Book SummaryTactical Strongman, by Josh Bryant and Adam benShea

1-Page Summary1-Page Book Summary of Tactical Strongman

Historical Context and Evolution of Strongman Training

This section delves into the rich history of strongman and strength training, highlighting its evolution from ancient civilizations to the modern era. Bryant and benShea take us on a journey through time, showcasing the development of strength training disciplines and the emergence of strongman competitions as a distinct event.

The Beginnings of Lifting Weights and Strongman Events in Ancient Civilizations

This part delves into the earliest roots of training for strength in ancient civilizations, showcasing how weightlifting and strongman-like activities were crucial aspects of both physical culture and military preparedness.

Lifting Rocks in Greece and Egypt

According to the authors, strength-building can be traced back thousands of years, with evidence found in ancient civilizations like Egypt and Greece. In ancient Egypt, drawings depicting strength exercises date back to 2,500 BCE. The Greeks, renowned for their emphasis on physical prowess, engaged in activities like lifting stones. Archaeological digs on Thera unearthed a massive stone weighing over 1,000 pounds with an inscription boasting of its lifting by a man named Eumastas. This illustrates that stone lifting, a staple of modern strongman competitions, has been a test of strength for millennia.

Practical Tips

• Incorporate storytelling into your strength training sessions by imagining the historical context of each exercise. As you perform movements that resemble those from ancient Egyptian drawings, create a narrative in your mind about the daily life of individuals from that era. For example, while doing a lifting exercise, visualize building a pyramid or carrying water from the Nile. This can enhance your engagement with the workout and provide a mental escape, making the exercise more enjoyable and meaningful.
• Create a modern-day 'agoge' by setting up a personal challenge course that includes stone lifting along with other ancient exercises like sprinting, jumping, and wrestling with a willing partner. This can be a fun way to engage with friends or family members in a physical and competitive manner, fostering both community and personal fitness.
• Engage with local history by identifying and visiting sites of historical significance in your area, focusing on those that display artifacts or recount tales of human strength and endurance. Take photos, sketch, or write about your experiences to connect with the past in a tangible way, similar to how learning about Eumastas might inspire appreciation for historical achievements.
• Incorporate stone lifting into your existing workout routine by using landscaping stones or purchased rockery stones from a garden center. Substitute traditional weights with these stones for exercises like deadlifts, carries, or squats. This adds variety to your workouts and can improve grip strength and overall functional fitness.

Strongmen Like Milo of Croton Showed Progressive Overload Training

The authors use the legendary Greek athlete Milo from Croton to explain the principle of gradually increasing overload. Milo, who won the Olympic wrestling championship on six occasions, is said to have gained his incredible strength by hoisting a calf onto his shoulders daily. As the calf became larger, so did Milo's strength, exemplifying the concept of incrementally adding stress to the body while training. This progressive approach, starting with manageable...

Tactical Strongman Summary Benefits and Rationale For Strongman Training

This section delves into strongman training's advantages, highlighting its effectiveness as a full-body conditioning method and its unique carryover to various real-world demands. The authors present a compelling argument for incorporating strongman into workout programs, citing its advantages over traditional gym-based weightlifting.

Strongman Exercises for Practical, Whole-Body Conditioning

According to the authors, strongman exercises go beyond merely lifting heavy weights. It's a highly functional training method that efficiently develops strength, power, and endurance while enhancing core stability, grip strength, and mobility in multiple planes of motion.

Improved Muscular Power, Stamina, and Metabolic Conditioning

Bryant and benShea emphasize the unique advantages of strongman workouts. It improves muscular power, crucial for generating force quickly, and enhances endurance of strength, allowing you to exert strength over extended periods. Furthermore, strongman activities demand significant metabolic conditioning, pushing your heart and circulatory system and increasing calorie expenditure, leading to improved physique. This combination makes strongman...

