Lessons in Grip Training, Part 1

Beginning to Accomplish Feats of Strength

After dropping the farmers handles before the finish line for the second time in a  strongman competition I started looking for ways to improve my grip and for some reason that meant doing more than heavy farmers. I knew nothing about grip training except what people had told me and that was limited to wrist rollers and grippers. So I started looking around online to see what the best of the best did for grip and I found a whole world of training that I still, two years later, have just begun to scratch the surface of. 

Like any ignorant beginner, I watched some videos and read some blogs and quickly looked around to see what I could emulate. We had an Ironmind Rolling Thunder at the gym as well as axle bars. We had some grippers too. But I wanted to do something a little extra so I went to Duane Reade and bought some playing cards. This was to be my first "feat of strength." 

Over and over I watched Adam Glass tear mini decks in seconds. I saw another vid of lightweight pro strongman Zack McCarley tear two decks. I gleaned what I could from these and humbly started with a suit and continued to add 4-5 cards a day until I reached a full deck. It took me about 4 weeks to get through a whole deck but it was braced, meaning the deck was against my body. Then I started tearing away from my body and it was about two months until I could tear a deck in that fashion. 

I learned that all decks are not created equal. Duane Reade's Play Right brand was like tissue paper compared to Bicycle; and Bee, found in all the bodegas of NYC, was a total bitch. Even stranger still was the variances between decks of the same brand so every now and then my decks from Duane Reade would put up greater resistance.

I also learned that frequency was everything. If I tore every day or every other day I could eventually get through decks in about 30 seconds even with Bicycles. The video below was taken about five months after I started tearing and my frequency was not as high as it was a couple months before. It took me about a minute which among grip specialists is analogous to a year.

I will be much stronger in my next grip video. And bearded.

I wasn't limiting my adventure to cards. I pursued a second "feat of strength": nail bending. Shortly after I bought my first deck of cards I ordered my first bag of nails. When it arrived I watched some more YouTube videos and went to work. At first I wanted to bend with the reverse grip method since it was the hardest, requiring tremendous hand and wrist strength. This involves stabilizing the nail with one hand while the other hand takes an opposing grip and pulls it back over the top of your stabilizing thumb. It took a minute of straining to go back to a double overhand grip because I wanted to bend the heavier nails in my lifetime. 

Pat Povilitis can twist your head off.

Starting with the color coded Ironmind nails I found the White and
Green too easy and the Yellow really damn hard. It took me a couple of weeks to bend a Yellow and a few more weeks after that to bend the Blue. 

That left the imposing Red nail and that wasn't going anywhere. 

I soon ordered more nails and some bolts from Fat Bastard Barbell Co. to fill in the gap between the Blue and Red nails.  I organized and labeled them all from easiest to hardest and went to work again. This time, I managed to get to a grade 5 bolt and then to a grade 8 bolt.

Blue and Yellow nails among the lesser grades, some cards, and IronMind wraps.

Frequency was everything, but now it was hindering progress. After all this tearing and bending, spanning a solid six months, I started to accumulate lots of pain by overtraining.  

My method of bending, double overhand, put a tremendous stress on the tendons and joints of my upper body.  A lot of the action was isometric because a lot of the time I failed to bend the next hardest nail or bolt. My elbows and shoulders began to hurt at the joints. 

I tore my cards by stabilizing, or choking, the deck with my left hand and peeling the top off with my right hand. This looks like a heavy, tense cross body concentration curl. My right brachioradialis was killing me. My weight training was beginning to suffer. Picking up stones hurt. Pressing hurt. I had to lay off my destructive ways.

Now, I should reiterate that I did all of this to help me become a better strongman athlete. Instead I became an achy strongman athlete with some average "feats of strength" to impress the family at Christmas. And none of the things I bent and tore helped me with farmers...

