sternum – 4×10-12 at a light/medium weight
The Pull Under – 4×10-12 at a light weight gradually building

Tire Flips

Why are these so great for CrossFitters?

Deadlift anyone? Alll the pulling. These help you get strong legs, you also get to use a little push. Coordination. Plus come on- you look so badass flipping a huge tire.

How-to

Set-up as close as you can to the tire with your fingers under the tire, chest up
As if you were deadlifting, drive through your heels to lift the tire
Once it is at about hip height use your knee to drive it up so that you can get switch your hands to flip the tire over

Want To Give It a Try?

You can work on your deadlifts but otherwise you need a tire for this. Start by incorporating one into your workouts. In fact there are entire workout circuits you can do with a tire. Have fun with it. And also expect to get dirty. These things usually leave you with tire residue and dirt all over you

Farmer Carries/Walk

If you have been CrossFitting or doing any bootcamp workouts for some time then chances are you have done these in some form. While strongman uses specific equipment the intent can also be recreated by carrying dumbbells or kettlebells.

Why are these so great for CrossFitters?

Grip, core stability, stabilizer muscles, balance, ankle strength- the list goes on.

How-to

Probably the easiest to explain