Strongman Training Routines with Kettlebells

Strongman Training Routines with Kettlebells

In the past many strongmen/circus strongmen used kettlbells as part of their staple training diet, in fact a lot more than what probably do now due to the explosion of strongman competitions and strongman style training for other power/strength based athletes.

Strongman style training is basically used to hit the major muscle groups and mimick event training as closely as possible. However this style of training will more likely benefit an athlete with less limited experience in actual strongman events due to the weight of most obtainable kettlebells being around 48kg and some upto 60kg if you are lucky enough to source a supplier (for 60kg kettlebells in the UK check out londonkettlebells.com and my previous article here)

There are several exercises that I use regularly that do emulate strongman event training and really add that extra dimension to your training that you can't get from standard weight training.

Firstly all strongman training should have the Farmers Walk in it, difference is we'll be using kettlebells. No problem, just grab the weight an off you go. If you only have one kettlebell then this is fine just set off with it and keep changing sides as you go. If you need more weight then try grabbing hold of 2 kettlebells at once check out this swing video for using 2 kettlebells at once.
To make the kettlebebll farmers walk even harder wrap strips of carpet around the handle to make it fatter and work your grip even harder.

Most strongman events will also include some form of pressing. I modified the strongman press as I like to call it and incorporated kettlebells with a barbell to make if more difficult. If you don't have rubber stretch bands then rope will do the job. Check out my utube strongman kettlebell press video. If this is not possible for you grab two kettlebells and press them palms together in a log press style.



With the weight being seriously unstable it makes the weight feel so much heavier than the actual weight you are pressing.


Many strongman events also use some kind of zercher style lift (conan's wheel comes to mind)

Here is my video of the zercher kettlebell walk using similar principles as the band press.




To finish of any strongman with kettlebells workout I would recommend a loading session. Simple get as many kettlebells as you can and set them down on the floor, next find a bench or something to place the kb's upon to about 20-30 yards away. One by one run with the kettlebells and load them on to the platform and return and load some more. If you have limited kettlebells then go back and forth with the same one.

Hope you enjoy the workout/strongman style training with kettlebells

Strongman Training Routines with Kettlebells