This all leads me to my point and the subject of the next part of this article, which I will post soon:

1. Prepare your body for grip training before you delve into it. Adjust your training volume and intensity to handle the stress of grip work. I must add that bending and tearing was not a waste of time and didn't make me weaker, but overtraining did. The point: prepare yourself for added stressors and don't overtrain!

2. Understand that there are different types of grip strength and being good at one modality doesn't ensure success with another.

3. Success in grip sports like any endeavor takes a long time and a lot of hard work. This point, however obvious, always seems to get lost on us.

Lots of hard work and then two hours with Chris "Wonder" Schoeck and I destroyed more steel and cards than I thought possible. RSVP now for Chris' seminar at Global Strongman Gym on August 17.

If you want to accomplish some "feats of strength"of your own or get into grip training, check out these sites first:

Diesel Crew (Jedd Johnson)

Adam Glass

Chris "Wonder" Schoeck (Chris is the subject of the documentary Bending Steel and is featured in the NY Times and NY Post. Also, contact us at Global Strongman Gym to RSVP for his first seminar.)

Ironmind

The Gripboard (forums with tons of links and info)

10 Tips for New Strongmen and Strongwomen

Strongman is rapidly growing and whether or not you plan to compete or plan to spice up your current training program, every beginner seems to make the same mistakes.  Though there are more than what I have listed below, I think these 10 are good to start with.

1. Curling the stones. 

After you lap an atlas stone and prepare to load it, it is imperative that you adjust your hand position. You need to put them over the stone with your elbows pointing out and slightly upward. If they are pointing down, you are going to use too much biceps power and put yourself at high risk for a tear. Don't curl the stones!

For more info on stone training, check out this old post: 

http://powernyc.blogspot.com/2014/03/atlas-stone-training.html

2. Curling the log

This is similar to the above in that you don't want to put undue stress on your biceps. When the log is lapped, the handles are facing upward and are slightly turned out. Sit back so the top of your abdominals touches the log. Pull the log in while pushing your stomach out. Now extend your hips violently maintaining that upper body tightness and the log should roll right up onto the top of your chest. 

When you mess this up, you don't pull the log in with your lats and it separates from your core on the clean. This forces your biceps to make up the slack. This will hurt when done over and over again.

3. Yoke height

If you set the pin too high you will be risking dragging and dropping it. If you set it too low, you now have to do too much of a squat to pick it up. That can be taxing and it takes more time to get moving.

While there are many kinds of yokes you will use, I suggest you write down your heights on the Bigg Dogg and Rogue yokes since you will likely see these at some point during the contest year.

4. Learn to continental clean

Lots of guys and gals can Olympic clean and can do so very well. They can rip an axle up to their shoulders without issue and push press or jerk the weight with little effort. The catch is that this is not always possible. In a medley or a press for reps, the weight is often light enough to get away with this. I assume the weights for reps and medleys are supposed to be about 70-80% of most of your maxes. When the weight is above that range, the Olympic clean will only serve very few when using the axle.

My advice is to practice continental cleans from the get go. This is related to a later point: don't just train what you are good at. It takes time to improve on new movements and this clean will be a challenge. But if you're going to be the last man or woman left standing at the end of a max axle press, you're going to need the proper technique. Continental!

5. Squats

I know we all love to back squat but there is a new boss: front squats. As most of your events are front loaded and forcing you to use about a shoulder width stance, the front squat will serve you best in preparation. It will also put more stress on your quads and give your back a break since deadlifts, yoke, farmers, stones, Continental cleans, etc will already put a tremendous amount of stress on your back during the training week.

6. Paleo, intermittent fasting, carb back loading, etc

I will not rip each of these but let's think about their purpose: aesthetics. You should eat with purpose and mine is to be as strong as possible. I don't eat like shit but these are my staples: chicken, beef, turkey, eggs, rice, potatoes, yams, oatmeal, kale, spinach. Eat well, eat balanced, don't skip meals, don't pretend you live in an era of comestible paucity, and you will be better off for it.

