Who is the "Strongest in the World?"

What does it mean to be "the strongest?"  It's question posed in one form or another in many anime and it's definitely not an easy one to answer. There are many people to whom you can point and go "That guy. That guy right there. He's the strongest."   But even in those cases, there will be disagreements on the terms by which that person was determined to be the strongest in the world. I doubt anyone could ever reach a consensus.

"You're the strongest? Dr. Wheelo will see you now."

But that's not going to stop us from arguing about it. This article is an attempt to compare all those we would call the "Strongest in the World" and perhaps get a little closer to an answer... or at least something else we can argue about.


Let's start with...

1. Olympic Lifters

Olympic lifting is the combination of super strength and super technique. The clean and jerk and the snatch are the two lifts scored in the Olympics and getting a gold medal in weightlifting during the Olympics certainly should entitle you to being the strongest in the world, right?

I mean, it's the friggin' Olympics!

Look at him. He looks like he's about to break that bar in half.

But this is not so cut and dry. Even though the men and women of the Olympics can put massive amounts of weight overhead, there is another class of athlete that moves weight equal to or greater than the Olympic lifters (although in different lifts).


2. Powerlifters

These men and women are capable of moving ridiculous amounts of weight. Even at the lowest weight classes, they move 3-4 times their own weight in the squat, bench press, and deadlift. The percentage of their bodyweight decreases as the weight classes get higher, but the records for the heaviest lifts of all time are over 1,000 pounds in each lift.  The heaviest total weight of all three lifts was 3,005 pounds (Dave Hoff, 2013)!  These guys are strong, no doubt.

Most non-powerlifting people don't do that many plates in all of their lifts combined.

But does three lifts really make you the strongest in the world? Would more variables help determine what it means to be the strongest?

3. Strongmen/Strongwomen

Strongman and strongwoman competitions are full of heavy lifting of various types. Increasingly heavier squats, massive deadlifts, truck pulls, super heavy carries with awkward weights, cleaning and pressing logs, throwing kegs high into the air-- these are all frequent feats completed by strongman competitors. It's high level strength and technique combined with vicious relatively short periods of all-out conditioning effort.


4. CrossFitters

Crossfitters are frequently looked down upon as being weak, but there are some seriously strong guys and gals who compete in the CrossFit Games every year.  And it's not just strength, because there is so much versatility present in these athletes.  While they can lift heavy, they can also run fast or far, or crank out hundreds of reps of a huge list of exercises.

CrossFit prides itself on producing "generalists."  This term means that a CrossFitter should be able to meet and perform on any general number of tasks. They may not be the fastest runner or be able to do ultra-marathons or deadlift world-record weight or compete on the level of the elite "specialist," but they have proven it is possible to produce an athlete that is capable of being above-average (many times, highly above average) in a wide range of physical fitness applications.  And this means that, on any given day, that a good Crossfitter would be able to beat most people in most activities. Therefore, the winner of the CrossFit Games would (theoretically) be able to beat the majority of athletes in a majority of things. And that's pretty cool.


5. MMA Fighters

Fighters are a special breed. You step into a cage or a ring with another guy or girl who wants to hurt you and you punch, kick, and grapple until someone wins by knockout, submission, or decision. It's tough and anyone who even gets in there to compete deserves immediate respect.

You might find it odd that I would include MMA fighters in the list of the "Strongest in the World;" however, consider what it means to be the strongest for just a moment. Hanma Baki said (paraphrasing) that the strongest is the one who is standing over someone else. In short, the strongest one is the victor in combat. Squatting 1,100 pounds and tearing a phone book in half means you have ridiculous strength, but if you are beaten into submission by another person, who is stronger?  If it is this kind of strength, then it's either the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world or the top guy of the highest weight class who's the strongest.

CrossFit Riverchase's "3333 Memorial WOD"

This past weekend, I competed in this event with a bunch of other CrossFitters. It was brutal, to say the least. It was fun to be able to push myself and see everyone else do the same. I ended up competing in this event on a week's notice, but I ended up in 9th place with a final time of 1:41:36, so that's not too bad.  Over an hour and a half of pain. Take a look at the workout and give it a try, if you like. If you need to see any of the exercises, here's a video of the movement standards.

