November Kettlebell 200 Swing Daily Challenge, Day 18, Plus Body Weight Drills

I got Stoned today. It happened innocently enough. I was at work trying to make some money and my new toy arrived from UPS. Just like a kid on Christmas day I rushed to open it and couldn't wait to play with it. Later this evening I was at the gym straining to pick up my new stone loader full of 45lbs plates (well, not quite full).Oh, I and did this super high.

Just kidding, I wanted to see if you were paying attention. You see, living in Calgary, Canada makes training outdoors very difficult at times, but as a competitive strongman I need to practice lifting stones and awkward objects on a regular basis. That is where this stone trainer came in. Even if you aren't a competitive strength athlete, you will still derive huge benefits from using unconventional objects for strength training.

Today was my first match up against the stone trainer and I have to say that I was humbled. I found it easy to get the weight off the floor, but very hard to stand upright with only 220lbs. After my first set I was already getting a pump/soreness in my upper middle back. This makes me think that the stone trainer is hitting some muscles in my back that may have been a little dormant. New stimulus often results in new hypertrophy (muscle growth), so this is pretty exciting.

So, get yourself a stone trainer or find some big ass rocks, or even a and start doing some unconventional strength work today.

Here is the workout I as an example

• Front Squat
• worked up to a max single
• Stone Loader (if you are weird and don't have a stone loader or giant rocks laying around, substitute with deadlifts while standing on a 45lbs plate)
• 5 x 5
• Swing x 200 total