Application of additional exercises in the training program for athletes in the sport of Strongman

Abstract

Strongman as a sport places unique demands on athletes, combining maximum strength, endurance, coordination, and psychological resilience. Traditional training focused solely on competitive movements often leads to muscular imbalances and an increased risk of injury. An urgent issue is the optimization of training programs, where the role of auxiliary exercises for strengthening stabilizing muscles core, rotator cuff, glutes remains insufficiently studied. The scientific basis in this field lags behind that of classical strength disciplines, therefore this study aims to assess the effectiveness of integrating additional exercises into the training process of strongman athletes to improve performance and prevent injuries. In a 20 week pedagogical experiment, 24 qualified male athletes age 27,4 4,1 years, training experience 3 7 years were randomly divided into an experimental group EG and a control group CG of 12 people each. Both groups trained 4 times per week with the same volume of basic exercises. The difference lay in the final part the EG performed a set of additional exercises 25 35 min to strengthen stabilizers hyperextensions, planks, face pulls, unilateral loads, with individualized intensity progression. Evaluation was carried out using anthropometric data, strength indicators, and results in competitive exercises deadlift, log lift, farmer’s walk, Atlas stones. Statistical processing used Student’s t test p 0.05. The results showed a significant advantage for the EG the increase in the deadlift was 25.8 kg 8,18 percent versus 14.7 kg 4,67 percent in the CG in the log lift 12,4 kg 7,84 percent versus 6,4 kg 4,05 percent. In speed strength exercises, improvements in the EG reached 14,54 percent farmer’s walk and 14,97 percent Atlas stones compared to 5,68 percent and 5,87 percent in the CG. Muscle mass in the EG increased by 4.4 kg, body fat percentage decreased by 1,1 percent p 0.05, while in the CG by 1,7 kg and 0,1 percent respectively. Initial indicators between groups were equivalent p 0.05. The obtained data confirm that additional exercises enhance strength potential by eliminating imbalances, improve biomechanics, and transfer positively to competitive results. This creates a synergistic effect, stimulating hypertrophy and metabolism, which is especially important for injury prevention in strongman sport. It is recommended to implement the methodology in practice for the comprehensive development of athletes, which can increase training effectiveness and reduce risks. The study highlights the need for a scientific approach to training in non Olympic sports.