I'm Jumping Ship...

[Chris Weaver]

After powerlifting for oh, 10 years or so, I think i'm ready to come over to the world of strongman! Everytime I read powerlifting forums it's nothing but negativity, bashing other lifters, the gear vs. raw debates, high squats, triple ply bench shirts, etc. I come over here and it seems like everyone is working together; giving advice and helping each other with equipment.

So I think it's time to turn in the bench shirt for some tacky and start picking up stones!

:BP:

[JustinLallemand]

After powerlifting for oh, 10 years or so, I think i'm ready to come over to the world of strongman! Everytime I read powerlifting forums it's nothing but negativity, bashing other lifters, the gear vs. raw debates, high squats, triple ply bench shirts, etc. I come over here and it seems like everyone is working together; giving advice and helping each other with equipment.

So I think it's time to turn in the bench shirt for some tacky and start picking up stones!

:BP:

Man, you are right on about the attitude. I tried getting into PLing a while back (5 years ago or so), but just couldn't get my head into the gear and all of that.

I'm definitely a relative newcomer here, but what you said about guys working together is right on. Hell, even the top guys in the world will give you pointers here and there (even though I'm sure they are flooded with emails and PM's).

I know this sport was destined to grow as it was, but you can thank Jesse, Callie, Gigi, and others for this sight that has always been the first one to keep things positive.

The great thing is everyone from me all the way up to Travis O., Derek P, Terry Hollands (and other FREAKS) all keep this going. I hope it stays this way, even after all of the growth and the larger prizes, etc. And I think it will....

Anyway - WELCOME!

[JustinLallemand]

After powerlifting for oh, 10 years or so, I think i'm ready to come over to the world of strongman! Everytime I read powerlifting forums it's nothing but negativity, bashing other lifters, the gear vs. raw debates, high squats, triple ply bench shirts, etc. I come over here and it seems like everyone is working together; giving advice and helping each other with equipment.

So I think it's time to turn in the bench shirt for some tacky and start picking up stones!

:BP:

Oh, one thing that can be difficult to do...you don't have to give up you benchpresses, but they will need to take a backseat to OHP's, among other things, lol! That's one thing I had a little trouble doing and some guys seem to have more trouble than others.

Great thing about SM, seems like there are a lot fewer objective calls (like "high squats" and all of that.) For example: the SM deadlift, you can hitch or whatever, just have to get it there, lol. But there are still a significant amount of judgement calls, it's just that the whole contest isn't usually determined by a bad call as it is likely to be in PLing.

(I had to bring up the BP deal since it seems like in the US, we have all been bench pressing since middle school. It would have been nice to have been working on OH at least half that much, lol. And we all know that Monday is "International Bench Press Day" at every gym in the US, lol.)

Alright, enough rambling from me.

[James Whisman]

Don't worry too much about your bench press. I didn't do it for 3 or 4 years when I started strongman. I recently started doing it again for the extra volume and set a 30 lb PR 3 weeks after starting back. The OHP's seem to have a good carry over.

[Todd Morales]

So are you guys saying that we shouldn't bench or we still can as long as we put more emphasis on OHP's?:confused: Maybe it's a stupid question I'm just new and I'm trying to learn everything I possibly can.

[James Whisman]

There is nothing wrong with bench press, good chest shoulder and tricep work, but all strongman pressing events are OHP based. Log, axel, stone, keg and the infamus "safe lift" are all OHP movements. Which are the same muscles as bench but require more core stability, balance and timeing with the leg drive.

[Joe Stanton]

Welcome!!!!

[Todd Morales]

Thanks man good tip I'll remember that.

[Chris E. Newton]

I had dropped bench press for over a year, and only performed incline when I did bench. However the last month or so I've added flat bench back in and I have claimed new records in all of my overhead lifts and a 335lb bench, which is insane for me because I couldn't budge 295 the last time I had benched. Always do overheads before any benching though, because like previously stated overhead press are the main focus.