Here is a brief write up on my nutrition: http://powernyc.blogspot.com/2014/04/cheap-meal-preparation-for-lifters.html

7. Cardio

I know the lighter guys and gals don't have as many problems as the bigger competitors do, but nobody should ignore this. I posted on how to get started with cardio for strongman before:   http://powernyc.blogspot.com/2014/05/cardio-for-strongman.html 

The basic idea is that we need to have all 3 energy systems working efficiently to ensure optimal performance. Don't skip it especially if you are gaining weight.

8. Not adjusting your overall training volume

When I started strongman I lifted six days a week. I love training. Naturally I just revised my program and did strongman on one day and kept training six days a week. That didn't feel good. That really did a lot for giving me chronic overuse injuries that have never seemed to go away.  Modulate your volume to ensure recovery now that your loads are heavier and that you are spending more time under tension.

9. Not prioritizing your weaknesses

Too many people dally about with the same exercises and same rep ranges and never think critically about what is keeping them from making to the next level. We all have weaknesses and those are a good start to build your training plan from. Press sucks? Try doing it first in the week with lighter weights to improve technique and higher reps to build more muscle. Deadlift sucks? Try different angles like block and deficit pulls. Do lots of rows to beef up your upper back and stiff leg deads for your shitty hamstrings. Slow? Try agility drills in your warmups and do light events for speed. Increase the weight while maintaining speed. And on and on.

10. Bodyweight

Last I checked there are no wilks scores for strongman. Worry about getting stronger, adding more muscle, getting faster, and let the weight take care of itself.

If You're Not Going to Reno...

Buzz about the 2014 Amateur Strongman Nationals in Reno has spread across the Internet and thus the country now that we know the events and weights for October 4. Many will qualify and attend this year, likely breaking whatever the previous attendance record has been in recent years.  Many qualified athletes, however, will not attend, unable to afford the trip. Many more will not qualify at all.

If you are not going, I think the best thing to do is to continue competing. And I don't mean hide out in the novice division. Do contests that challenge you, and that, even better, have your worst events.  When you cherry pick your contests based on your strengths you are just postponing the inevitable ass whipping that is coming your way.

By continuing to compete and perform your worst events, what you accomplish is twofold. Obviously, you will focus on the events that are your worst. Perhaps not so obvious, but more importantly, you will gain the extra contest experience that likely separates you from the top or even middle of your weight class. 

It takes many competitions for some to gain the maturity to deal with contest pressure, with the yelling, with being on the clock, with competing for points, with crowds, with adrenaline and anxiety. The goal is to come in composed and to treat the competition like any other day. Eat the same breakfast, wear the same gear, do the same thing you did in the gym to prepare.

After you compete at least one or two more times and hopefully a minimum of 4 times that year you can begin your offseason with the goal of qualifying. You should have a handful of contests under your belt, you should know your strengths and weaknesses, and you should take a moment to be honest with yourself about how you will get better. 

The scorecards don't lie when there are a number of them to read. You know the formula and you know where your points are coming from: pressing, deadlifting, moving speed, moving endurance, and loading.

It is possible to not be terrible at any of them but evenly mediocre across all five categories. In this case, your offseason plan can simply focus on rotating through events to get more practice while making sure to hit gym lifts hard and bring up overall strength. 

If you one of those categories is well behind the others, then you need to prioritize that in your training. For example, if pressing is a weak point you can move it to first in your training week when you're most fresh. You can add an extra day or extra volume to your one day. You might discover some mobility or core issues are keeping your shoulders from obtaining the optimum position and then you will attack those. There are of course myriad ways to go about it.

If you want to know how I know all this, it's because I have gone through it. After my first year of competing, I felt I was sufficiently mediocre across the board. I rotated all my events, got bigger and stronger, and even went up a weight class. My placings went down but my strength was up. I was performing better with heavier weights. However, new weaknesses that I didn't know I had couldn't be masked by the lighter weights I was moving in the lighter division. 

