March 27, 2024 • 14 mins
Ever wondered how the age-old spectacle of human strength has evolved into today's strongwoman competitions? That's what we're unpacking on today's show, with a special nod to the mighty athletes of The Riveter, an all-women's novice competition. I, Gus Holland, will be your guide through the grueling, yet awe-inspiring events that these amazing competitors face, from sandbag lifts to the adrenaline-filled truck pull. Plus, learn about the meticulous training and endurance these events demand, and if you're feeling inspired, discover how you could start your own journey into this world of strength sports.
This episode isn't just a tribute to the strongwomen out there but also a resource for anyone curious about the sport. No guests today, just me sharing the history, the challenges, and the triumphs of strongman competitions, and why they're an incredible display of not just muscle, but also heart and determination. Tune in, and you might even snag yourself a free training schedule program that could be your first step towards the thrill of the lift, the heave, and the press. Whether you're a fan, a potential sponsor, or a future competitor, this episode has something to pump you up and cheer on the women who are lifting not just weights, but also the spirit of competition to new heights.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey everybody and welcome to another episode of
Way of Life.
I'm your host, gus HollandToday.
I want to start off the episodeby giving a big shout out to
the competitors of the Riveter,which is in Pflugerville, texas,
march 30th.
The podcast is sponsoring thatcompetition.
It is an all-women's novicecompetition.
(00:21):
Strongwoman competition it'sgoing to be epic.
Novice competition.
Strong woman competition it'sgoing to be epic and I'm super
excited to see the results fromit.
I know there's going to be atruck pull and several other
events and, with that being said, I'd like to dedicate this
episode specifically to thestrong women, not only in an
attempt to wish them good luck,but really to help promote the
(00:46):
sport of strong womancompetitions and hopefully help
anybody that might be looking toget into them or even to
sponsor them or create an eventyourself.
Before I begin, I do want totouch base in regards to the
episode from Monday.
(01:07):
So if you stick around to theend of this episode, you will
find out how to receive acompletely free training
schedule program.
So from here on out, withinthis episode, I'm just going to
be referring to both strong manand strong women competitions as
(01:27):
strong man competitions that'swhat they are usually referred
to, the Riveter, is specificallywomen only, which is awesome.
But basically, just to makethings simpler, I'm going to
refer to it as strong man.
So the sport of strong man, Imean it can be dated back to
hundreds of years if you gettechnical with it, as far as
(01:53):
just performing feats ofstrength within a competition
setting.
The first official World'sStrongest man competition was in
1977.
So it's been around in themodern sense for almost 50 years
.
Also, many of the lifts withina strongman competition are
(02:15):
specifically to demonstratestrength and more recently
several of them have beenimplemented to show more of a
muscular endurance side ofthings.
So instead of there are sandbaglifts and Atlas stone lifts,
(02:37):
there's also medleys, which arelifting those same objects back
to back and either placing themon your shoulder, placing them
on a platform, throwing themover something, or just dropping
them once the lift has beensuccessful, but doing it back to
(02:57):
back several times, normallywith an increase in weight.
So you might start at I'm justgoing to throw something out
there, you might start at like80 pounds sandbag and you lift
that and chunk it over some formof barrier.
That's normally like chestheight, and then maybe the next
(03:19):
one will be a hundred, and thenthe third one will be 120,
fourth one 140, so on.
You know they can jump up in20s, 50 pound increments,
whatever the event coordinatorhas scheduled.
So those are Atlas stones andsandbags.
There's also other forms ofmedleys, but that's a good
(03:43):
representation for that.
A common one that a lot ofpeople really like to see is a
log press.
So these are I mean, just tosimplify it, it's almost like
the size of a telephone polethat's been chopped to slightly
longer than a standard likeOlympic weight bar.
(04:06):
They oftentimes will add weightto these, especially for the
bigger guys.
The closest thing I can reallyexplain it to is like part
deadlift, part sandbag lift,part shoulder press.
