Higa's Strong Men

[HIGA MONSTER]

Whats up Animals?

My name is Grant Higa. I'm a pro ptrongman up here in the Seattle area. Just wanted to introduce myself to my fellow bros of iron, and let you know that I will be posting here in regards to strongman training, or any upcoming contests.

Even though I compete in strongman, I sometimes have to take a bodybuilding approach to my training. Especially, in the offseason. This helps with my muscular endurance. I believe that some of my strongman event training can be beneficial to all you Animals on the FORVM too. Let me tell you, flipping a 800 lb tire for a 100 feet, builds SICK work capacity.

Hope to chat with a few of you Animals soon.

Much aloha,
HIGA MONSTER.

[Mr. Dead]

Hey, Brother!!! Great to see ya on here!!! We met at the Emerald Cup... Rage and I were working the booth....

[Wasteland]

Welcome Higa Monster. It's nice to have a strongman competitor here, one who understands the bodybuilding mentality.

[Hollow]

Welcome to the forvm HIGA MONSTER!

[G Diesel]

Looking forward to learning the ways of the strongman... Welcome aboard Higa.

Peace, G

[Young&Hungry]

Great to have you here bro. I guess the first question will come from me. Now that you mention tires, I've really been struggling with mine. How would you suggest working on efficiency with the transition phase on heavier tires? I have a video from my last show if you'd like to see my technique. I can crack tires within my range off the ground with ease, yet when it's time to bring the knee through it just doesn't time right and I bring it in at an awkward time, causing me to have the tire rest on my knee and have to fight to flip it. I know you have to fight harder for heavier tires but I feel like I could be more efficient with my knee.

[ghost]

Great to have you on here HIGA!!

[dominate77]

Whats up Grant! i met you when you came to our gym in Hood River, it was awesome having someone with that much strength in for the day. Never seen anyone squat that much in person! (Can't remember if it was 6 or 7 plates, but it was nuts)

Come back whenever you can!

[Firedrake]

Great to have you here! I'm not a strongman, but I love seeing the competitions. I'm sure you'll have a lot to offer!

[Cstlfx]

Welcome to the Forvm! Its always a pleasure to have more strongman on the boards. I'll probably be picking your brain in a little while.

[IRBS]

This is sweet, great to have you here bro, looking forward to seeing what you have to say!

[Hoomgar]

Whats up Animals?

My name is Grant Higa. I'm a pro ptrongman up here in the Seattle area. Just wanted to introduce myself to my fellow bros of iron, and let you know that I will be posting here in regards to strongman training, or any upcoming contests.

Even though I compete in strongman, I sometimes have to take a bodybuilding approach to my training. Especially, in the offseason. This helps with my muscular endurance. I believe that some of my strongman event training can be beneficial to all you Animals on the FORVM too. Let me tell you, flipping a 800 lb tire for a 100 feet, builds SICK work capacity.

Hope to chat with a few of you Animals soon.

Much aloha,
HIGA MONSTER.

Welcome Higa, it's good to have you in the ranks brother.

Hg

[Aggression]

Welcome, brother. Strongman has always been a big interest of mine. I'm hungry to learn all that I can from this thread.

[BryanSmash!]

Welcome! Looking forward to this.

[newbreed]

Welcome. Excited to learn about strongman training.

[HIGA MONSTER]

Young & Hungry,

Tires are tricky. You can have a thick tire with good treads to grab on, but then you go to a contest with a skinnier radial tire with nothing to grab on to.

There are 2 important things I tell guys that flip tire:
DON'T BICEP CURL IT.
DON'T DEADLIFT IT & LET IT REST ON YOUR KNEE/LEG.

Sounds like the pick off the ground isn't a problem....I think you need to focus on your transition or "second pull".
Think of how the Olympic Weightlifters speed up their "second pull" when the bar goes past their knee. That explosion helps them get under the bar, with the least amount of effort. Meaning, they are using less energy by firing their traps/shoulders to get under the bar.

If you can picture yourself as a football lineman in a 4 point stance, they "fire" off the line as quick as they can.
You need to "fire" that tire off the ground as explosively as possible, so that you can transition your hands to flip it over.
You don't want it to rest on your leg. That takes too much energy out of you, and when you got to flip it for say, 10 flips, you will tire fast and possibly not finish.

Work on Hang Cleans, Hang Snatches, and Front Squats. These will help bro!
Also, make sure you lean your chest into the tire. Explode forward, not deadlift the tire straight up.

I sure would love to see your tire flip video...maybe, we can break it down for you even more.

Hope this helps brah!
HIGA.

[JUGGERNAUT]

Good stuff, welcome.

[wedge]

Welcome aboard bro. Like others have noted, I'm a fan of strongman and look forward to seeing the wisdom you'll undoubtedly pass along to us.

[Young&Hungry]

Young & Hungry,

Tires are tricky. You can have a thick tire with good treads to grab on, but then you go to a contest with a skinnier radial tire with nothing to grab on to.

There are 2 important things I tell guys that flip tire:
DON'T BICEP CURL IT.
DON'T DEADLIFT IT & LET IT REST ON YOUR KNEE/LEG.

Sounds like the pick off the ground isn't a problem....I think you need to focus on your transition or "second pull".
Think of how the Olympic Weightlifters speed up their "second pull" when the bar goes past their knee. That explosion helps them get under the bar, with the least amount of effort. Meaning, they are using less energy by firing their traps/shoulders to get under the bar.

If you can picture yourself as a football lineman in a 4 point stance, they "fire" off the line as quick as they can.
You need to "fire" that tire off the ground as explosively as possible, so that you can transition your hands to flip it over.
You don't want it to rest on your leg. That takes too much energy out of you, and when you got to flip it for say, 10 flips, you will tire fast and possibly not finish.

Work on Hang Cleans, Hang Snatches, and Front Squats. These will help bro!
Also, make sure you lean your chest into the tire. Explode forward, not deadlift the tire straight up.

I sure would love to see your tire flip video...maybe, we can break it down for you even more.

Hope this helps brah!
HIGA.

Thanks Grant, that does help a lot. You were right, I just deadlift the tire and throw it up on my knee and fight from there. I don't make it one thorough motion like you describe. The video I have from my last show was a tire that was 150lbs heavier than I've ever flipped in training, so after Saturday when I'm flipping a tire more within my practical range I'll shoot you a video. Treads do make all the difference, we have a ~600 tire that we use and it's totally smooth and has no treads. However at my show the tire had treads that I could fit my entire palm under, hence flipping a 750 easier than I do a 600. About the olympic lifts, I used to olympic lift full time before I got into PL and strongman so I have roots there. I still keep them in my program now. How do you prefer hand position? My training partners say always keep the hands as wide as possible, but I have never gotten a good base to even crack a light tire off the ground from that position.

Once again thank you.

[Elite]

This is gonna be a cracking thread. Welcome aboard Higa.