How BODYBUILDING helped & hurt my STRONGMAN performance.

This is my California's Strongest Man 2024 recap. I placed 2nd in the 231 middleweight division.
1st event - 180 lbs circus DB - tied for 1st
2nd event - 700 lbs conan's wheel - 2nd place
3rd event - 25, 30, 35, 40, 45 lbs keg toss - 3rd place
4th event - 280 lbs farmers carry - 5th place
5th event - keg carry & load - 1st place
00:00-03:28 CSM recap
03:29-08:34 improved tricep strength
08:35-12:50 the dreaded conan's wheel
12:51-16:45 improved bicep strength
16:46-19:45 improved posterior chain endurance
19:46-23:32 loss of overhead mobility
23:33-25:23 loss of explosiveness
25:24-27:42 poor trunk stability
27:43-28:45 recap
I explain how bodybuilding helped and hurt my strongman performance.
The good: improved tricep and arm strength, improved posterior chain endurance
The bad: poor overhead mobility, loss of explosiveness, decrease in trunk stability from lack of heavy squats and deadlifts.
Untamed Strength Gym: www.trainuntamed.com/
Sacramento, CA
Untamed Strength Apparel: untamedstrengthapparel.com/
Follow me on IG @untamedstrength
In-person & Online Form Check Service: www.trainuntamed.com/one-time-...
Pioneer Discount: PALUNTAMED
generalleathercraft.com/
Strongman Template: www.barbellmedicine.com/shop/...
FREE Strongman Template:www.barbellmedicine.com/free-...

[@TheDankCat127]

I think the main takeaway here is don’t underestimate the value of arm training, even if you’re a “strength” athlete.

[@wilaustu]

I also think it goes to show that strongman is pretty well rounded as far as strength sports go.

[@hevitonttu2251]

I was surprised when the first thing he said about triceps was spot on. It's pretty common knowledge, but then again not I guess, that different part of triceps work in overhead movements so basically even if you do 1000 pushdowns it "does nothing" to help you with say circus dumbbell. Even tho you are technically extending your arm in both cases.

[@o-neil]

Don't skip your accessories!!!!!!!!

[@captainobscurity491]

Biceps are unironically some of the most "functional" muscles you can develop.

[@Jafmanz]

@@captainobscurity491can you name the least functional muscles?

[@alecgolas8396]

It's wild how zen and calm Alan's gotten the past couple years. He's like the antithesis of Mark Rippetoe right now.

[@maxmusterdivers9939]

Hip driihhhve

[@alexvisan7622]

Mark is so angry all the time

[@flabio7074]

Rip is mostly famous for his cultural contribution. People identify with his political views, antiestablishment attitude, and his baller Texas accent. Also his program is legitimately effective for beginners and you always remember the guy who popped your cherry.

[@Mudkipz123]

@@flabio7074 if a program is effective mainly for beginners, is it really effective or is it just that everything works for beginners?

[@ranfan1820]

​@@flabio7074"you always remember the guy who popped your cherry" thats one way to put it 😂

[@kukri52231]

Please make another video with Natural Hypertrophy where you go over your bodybuilding transformation.

[@wigletron2846]

Bicep strength is underrated for lots of everyday work type things. Lifting things off the ground, chopping wood, wrenching, etc.

[@demoncore5342]

I mean both JM and Jimmy Kolb recommended bicep work for benching.

[@williamshine1346]

Former WSM Gary Taylor who also competed in the 1984 Olympics emphasized how important the biceps were in strongman back in the early 90’s.

[@tv26889]

Schwarzenegger could cheat curl 275 for 4 reps, imagine having that kind of strength in your arms!

[@demoncore5342]

@@tv26889 Strict curl record is like 115 kilo... How did it go, I believe in the strength of my spirit and force of my arms?

[@alihasanaxe4936]

The answer to any problem you could ever have is always to get bigger arms, no surprise there.

[@mfit5470]

Lets see that physique after 1 year of BB training. Before after video & pics would do!