Tactical Strongman Summary Proper Warm-Up and Execution of Key Strongman Events

This section focuses on the essential aspects of warming up for strongman training and provides a comprehensive guide to executing four key strongman competitions: the yoke, farmer's walks, atlas stone, and log press. The authors prioritize safety, emphasizing proper form instead of velocity and recognizing technical failure as failure. They also explain how to adjust the training variables to achieve desired training effects, including technical improvement, maximal strength, building muscle, and overload.

Importance of Comprehensive Pre-Workout Routine for Strongman Athletes

Bryant and benShea emphasize the importance of a thorough warm-up specific to the demands of training for strongman. The purpose is not just to increase body temperature and blood flow, but to also prime the nervous system, improve flexibility, and prepare your body for the heavy, awkward weight and intense physical exertion.

Activation and Mobility Exercises

The authors recommend a two-pronged approach to warming up, beginning with a routine to increase body temperature, followed by stretches to enhance flexibility and activate key muscle groups. They recommend avoiding stretches where you...

Tactical Strongman Summary Adapting Strength-Based Exercises to Commercial Gym Settings

This section addresses the challenge of incorporating strongman workouts into a setting without specialized equipment. Bryant and benShea acknowledge that gaining entry to a dedicated strongman facility is not always feasible but offer a range of alternative exercises that can be performed in a standard commercial gym, highlighting their benefits and specific execution techniques.

Strongman Exercises at Standard Fitness Centers

The authors acknowledge that training for strongman activities at a conventional fitness center requires adaptations and creative solutions. They provide a series of substitute exercises, making it possible to experience the advantages of training like a strongman even without dedicated equipment.

Creative Use of Tools to Simulate Strongman Movements

The authors advocate for creatively replacing strongman equipment. For example, they suggest using overhead deadlift holds to build grip strength instead of dedicated grip events. Instead of using a dedicated apparatus for the crucifix exercise, they advise using dumbbells for this exercise. They also recommend using a trap bar deadlift farmer's walk to substitute traditional farmer's walk...

Tactical Strongman Summary Strongman Competitions: How to Participate

This section delves into the intricacies of strongman competitions, covering the intricacies of event formats, scoring systems, and strategies for maximizing performance. Bryant and benShea also offer practical tips for preparing for strongman competitions, including training recommendations, psychological techniques, and essential gear considerations.

Structure and Scoring of Strongman Contests

Bryant and benShea demystify strongman competition, explaining that event formats, rules, and equipment can vary between individual contests. They emphasize the adaptable nature of strongman, highlighting the importance of thorough preparation and attentiveness during rules briefings to ensure success on competition day.

Event Formats, Equipment Specifications, and Rules Enforcement

While strongman contests generally aim to test participants' strength, power, and endurance through a series of feats involving heavy weightlifting and movement of unconventional objects, the authors explain that the specifics can change from one competition to the next. The number and types of challenges, the heaviness of implements, and even the rules governing execution can be subject to...

Tactical Strongman Summary Specific Training Programs for Strongmen Aiming for Strategic Goals

This section delivers two distinct exercise regimens designed to improve practical strength, cardio fitness, and mental resilience. The authors provide detailed training schedules, exercise advancements, and guidelines on intensity tailored for those seeking to achieve peak tactical performance.

The Tactical PHA Program: An Intense Circuit Training Approach

Bryant and benShea's Tactical Peripheral Heart Action program is a grueling, high-intensity circuit-based approach to fitness. It prioritizes compound movements, significant loads, and minimal rest periods. They emphasize that this plan isn't suited for the faint of heart and requires strong physical preparedness and mental fortitude to properly execute.

Peripheral Heart Action (Pha) Training Principles and Applications

The authors explain that Tactical PHA training draws upon the principles of Peripheral Heart Action (PHA) training, a method popularized by legendary bodybuilder Bob Gajda in the 1960s. PHA focuses on minimizing the intervals between exercises while strategically alternating between upper and lower body movements to keep blood circulating throughout the body, enhancing cardiovascular conditioning...