Strongman Certification
December 26, 2011
with Rob Orlando
Saturday, March 3rd, 2012
Albany CrossFit
CrossFit Strongman is the integration of strongman movements and energy systems into the constantly varied CrossFit model. Think of it as “old-school movements with new-school programming.”
The typical strongman competition consists of five events in one day. Each event is less than 60 seconds, so athletes never tap into anything but the ATP/CP system. Consider what would happen if you trained yourself to have that kind of output during a longer workout like, for example, a seven-minute AMRAP of farmer’s carries mixed with gymnastics. This is a perfect expression of old movements implemented with new programming, and the results are staggering.
We believe CrossFit Strongman is the best – and most fun – way to increase strength while still increasing work capacity across broad time and modal domains. In CrossFit, we want a stimulus that is constantly varied so we never stop progressing in our fitness. Strongman movements provide plenty of variation in a toy-filled playground where athletes can test and improve their brute strength and overall fitness level.
Because of the often-awkward size, shape and consistency of the objects we use in strongman, the lifts tend to have less efficiency than those done with a barbell. Case in point: a water-filled keg. This represents a dynamic load that challenges the neuromuscular system in a way a barbell can’t. For this reason, as athletes, we need to develop efficient movement patterns with inefficient loads. That response is at the heart of being a great athlete, and it also applies to the real world, where few objects have handles and perfect balance.
In this one-day seminar, athletes are presented with a constantly changing field of play, and a better athlete will learn to make quicker adjustments and respond more favorably to an unfavorable stimuli.
Why CrossFitters Should Do CrossFit Strongman
- CrossFit Strongman increases real-world strength, because in daily life we are required to move odd objects such as a grocery bag or a child as efficiently as possible. Barbells exist only in a gym setting.
- These movements are great for posterior-chain development, a necessity for someone striving to become a good CrossFitter.
- CrossFit Strongman programming provides CrossFitters with a variety of different stimuli, all aimed at achieving an increase in work capacity – which translates to an increase in your CrossFit ability.
- CrossFit Strongman, like CrossFit itself, simultaneously integrates metabolic conditioning and strength training.
- CrossFit movements are designed to move “large loads long distances quickly.” Those words are drilled into the mind of anyone who’s ever attended a Level 1 Trainer Course. There is no better expression of that key CrossFit principle than moving a yoke that is three times your body weight across a football field in 30 seconds. How about carrying 1.25 times body weight in each hand the same distance in less than 30 seconds or flipping a 700-lb. tire for max reps in 60 seconds? They all equate to large loads moved long distances very quickly.
Scalable? Infinitely.
One of the misconceptions about strongman is that you have to look like a behemoth to take part in the action. Nothing could be further from the truth. At the CrossFit Strongman Seminar, we will illustrate just how scalable these movements are and how quickly they can be adopted into almost any program. These movements are open to people of all abilities, genders and strength levels.
Goals
- To teach you safe, proper and efficient movement using these objects.
- To teach you how to coach these movements.
- To introduce you to the CrossFit Strongman training methodology and programming.
Rob Orlando has been an amateur strongman competitor since 2005. Over the last six years he has participated in more than 15 contests and set North American records in multiple lifts. He began CrossFitting in 2008, just a few months prior to the CrossFit Games regional qualifier in Albany, NY, where he took fifth place. He competed in the CrossFit Games in 2009 and 2010 and finished 22d and 15th, respectively. Over the past three years, he has launched Hybrid Athletics, a CrossFit affiliate in Stamford, CT, started Strongmanwod.com, and created a line of strongman products including yokes, axles, atlas-stone molds, farmer’s handles, and logs. His goal is to introduce the CrossFit community to strongman movements and implements through this seminar.
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2 Responses to Strongman Certification
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Lenora says:
Just signed up on line with their registration! Now, its getting exciting.
Jay, can u sign me up for the seminar? Thanks!