Which Gym Belt? Yes another one of these.

[RandomIndividual]

You will not understand the point until your squat is over 405. How do you plan to get it there?

Consistent training and time.

Maybach - I asked a question (not here but around with relevant people) that went along the lines of... if a powerlifter has a 300kg 1 RM and a person training strongman has say a 250kg 1 RM, wouldn't the powerlifter technically be able to lift more volume at the same weight? So for example say we reduce the weight down to 200kg and tell them to go and lift as much as they can. The powerlifter would have reduced his capable lifted weight by roughly 33% while the Strongman reduced the weight by only 20%. So logically playing with numbers on paper you would assume that the powerlifter could lift 200kg a lot more often than the Strongman because the weight he is lifting is a whole 33% lighter thus the difficulty of the 200kg would not feel as strenuous as it would for the Strongman who only dropped back 20%.

But the reply I received to this logic on paper is that in reality it does not work that way.

I was told that speaking from their experience in this field is that the powerlifter with the stronger 1 RM doesn't always beat the weaker lifter in repetitions and that is due to "Energy system bias" -Generally speaking powerlifters only train for 1RM and the energy system it biases is the ATP. ATP depletes very quickly so the strongman, although having a lower 1RM than the powerlifter is better trained in endurance and will be able to continue to pull reps even after the ATP has been depleted. On paper the strongest 1RM guy should win but thats rarely the case when it comes to rep events. This come back to rep efficiency and energy system bias, whoever has trained that energy system more effectively and can perform reps with more efficiency will win every single time.

N this is scientifically true as well. You get a runner and a powerlifter, theres no way in the world a powerlifter is going to be running a marathon. Then get the crossfit guys, there is no way in the world a powerlifter is going to be standing trying to do all the stuff they do because the endurance of powerlifters is the worst because they never train for that, they purely train for strength, whether you can lift something once or 1000 times isn't the concern of a powerlifter. Lifting once is. And even with endurance the body acts different, slow interval training develops a different stamina bias to crossfit guys who primarily burn glucose which HIIT training develop the do and because glucose stores are so low... they can a million reps in a short period of time but anything that lasts for hours they can't either. (this is all just random examples of how the body is trained to do different things and to be able to cope with what one is doing).

Strongman on the other hand is about A: Strength, but also B: How many times can you lift it. Its developing the body to have strength and endurance not just strength at the sacrifice of endurance. So perhaps if I was training for max strength last 2 years... let me rephrase that, I know if I was training purely for strength with just a barbell, I would be squatting, deadlifting and benching more than I am now because my training would have focused on those 3 lifts primarily. But I also know I wouldn't have the endurance that I now have with all the stuff I am doing either carrying yokes, sandbags, stones, logs, axel bar overheads, deadlifts and everything else for multiple reps and sets.

I am aiming for overall health and being balanced between strength and endurance. When you go to work in a physical job, its not about what you can lift once, the job goes for 8-10 hours a day, so endurance is key. What can you carry, move, lift etc for 8-10 hours straight, not just lift once and done and theres no way powerlifters have the endurance of strongman, they simply don't.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Fascinating.

[Jason Donaldson]

Everything you're saying is accounted for here: The Two-Factor Model of Sports Performance | Mark Rippetoe

Do strength training for strength. (for which the NLP is absolutely optimized), and practice your events for skill and other adaptations.

A strongman who practices his events having built a 405 squat is going to be better off than a strongman who practices his events having built a 315 squat.

Strength training will benefit your sport, but your sport will only build so much strength - it's not a two-way street.

[s.oliver]

Consistent training and time.

Maybach - I asked a question (not here but around with relevant people) that went along the lines of... if a powerlifter has a 300kg 1 RM and a person training strongman has say a 250kg 1 RM, wouldn't the powerlifter technically be able to lift more volume at the same weight? So for example say we reduce the weight down to 200kg and tell them to go and lift as much as they can. The powerlifter would have reduced his capable lifted weight by roughly 33% while the Strongman reduced the weight by only 20%. So logically playing with numbers on paper you would assume that the powerlifter could lift 200kg a lot more often than the Strongman because the weight he is lifting is a whole 33% lighter thus the difficulty of the 200kg would not feel as strenuous as it would for the Strongman who only dropped back 20%.

But the reply I received to this logic on paper is that in reality it does not work that way.

I was told that speaking from their experience in this field is that the powerlifter with the stronger 1 RM doesn't always beat the weaker lifter in repetitions and that is due to "Energy system bias" -Generally speaking powerlifters only train for 1RM and the energy system it biases is the ATP. ATP depletes very quickly so the strongman, although having a lower 1RM than the powerlifter is better trained in endurance and will be able to continue to pull reps even after the ATP has been depleted. On paper the strongest 1RM guy should win but thats rarely the case when it comes to rep events. This come back to rep efficiency and energy system bias, whoever has trained that energy system more effectively and can perform reps with more efficiency will win every single time.

