Atlas Stones

I've a stone that SHOULDN'T be a problem for me, it's only 16 stones, but I have no idea how to lift it. Is it back? Legs? Arms? Can anyone give me a step-by-step guide to Atlas Stone Shouldering?

when I did strongman if I could get a stone off the ground I could lift it to almost any height. My biggest problem was the squeeze on the stone which takes chest, shoulders, biceps.
Concentrate on squeezing the stone as you pick it up
row it to your lap or if your legs are very strong, start very low at the lift and squat up to get it to your lap
get low with it on your lap, repositioning your arms to higher than the center point on the stone
explode up like a clean and rotate the stone to the strong side of your shoulder.

Exercises in the gym to help stone lifting
dumbbell/barbell row
front squats
cleans
chest flys
hammer curls

There is a very good stone lifter on here called Nick McKinless.

Anyway, do remember that most big stones are lifted with Tacky, and if you are not using tacky then it will drop your ability with stones quite a bit.

That said, a 100k stone is still possible for you, and Jeff has pointed out the techniques, and of course there are a million stone lifting vids on youtube.
What may be the problem right now, is this stone is right at your max without tacky.
So try some Bearhug Deadlifts with discs, I started using this exercise back in 1998 when going for many of the natural stones that I did, and when hardly anyone had an Atlas stone.

Here's a couple of pics.
This is me with 158k.


Apparatus close-up.

Twig

David beat me to the reply! David posted a similar training idea somewhere else on this site, but I think it uses a barbell loaded up just at just one end with plates. In my one training session with Atlas stones I did find them stressful on the biceps and chest. Having said that, once they were lapped it was much easier to readjust the grip and triple extend with them.
For a bit of variety you could try this sandbag/barbell combo shown below:

Find yourself an empty keg or barrel of some sorts fill with sand and water. Do sets of bear hug squats dropping it between your knees when down and fully extended till almost over extended driving hips forward. Helped me alot along with brick lifts start with 2 bricks or cinder blocks squeeze them between your forearms without using your hands work your way up till you can use more blocks helps that inward squeeze alot get that down then train without the tacky so when you use tacky during a comp it makes it easy.At least thats what I do I never use tacky you don't need it till your hitting really big stones and if your just starting you'll have a little ways to go till you need it. Also a smaller stone even a natural and do squats with it squeezed in the postion you load a stone helps the hip drive with the weight high on your chest.

if that isn't enough advice for you there are a few dvds on stone lifting

Stew reminded me about the kegs. Its been awhile for me. One of my favorite ways to use a keg to train was to practice picking it up with the hands on the rounded side for the pressure needed to initially lift a stone and to grab it with one hand on each end and go from my lap to the platfrom in one power motion to build the strength for the up swing.
Tacky does make a HUGE difference. I worked up to maybe 240 without tacky and 285 with tacky.

I tried out the cinder block lift for the first time today. Good fun if a bit harsh on my bare forearms. I kept my hands out of the lift to focus on the squeezing movement. When I moved onto the lift that David pictured above it was much easier to do. All part of the learning curve. Thanks for the tips!

Check out the Diesel Crew stone trainer set up idea as well. Or get your arse down here for a workout (plus I owe you at least a cup of tea).

Steve Gardener wrote:Check out the Diesel Crew stone trainer set up idea as well. Or get your arse down here for a workout (plus I owe you at least a cup of tea).

After seeing the Diesel Crew vid a while ago, I went along to a local blacksmith who knocked this stone trainer up for me: