KettlebellPlanet.com

I am back in Ottawa for the Christmas holidays. While back in my home town I decided to visit an old friend and Professional Strongman, Paul Vaillancourt. Paul owns Ultimate Fitness Gym in Renfrew and Arnprior. Paul has been in the iron game for a long time and has a lot of knowledge to share up and coming strength athletes.

My focus was to really learn how to master the log press, a staple event of strongman contests. Usually I just muscle snatch the log, then clean and press it once I begin to tire out. The problem is that snatches only work when the log is 200lbs or less, and they gas me out pretty quickly. I find that my strength is then sapped due to systemic fatigue (gassed out). So I wanted to learn how to press more efficiently, both to handle more weight and beng out more reps on lighter logs.

Paul taught me a 3 step process to press the log as efficiently as possible.

1. Lap the log much like a stone, even if it is light. Have your hands pointing down, so your palms are facing your body.
2. Shoot the hips up and forward while driving your elbows high. Your wrists should pull up and back, spinning the log up your chest.
3. Rack the log, take a quick breath then drive with your legs, once the log clears your face look 45 degrees down. This will help you lock out the lock easier and maintain your balance.
1. If you can jerk the weight, do so. Use the legs to drive the log up, then immediately drop into a split snatch. Once the arms are locked out, bring the feet together.

In training bring the log down under control, it will help you build muscle. In competition use as little energy as possible on the descent. Also, even with light logs, use this technique, it will conserve energy and allow you to hit more reps. Plus, it will conserve your lower back strength, which of course is required for every event in strongman.

Here is a video of Paul working his log clean and press technique.


The workout at Ultimate Fitness looked like this:

• Mobility Drills
• Barbell Warm-up
• cleans, rows, presses, etc
• Log Clean and Press
• did a few sets with my old technique to show Paul
• singles with the new technique for 30 mins using a 200lbs log with Fat Handles
• Sandbag Lifting
• 260lbs sandbag
• carried it a while
• did a bunch of attempts at shouldering the bag
• finally shouldered it for 1 rep, really tough!
• The sandbag is great for training your stone lifting without banging up your joints
• Prowler Pushing paired with Clapping Pull-Ups
• not sure how many sets I did, just kept going back and forth until I started to cramp up

Sandbag training is awesome for strength and conditioning training. Check this out for ideas.


Nathan Donahue
http://www.kettlebellplanet.com/