So you're going to squat down,uh, with your hand on on the
(04:30):
handlebars, uh, or the grip,whatever you want to call it,
and you're going to kind of likepartially deadlift it to get it
up into your lap area andyou're going to pull it snug to
your belly and then, as you'rekind of standing up, you're
going to roll it up your bodyand then you're standing
straight with it, um, with yourfist pointing upward, I guess at
(04:56):
this point, uh, and it's aboutshoulder height, and so from
there.
Normally you're going to pressit straight up above your head
for norm, normally forrepetitions, um, sometimes
they'll do it for like a max,max weight, just to see who can
do the most.
I'd say the the other mostcommon thing is is some form of
(05:18):
deadlift.
It can be just strict deadlifts, conventional deadlifts with
standard 45 plates, or youvehicles there's wagon wheel
deadlifts, there's a whole bunchof different stuff, but those
are some of the most commonlifts.
(05:57):
Checking out at least one or twocompetitions in person and
maybe even talking to some ofthe athletes and hopefully
finding a local gym that has atleast one person that is
familiar with the sport andhopefully they have some
implements there that can beused to train specifically for
strongman.
So, other than that trainingregimen, some people I mean,
(06:24):
especially if you don't haveaccess to the specific
implements that you'll be usinga lot of people just go with a
standard workout routine withina commercial gym, um, within a
commercial gym, um, if you're,if you're fortunate enough, um
(06:45):
and can afford it, you can go tonormally like a, a smaller,
like family owned gym orsomething like that, where there
are, you know, sometimes we'llhave a strong man group that
meets up, like on Saturdays, andthey'll lift group that meets
up like on Saturdays and they'lllift these different implements
and talk about technique andform and training and, you know,
overcoming certain weaknessesand you know all kinds of stuff
(07:07):
like that.
I would say, in my personalopinion, as far as the training
goes, it's imperative to reallyfocus on injury prevention and
management of previous injuriesor keeping track of your
strengths and weaknesses withinthe sport, because you are
(07:28):
lifting a considerable amount ofweight in comparison to
somebody that's just trying tostay fit and healthy.
That is, that's one thing thatneeds to always be, I guess,
harped on, at least from mypoint of view, a big thing for
most people, especially me,because I tend to hype myself up
(07:51):
like not even not out of fear,but just like excitedness or
whatever fear, but just likeexcited, excitedness or whatever
, like adrenaline dump butmental preparation.
So obviously, the more familiaryou are with the sport, the
more comfortable you are.
Maybe you have friends withinthe sport, um, buddies you train
with that are strong men orstrong women, um, normally, the
(08:14):
more comfortable you are withthis, the more comfortable
you're going to be at your firstcompetition.
I've I've been to a few as anon-competitor.
I've been to a few as acompetitor.
I've never really had a badexperience.
As far as social interactiongoes, within the sport,
(08:39):
everybody's typically prettyfriendly, pretty helpful,
willing to help you, even thoughyou're technically competition
against them.
So yeah, but as far as mentalpreparation goes, the the more
comfortable you are with withthe sport in general, more
comfortable you're going to beat your first competition.
So that was a big thing for mebecause I was not super familiar
(09:02):
with the.
I was super familiar as a fanof the sport.
I watched it a lot on TV as achild and teenager.
Um, I had never even workedwith any of the implements, uh,
but I had a lot of gym, gym time, gym experience and so, uh, I
(09:24):
was psyching myself out, mainlyjust because of the unknown,
basically, and not knowinganybody.
And you know, it was the newestof the new for me.
So yeah, obviously, if you aremore mentally prepared, normally
(09:45):
that's the better that you'regoing to perform, the less
likely you are to get injured,etc.
Another positive about the sportis that it is actively growing.
The community is, year afteryear, is getting larger and
larger.
There is more backing than ever.
There's more companies that arestrongman, specific or at least
(10:07):
participate within the sportand recognize it.
It is definitely growing and,especially in the mainstream,
there's been a lot more effortinto providing live stream, live
streaming capabilities forthese events and all types of
stuff, even for smaller events,so it's really an exciting time
to get in the sport or at leasteven just to be a fan of it.
(10:31):
On top of that, if you are aperson that is into social media
, then there are a lot of forlack of a better term
influencers.