[@s0undnin]

Awesome pics. Great size. Look thick. Solid. Tight. Keep us all posted on your continued progress with any new progress pics or vid clips. Show us what you got man. Wanna see how freakn' huge, solid, thick and tight you can get. Thanks for the motivation.

[@Verbux]

@@s0undnin ayo?

[@kylepracz]

As a guy whose done Highland Games for 2 years now, i find that alternating between bodybuilding, strongman workout and still having Highland specific prep (mostly throwing practice) a full month before competition has worked best for me. I'm 5'8", 230 and fairly chubby, but for my size I i think I'm still doing well against these giants. I only compete twice per year so I have a lot of room to adjust.

[@aidanmoretz7971]

It's so true. Everyone wants to think +100lbs on a lift comes from neurological adaptations but it's so much about having more muscle to lift with. I also love competing at highland games, but a little finer motor skills at the bagpipe comps :)

[@atlaspowershrugged]

Very cool to hear about your experience hybrid athlete, combining hypertrophy and strength. Bold move, but it's cool that it's working so well.

[@erinoconnor537]

The keg landing inside the tyre at around 24:20 was so satisfying.

[@intuitivehomebrew3199]

Is anyone else looking at those swords and light in the background and thinking, "That looks like a big ass fork"?

[@NFM1337]

It does! And what IS with the swords?

[@paddyleather5676]

@@NFM1337 My guess is he got them in Japan . Every Marine who has ever been to Okinawa has swords on the wall

[@thomasbates6079]

From the "podium" photo it looks like they might have been trophies for the top 3 contestants.

[@InnerStrengthVarun]

Perfect to listen to during today’s training session.

[@powertreadssupremacy]

For overhead mobility and lockout train behind the neck press.

[@Trefalas]

It's astonishing how well isolated training pays off for all kinds of sports, even for endurance sports. Thx for sharing your experience!

[@drip369]

More muscle = more opportunity to build more strength Bodybuilding done correctly can also improve your mobility and your muscle activation which can also lead towards better potential strength output

[@tv26889]

Right, if you increased your muscle mass you will always have gotten stronger. He just didn't practice heavy 1-3 reps and the events enough and become efficient performing them before the comp.

[@koleary1798]

100%. If you look back to bronze era, for the most part the jacked bodybuilders were all strong, and the strongmen were all jacked. Drugs and marketing in the almost century since then has really distorted things. For naturals, it's as simple as: Bigger = stronger Stronger = bigger The lifts in question might not be the "Big 3", but for anything that doesn't allow for ROM or technique fuckery this will hold true.

[@drip369]

@@koleary1798 not only were they strong, on the bodybuilding stage they actually had to show off the strength meaning the utility of the muscle just like they had to show off the control of the muscle by making their muscles dance. Nowadays they all look like they are ready to die there is no vitality and they do not look healthy which is wild that people still watch the sport

[@tv26889]

@@koleary1798 Strength isn't as specific as we think it is. If someone can do sets of 8-10 with the 125 lb dumbbells on Bulgarian Split Squats, they will be a strong squatter.

[@Verbux]

@@tv26889 For an intermediate? True. For an elite level lifter? No. The over-prioritisation of specific exercises necessary to build strength on that movement sacrifices the exercise-selection variety necessary to continue to build mass at the elite level.

[@brianpolston9713]

Shaw classic is having weight classes this year, you should compete.

[@chrisbfreelance]

Absolutely!

[@Stevehunter96]

I think Alan Thrall should try grip sport. I would love to see some saxon bar or captains of crush ladder content. Great carryover to strongman training, but a new training stimulus as well

[@chucksenhowzen9740]

2:11 congrats on 2nd place & a big congratulations to Dr Andrew Mock for taking home 1st 🥇

[@TheAdamk12]

Hey man you’re a beast. Keep up with the great content, very motivational and uplifting stuff.

[@keithbobrosky6334]

Congrats Alan! Great video!

[@albertpaxton4855]

Congratulations! great video too!

[@Freynightwalker]

Great video, great to learn from your experience and self reflection

[@prelapsaria]

Brian Alsruhe watching this intently

[@robertcachia6484]

Great explanation on everything.

