Excerpt of a training regime of a professional strongman

[koto_ryu]

Mariusz Pudzianowski is one of the world's strongest men currently around today. He's a karateka (kyokushin) and also a former boxer, spent about seven years doing that. He's a big boy, as his measurements can attest:

- Biceps 56 cm
- Nape 54 cm
- Waist 92 cm
- Thigh 80 cm
- Weight 132 kg
- Height 186 cm
- Chest 148 cm
- Forearm 45 cm

(Pic of him at http://pudzian.pl/foto/276.jpg)

I thought some of you might be interested in how some of these guys train. I mostly do it for fun in hopes of someday being in a competition but these guys are the elite, who live and breathe strength athletics. I thought some of you might decide to incorporate some of these into your strength training if you were interested. Most of the lifts you may not know can be found at http://www.bodybuilding.com /fun/strongman7.htm but for the others I provide links as well.

Monday
Morning Gym Session (9.00)

Back Squat (basically regular barbell squats)
Warm-up: 8 sets, pyramiding from 60 to 160kg
Work sets: pyramiding from 160 to 280kg, reps going from 6 down to 2
Mariusz performs his squats olympic-style, he uses knee wraps and a belt.

Leg Curl (for hamstrings)
6 sets of 20 reps

Leg Extension (for quads)
6 sets of 20 reps

Pull Up
6 sets of 15 reps

Chin Up
6 sets of 10 reps

Behind-the-neck Pulldowns
4 sets of 15 reps

Barbell Rows
4 sets of 15 reps

Abs: 6 sets of 30 reps
Exercises used (haging leg raise, bends, various)

Afternoon Event Training (19.00) with Strongman Equipment

Sandbag Carry (130kg on back)
3 times 170 meters

Conan's Wheel - 290kg (http://www.brutestrength.co m/images/conans1.jpg, you basically load it up and walk with it)
3 times 2.5 revolutions

Tire Flip
3 sets of 10 flips

Tuesday
Morning Gym Session (9.00)

Front Squats
Works up to 250

Calf Work
6 sets of 15 reps

Standing Military Press
Warm-up sets - 7 sets of 60 to 100kg
Work sets - 6 sets pyramiding up from 110, 120, 130, 140kg for 5-4 reps

Deadlifts
Warm-up sets - 6 with 200kg
Work sets - work up to 300kg

Good Mornings
8 sets with 100kg

Afternoon Session (19.00)
Bushman's Walk (You lift a barbell with two crates attached to it and walk with it on your back for the given distance).
300 kg 3 x 15 meters

Presses with Machine Used in Competition (not quite sure what he means, sorry)
3 sets of 10 reps with 120kg

Parallel Crucifix (http://www.bodybuilding.com /fun/strongman9a.jpg)
Hold 40kg weights for 30 seconds

Wednesday
Morning Gym Session (9.00)

Bench Press
Warm-up sets - work up to 180kg in 8 sets
Work sets - work up from 150kg to 220kg, going from 8 down to 2 reps

Barbell Extensions: work up to 80kg

Standing French Press

Afternoon (19.00)
Same as Monday plus powerstairs and so called parallel stairs

These are just excerpts of Mariusz's training program. Each of his training sessions is precluded by 15-min of skipping rope (of course, he used to be a boxer). He finishes every workout with abdominal work. On top of all this, there is twice-a-week karate practice and recovery work which includes swimming. (...). You can also find Mariusz doing his medium-distance runs.

(This is from his website http://www.pudzian.pl/english/index2.php)

[Broadsword2004]

Thanks for the info

[Tom Yum]

boxing experience + high ranking kyokushin + monster lifting......Awesome.

Thanks for sharing. Reminds me of Terry who used to be a mod here.

[Atomic]

He was also DQ'ed for testing positive for steroids....

[koto_ryu]

Originally Posted by Atomic

He was also DQ'ed for testing positive for steroids....

Yeah I just caught wind of that too

[bodhisattva]

Originally Posted by Atomic

He was also DQ'ed for testing positive for steroids....

Yeah. that's what a lot of people don't understand about the workouts that pro muscle heads post. These guys are on roids.

That's why when a strong, strong guy tries to duplicate the workout (even lowering the poundages to fit him) he finds himself over trained, over trained, over trained.

Anytime someone is so large and deformed that they look like freakishly inhuman cartoons, it's pretty safe to assume steroids.

I'm not saying guys can't get swole without using em. But sometimes it just seems really obvious..

I always wonder if when they look over their old workout logs, if they get to the part where they weren't using, and look at the old poundages and old routines, and feel nostalgic. I'm certain they must. They think "Wow. That's what I was capable of before. It isn't anything like what I do now, but man, it was really, really good. Just me. By myself. Wow."

Sad old world.

[koto_ryu]

Originally Posted by bodhisattva

Yeah. that's what a lot of people don't understand about the workouts that pro muscle heads post. These guys are on roids.

Sad old world.

There's still quite a bunch of them to fall back to. Brooks Kubik, Steve Justa, Magnus Samuelson.....all of those guys are powerful as hell. Magnus is a genetic giant to be sure (his first time benching he managed to put up approximately 220lbs!), but Brooks wasn't the biggest of guys until he began throwing iron around. http://www.brookskubik.com/tips.html then go to the bottom and you can see him clean and jerk a pair of dumbbells that weigh 121 pounds each. The old standards for this exercise back in the day was:

Back in the 1950's, Harry Paschall authored a nifty little chart to determine how strong you were. Here's the Paschall standard for the clean and press (a military press, not a push press) for a 165 pound lifter; a lifter of different bodyweight should adjust the weights up or down:

Moderately strong: 165 pounds
Strong: 200 pounds
Super strong: 225 pounds
"Super Dreadnaught or Hero": 275 pounds

That puts him at about the super-strong range. He also set a bunch of records in drug free powerlifting. Steve Justa was very overweight and a bit on the underdeveloped side, so he began lifting all sorts of awkward objects to save himself the money to buy a gym. Most of his strength was built solely on singles (one-reps). Now take a look at him:



That barrel right there weighs about 480 pounds. Sure he's not hardcore ripped like a bodybuilder, but who do you think is stronger?

[Tom Yum]

I bet Harry Paschall didn't look strong though. Being able to clean and press more than his own body weight probably settled that one.

This goes back to our discussion of functional strength vs. bodybuilding.

[shirase]

"Here's the Paschall standard for the clean and press (a military press, not a push press)"

what exactly is the difference between military press and push press, ive seen photos of both but i cant really tell the difference.

[nitsuj2480]

Yea they just recently January 14 banned a steroid called M1T that was stronger then alot of black markets steroids they used to sell this stuff at GNC and Health Food stores it made Androstene and Creatine look like not a big deal unless you TAKE THEM ALL TOGETHER at the same time it said on the back of the bottle.It even said dont take it if you have liver problems and to take vitamen E on the side and vitamen B complex for acne.Selling this is legal to anyone who walks into the store till Jan 14.