Have fun with it and... and try not to die!

Batman's Training Program- Final Phase

This is a continuation from Batman's Training Program- Phase 5. Continue to scale the workouts as necessary. This is pretty much the same program that was initially posted here, however, I am going to post some variances in the workout, so that you don't always end up doing the same thing. Please reference previous posts if you have any questions.


Sunday:
Morning-

• 30 Minute Jog
• 30 Minutes Meditation

Evening-

• Clean and Jerk- 8 x 3 Reps (262#) OR Squat Clean- 8 x 3 Reps (262#)
• 5 Sets Metabolic Conditioning (1/4 Mile Run, 21 Two Pood KB Swings, 12 Pull-ups)
• 30 Minutes Flexibility
• 30 Minutes Sparring

Monday:

Morning-

• 30 Minute Jog
• 30 Minutes Martial Arts- Forms or Shadowboxing

Evening-

• 5 Sets 20ft Rope Climb
• 30 Minutes Gymnastic Rings (Pick Two: Pull-ups, Iron Cross, Muscle-up, L-Sit, Dips, Levering)
• 40+" Box Jumps- 8 x 12 Reps
• 5 x 50 Crunches
• 30 Minutes Heavy Bag
• 30 Minutes Flexibility
• 30 Minutes Target Practice (Mitt Work, Knife/Dart/Shuriken/etc Throwing, Hitting Moving Targets)

Tuesday:

Morning-

• 30 Minute Jog
• 30 Minutes Yoga

Evening-

• 1/2 Mile Swim
• "Heavy" Deadlift- 7 x 5 Reps (620#)
• "Light" Deadlift- 30 Reps (310#)
• 30 Minutes Sparring

Wednesday (Off Day):

Morning-

• 20 Mile Run

Evening-

• 30 Minutes Target Practice
• 30 Minutes Flexibility
• 30 Minutes Hand Techniques
• 30 Minutes Leg Techniques
• 30 Minutes Observation (Watch Fights, Instructional Videos, Observe Natural Movement of People, Animals, and Objects in Motion.)
• 30 Minutes Meditation
• 30 Minutes Grappling Techniques

Thursday:

Morning-

• 30 Minute Jog
• 30 Minutes Martial Arts- Forms or Shadowboxing

Evening-

• Squats- 10 x 5 Reps (525#)
• 1 Hour Bouldering
• 30 Minutes Flexibility
• Crunches- 5 x 50 Reps
• 30 Minutes Target Practice 
• 30 Minutes Heavy Bag

Friday:

Morning-

• 30 Minute Jog
• 30 Minutes Meditation

Evening-

• Clean and Jerk- 8 x 3 Reps (262#) OR Squat Clean- 8 x 3 Reps (262#)
• 5 Sets Metabolic Conditioning or Prescribed Crossfit WOD
• 30 Minutes Flexibility 
• 30 Minutes Sparring

Saturday:

Morning-

• 30 Minute Jog
• 30 Minutes Yoga

Evening-

• Crunches- 5 x 50 Reps
• Squats- 10 x 5 Reps (525#)
• Push-ups- 5 x 50 Reps
• 30 Minutes Monkey Bars
• 30 Minutes Pommel Horse
• 30 Minutes Heavy Bag
• 1/4 Mile Swim

Notes:

• We've come full circle. Now all that's left to do is to make the commentary on how to successfully navigate and implement this program.
• Any one of these days is not necessarily a problem to a hardcore athlete, but the biggest thing is that there aren't any real rest days and that is where the tricky implementation comes in. 
• Remember, the only reasons that Bruce Wayne would even remotely be able to keep this up for any length of time are because he worked up to it slowly, he probably has access to top tier supplementation, massage therapists, chiropractors, and doctors, and Bats is probably juicing just as hard as any professional body builder ever.

That's all for today! Until next time, good luck and train hard!

He didn't get this jacked going Vegan and doing Zumba, that's for sure!