[@pacoside1092]

Great video! Loved every minute and can't wait for the other BB/SM video you got for us.

[@oaksaint4458]

I read that as BDSM video lol

[@landi2244]

You're hella strong. Keep it up Alan.

[@deansheppard1104]

I find this video very interesting , seeing the impact of arm training in a strength sport like strongman is something I have never seen before. It would also be good to see before and after pics and the progression stats ( especially on arm training and isolation)

[@neal520]

Gotta agree on the biceps for the conans, I won the Heavyweight conans at californias and I always do multiple sets of failure for biceps

[@TheRipcity]

Great video. It’s good to remember that you can’t do everything perfectly at the same time.

[@FoxStrength_Performance]

Jon Meadows was a big fan of front carries. It’s mechanical stress for back, arms, legs, etc. I can see how the isolation work in different areas would be beneficial

[@thomaswilliams1533]

Its got nothing to do with bodybuilding and all to do with that DAD STRENGTH 💪

[@TheComedyButchers]

Honestly with how often strongmen *tear their biceps you’d think it’d be a useful thing to train

[@bruuhhhh]

I assume you mean tear lol but yeah I agree

[@chrisbfreelance]

They get trained plenty indirectly with carries and lifts.

[@bruuhhhh]

@@chrisbfreelance isolation work is fantastic for building tendon strength without the risk of tearing that you would get from lots of heavy carries and lifts. Imo very underutilised in strongman for the biceps especially

[@TheComedyButchers]

@@chrisbfreelanceone of Thrall’s point in this video was literally that arm training made him better for carries

[@MasoNowa]

Some people actually say that bicep training makes your arms more susceptible to tears. I'm skeptical of that.

[@twistedtrailerparktales2126]

This was so awesome. I'm 15 months from 40 and while I usually get on the podium I've only won one event. I'm never less than 2nd on press, dead, or stones but I usually get my butt beat in the carreis with what seems like 18 to 22 year old competition. My weight has been stuck at 180lb for a while and my lifts too. I decided to try and hit 200lbs before 40 and come back as a 200lb master. Currently doing sets of 10-15 but will taper that down to 6-10 after 5 months. Continuing 6-10 for 5 months and then start peaking for a show after July next year. I am doing more isolation but also keeping press variations as the main movement on shoulders prioritizing deadlifts over leg exercises of any kind and adding in light but long distance controlled pace carries 3 days a week. I knew exactly where you were going with the conans wheel. I'm a huge CT fan and never neglected my curls and it came in handy in one event where we needed a tie breaker and had to hold a 350lb yoke off the ground in the crook of our elbows and I blew past my competitor to secure second in 2018s Battle of the Marina which is like our northern Nevada strongest man.

[@penumbrium]

snatch grip high pulls are great for becoming/maintaining explosiveness and for yoke hypertrophy

[@DrewPeabawls]

Would love to hear about your year with NH’s program. Did you take any before and after videos?

[@egil9859]

This is really interesting

[@kobemop]

A lot of strongman actually do bodybuilding style training, e.g. Eddie Hall, Zydrunas Savickas, ..., etc. You want the whole body to be strong anyway.

[@GoDawgz90]

Going to do arms now, thanks.

[@vict3071]

Allen I'm you are familiar with the way Powerlifters trained in the 70's and 80's. Guys like Kazmairer and Karwoski trained in a PowerBuilding style. They were jacked all over and almost looked like Bodybuilders. In my humble and unfit opinion Bodybuilder style of training can help strongman and Powerlifting in a very major way.

[@user-dn4lg1dv5v]

Tricep strength went up for sure from arm training.

[@howjackedcaniget]

A great example of my belief that hypertrophy is step 1 in strength. The muscle is a multiplier and the bigger your base is, the higher you'll soar with a strength phase. I wanna make a video about this before it becomes the new consensus.