They're really just competitorsthat post their training and
post helpful videos, but thereare a lot of both men and women
(10:51):
that that are, uh, doing thisfor the strong man community,
and so that's that's superhelpful and gonna just help you
get even more involved withinthe community.
So, yeah, that that about wrapsit up.
I mean, that's super basicstuff, but it is encouraged.
(11:13):
If y'all ever have any questionsabout the sport for male or
female, or you need help gettingin contact with a gym in your
area, finding people to trainwith or whatever, you can always
hit up the podcast.
Normally, the best way isInstagram.
It's at way of life podcast,but I personally will always try
(11:36):
and help y'all the main, okay.
So I often say we, um, inregards to the podcast, we are
sponsoring the event andeverything.
It's normally just mereferencing myself and my
producer, christian McLean.
So he's awesome.
(11:57):
His wife is competing at theRiveter.
Her name's Crisanta Big shoutout to her.
She's going to do great and I'mvery excited about that.
But that's what I mean when I'mreferring to we.
He helps a lot with the podcast.
Now, that is the end of theepisode, and if you've stuck
around long enough and you areinterested in receiving a custom
(12:21):
program from me specifically,basically all I want you to do
actually you don't have to doanything Uh, all you have to do
is message me on Instagram, uh,through the podcast is at way of
life podcast and say hey, gus,um, I'd like to receive some
free, a free program, or free,uh, training split or whatever.
(12:45):
And if you have somethingspecific you're trying to work
on, whether it's like focusingon your first strongman
competition, or if it's you'retrying to go for hypertrophy and
just more of an aesthetic typething, or maybe it's just
overall fitness and health, oryou're you're trying to overcome
a disease, or you know whoknows what I'm?
(13:05):
I'm not a doctor.
I'm not anything except a dudewith a lot of experience in the
gym.
I am a certified personaltrainer and a performance
enhancement specialist throughNASM, which is a national
account National Association ofSports Medicine.
(13:26):
So, yeah, so take that, takethat into consideration.
I'm not allowed to give youmedical advice or anything like
that, but really all you have todo is message the Instagram
account, however you want toword it.
Really, I'm going to do my bestto help you, and it's free.
So the number one way you canhelp the podcast is to share
(13:48):
this with a friend.
The other way is to rate andreview it.
You can check outwayoflifepodcastcom.
That has excuse me again.
That has all of the links ofhow to listen to the podcast.
It's got a merch link.
If you want to get a shirt orsomething like that, we do have
(14:09):
merch and, yeah, I'm just hereto help.
So share this with a friend, Imean, especially if they want a
program too, just send them myway.
I hope this helps everybody andI'll be talking to you all next
week.
All right, bye.
Hey everybody and welcome to another episode of
Way of Life.
I'm your host, gus HollandToday.
I want to start off the episodeby giving a big shout out to
the competitors of the Riveter,which is in Pflugerville, texas,
march 30th.
The podcast is sponsoring thatcompetition.
It is an all-women's novicecompetition.
(00:21):
Strongwoman competition it'sgoing to be epic.
Novice competition.
Strong woman competition it'sgoing to be epic and I'm super
excited to see the results fromit.
I know there's going to be atruck pull and several other
events and, with that being said, I'd like to dedicate this
episode specifically to thestrong women, not only in an
attempt to wish them good luck,but really to help promote the
(00:46):
sport of strong womancompetitions and hopefully help
anybody that might be looking toget into them or even to
sponsor them or create an eventyourself.
Before I begin, I do want totouch base in regards to the
episode from Monday.
(01:07):
So if you stick around to theend of this episode, you will
find out how to receive acompletely free training
schedule program.
So from here on out, withinthis episode, I'm just going to
be referring to both strong manand strong women competitions as
(01:27):
strong man competitions that'swhat they are usually referred
to, the Riveter, is specificallywomen only, which is awesome.
But basically, just to makethings simpler, I'm going to
refer to it as strong man.
So the sport of strong man, Imean it can be dated back to
hundreds of years if you gettechnical with it, as far as
(01:53):
just performing feats ofstrength within a competition
setting.
The first official World'sStrongest man competition was in
1977.
So it's been around in themodern sense for almost 50 years
.