[Eric Hubbard]

After powerlifting for oh, 10 years or so, I think i'm ready to come over to the world of strongman! Everytime I read powerlifting forums it's nothing but negativity, bashing other lifters, the gear vs. raw debates, high squats, triple ply bench shirts, etc. I come over here and it seems like everyone is working together; giving advice and helping each other with equipment.

So I think it's time to turn in the bench shirt for some tacky and start picking up stones!

:BP:

This is where the trolls would jump in and say, "Who's Chris Weaver anyway? You wont be missed." Seriously though, all that BS is propagated by sackless wannabes and should be ignored. At meets I have always seen other lifters helping each other out. The way I look at it is PL'ing is like calling balls and strikes in baseball, room for a lot of interpretation, and some days you get the call and some you don't. There will always be bad calls, in baseball, powerlifting, etc. and even strongman.

Now, I take offense to your high squat and triple ply shirt comment :(

[Gabriel Wells]

welcome to the board!

[Andrew.Cook]

I can certainly get behind a "Why strongman rocks" thread :D

I'll also say that I stopped benching when I started strongman and it really hurt my overhead lifts more than it helped. As someone noted, the carry over is still pretty good, and once you have the core stability stuff down your pressing can only be helped by bench press, IMO.

[Paul_Koskinen]

It's too bad when a sport becomes so saturated with hate and jealousy that it drives away perfectly talented athletes. You'll never find it like that in the world of Competitive Lawn Darts!!
:D

[Mike Landrich]

I can certainly get behind a "Why strongman rocks" thread :D

I'll also say that I stopped benching when I started strongman and it really hurt my overhead lifts more than it helped. As someone noted, the carry over is still pretty good, and once you have the core stability stuff down your pressing can only be helped by bench press, IMO.

Especially incline bench

[Chris Weaver]

Oh, one thing that can be difficult to do...you don't have to give up you benchpresses, but they will need to take a backseat to OHP's, among other things, lol! That's one thing I had a little trouble doing and some guys seem to have more trouble than others.

Great thing about SM, seems like there are a lot fewer objective calls (like "high squats" and all of that.) For example: the SM deadlift, you can hitch or whatever, just have to get it there, lol. But there are still a significant amount of judgement calls, it's just that the whole contest isn't usually determined by a bad call as it is likely to be in PLing.

(I had to bring up the BP deal since it seems like in the US, we have all been bench pressing since middle school. It would have been nice to have been working on OH at least half that much, lol. And we all know that Monday is "International Bench Press Day" at every gym in the US, lol.)

Alright, enough rambling from me.

You hit the nail on the head with the objective calls! I was actually saying the same exact thing to my buddy last night. It doesn't matter how you get the deadlift up, as long as it's up. You can't really debate a truck pull or farmers walk, either you do it or don't. It just seems like PLing has really lost it's credability in the past few years. You can't go to a competition that doesn't have 2/3 of the competitors recieving a first place metal. At one point, I did a competition and just for fun, I entered the 275 open, junior, police and fire, and raw class, and got 3 first place and 1 second place trophies. It was pretty corny. You can't even go by the rankings anymore with the denim triple ply squat suits, high squats, and 5 foot long wraps.

And I'm not too upset about the bench. I've always had a pretty crappy bench, and my OH press was pretty good, especially for never training it. What I can't believe is how weak my grip is! I've come soooooooo close to closing the #3 CoC gripper, but I am not doing so hot with farmer's walks or the Rolling Thunder handle! It's fun though!

[Anthony Esquerdo]

This is where the trolls would jump in and say, "Who's Chris Weaver anyway? You wont be missed." Seriously though, all that BS is propagated by sackless wannabes and should be ignored. At meets I have always seen other lifters helping each other out. The way I look at it is PL'ing is like calling balls and strikes in baseball, room for a lot of interpretation, and some days you get the call and some you don't. There will always be bad calls, in baseball, powerlifting, etc. and even strongman.

Now, I take offense to your high squat and triple ply shirt comment :(

Its ok erik your almost as tall as the monolifts themselves, your high squats have more room then my atg squats rofl, but banch press if for girls rofl jk