all posts post new thread

Barbell Atlas Stones and Barbells

Status
Closed Thread. (Continue Discussion of This Topic by Starting a New Thread.)
JeffC

JeffC

Level 7 Valued Member
I am in week 6 of 5/3/1. I started too light and things are going well.

I recently traded for a new 20” stone that weighs 330lb. I also have a 16” 180lb and 18” 250lb.

16” is easy, 18” is moderate, and the 20” is glued to the ground.

I have been doing 5/3/1 with minimal assistance and adding the 16” stone to the end of training. Loads, cleans, shoulders, squats, stone extensions, top holds for 1-5 x 5-8.

I have been doing 5-10 singles with the 18” on non-5/3/1 days.

I don’t have tacky or a stone strap to overload the 20”. Any tips, programming, or exercises for the goal stone? I have not touched a 20” stone in over 3 years and am cautiously rebuilding the strength I have lost in the last 2 years. I have lost about 50lbs bodyweight and 30% of my max across my main lifts.
 
Last edited:
JeffC said:
I am in week 6 of 5/3/1. I started too light and things are going well.

I recently traded for a new 20” stone that weighs 330lb. I also have a 16” 180lb and 18” 250lb.

16” is easy, 18” is moderate, and the 20” is glued to the ground.

I have been doing 5/3/1 with minimal assistance and adding the 16” stone to the end of training. Loads, cleans, shoulders, squats, stone extensions, top holds for 1-5 x 5-8.

I have been doing 5-10 singles with the 18” on non-5/3/1 days.

I don’t have tacky or a stone strap to overload the 20”. Any tips, programming, or exercises for the goal stone? I have not touched a 20” stone in over 3 years and am cautiously rebuilding the strength I have lost in the last 2 years. I have lost about 50lbs and 30% of my max across my main lifts.
Click to expand...
I would have to think zerker squats, starting from the ground would work well.
 
At over 1.5X bodyweight I think I have to use tacky. It’s such a mess though.

I have a food grade belt dressing spray that may be no more toxic than cleaning up with half a can of WD-40.

Trying to not use tacky if I can. I do thoroughly enjoy stone lifting though.
 
I have used Zercher Squats before, and definitely helps stones.

Do you mean Zercher Deadlift, where you lift it from the floor in the crook of the arm?

Never tried that exercise. Could be adding at the beginning as a warmup drill, maybe with Barbell Jefferson Curls.

I believe in building strength all over. Including safely strengthening rounded back postures. I used to do a lot of Barbell Situps. Maybe that is a missing link for me?
 
watchnerd said:
Steinborn squats.
Click to expand...

I have trained Steinborn Squat before. I was doing a lot of Side Press, Bent Press, TGU, and Jefferson Deadlift at the time.

At this point though the lost flexibility, and the effort to get it back, is not worth the risk reward of that lift.

I appreciate the sentiment though. I don’t see a lot of carry over to stones than can’t be achieved with a Front Squat or Zercher Squat.
 
I have been doing a lot of Goblet Squat with Goblet Squat Curls. I now see a lot of carry over from that exercise.

I have been using it as my superset on 5/3/1 Bench Day.

I will do 5 controlled prying Goblet Squats then Curl in the bottom position for AAMRAP between sets.
 
I have never really used Dumbbell Flys. I now see value in building the chest and shoulders for crushing strength to bear hug Stones.

I added a few sets of DB Flys to the end of Bench Day. Supersetted with Chest Supported DB High Row.

Finisher
3 x (8-12)+(10-16)
 
I don't know how much advice I can give to someone training to lift a 300lb stone, never having lifted a stone even close to that... I'm sure if you've done so before, you know how to get there.

The only exercise I might add that maybe you hadn't thought of (but won't be that 'holy grail' exercise of course) would be good morning squats.
 
I loaded the 20” 330lb stone to 48” platform after two, seven week, cycles of Wendler 5/3/1 without Tacky or any specific equipment or training.

After a few weeks I could lap the stone, and Stone Holds for 10sec. I did that for four weeks at the end of Squat and Deadlift Day.

The first time I tried to load the 20” stone, I did it for 5 singles. That one moment of accomplishment is why I lift weights. I don’t get many victories in my daily life.

Moral of the story is have patience and believe your program is working.
 
Boris Bachmann said:
I don't know how much advice I can give to someone training to lift a 300lb stone, never having lifted a stone even close to that... I'm sure if you've done so before, you know how to get there.

The only exercise I might add that maybe you hadn't thought of (but won't be that 'holy grail' exercise of course) would be good morning squats.
Click to expand...

My Squat of choice for this run of Wendler 5/3/1 this time is a Powerlifting style squat. I have used Front Squat before with great results. I used the Deadlift as my driver of strength.

This time I am using the Squat for strength and the Deadlift moderately loaded.
 
@JeffC what are your squat, DL and bench numbers?
I've never lifted stones/atlas stones before, but have a trip to Iceland planned in 2 years where I at least want to earn my "Fullsterkur" with the stones at Dritvik. The heaviest stone is 154Kg/340lbs and I would like to know if I'm anywhere close to being able to lift that.

Btw I know gym numbers don't directly translate to odd objects, but I'm guessing you need to be able to squat and deadlift 1.5x the weight of the stone to have a good chance of lifting it.
 
Kettlebelephant said:
@JeffC what are your squat, DL and bench numbers?
I've never lifted stones/atlas stones before, but have a trip to Iceland planned in 2 years where I at least want to earn my "Fullsterkur" with the stones at Dritvik. The heaviest stone is 154Kg/340lbs and I would like to know if I'm anywhere close to being able to lift that.

Btw I know gym numbers don't directly translate to odd objects, but I'm guessing you need to be able to squat and deadlift 1.5x the weight of the stone to have a good chance of lifting it.
Click to expand...

I don’t have current maxes but my TM for Wendler 5/3/1 are:

P- 170lb
DL- 335lb
B- 215lb
BSQT- 315lb

My rep maxes are:

B- 205 x 12
DL- 315 x 16
P- 160 x 7
BSQT- 315 x 14

All at 6ft @ 215BW
 
When I've done stones previously (experience is still limited) with friends and acquaintances that train and compete in strongman they did a lot of front squats, box squats, Romanian deadlifts, rows and pull ups.

They believed that these lifts had a high carryover to not only stones. But also any odd object lift off the ground, including the various clean and press lifts (log, axle, stones etc).

They often said your quads, posterior chain and upper back can never be too big. Nothing can ever be too big, but those most of all.
 
Rotating front Squats, archer squats, barbell rows and upright rows will help build the muscles/patterns most used when loading an atlas stone.

But ultimately doing stones is the best thing you can do but as you mentioned, there are big weight jumps in the available stones you have.
 
Status
Closed Thread. (Continue Discussion of This Topic by Starting a New Thread.)
Back
Top Bottom