Also, many of the lifts withina strongman competition are
(02:15):
specifically to demonstratestrength and more recently
several of them have beenimplemented to show more of a
muscular endurance side ofthings.
So instead of there are sandbaglifts and Atlas stone lifts,
(02:37):
there's also medleys, which arelifting those same objects back
to back and either placing themon your shoulder, placing them
on a platform, throwing themover something, or just dropping
them once the lift has beensuccessful, but doing it back to
(02:57):
back several times, normallywith an increase in weight.
So you might start at I'm justgoing to throw something out
there, you might start at like80 pounds sandbag and you lift
that and chunk it over some formof barrier.
That's normally like chestheight, and then maybe the next
(03:19):
one will be a hundred, and thenthe third one will be 120,
fourth one 140, so on.
You know they can jump up in20s, 50 pound increments,
whatever the event coordinatorhas scheduled.
So those are Atlas stones andsandbags.
There's also other forms ofmedleys, but that's a good
(03:43):
representation for that.
A common one that a lot ofpeople really like to see is a
log press.
So these are I mean, just tosimplify it, it's almost like
the size of a telephone polethat's been chopped to slightly
longer than a standard likeOlympic weight bar.
(04:06):
They oftentimes will add weightto these, especially for the
bigger guys.
The closest thing I can reallyexplain it to is like part
deadlift, part sandbag lift,part shoulder press.
So you're going to squat down,uh, with your hand on on the
(04:30):
handlebars, uh, or the grip,whatever you want to call it,
and you're going to kind of likepartially deadlift it to get it
up into your lap area andyou're going to pull it snug to
your belly and then, as you'rekind of standing up, you're
going to roll it up your bodyand then you're standing
straight with it, um, with yourfist pointing upward, I guess at
(04:56):
this point, uh, and it's aboutshoulder height, and so from
there.
Normally you're going to pressit straight up above your head
for norm, normally forrepetitions, um, sometimes
they'll do it for like a max,max weight, just to see who can
do the most.
I'd say the the other mostcommon thing is is some form of
(05:18):
deadlift.
It can be just strict deadlifts, conventional deadlifts with
standard 45 plates, or youvehicles there's wagon wheel
deadlifts, there's a whole bunchof different stuff, but those
are some of the most commonlifts.
(05:57):
Checking out at least one or twocompetitions in person and
maybe even talking to some ofthe athletes and hopefully
finding a local gym that has atleast one person that is
familiar with the sport andhopefully they have some
implements there that can beused to train specifically for
strongman.
So, other than that trainingregimen, some people I mean,
(06:24):
especially if you don't haveaccess to the specific
implements that you'll be usinga lot of people just go with a
standard workout routine withina commercial gym, um, within a
commercial gym, um, if you're,if you're fortunate enough, um
(06:45):
and can afford it, you can go tonormally like a, a smaller,
like family owned gym orsomething like that, where there
are, you know, sometimes we'llhave a strong man group that
meets up, like on Saturdays, andthey'll lift group that meets
up like on Saturdays and they'lllift these different implements
and talk about technique andform and training and, you know,
overcoming certain weaknessesand you know all kinds of stuff
(07:07):
like that.
I would say, in my personalopinion, as far as the training
goes, it's imperative to reallyfocus on injury prevention and
management of previous injuriesor keeping track of your
strengths and weaknesses withinthe sport, because you are
(07:28):
lifting a considerable amount ofweight in comparison to
somebody that's just trying tostay fit and healthy.
That is, that's one thing thatneeds to always be, I guess,
harped on, at least from mypoint of view, a big thing for
most people, especially me,because I tend to hype myself up
(07:51):
like not even not out of fear,but just like excitedness or
whatever fear, but just likeexcited, excitedness or whatever
, like adrenaline dump butmental preparation.
So obviously, the more familiaryou are with the sport, the
more comfortable you are.
Maybe you have friends withinthe sport, um, buddies you train
with that are strong men orstrong women, um, normally, the
(08:14):
more comfortable you are withthis, the more comfortable
you're going to be at your firstcompetition.
I've I've been to a few as anon-competitor.
I've been to a few as acompetitor.
I've never really had a badexperience.