I spent the first half of that year focusing on one weakness, pressing, before turning to another, deadlifting. This competition season my placings have improved and I qualified for Nationals. But there is now another more glaring weakness that is coming to the forefront and is now the focus of my training...

After nationals, I, like everyone else, will sit down and look at the scores and look at the videos and be brutally honest with myself. I will probably confer with a few trusted others to verify my conclusion. Then I will start the process all over again.

Improving Deadlifts: More of These, Lots of Those, Bigger You

Whether you're a strongman, powerlifter, crossfitter, or gym bro, you probably want a bigger deadlift. If you're willing to put in the time and work, here are some things that I learned over the course of my training.

More volume. 

Programs such as Cube Boss, Coan-Phillipi, Ort-Mag are not magic formulas. They simply prescribe more volume than you are used to. Cube Boss uses a variety of deadlifts and multiple sets giving you the bulk of your volume by actually deadlifting. Coan-Phillipi really just makes you do explosive sub max work and a variety of assistance work. Ort-Mag pushes you to do more reps. Think about why these programs work and what you need before you try them.

More reps. 

I pulled heavy singles for a while and noticed I always used the same weight. That's because heavy singles didn't help. I started doing reps but they were touch and go and my max still stayed the same. So that didn't help either. Dead stop reps from the floor finally got my numbers moving again. I tend to work in the 3-6 range. This will do a lot for your starting strength than singles or touch and go reps.

More rows. 

Your back just isn't big enough. Pull-ups are great but you need rows. Barbell rows and dumbbell rows are best. Use heavy weights here and do lots of reps. 

Leg press. 

Don't be afraid to use this machine to put size and strength on your legs.

Grip. 

Farmers carries are best because they train support grip. This is the kind of grip you need for deadlifting. Crushing grip and pinch grip don't really help so much here so put the grippers and shit away unless you want to be good at grippers.

Hamstrings. 

Put some more meat on your backside and use straight leg deadlifts, leg curls, and GHRs. Like the rows, train these heavy. 

Angles. 

This is related to deficits but experiment with different heights and variations. I found 4" block pulls helped me in the past. Unfortunately 18"/rack pulls only made me better at 18"/rack pulls, which is great for strongman when the event shows up. Sumo deadlifts can help too.

My favorite, however, is deficit deadlifts. The longer range of motion means more power off the floor and those extra 2" make the top end a real treat to lockout too. I find that being more powerful at the initiation of the lift does more for my lockout than any hip thrust does.

Strongman effect. 

Strongman training can make your back big and strong in new ways. Lifts such as stones, farmers, and yoke tax the musculature in new ways, particularly because of the increased time under tension of these lifts. It's not uncommon for a new strongman trainee to see a huge improvement in their deadlift by virtue of training events hard.

That's the bulk of my general thoughts on improving your deadlift. If you read some of my other training articles you will see the same theme: more reps and more volume and building more muscle pays off. Good luck.

New to Strongman and Pressing is not your Forte?

If you want to compete in strongman and your press is a liability, here are 10 points for you to think about in your training:

1. A big lift is not going to happen overnight. It can take years of work to make it happen.

2. If you are working your press or any other weak lift with increased frequency and volume make sure to stay on top of your mobility and flexibility. 

3. If you have bad leg drive, try front squats and thrusters. If you have good leg drive and compete in strongman, you should still do front squats.

4. Rotate the implements so you always keep your technique fresh and you avoid overuse injuries by not repeating the exact same thing every week.

6. Gain a little weight or drink some creatine before you lift. Increase surface area of the muscle and increase force production.

7. If a contest is coming up and you are expected to rep out with your max, don't try to press your max every week. Set the weights a little lower, get some reps and get stronger. You're not winning that event but you don't want to bomb it because you trained like an idiot.

7b. Here is sample scenario: If you have to clean and press every rep for a minute, work on speed from 8 to 5 weeks out. Do this after your rep sets and use the same weight. Try to get 3 reps as fast as possible and beat your time with more weight each week with progressively heavier weights.

