I’m flipping back and forth between an old football game on ESPN Classics and the World’s Strongest Man contest on ESPN. It’s interesting to look at the similarities between the strongmen competitors and football players. The training for strongman and football are actually quite similar and the athletes share some common traits:

 They’re both big, strong, fast, explosive and in excellent condition.

When WSM blew up in America, some people really jumped on the bandwagon, dismissing weight training for Strongman only training. This was a huge mistake. First of all, even the WSM guys don’t train on odd-objects alone; they also hit the weights hard.

So, then the debate became what’s best for athletes? Powerlifting? Olympic Lifting? Strongman?

It’s a rather stupid debate because the answer is yes…to all 3, plus some bodybuilding and various other styles. How can that be?

As a football player, you know that the game moves in all directions, at high speeds, and is incredibly explosive. A player needs to be strong, fast, explosive, flexible, big, and powerful. Hmm..sounds like each of the types of weight lifting I just listed.

• A good program will have roots in Powerlifting, and will have elements of Strongman, Olympic Lifting, Kettlebells, Bodybuilding, Yoga, and many other disciplines.

But, how do you add Strongman type training to your program without compromising any of the other elements of training?

Strongman is excellent for conditioning. Currently, I’m watching a Medley event. It consists of lifting and carrying a large round stone, running back, picking up a few 231lb kegs, carrying them, running back and picking up a 275lb sandbag and carrying it.

That’s a TON of work. Would that kind of work be useful to a football player? Of course, ya big dummy. A medley like that will condition you in a way that “jogging” never could.

Next up…the Truck Pull. While you may not have access to an 18-Wheeler to pull, you can pull a sled, a weighted tire, or the Prowler

Pulling sleds, cars, tires, or whatever you can move is excellent for football, especially when you do the backward pull (pictured above). While the hamstrings, glutes and calves get the bulk of the attention in football training, we can’t neglect the quads. A lot of the start-stop action and cutting done in football is powered by the quadriceps.

Pulling the sled backward will work the quads in a unique, sport efficient way. Use these on conditioning day or as a quad exercise in the weight room.