As far as social interactiongoes, within the sport,
(08:39):
everybody's typically prettyfriendly, pretty helpful,
willing to help you, even thoughyou're technically competition
against them.
So yeah, but as far as mentalpreparation goes, the the more
comfortable you are with withthe sport in general, more
comfortable you're going to beat your first competition.
So that was a big thing for mebecause I was not super familiar
(09:02):
with the.
I was super familiar as a fanof the sport.
I watched it a lot on TV as achild and teenager.
Um, I had never even workedwith any of the implements, uh,
but I had a lot of gym, gym time, gym experience and so, uh, I
(09:24):
was psyching myself out, mainlyjust because of the unknown,
basically, and not knowinganybody.
And you know, it was the newestof the new for me.
So yeah, obviously, if you aremore mentally prepared, normally
(09:45):
that's the better that you'regoing to perform, the less
likely you are to get injured,etc.
Another positive about the sportis that it is actively growing.
The community is, year afteryear, is getting larger and
larger.
There is more backing than ever.
There's more companies that arestrongman, specific or at least
(10:07):
participate within the sportand recognize it.
It is definitely growing and,especially in the mainstream,
there's been a lot more effortinto providing live stream, live
streaming capabilities forthese events and all types of
stuff, even for smaller events,so it's really an exciting time
to get in the sport or at leasteven just to be a fan of it.
(10:31):
On top of that, if you are aperson that is into social media
, then there are a lot of forlack of a better term
influencers.
They're really just competitorsthat post their training and
post helpful videos, but thereare a lot of both men and women
(10:51):
that that are, uh, doing thisfor the strong man community,
and so that's that's superhelpful and gonna just help you
get even more involved withinthe community.
So, yeah, that that about wrapsit up.
I mean, that's super basicstuff, but it is encouraged.
(11:13):
If y'all ever have any questionsabout the sport for male or
female, or you need help gettingin contact with a gym in your
area, finding people to trainwith or whatever, you can always
hit up the podcast.
Normally, the best way isInstagram.
It's at way of life podcast,but I personally will always try
(11:36):
and help y'all the main, okay.
So I often say we, um, inregards to the podcast, we are
sponsoring the event andeverything.
It's normally just mereferencing myself and my
producer, christian McLean.
So he's awesome.
(11:57):
His wife is competing at theRiveter.
Her name's Crisanta Big shoutout to her.
She's going to do great and I'mvery excited about that.
But that's what I mean when I'mreferring to we.
He helps a lot with the podcast.
Now, that is the end of theepisode, and if you've stuck
around long enough and you areinterested in receiving a custom
(12:21):
program from me specifically,basically all I want you to do
actually you don't have to doanything Uh, all you have to do
is message me on Instagram, uh,through the podcast is at way of
life podcast and say hey, gus,um, I'd like to receive some
free, a free program, or free,uh, training split or whatever.
(12:45):
And if you have somethingspecific you're trying to work
on, whether it's like focusingon your first strongman
competition, or if it's you'retrying to go for hypertrophy and
just more of an aesthetic typething, or maybe it's just
overall fitness and health, oryou're you're trying to overcome
a disease, or you know whoknows what I'm?
(13:05):
I'm not a doctor.
I'm not anything except a dudewith a lot of experience in the
gym.
I am a certified personaltrainer and a performance
enhancement specialist throughNASM, which is a national
account National Association ofSports Medicine.
(13:26):
So, yeah, so take that, takethat into consideration.
I'm not allowed to give youmedical advice or anything like
that, but really all you have todo is message the Instagram
account, however you want toword it.
Really, I'm going to do my bestto help you, and it's free.
So the number one way you canhelp the podcast is to share
(13:48):
this with a friend.
The other way is to rate andreview it.
You can check outwayoflifepodcastcom.
That has excuse me again.
That has all of the links ofhow to listen to the podcast.
It's got a merch link.
If you want to get a shirt orsomething like that, we do have
(14:09):
merch and, yeah, I'm just hereto help.
So share this with a friend, Imean, especially if they want a
program too, just send them myway.
I hope this helps everybody andI'll be talking to you all next
week.
All right, bye.
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