Batman's Training Program- Phase 5

Batman's Training Program- Phase 5

This is a continuation from Batman's Training Program- Phase 4. Once again if you cannot do the prescribed training, scale it down until you are able to complete it. Please advance through the previous stages before attempting this one. Please reference previous posts if you have any questions.


Sunday:
Morning-

• 30 Minute Jog
• 30 Minutes Meditation

Evening-

• Clean and Jerk- 8 x 3 Reps (225#) OR Squat Clean- 8 x 3 Reps (225#)
• 5 Sets Metabolic Conditioning (1/4 Mile Run, 21 One Pood KB Swings, 12 Pull-ups)
• 30 Minutes Flexibility
• 30 Minutes Sparring

Monday:
Morning-

• 30 Minute Jog
• 30 Minutes Martial Arts- Forms or Shadowboxing

Evening-

• 5 Sets 20ft Rope Climb
• 30 Minutes Gymnastic Rings (Pick Two: Pull-ups, Iron Cross, Muscle-up, L-Sit, Dips)
• 36" Box Jumps- 8 x 12 Reps
• 5 x 50 Crunches
• 30 Minutes Heavy Bag
• 30 Minutes Flexibility
• 30 Minutes Target Practice (Mitt Work, Knife/Dart/Shuriken/etc Throwing, Hitting Moving Targets

Tuesday:

Morning-

• 30 Minute Jog
• 30 Minutes Yoga

Evening-

• 1/2 Mile Swim
• "Heavy" Deadlift- 5 x 5 Reps (510#)
• "Light" Deadlift- 30 Reps (255#)
• 30 Minutes Sparring

Wednesday (Off Day):

Morning-

• 20 Mile Run

Evening-

• 30 Minutes Target Practice
• 30 Minutes Flexibility
• 30 Minutes Hand Techniques
• 30 Minutes Leg Techniques
• 30 Minutes Observation (Watch fights, instructional videos, observe natural movement of people, animals, and objects in motion.)
• 30 Minutes Meditation
• 30 Minutes Grappling Techniques

Thursday:

Morning-

• 30 Minute Jog
• 30 Minutes Martial Arts- Forms or Shadowboxing

Evening-

• Squats- 9 x 5 Reps (465#)
• 50 Minutes Bouldering
• 30 Minutes Flexibility 
• 5 x 50 Crunches
• 30 Minutes Target Practice
• 30 Minutes Heavy Bag

Friday:

Morning-

• 30 Minute Jog
• 30 Minutes Meditation

Evening-

• Clean and Jerk- 8 x 3 Reps (225#) OR Squat Clean- 8 x 3 Reps (225#)
• 5 Sets of Metabolic Conditioning or Prescribed Crossfit WOD
• 30 Minutes Flexibility 
• 30 Minutes Sparring

Saturday:

Morning-

• 30 Minute Jog
• 30 Minutes Yoga

Evening-

• 5 x 50 Crunches
• Squats 8 x 5 Reps (405#)
• Push-ups- 5 x 50 Reps
• 30 Minutes Monkey Bars
• 30 Minutes Pommel Horse
• 30 Minutes Heavy Bag
• 1/4 Mile Swim

Notes:

• There is going to only be one more phase after this. 
• I want to re-iterate (again) how much volume this is an how much time it's going to take to get to it. After I post all the phases, I'm going to post how you will realistically start and move from one phase to the next, as well as rest periods for periodization. 
• The weights are only there as a reference to building toward how Bruce Wayne actually trained. If you are training in this fashion, please take the time to build up to these weights. Try to focus on the sets and reps and use your own strength as a general reference.
• Make sure you're taking adequate rest in between sets of lifting. For heavy sets, try to take at least one minute of rest, but up to five minutes, if necessary. The point is to focus on strength for your lifting. You can focus on conditioning with the metabolic conditioning, running, and martial arts. 
• If you'll notice, I am including some options for the lifts and other exercises at this point. 
• It's unlikely that any human could actually complete this routine for any real length of time without developing Overtraining Syndrome, so please take that into account and use your own judgment. If anything, use this for inspiration.
• You are probably not a billionaire with access to top tier supplementation, massage therapists, chiropractors, acupuncturists, doctors, and copious amounts of steroids (seriously, Bruce wouldn't have gotten as strong as he did without steroids given the sheer amount of work that he does). Since you are not a billionaire with access to all of these things, please do not act like one. This overall process will be extremely slow (i.e.- take years and years) and you will have to build your training volume slowly, not necessarily in line with these phases, either. If you have to omit days, omit days until you get used to the workload. If you have to drop the weight on something, drop the weight. If you have to do less reps or just decide that you need a break, take a break. Your body will give out if you do too much too fast.

