Strongman Training

So I got to do the strongman thing yesterday and it was a good time. I had to drive up north of the city and met a guy named Luke who apparently competes and trains a whole lot. This guys place looked like the bachelor pad every strength trainer want. The entire basement was chalk covered plates, sandbags and bars. Outside he had two tires, Atlas stones and more.
So Sunday’s training began with yolk walk and the yolk walk began with carrying something like 800 or 900 pounds of plates upstairs and out front, great grip training. For any who may not know the yolk is basically a bar that goes across the shoulders and on either end it has a support leg that rest on the ground when not is use and is a few inches off the ground while you carry it. The weight is loaded low on the legs.
I would guesstimate that we carried it like 15 or 20 feet, not far until you get under it. We did some warmups and that kind of thing then I was able to carry it with a total weight of 550. Then he added another 150 or so pounds to it and I couldn’t move the damn thing (bare in mind that for my weight I would have like 800lbs on there for competition). Even carrying it at 550 was very similar to what i think it would be like to be crushed to death. I felt like my body wanted to double over just above the waist. It was pretty awesome.
We did a couple repetitions of that. He said anymore and your back hurts for weeks. I have to admit that mine is very tight this morning, but not painful, so I think we did just enough.
After that, he pretty much just let me poke around at his equipment. We did some log presses (no weight added, just for feel). I attempted to lift an Atlas stone and was throughly defeated. He got out the 800lb tire they use in competetition and it stayed flat on the ground for me, refusing to budge. Then he was kind enough to get out the 500lb tire which was great fun for me. I flipped it a total of 8 times and enjoyed it completely.
He had all four CoCs there. The first time I have ever witnessed a 3 or a 4. I was able to close the 2 about half way. I picked up my first ever 3″ thickbar, believe the hype, these things are bad ass. We also did some farmer carries. Again, I did very poorly here. I think I had 145ish on each one, not much at all.
All in all it was a great training day and I’m very glad I did it. I hope to do it again. Luke was pretty cool and seemed to have no problem with me tagging along. I figure I will try to make the trip every other weekend. I don’t want to become too much of a moocher, plus I like to spend some of my weekend with my wife. So I figure every two weeks is a good balance. Someday, when I get a larger apartment or a house, I will definitely be getting some of my own equipment.