Secret Strongman Training Method

This month makes exactly 2 years since I had begun training for Strongman Competitions. I’ve added over 50 lbs. of muscle and practically doubled my strength since then, God’s honest truth!

It was in April of 2007 that I met Tom Mitchell at a CrossFit seminar in Sarasota Florida.  Tom is a massive, 300 lb. Masters Heavyweight Champion in the Strongman Sport.  He is your typical “Southern Bad-Ass” that will pick a fight with a cop on Saturday and then preach the Word Of God on Sunday.  His mere presence DEMANDS attention and respect.

At the conclusion of the seminar Tom had invited me to train at his home the following weekend.  Of course, I took him up on his offer to train with “odd objects” like stones, kegs and tires… stuff that I had never done before but found myself instantly intrigued and attracted to.

My first time training with Tom was brutal! He had me carry a 600 lb. Yoke, flip a 700 lb. tire, load his 225 stone, AND load his 315 keg FOR MULTIPLE SETS!!!! — The amount of so-called “exercise” that this man had me doing on my first day of Strongman Training was psychotic.  I had been training all of my life and had very rarely experienced the type of beating that this mans style of training put on my entire muscular and nervous system… heck, even my BONES hurt for days after this session.

Tom was a Champion Masters Strongman — where I was only a young, under trained personal trainer, so I had no intention or desire to question the mans methods.  My only desire was to absorb every word of his message and come to understand his methods for training.  I simply kept my mouth shut and did as he instructed.  Occasionally I would ask questions, but only for clarification.

By the way, in the Strongman Sport, Tom is known for being completely brutal and unsympathetic. (I have adopted much of my coaching style from him) The Strongman Shows that he promotes are often under attended by competitors due to the fact that “His weights are just TOO HEAVY” and “He doesn’t let us use ‘tacky’ and other supports that most promoters allow”.

From that week forward I would join Tom at his home every Saturday for training.  And each week he would have me train with many of the same implements but he would challenge me in 1 of 3 different ways each week. – Now, this is where I started to see the Method to his Madness!!!

Here is how it would work… if we were training Stones for example, Tom would have me complete something like 5 sets of 5 reps for a total of 25 reps the first week (pretty normal huh?)  BUT on the following week he would have me complete the same amount of reps (25), however I’d like — granted that they were completed in LESS TIME than it took the week before.  This was the first way that Tom used “Escalating Density” to help me get super strong, super fast.

The following week Tom might increase the amount of reps that I completed from 25 to say 30.  BUT I was expected to still complete the reps in the same amount of time as the week before!

And finally, Tom would then give me a bigger stone and expect me to complete the same amount of reps as the week before in the same amount of time! — very rarely was the evolution as smooth as I just described but understanding what was expected of me from week to week made training much more challenging and fun.  Also, it made for incredible strength and muscle building gains in a VERY short period of time.

Now, I’m sure you’re asking yourself… “Elliott, this sound like a great method — I wish I had a similar program that I could follow that would help me get stronger and bigger FAST!”

Well, after doing some research I discovered that what Tom had instinctively understood and utilized to make himself and 4 other Strongman competitors champions was being packaged and sold on the Internet a guy named Charles Staley.  Many of you may be familiar with Charles from reading T-Nation, but I had no clue who he was and simply thought that he must have stolen Tom’s training method and is not capitalizing on it for profit!

Well, after further investigation it turns out that Charles was a really “stand-up” guy and takes tons of pride in his work with athletes and fitness clients. I even decided to invest in his “Escalating Density Trainging” DVD that is a virtual outline of EVERYTHING that Tom Mitchell taught me.  The only difference is that Tom used this method of Strongman Training and Charles is a trainer to team sports athletes and fitness.

I found it very useful to see all of the truths about this type of old school, hard core training that my friend Tom did in his garage with stones and yokes expalined and packaged in such a manner that anyone could understand and use the info immediately.

I am not a big fan of many of the so-called gurus and celebrity trainers on the Internet but I am very impressed with Charles’s stuff and highly recommend grabbing a copy of his “Escalating Density Training” DVD package.

If you’re smart enough, and TOUGH enough to give this type of training a try make sure you click my affiliate link below to read Charles’s website and grab a copy for yourself.

Check it out ==> http://hulsestrength.com/recommends/EDTTraining

Look, there are only a handful of coaches and trainers that I believe have the knowledge and the guts to teach training methods that defy convention.  This stuff produces results and is the essence of NO BS.

Check it out ==> http://hulsestrength.com/recommends/EDTTraining

By the way, nex weekend I am competing in what I hope will be my last Strongman show as an amature.  The winner here takes home his Pro-Card, so this will be a big week for me.  If by any chance you are in Florida and want to come an check this awesome event out give me a hollar! (just shoot me an email or comment below) — I’d love to meet up with you after the show.