I recently got a chance to try out some Battle Ropes at the gym. Nasty business. While I’m not signing off on them as the most revolutionary thing in the history of fitness, they still kicked my butt and can set your heart racing if you find that you enjoy them.

I actually found this video of the top 20 rope exercises useful–one challenge I ran into quickly was that I couldn’t figure out what to do with them after I’d done some waving and slamming.

enjoy!

Here’s me hitting a pretty easy set of four snatches, right arm, with the 48 kilogram kettlebell. Back in my Dragondoor days, “The Beast,” as this kb was known, was the most fearsome thing ever.

Like anything, if you scale up and make consistent progress, showing up over and over, what was heavy becomes light, or at least lighter.

I hadn’t snatched this heavy in a long time. Probably close to a year. But the strength is still there. A nice, lazy Sunday afternoon.

Adam t. Glass deadlifting 465 lbs with one hand on a barbell. IF you’re into this sort of thing, there’s a great video of Andrew Durniat out there pulling 518 with a hook grip.

Crazy strength.

Here’s Dave Draper giving a demo of the Top Squat. Looks similar to the safety squat bar, but I haven’t seen either in person and have no idea how they compare.

Dave Draper is one of my favorite people. I’ve been lucky enough to meet his wife Laree and she is every bit as great as I had expected. They are both kind and generous and people worth looking up to.

Anyone used this gizmo?

Here’s a video clip of the Derek Poundstone training routine leading up to the World’s Strongest Man competition in 2011.

If you’re unfamiliar with Derek, he’s a monstrously strong police officer. As big as he looks, he’s so much smaller than the largest WSM competitors that his strength is all the more impressive. Watch him compete if you get a chance. He dominates.

Here’s Adam Glass holding the Inch Replica dumbbells for time. When I asked him if he thought I’d be able to lift one of them, his first question was, “Are you pulling over 220 on the Rolling Thunder without any problems?”

The answer was no, although I’m getting 210 pretty easily these days. I’m anxious to actually try one of the dumbbells. I’ll have a chance in April. Report forthcoming.

As if doing the one arm chin-up wasn’t enough, here’s someone pulling up with one arm on a 2″ bar. If you’ve ever tried cleaning or deadlifting an axle, or tried the rolling thunder handle from Ironmind, you know how the bar thickness changes everything.

But that wasn’t enough either. This is pulled on a vertical bar! Absolutely incredible.

One of my favorite scenes from Conan the Barbarian. I’ve always wondered how much the pot weighed.

Here’s a 10″ wrench bend by Simon Strongman. (real name? Not sure). Coached by Dennis Rogers, who you’ve almost certainly heard about if you have the faintest interest in old time strongman feats.

I’m going to be trying a wrench for the first time this week. Report forthcoming.

K.

Madman Donny Shankle doing the Shankle complex, which is, to put it lightly, serious business.

200 kg is a lot of weight to be stringing together movements with. I love it, despite having the flimsiest shadow of his strength.