That's all for today! Until next time, good luck and train hard!

Batman's Training Program- Phase 3

This is a continuation from Batman's Training Program- Phase 2. Once again if you cannot do the prescribed training, scale it down until you are able to complete it. Please advance through the previous stages before attempting this one. Please reference previous posts if you have any questions.

Sunday: 

Morning- 

• 30 Minute Jog
• 30 Minutes Meditation

Evening-

• Clean and Jerk- 8 x 3 Reps (135#)
• 3 Sets Metabolic Conditioning (1/4 Run, 21 Half Pood KB Swings, 12 Pull-ups)
• 30 Minutes Flexibility
• 20 Minutes Sparring

Monday:

Morning-

• 30 Minute Jog
• 30 Minutes Martial Arts- Forms or Shadowboxing

Evening-

• 4 Sets 20ft Rope Climb
• 20 Minutes Gymnastic Rings (Pick Two: Pull-ups, Iron Cross, Muscle-up, L-Sit, Dips)
• 36" Box Jumps- 6 x 12 Reps
• 5 x 50 Crunches
• 30 Minutes Heavy Bag
• 30 Minutes Flexibility
• 20 Minutes Target Practice (Mitt Work, Knife/Dart/Shuriken/etc Throwing, Hitting Moving Targets

Tuesday:

Morning-

• 30 Minute Jog
• 30 Minutes Yoga

Evening-

• 1/2 Mile Swim
• "Heavy" Deadlift- 5 x 5 Reps (350#)
• "Light" Deadlift- 30 Reps (155#)
• 30 Minutes Sparring

Wednesday (Off Day):

Morning-

• 10 Mile Run
• 5 Mile Walk

Evening-

• 20 Minutes Target Practice
• 20 Minutes Flexibility
• 20 Minutes Hand Techniques
• 20 Minutes Leg Techniques
• 20 Minutes Observation (Watch fights, instructional videos, observe natural movement of people, animals, and objects in motion.)
• 20 Minutes Meditation
• 20 Minutes Grappling Techniques

Thursday:

Morning-

• 30 Minute Jog
• 30 Minutes Martial Arts- Forms or Shadowboxing

Evening-

• Squats- 8 x 5 Reps (315#)
• 40 Minutes Bouldering
• 30 Minutes Flexibility 
• 5 x 50 Crunches
• 20 Minutes Target Practice
• 30 Minutes Heavy Bag

Friday:

Morning-

• 30 Minute Jog
• 30 Minutes Meditation 

Evening-

• Clean and Jerk- 8 x 3 Reps (135#)
• 3 Sets of Metabolic Conditioning or 3/4 Prescribed Crossfit WOD
• 30 Minutes Flexibility 
• 20 Minutes Sparring

Saturday:

Morning-

• 30 Minutes Jog
• 30 Minutes Yoga

Evening-

• 5 x 50 Crunches
• Squats 8 x 5 Reps (315#)
• Push-ups- 5 x 50 Reps
• 20 Minutes Monkey Bars
• 20 Minutes Pommel Horse
• 20 Minutes Heavy Bag
• 1/4 Mile Swim

Notes:

• Please read previous posts if you have any questions.
• If you did this or the previous programming every day of the week without any break, you'd quickly overtrain. So, after I complete all the Phases of the training for you guys, I'm going to post a breakdown of suggested rest periods and de-load stages.

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That's all for today! Until next time, good luck and train hard!

Batman's Training Program- Phase 2

This is the continuation from Phase 1 of Batman's Training Program and will build off the previous stage. Obviously, you may not be able to tackle the training at first, but you can just scale things down as needed.