[@jamesbedwell8793]

Bromley has been talking about this for years bro, you're late to the party here

[@MasoNowa]

​@@jamesbedwell8793everyone has been talking about this for decades

[@howjackedcaniget]

@@jamesbedwell8793 Not true. Bromley's training is mainly low RPE and strength phases. Not to-failure isolation lifts. He has that same mindset of these lifts somehow not being important. I never understood that. I've only been in the game a bit over 4 years, but I never had that mindset. It's an exercise, a set.

[@jamesbedwell8793]

​@howjackedcaniget you're right that Bromley doesn't go in for much isolation work (although he has talked about it in the past especially for the shoulders), but I don't think it's fair to say he focuses on low RPE, not when plus sets are such a staple of his programming. In any case, the point I was making was about building a base of hypertrophy before focusing on strength, and that had been part of his brand for so long that he has a book and an app named Base Strength.

[@jardo531]

You're coming into that "oldman strength "Alan! Thanks for sharing your experience. Very interesting perspective.

[@pwepwe2378]

I missed you bro alan!

[@HeCoversMe]

I predict a first place win next year with what you learned

[@McMeatBag]

I hope you'll talk about what's changed for this new program

[@nmnate]

For overhead mobility, weren't you doing DB pullover or some other type of lat pullover? Those would keep you pretty opened up and mobile. You can also do it at the bottom of a pullup, shove your head forward like an OHP lockout, I find it helps with the stretch 💪

[@luggischimmel5204]

Do you think that its a viable option to train towards two goals (e.g. Strongman and Olympic Lifting) in the same program (no intention of competing) or would you say that its better to focus at one thing at a time?

[@Cwillz303]

Yes to both. It is viable to train many things at once, especially if you’re not competing in them. But you’ll get better results focusing on one thing at a time Strongman and Weightlifting aren’t too incongruous; lots of overhead strength, squatting as a good base building exercise; front squatting/front rack intensive stuff, not a lot of need to focus on bench which seems to interfere with the mobility weightlifters need sometimes

[@thesamu100]

viable as long as you dont intend on getting good at any

[@MrGN-yy6op]

I could actually guess the first two benefits before you said it.

[@zynthos9]

How much weight was the keg for the leg carry and load?

[@alemholas]

This is very interesting! Maybe a discussion with Dr. Mike from Renaissance Periodization could expand on this. An strongman and hypertrophy approach from the literature could be enlightening! Much more with your training history and recent experiences.

[@overtone55]

Love Dr Mike but I don't feel like he has much to contribute to the strongman part. He's a 100% hypertrophy guy and he's great at that

[@alemholas]

@@overtone55 He has a background in strength focused training too! And a very insightful (to me) video about strongman, hybrid programming and mesocycles. I trough maybe the academic approach alongside Alan's experiences could be interesting.

[@Ash-os7fc]

Dr Mike is a hack, and the only reason noobs love his is because he funny

[@bestwesterner]

@@Ash-os7fcI dunno man hack ain’t the word. He’s just so locked into hypertrophy that he excludes technique where one would horse cock serious loads with “less than perfect” form. A hack would be Jason Blaha or some crap like that

[@leonardo9259]

For the love of god stop shoving that bald Jew in every video I watch

[@robertprije8078]

Farmer's carry jostling might have been due to your body just being light and having less inertia against the weights.

[@randygravel2057]

Was that in Huntington Beach?

[@JohnLowry]

Shit, Alan has a heron-marked blade.

[@JoshPitts530]

Alan, do farmers carries help grow shoulders if I do them at the end of a shoulder workout?

[@unclemoneymoneyuncle8702]

I'd say they're more grip, core, and trap developers. Shoulders aka delts aren't going to be doing much. But some people refer to their upper back/traps as "shoulders" so it will help there.

[@shane_rm1025]

If you pre-exhaust your side delts before hand you will definitely feel them activating as a stabilizer. Not sure it will add much hypertrophy but it could make a difference.

[@Dixie_N0rmous]

What are the P knee sleeves?

[@URWELCOME]

For me the takeaway was SAID PRINCIPAL APPLIES EVERYWHERE

[@badsector82]

You frequently mention "supporting the weight with the skeleton". What if the skeleton has some disc hernias or lordosis?

