What is Strongman and Why should you do it?
By now everyone is aware and most of you have participated in Jeremy Picketts Strongman class. Have you ever wondered why we offer it at CFSTC or even why CrossFit HQ promotes it as one of its’ specialty courses?
Well… aside from my quickly admitted CF crush on Rob Orlando, there are lots of reasons.
CrossFit is born out of the same principles of Strongman. Lift heavy stuff fast and often.
The use of stones, kegs, logs, farmers handles etc. are in tune with the constantly varied stimulus that is a foundation of CrossFit. Because of the odd size, shapes and consistency of the Strongman equipment the loads are inefficient as compared to a lovely balanced barbell. Athletes are required to develop efficient movement patterns to deal with inefficient loads.
This is functional fitness at its finest. This is country strong. Most objects we deal with in our daily lives are rarely perfectly balance across a rigid bar.
Strongman implements have a certain simplicity to them that is easily taught in a very short period of time. A new athlete can quickly learn to clean and press a log which mimics the power required for a barbell power clean and press. We are allowed to train the violent hip explosion required to do the movement without the technicalities of the olympic lifts. This training translates right back to the Olympic movements. Providing the athlete an understanding of how dip drive should feel.
Strongman, along with powerlifting, weightlifting, gymnastics,  is one of the modalities that we use to improve our CrossFit athleticism. It is strength training in its simplest form. Its prevalence in the CrossFit community is on the rise and is represented in the CrossFit games with sled pushes and pulls, farmer carries and log shouldering. Strongman builds better cross fitters.
But, the single best reason, it really is a ton of fun!