Then weeks 4-1: drop the speed work and clean and press for a minute. Drop the weights down a bit and work back up to contest weight or above. Remember this is advice for someone that is not particularly good at this event. Strong pressers you do this differently.

8. Don't forget assistance work: floor press, incline press, bench press, deltoid raises, military press, Savickas press, triceps work. Note your progress on these and guage if they help your event pressing.

9. Again work on your mobility and flexibility and be vigilant about imbalances. 

10. If you really suck, research oly lifting drills and learn to jerk the weight. To start, pick 3 drills that work for you and do the shit out of them until you begin to perform them in your lifts. 

What Program Should I Do?

Recently I have been asked by several different people in several unrelated settings if they should do 5x5 or 5-3-1. I told them to do neither. I understand these programs serve a purpose in giving someone a means to progress on basic movements.  I understand they are easy to follow for someone who is new to lifting. It should go without saying, however, that the best programs are individualized and prioritize the trainee's or athlete's weaknesses. This is the basic idea behind exercise choice in a Westside template and the reason why the more serious lifter will often graduate from 5-3-1 to something like Westside. But I'm already digressing...

To return to the question, I want to think about the one asking the question. There are some common traits among the people who ask what program they should do. They are usually younger and inexperienced lifters who lack both size and strength. This leads me, perhaps even unfairly, to some circular, vicious circle of reasoning in that they not only do 5x5 and 5-3-1 because they want to get bigger and stronger, but they are also slight and feeble because they do 5x5 and 5-3-1.

I should add, at the risk of weakening my argument, that I have seen people make gains on 5-3-1 but these guys used the Boring But Big template and did 5 sets of 10 reps for their squats, deadlifts and presses. Other guys I have seen go crazy on other lifts because they said the 5-3-1 format doesn't give them enough volume.

Volume is the key word here. It is the volume that will pack on size and strength and that is why I will list below the training routines of some of the world's strongest and largest men who happen to have a high volume, high frequency approach to training. So, if your training is not geared towards a specific weakness but the fact that you are weak all around and lack the muscle to move bigger weights, soak up the following routines and look for the common traits.


Bill Kazmaier



Monday
Bench (heavy) warm up, then 4 sets x 10 reps
Wide Grip Bench 3 sets x 10 reps
Narrow Grip Bench 3 sets x 10 reps
Front Delt Raise 4 sets x 8 reps
Dumbell Seated Press 4 sets x 10 reps
Side Delt Raise 4 sets x 10 reps
Lying Tricep Push (after 2 warm up sets) 6 sets x 10 reps
Tricep Push Down 4 sets x 10 reps

Tuesday
Squat (heavy) warm up, then 4 sets x 10 reps
Deadlift (light) warm up, then 3 sets x 10 reps
Shrugs 2 sets x 15-40 reps, 1 set x 10-20 reps
Seated Hammer Curls 4 sets x 12 reps
Standing Curl 4 sets x 10 reps
Close Grip Chin Ups 3 sets x max on each set
Seated Row 4 sets x 10 reps
Leg Extensions 3 sets x 10 reps
Leg Curl 3 sets x 10 reps
Calf Raise 3 sets x 15-25 reps

Thursday
Bench (light) warm up, then 3 sets x 10 reps
Wide Grip Bench 3 sets x 10 reps
Narrow Grip Bench 3 sets x 10 reps
Dumbell Seated Press (heavy) warm up, then 4 sets x 8 reps
Front Delt Raise 4 sets x 10 reps
Tennis Backhand Cable Extensions 4 sets x 10 reps
Prone Tricep Extension 4 sets x 10 reps

Saturday
Deadlift (heavy) warm up, then 4 sets x 8 reps
Squat (light) warm up, then 4 sets x10 reps
Shrugs (heavy) 4 sets x 10-15 reps
Seated Hammer Curl 4 sets x 8 reps
Concentration Curl 4 sets x 12 reps
One Arm Row – 3 positions 3 sets x 10 reps
Wide Grip Pull (down to chest) 4 sets x 10 reps
Leg Extensions 3 sets x 10 reps
Leg Curl 3 sets x 10 reps
Calf Raise 3 sets x 15-25 reps
(Ab Work When Possible)

Jon Pall Sigmarsson



Monday
Squat (5-6 reps)
Bench Press (5-6 reps)
Leg work
Chest/Tri work

Tuesday
Deadlift (5-6 reps),
Back/Bicep work

Wednesday
Clean and Press (5-6 reps)
Push Jerks (triples)
Shoulder work

Thursday
Olympic Squat (7-10 reps)
Bench Press (7-10 reps)
Leg work
Chest/Tri work

Friday
Sumo Deadlift (triples)
Back/Bicep work

In summer
Running, grip and stone lift added, singles in deadlift and clean and press.

Magnus ver Magnusson



Monday
Military Press
Bench Press
Chest work
Shoulder work
Triceps work

Tuesday
Bent Over Rows
High Pulls
Back work
Bicep work

Wednesday
Squat (one week powerlifting, next week Oly style)
Step-ups (10 per leg), then Leg Presses for one minute
Stiff Legged Deadlift (double overhand grip-no straps)
Leg work

Thursday
Bench Press
Press Behind Neck
Chest work
Shoulder work
Triceps work

Friday
Partial Deadlift
Hammer Curls
Back work
Bicep work 

Mostly 5-8 reps, before comp brings deadlifts in and goes to 10 reps on squats and 3-5 reps on military and bench. Every exercise done very strict.

Mariusz Pudzianowski



Monday

Morning Training Session
 Back Squat:
Warm-up – 8 sets, pyramiding from 60 to 160kg
Work sets – pyramiding from 160 to 280kg, reps going from 6 down to 2
Mariusz performs his squats olympic-style, he uses knee wraps and a belt.
 Leg Curl, 6 sets of 20 reps
 Leg Extension, 6 sets of 20 reps
 Pull Up, 6 sets of 15 reps
 Chin Up, 6 sets of 10 reps 
Behind-the-neck Pulldowns, 4 sets of 15 reps
 Barbell Rows, 4 sets of 15 reps 
Abs
6 sets of 30 reps exercises used (haging leg raise, bends, various)

Afternoon Training Session
 Sandbag Carry (130kg on back) 3 times 170 meters
 Conan’s Wheel (290kg) 3 times 2.5 revolutions
 Tire Flip 3 sets of 10 flips

Tuesday

Morning Training Session
 Front Squats, work up to 250
 Calf Work, 6 sets of 15 reps
 Standing Military Press, Warm-up sets – 7 sets of 60 to 100kg
Work sets – 6 sets pyramiding up from 110, 120, 130, 140kg for 5-4 reps
 Deadlifts, Warm-up sets – 6 with 200kg
Work sets – work up to 300kg
 Good Mornings, 8 sets with 100kg

Afternoon Session
 Bushman’s Walk, 300 kg 3 x 15 meters
 Presses with Machine Used in Competition, 3 sets of 10 reps with 120kg
 Parallel Crucifix, Hold 40kg weights for 30 seconds

Wednesday
 Morning Training Session
 Bench Press, Warm-up sets – work up to 180kg in 8 sets
Work sets – work up from 150kg to 220kg, going from 8 down to 2 reps
 Barbell Extensions, work up to 80kg
 Standing French Press

Afternoon Training Session
 Same as Monday but add power stairs and parallel stairs 
Same as Monday but add power stairs and parallel stairs

 And here is the routine of a bodybuilder who was big and strong, Sergio Oliva



Monday 
Bench Press supersetted with Chinning Bar.
Set 1. Bench Press 200 x 8, 15 reps on chinning bar
Set 2. Bench Press 220 x 8, 15 reps on chinning bar
Set 3. Bench Press 260 x 8, 10 reps on chinning bar
Set 4. Bench Press 300 x 8, 10 reps on chinning bar
Set 5. Bench Press 320 x 8, 8 reps on chinning bar
Set 6. Bench Press 350 x 8, 8 reps on chinning bar
Set 7. Bench Press 380 x 8, 5 reps on chinning bar

DB Flyes supersetted with Dips. 
5 sets of 15 reps with 80 pound dumbbells, supersetted with dipping. The set, rep and weight scheme for dipping was not provided by Sergio Oliva.

