Lift Stones for Brute Strength

You manned up.

For hundreds of years, Highlanders in Scotland tested themselves by lifting stones, and it was also a rite of passage into manhood. A boy would go to the home of his chieftain and lift the local stone onto a wall.

You never hear about that anymore.

Watch tv sometime and you'll hear words like:

tone
flatten
tighten
ripped
cut
bulk up
slim down

You hear these words and you think of a gym. Or an exercise video you can order. You think of how you look in the mirror. You think of girls and what they think of you.

Now take brute strength. Brute strength is strength without thought or skill. The kind of stuff that, when things in your life go sideways, you summon. It's summoned on a stone lift too.

Stone lifting.

You need to gather stones of all shapes and sizes. Some that are smooth and some that are rough- edged. Only don't choose stones that are so small that you can handle them with one hand. And if you're uncomfortable with lifting stones overhead, you need a wall or platform that is about chest high.

Stones are not meant to be lifted. They are big and awkward and user-unfriendly. And lifting them reveals areas of weakness in a man's body. My one piece of advice is...commit to the lift. COMMIT. When you pull initially and feel the stone's immense dead weight, you will want to quit.

Keep pulling.

The pull from the ground is the most important. Position your hands correctly---bend over the stone and slide your fingers under it as far as possible. Begin the pull with your upper back then transition to your lower back. Get the stone above your knees.

At this point, you can muscle the stone up and onto a platform. You can pull it up and place it on your shoulder. Or you can pull it up to your chest and go for an overhead press.

As you bring the stone up, you will transfer the weight of the stone, back and forth, from your hands to your arms to your legs to your back to your shoulders. This is the beauty of stone lifting. You're forced to quickly adapt to the stone or risk dropping it. Every muscle is engaged in the task.

Lifting a dumbbell or a barbell doesn't offer the same challenge.

Try lifting stones 1 day a week. Feel the difference.

Erik Sauve, "Training for Stones." Diesel Crew. URL:
(http://www.dieselcrew.com/articles/Erik-TrainingForStones.pdf)