Dooley Noted: 4/11/2016
I enjoy the kettlebell and barbell to the point that I co-own a gym offering both skill sets to the public.
But in the past year, I’ve used principles of old-time strongman feats to get me over plateau points in my program.
There’s nothing quite like blowing up a hot water bottle to explosion. It teaches you to keep going when anxiety sets in.
There’s nothing quite like taking a bolt or nail and pressing its ends until they yield to your pressure.
I’ve heard the catty comments about strongman feats.
“There must be a trick involved.”
“It looks like magic.”
I’m always shocked that people would judge something before they try it, but I’ll explain for the uninformed.
A phone book -a deck of cards- a steel bar – a baseball bat…these objects were placed in my head as immoveable objects.
And I had put that vision there.
But feeling myself bend and tear these objects taught me the power of isometric strength.
It also taught me the power of my mind to create my possibilities – as well as my improbabilities.
After watching strongman coach Chris Rider bend wrenches and horseshoes, he announced the following critical statement:
“What are you going to allow to bind you? Limit you? Break through. Move forward.”
For me the walls were a 32 kilo getup and a 24 kilo press – which solid technique, programming, and strongman isometrics helped me to break through.
I learned to face the walls and find ways to bust through them.
If that’s a magic trick, then bring on the magic.
But there’s no illusion to strongman feats.
It’s an absence of illusion that only old-time strongmen know.
They want to do the seemingly impossible.
They want to bend pennies with their fingers.
They want to break bats and bend rebar across their buttocks.
They want to bend a horseshoe into a heart.
Most importantly, they want to teach the brain that walls only exist if they permit them to stand.
You can scoff at it.
Or you can be a true skeptic and give something a try before determining its validity.
Strongman feats are no different.
You might find, as I did, that they help you tear through some walls.
As always, it’s your call.
– Dr. Kathy Dooley
