Oh no, here it comes again.
Every single time I train for this, right before the pull, I’m swearing like a sailor. Its because its painful, very painful. And as I get ready I’m thinking about how painful its going to be.
I’m talking about pulling vehicles by my hair. As mentioned in a recent post, Strongman Picnic, I’m set to perform in less than two weeks from know.
I’ll be pulling a fire engine. Its big. Much bigger than what I’ve been pulling. So in training for it I do what you do in any other training. I make it progressive. More weight at first then I had do switch to more of an incline when I was pulling the biggest vehicle I had available.
I’ve also played around with the setup and my technique as its not likely something I’m going to get coached in.
Back to the pain…
This is an area familiar to strongmen. Pain tolerance.
Bend a piece of steel or a horseshoe across your leg? That’s going to hurt. And the first few times you do it, it’ll leave bruising (sometimes massive amounts). You’re might even be strong enough to bend that steel if only your leg could take the drive.
One tip I received in learning to bend nails is once you get to the point where its starts to hurt and you want to quit, that’s where you need to double your efforts and crush it. That’s the point were the nail WILL bend.
You’re not seeking this pain. In some feats of strength its not so painful. But in some it is. Many feats can cause rips in skin, various bruises, just plain pain or much more.
Dennis Rogers once drove a nail through his hand…backwards. Usually the feats works without much effort. In this case it was not so.
It comes with the territory.
This is just the first batch that came out after the pull. I lost more in the shower later.
There I was a few days ago in my last training session. Maybe it was my recent haircut even though it was just a tiny trim. Maybe it was the hair attachment setup which felt wrong this time. Maybe I’ve just been doing too much volume.
Whatever the reason this one hurt more. And I lost more hair. I always lose some when doing this stunt. (I like to think that all the weak ones must go.) But this time there was more. Here I could hear the hair rip from my head at one point in the pull.
When I finished a few large chunks came out. Nothing noticeable as far as how I look is concerned and I seem to have plenty left. But certainly not comforting.
Such is the life of a strongman.
In strength,
Logan Christopher
P.S. I wrote an article over at Straight to the Bar. Lift weights? So what? Check it out.
Comments
Keep an eye on that; Ever wonder what happened to Bud Jeffries’ ponytail?
@Rory: Did Bud use to have a ponytail?
God bless you brother. I myself have been training to do teeth pulls because I am bald and not blessed with the locks of Samson such as yourself (lol)! Teeth lifting and pulling is just as challenging so I know what your saying. right now I can pull and suv empty. I am looking at starting to add people. God bless and be with you in your attempt at that awesome feat. You will be in my prayers!!
@G-man: Haven’t done much of the teeth stuff myself (although I do open beer bottles with my teeth when a bottle opener is not around). I imagine it is much the same. Best of luck to you.
I felt the wrath first hand with the 12 in. spike you gave me Sunday Logan. I have a nice 6in. bruise on my thigh. Good luck with the hair training Logan!
@Doug: Welcome to the world of strongman. I’ll be in touch soon.
ha! this is amazing. especially like the part about training and pain tolerance.
but could you expand on that concept in a future article??
what pain tolerance is and what its not. you know, bravery vs. stupidity that we see in gyms everywhere.
thx fer making us feel like training..
@Sol: Will do.
Wow, I’d heard somewhat about pulling stuff with hair, but I wasn’t aware there were people to still do it today.
However do you flex hair muscles? lol
Wishing you the best pulling that truck.
Mat
@Mathieu D: Thanks. There’s only a couple of us around that are crazy enough to actively do this. Reading this post you’ll understand why.