Tuesday

Shoulder Press. 5 sets, 15 reps with 200 pounds
Extending Heavy Curls. 5 sets, 5 reps, 200 pounds
French Curls. 5 sets, 5 reps, 200 pounds
Scott (Curls) Bench. 5 sets, 10 reps, 150 pounds
Scott (Curls) Bench with Dumbbells. 5 sets, 5 reps, 60 pound dumbbell
Sitting Down Triceps. 5 sets, 5 reps with 60 pound dumbbell, supersetted with Tricep Press Downs

Wednesday
 Situps. 10 sets, 50 reps
Leg Raises. 5 sets, 20 reps
Side Bends with Bar Behind Neck. 5 sets, 200 reps
Squats. 300 x 5, 400 x 5, 440 x 5, 470 x 5, 500 x 4
Standing Heel Raises. 10 sets, 8 reps, 300 pounds

Thursday
 Bench Press. 200 x 5, 220 x 5, 260 x 5, 300 x 5, 320 x 5, 350 x 5, 380 x 5
Press Behind Neck. 5 sets, 5 reps, 250 pounds, supersetted with Rowing Machine, 200 pounds
Sitting Press with Dumbbells. 80 pound dumbbells. No set and rep scheme provided
Dipping Bar. 5 sets, 8 reps with no weight

Friday
 Press. 3 sets, 5 reps, 200 pounds
Extending Heavy Curls. 3 sets, 5 reps, 200 pounds
French Curls. 3 sets, 5 reps, 200 pounds
Scott Bench for Triceps. 3 sets, 5 reps, 200 pounds
Scott Bench for Triceps with Dumbbell. 3 sets, 5 reps, 50 pound dumbbell, supersetted with Tricep Press Downs.
Chinning Behind Neck. 5 sets, 5 reps
Chinning Bar with Closed Hands. 5 sets, 5 reps, supersetted with Tricep Machine Pull Downs

Saturday
Situps. 5 sets, 10 reps
Leg Raises. 5 sets, 10 reps
Side Bends with Bar Behind Neck. 5 sets, 50 reps
Squats. 3 sets, 3 reps with 300 pounds. 2 sets, 3 reps with 400 pounds. 3 sets, 20 reps with 250 pounds.
Front Squats. 5 sets, 10 reps, 200 pounds
Sitting Heel Raises. 5 sets, 5 reps, 200 pounds

And hopefully you get the picture. The constant here is volume. You can go back and look at the routines of other strongman like Derek Poundstone, Zydrunas Savickas and Brian Shaw and you will that these guys train alot. These men use lots of reps and lots of sets and lots of frequency to build size and strength. They also use lower rep sets of 2-5 to build strength so don't think the two are mutually exclusive in your training. 

So, to answer the question, what kind of problem should you follow? Peruse the templates of the best and look for what the common denominators are:

1. High volume. This can be high frequency, high set counts, high reps in some combination.

2. Heavy. Try working up to a heavy set then backing off and working your reps in the classic pyramid scheme. Derek Poundstone also says this will activate more muscle getting you bigger and stronger. 

3. Weaknesses. Don't forget to be well rounded so you can avoid injury or being that guy who benches more than he squats. Also, if you have goals slightly more specific than simply getting bigger and stronger in general, then you need to pull out your thinking cap and be more judicious in your exercise choices and plan the different modalities of your training.

I found the programs above on a site called workoutsoflegends.com. I believe I have seen these in other places online as well.