Sunday:
Morning-

• 30 Minute Jog
• 20 Minutes Meditation

Evening-

• Clean and Jerk- 8 x 2 Reps (95#)
• 2 Sets Metabolic Conditioning (1/4 Mile Run, 21 Half Pood KB Swings, 12 Pull-ups)
• 15 Minutes Stretching
• 15 Minutes Sparring

Monday:

Morning-

• 30 Minute Jog
• 30 Minutes Martial Arts- Forms or Shadowboxing

Evening-

• 2 Sets 20ft Rope Climb
• 10 Minutes Gymnastic Rings (Pick One: Pull-ups, Iron Cross, Muscle-ups)
• 36" Box Jumps- 4 x 12 Reps
• 5 x 50 Crunches
• 30 Minutes Heavy Bag
• 15 Minutes Flexibility 
• 15 Minutes Target Practice (Mitt Work, Dart/Knife/Shuriken/etc Throwing, hitting any moving targets)

Tuesday:

Morning-

• 30 Minute Jog
• 30 Minutes Yoga

Evening:

• 1/2 Mile Swim
• "Heavy" Deadlift- 3 x 5 Reps (250#)
• "Light" Deadlift- 30 Reps (95#)
• 30 Minutes Sparring

Wednesday (Off Day):

Morning- 

• 5 Mile Run
• 5 Mile Walk

Evening-

• 15 Minutes Target Practice
• 15 Minutes Flexibility
• 15 Minutes Hand Techniques
• 15 Minutes Leg Techniques
• 15 Minutes Observation (Watch fights, instructional videos, observing natural movement of people, animals, and objects in motion)
• 15 Minutes Meditation
• 15 Minutes Grappling Techniques

Thursday:

Morning-

• 30 Minute Jog
• 30 Minutes Martial Arts- Forms or Shadowboxing

Evening-

• Squats- 5 x 5 Reps (225#)
• 30 Minutes Bouldering
• 30 Minutes Flexibility 
• 5 x 50 Crunches
• 15 Minutes Target Practice
• 30 Minutes Heavy Bag 

Friday:

Morning-

• 30 Minute Jog
• 20 Minutes Meditation

Evening-

• Clean and Jerk- 8 x 2 Reps (95#)
• 2 Sets of Metabolic Conditioning or 1/2 Prescribed Crossfit WOD
• 15 Minutes Flexibility
• 15 Minutes Sparring

Saturday:

Morning-

• 30 Minutes Jog
• 30 Minutes Yoga

Evening-

• 5 x 50 Crunches
• Squats- 5 x 5 Reps (225#)
• Push-ups- 3 x 50 Reps
• 15 Minutes Monkey Bars
• 15 Minutes Pommel Horse
• 15 Minutes Heavy Bag
• 1/4 Mile Swim

Notes:

• Here's the deal: This is going to take a long time. I realize that some of the weights listed for exercises are not super impressive, but you're having to build yourself from all sides at once, so the increases in everything are going to have to be smaller as a whole. Don't even think about going onto the next Phase until this Phase is more than manageable. 
• If you're wondering, the 30 minute jog on most days is going to be at an easy pace. 
• I realize there is a lot here, so if you have an questions about anything here, please leave it in the comments. 

That's all for today, guys. Until next time, good luck and train hard!

Batman's Training- A Snapshot

At the request of a reader, I'm going to be posting some of Batman's training. The training schedule below is a week's worth of Batman's workouts. It contains a general outline of the exercises completed by Bruce Wayne and doesn't necessarily mean that this is all that he does. I'll do my best to start from the basics and build up to the level presented in this schedule, which is at a level that (in my opinion) absolutely above world class. Batman pushes all aspects of fitness to their absolute maximum. His strength, speed, balance, flexibility, accuracy, power, endurance, and skills have been honed through hours of constant, deliberate training and a defined goal of having a body capable of defending the streets of Gotham. 

Here's the snapshot. Over the next few weeks, I'll be posting the stages leading up to this starting from a base level of fitness and athleticism. You've heard of going from "fat to fit," now see how you go from "fit to Bat." (Corny? Yes. Awesome? Absolutely.)

