Atlas Stone Training for Powerful Strength Results
Atlast Stone Lifting is a basic test of strength for any strongman competition, strongman workout, or for anyone interested in working major muscle groups. Try not contracting any one major muscle group like your legs, glutes, back, chest or biceps during a stone lift, and see if the stone comes off the ground- slim chance!
Listen, just because the world record atlas stone lifted for a strongwoman is over 300lbs, and the men’s world record is 529lbs doesn’t mean you can’t lift a smaller one and gain some great benefits in strength, conditioning, and motor skills.
Speaking of gains and motor skills, when I first started lifting atlas stones I dropped out deadlifts for 4 months and replaced the lift with my atlas stone training. When I went back to deadlifting, I wanted to test my strength to see where my strength was, and lo and behold, I put 50 lbs on my max! This was without doing any deadlifting for 4 months.
There are around 640 named muscles in the human body, in addition to thousands of smaller muscles that are unnamed. When I lift stones in traditional strongman style (either to a platform or the shoulder) I think of using all of these muscles at once in my body for maximum power. When you study the basic Atlas Stone lift you will also see there are very few muscle groups left out of the lift.
When you become good at stone lifting, you will be strong in several areas. You will have formed a strong or stronger body, from top to bottom. You even work the muscles in your feet. An interesting point is that the medical term for Atlas is the first cervical vertebra. You will also form stronger hamstrings, hips, lats, pectorals, rear deltoids, glutes, quads, abs, biceps, and your body should be much more efficient when going full throttle.
Atlast Stones can be lifted in the traditional manner, on top of a platform or tall barrel. They can also be picked to the high chest position and then loaded over top of a bar roughly 4 feet high or so. Of course, you can also go beyond these established marks and either shoulder the stone or you can hold it off the ground for time or carry it for distance.
Stone Lifting is phenomenally fun and of course beneficial. Make sure when you do it you warm-up, progressively work up to heavier stones, and make sure to employ proper volume and recovery strategies. This way, you will get all of the benefits of strongman stone training.
MORE INFORMATION: For more information, check out the author’s new DVD on strongman training instruction and technique, Introduction to Strongman Training. This is a spectacular strongman training resource which you can use to get all of the technical points of the training.