[@Dravok]

Will you be creating your own strongman/bodybuilding program and sharing it with others, Alan?

[@drip369]

💪💪🏋

[@paulsohns3930]

Lol you are everywhere. See you in Sikastan.

[@drip369]

@@paulsohns3930 I follow the best of the best haha so yes you will see me on their next news update, or training vlog

[@Worstpersonsingular]

Circus dumbbell Peking program

[@vicenteochoa6498]

My log is significantly easier after doing during overhead tricep work. I’ve hit 2 PRs 2 months in a row after a couple of months of taking overhead triceps seriously.

[@satricon]

Interesting!

[@godsofwar1186]

Bodybuilding isn't an entity. Your application of bodybuilding helped or hurt your strongman performance ❤

[@wilsonaguiar4646]

Welp, the bros got something right, gotta have arm day

[@raiderleader4220]

U look way more jacked now

[@demoncore5342]

Does it even make sense unless you want to put on weight?

[@elysiummaybe8574]

Poor trunk stability? You can fix that with lunges/bulgarian split squat in bodybuilding rep ranges. It's great for overall builder for legs without putting a lot of strains(but very taxing on your cardiovascular-CNS)

[@tv26889]

Bulgarian split squats are as good(maybe a tiny bit better) as a squat in my opinion.

[@Reppintimefitness]

Wassup bro 💯

[@emk4252]

Think its possible that your beard growing in some gave you overall strength.... plus it makes you look more menacing when say "Train Untamed" .

[@dansan9858]

Wow. Who is this thin man? Unbelievable transformation. Like, what?

[@drealexatos3459]

KZbin started showing me these vids again after years of not. These do everything guys have gotten nowhere.

[@dansan9858]

@@drealexatos3459 Uhu. Sure. Whatever you say.

[@virding232]

@@drealexatos3459 He's visibly larger.

[@SK-2ill]

​@@virding232no chance he's larger...not that it matters. He's still very strong.

[@OMAR-vk9pi]

@@SK-2illhe is leaner

[@fortunatoluccresi5243]

The question is: Have your bodybuilding workouts given you a bodybuilding physique? Or in other words, do people recognize you as a bodybuilder? Because in bodybuilding, absolute strength doesn't count that much. The optics are important. Nobody asks how much you lift, but rather how big your arm is.

[@PhillipCummingsUSA]

I really need a hamburger now

[@Madgardian]

All about finding your weak links before they find you.

[@azimuthclark462]

Train untamed!

[@takeiteasy8847]

Powerbuilding! How dare you!

[@zzt231gr]

Νice spine-ripping contest!Good luck with your joints!

[@aurelius5837]

too* 13:41

[@salsolis9254]

First

[@divinecomedian2]

Damn this vudeo format is boring. You gotta spice it up man!

[@markstuber4731]

7:15 Thank you for not showing your glutes.

[@PowerliftingAndPhysics]

Alan, everyone can tell you did a cycle or two of test in the Marine Corp.

[@nunchukGun]

A lot of French Presses. Clearly a Natural Hypertrophy program 😂

[@Gladiatorat]

Got through the good and stopped watching... just joking got a conference call coming up and I'll finish later :D

[@jf3457]

recap: dont do bodybuilding

[@Bianstus]

Tldw?

[@louisemmett1999]

Just watch the damn video

[@Bianstus]

@@louisemmett1999 the answer to a "How" question doesn't take 28 mins. So no.

[@9jay10]

Read the description

[@Bianstus]

@@9jay10 Real MVP, thank you sir

[@hititwithit]

There's literally a recap in the video at 27:43

[@divinecomedian2]

I miss your old style. Big hair, big beard, and big bulks. The new stuff just ain't as interesting.

[@dustykercheif7044]

U gotta move on to greener pastures

[@sonnyb7612]

The sport of Strongman rules. Top tier man sport.

[@whatapussy4981]

Thanks Alan. Are you going to do a vid on the new program natural hypertrophy has created for you?