Ponder this one for a while, why don't you? Until next time, good luck and train hard!

Jack Hanma Workout #3: Athletic Training

For the third workout for the monster known as Jack Hanma, we have athletic training. It's kind of CrossFit-ish, but I figured that kind of fits for Jack.  I'm trying to figure out if I want to do a final workout for the eldest Hanma boy, but we'll see.


Jack Hanma Workout #3: Athletic Training

1. Run 400 Meters
2. 21 Muscle-ups
3. Run 400 Meters
4. 21 Handstand Push-ups
5. Run 400 Meters
6. 21 Box Jumps (24")
7. Run 400 Meters
8. 21 Burpees w/Push-up and Jump

Notes:

• You should try to go through this workout as fast as you can. Obviously don't sacrifice form for speed, but zoom through it, nonetheless.
• Muscle-ups are crazy. You do a pull-up and, at the top of the movement, you pull yourself above the bar and push up like you are doing a dip. That's one rep. If you can't do muscle ups, do 21 pull-ups and 21 dips. When you can do 21 pull-ups and 21 dips, do 42 pull-ups and 42 dips. At this point, you should be able to do a muscle-up. You should be able to do the 21 pull-ups straight before the muscle-ups, but it's not necessary to do 42 straight.
• You should do your handstand push-ups supported, but in between chairs or parallel bars, so you have full range of motion. When you can do 21 with support, practice without support, but be careful, since you'll be higher than normal.
• Touch and go on your box jumps.
• For the burpee with a push-up and jump, you squat down. Then, you place your hands next to your feet and thrust your feet out until you are in a push-up postition. Next, you do a push-up. Then, you jump your feet back in between your hands. Lastly, you spring up from this postion, with your hands reaching upward. When you come back down, you should immediately go back into a burpee.

That's all for today. Until next time, good luck and train hard!!

Jack Hanma Workout #1: Weight Training

Here's a workout that's sure to ring a bell with anyone familiar with Crossfit. This particular workout is known to Crossfitters by the dreaded name of "Linda."

I know that may not seem scary, but maybe its other name will have more of an effect: "Three Bars of Death." Do I have your attention now? Jack Hanma, Baki's older brother, is a monster born of literally nonstop training and modern (albeit fictional) sports science and this workout just seems like something he'd do.

Jack Hanma Workout #1: Weight Training
(AKA: Linda)
(AKA: Three Bars of Death)


Do 10 rounds of these three exercises:

1. Deadlift- 1.5 Times Bodyweight
2. Bench Press- Bodyweight
3. Squat Clean- .75 Times Bodyweight

The first round is 10 reps, the second is 9 reps, the third is 8 reps, all the way down to a single rep. You should try to complete this workout as fast as you can, but realize that if you are not in shape you may not be able to complete it at all. If you are incapable of doing the prescribed weights, feel free to do less weight. This is pretty much the top level of the workout. After you get it to this point, the key is to do the workout faster. All in all, it boils down to 55 reps of each exercise.

Notes:

• Bodyweight means that, including the weight of the bar, you are lifting whatever percentage of your bodyweight listed. If you weighed 150lbs, for instance, you would do a 225lb deadlift, a 150lb bench, and a 112.5lb squat clean (you can round up or down a pound).  
• The movements can be difficult (especially the squat clean) if you aren't used to them, so really focus on getting the form down, even if that means just using the bar at first.

Hope you have fun! This workout is REALLY tough. That's all for now. Until next time, good luck and train hard!

Great Resources for Training

Here are some really good training resources for you guys.  They include links to "how-to" exercise videos and martial arts websites.

1.  http://crossfit.com  Great resource.  Really useful demonstrations.

2. http://www.ultimatejujitsu.com/     Good resource for traditional Jujitsu and Brazilian Jujitsu.

3. http://kata-reference.com/  Karate and kung fu forms

4. http://www.bodybuilding.com/   Tons of fitness information.

5. http://www.fightauthority.com/   Martial arts videos, fights, and techniques.

Hope this helps you guys with your training.  Train hard!