N this is scientifically true as well. You get a runner and a powerlifter, theres no way in the world a powerlifter is going to be running a marathon. Then get the crossfit guys, there is no way in the world a powerlifter is going to be standing trying to do all the stuff they do because the endurance of powerlifters is the worst because they never train for that, they purely train for strength, whether you can lift something once or 1000 times isn't the concern of a powerlifter. Lifting once is. And even with endurance the body acts different, slow interval training develops a different stamina bias to crossfit guys who primarily burn glucose which HIIT training develop the do and because glucose stores are so low... they can a million reps in a short period of time but anything that lasts for hours they can't either. (this is all just random examples of how the body is trained to do different things and to be able to cope with what one is doing).

Strongman on the other hand is about A: Strength, but also B: How many times can you lift it. Its developing the body to have strength and endurance not just strength at the sacrifice of endurance. So perhaps if I was training for max strength last 2 years... let me rephrase that, I know if I was training purely for strength with just a barbell, I would be squatting, deadlifting and benching more than I am now because my training would have focused on those 3 lifts primarily. But I also know I wouldn't have the endurance that I now have with all the stuff I am doing either carrying yokes, sandbags, stones, logs, axel bar overheads, deadlifts and everything else for multiple reps and sets.

I am aiming for overall health and being balanced between strength and endurance. When you go to work in a physical job, its not about what you can lift once, the job goes for 8-10 hours a day, so endurance is key. What can you carry, move, lift etc for 8-10 hours straight, not just lift once and done and theres no way powerlifters have the endurance of strongman, they simply don't.

You are going to find this article helpful: The Two-Factor Model of Sports Performance | Mark Rippetoe
And you have partially given yourself the right answer: Strongman requires A: strength, and B: the endurance to carry out movements repeated times. Strength is built through the barbell program following a model that allows you to lift the heaviest weight possible on all lifts. It develops strength in the most efficient way - and strength is the most general adaptation you can develop that makes everything else easier. "Strongman-specific" endurance is built solely through strongman training and is - in contrast to strength - not a general but a specific adaptation. The bigger your strength base is, the more your "specific" training will benefit from it. When you combine the barbell program with any other activity, there will always be trade-offs that affect your rate and scope of strength progress. However - first things first - doing the NLP should be anyone's priority as it builds the foundation for anything you do after that. Don't start with the roof or a 'balanced approach' - build your base and start from the ground up first. There is endless information on how to run the NLP on this website. Start here: Starting Strength Training Programs
Does this help?

[Maybach]

If the number of times a person can lift a weight is limited by their metabolic adaptations (that is, their anaerobic, and to a lesser extent their aerobic, conditioning), then yes, it is theoretically possible for a person with a lighter max to lift a light weight for more reps than someone with a heavier max. This is the case for very light weights: weights which can be lifted in excess of 10 reps or so.

Absolute strength still modulates this to a great extent. Note that in your example of the 300 kg squatter and the 250 kg squatter, the 300 kg squatter can squat 250 kgs for more reps than the 250 kg squatter. When does his conditioning "kick in" to give him an advantage? 200 kg? 100 kg? I assure you, in most circumstances, it is very light, and the advantage becomes so narrow that the workout is no longer a strength workout. It becomes a *conditioning* workout, which yes, a person unadapted to will perform worse. Conditioning with the barbell exercises is an extremely stupid idea. This is not to say it will not work, but only in the sense that hammering a nail with a screwdriver will "work"

And how narrow must this strength disadvantage be? A well conditioned 250 kg squatter might be able to squat 100kg more times more than a poorly conditioned 300 kg squatter. But obviously, a well conditioned 100 kg squatter can't, because no matter how well conditioned they are, they can only squat those 100 kg for one rep. The 300 kg squatter will thus be outperforming the well conditioned squatter in all but the most aerobic activities. Until, of course, he trains his aerobic conditioning. Then that advantage will rapidly disappear.

Strength does not require that endurance be "sacrificed." Being stronger does not make you more poorly conditioned. It can, at very high levels of specialization, become difficult to accommodate the training load of both strength AND conditioning work. But this, again, only occurs at high levels of specialization. A champion powerlifter might not train his conditioning at all leading up to a meet, because the stress of conditioning work might take five pounds off his max. A marathon runner might not be able to recover from any squats heavier than 80 kg will maintaining running volume. But this is not you.

You have certainly obtained some conditioning from your activities outside of the barbell exercises. This is fine. If you have prioritized these to the detriment of your strength training, that was a silly decision, for the reasons illuminated above. The conditioning required for strongman is not so great that you must incur a conditioning load sufficient to impact your strength training. The hordes of BJJ, boxers, and football players who manage to balance these two adaptations is evidence enough for this.

As an addendum: conditioning, especially anaerobic conditioning, has a very low ceiling. You can get where you need to be in six, MAYBE eight weeks if you're silly about it. I very much doubt any improvements to your yoke carry between this time last year and now are due to long term energy systems adaptations.

Once again, your body only does two things: exert force and produce energy. Everything it does is the combination of those two things. There is no such thing as "muscular endurance", or some secret third process that helps you "lift things multiple times." If you train your ability to exert force, and your ability to produce energy, *every single thing you do becomes easier.*