Category Archives: military press

Hugo Girard

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Hugo Girard (born December 20, 1971 in Sainte-Anne-de-Portneuf, Quebec) is a Canadian strongman. Girard is a Strongman Super Series world Champion, a four-time World Muscle Power champion and a six-time Canada’s Strongest Man.

Contents

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  • 1 Strength career
  • 2 Profile
  • 3 References
  • 4 External links

Strength career

Prior to his career as a strongman competitor, Girard worked as a bouncer in a popular Quebec City nightclub on weekends while attending community college. In the early 1990s, he went to Los Angeles in order to either pursue a career as a professional bodybuilder or as an actor. After a few months, Girard came back to the province of Quebec where he was later hired as a police officer for the city of Gatineau.

Girard focused on Strongman competition, and became a 6-time consecutive finalist in the World’s Strongest Man competition from 1998-2004. Hugo’s highest placing was 4th place at the 1999 World’s Strongest Man contest.[1]

In 2002 Girard reached the high point of his career to date, winning the 2002 Strongman Super Series overall title. Hugo has also won the World Muscle Power Championships 4 times, in 1999, 2001, 2003, and 2004.

Girard dominated strongman competition in Canada for several years. He was the Canada’s Strongest Man champion from 1999 to 2004. He was also the North America’s Strongest Man champion in 2001 and 2002.

Beginning in 2004, injuries began to plague his career including back to back injuries to his achilles tendon in 2005, the first of which took place at the 2005 Arnold Strongman Classic forcing him to retire from the contest.[2] These injuries required a long period of rehabilitation, and nearly a year and a half to fully recover. At one point Hugo was in a cast up to his waist.[3] Hugo’s comeback took place at the 2006 Mohegan Sun Super Series event. After winning the first event, he tore his patellar tendon in the second event, the Conan’s Wheel and was forced to retire from the contest.[4] He attempted to compete in the North America’s Strongest Man Competition in 2007, but withdrew due to injury. Hugo was able to bounce back in 2008, winning Quebec’s Strongest Man.[5] This win qualified Hugo for the 2008 Canada’s Strongest Man contest. Hugo was leading the contest after the first day, but suffered yet another injury on the second day of competition and tearfully announced his retirement from strongman competition.[6]

Girard broke several records during his career, some of which are still standing today. He has held records in events such as the log press, apollon’s axle press, crucifix hold, farmer’s walk Atlas stones, bench press, truck pull and squat. He has also pulled an 80-ton Boeing 737 for a short distance.

Due to his strength, Girard is often compared to fellow Quebec native Louis Cyr, a dominant nineteenth-century strongman who was considered the strongest man in history at the turn of the century. Girard has trained several other strongmen in the Ottawa and Gatineau regions, including Travis Lyndon and Jessen Paulin, who has participated in the World’s Strongest Man competition and succeeded Girard as Canadia’s Strongest Man in 2005 and 2006.

Girard is currently a member of the organization of the Gatineau Hot Air Balloon Festival that takes place every Labour Day weekend. He is also the current president of the Canadian Federation of Strength Athletes. In addition to his career as a strongman, Girard served as a police officer for 12 years.

Hugo was the subject of a documentary film called “Strongman: Hugo Girard” in 2002. The film shows Hugo’s training for the 2002 North America’s Strongest Man competition, which he eventually won. The film also features his training partners Jessen Paulin and Travis Lyndon. The film was directed by Alan Black and released by Top of the World Films.[7]

Profile

  • Biceps: 55 cm (22 inches)
  • Neck : 53 cm (21 inches)
  • Calves: 55 cm (22 inches)
  • Chest: 158 cm (62 inches)
  • Quadriceps: 85 cm (33 inches)
  • Height: 189 cm (6 feet 2 inches)
  • Weight: 150 kg (330 pounds)

References

  1. ^ http://strongestman.billhenderson.org/bios/hugo.html
  2. ^ http://ironmind.com/ironmind/opencms/Articles/2005/Mar/Hugo_Girard_In_a_Cast_Up_To_His_Waist_.html
  3. ^ http://ironmind.com/ironmind/opencms/Articles/2005/Mar/Hugo_Girard_In_a_Cast_Up_To_His_Waist_.html
  4. ^ http://ironmind.com/ironmind/opencms/Articles/2006/Jun/Hugo_Girard_Update.html
  5. ^ http://www.ironmind.com/ironmind/opencms/Articles/2008/Jul/Hugo_Girard_Wins_Quebecxs_Strongest_Man.html
  6. ^ http://ironmind.com/ironmind/opencms/Articles/2008/Aug/Louis-Philippe_Jean_Wins_Canadaxs_Strongest_Man____Hugo_Girard_Injured____Retires.html
  7. ^ http://www.topoftheworldfilms.com/strongmanmovie/

External links

Strongman pulls WW2 Bomber airplane (6 Pack on Canada’s Got Talent)

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4 facts you need to know about gaining mass & strength!

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One of the biggest problems people run into is the idea that you max out in the gym regularly to strength train. This is actually the best way to plateau!

The Central Nervous System is your engine!

It does not matter if you are training the bench press, deadlift, bent over rows, etc. Your body is run by a central nervous system. This is like the engine of your car. If you red line it every time you are in the gym you are running down the engine and actually weakening your body by over training.

The key is volume within 50% to 90% of your max.

If you like to work up to a heavy single that is your max every week, than you can expect that heavy single to remain your max for here on out. Same if you want to work up to a heavy double, but you need a spot on that second lift. Don’t expect to keep pushing that number higher and higher unless you are adding weight to your body. To gain actual strength you need to work within a specific range.

Sets of 5X5 (60% of your max), 4X4 (70% max), 5X3 (80-85% max), 6X2 (90% max)

It is much better to mix workouts of 60% of your max with 5 sets of 5 reps, 70% of your max with 4 sets of 4 reps, and 80-85% of your max for 5 sets of triples. Then you can get heavy with 6 sets of doubles at 90% of your max, but that should be as heavy as you go! Leading up to those working sets of 5X5, 5X4, and 5X3 I would suggest 3-4 sets of progressively heavier weights, starting with a low warm up weight.

To gain strength your body needs to lift for an extended period of time within a workable percentage of your max. You will find though the percentage is lower than your max, the volume of lifting will be higher and you will struggle mightily during training. It is the extra reps and work that will get your stronger.

If you want to go heavier, use partial movements!

2 time Olympic Silver Medalist Adam Nelson performing partial Squats (lock outs)

To get the body lifting even heavier, you can go over 100% of your max in partial lifts. Do deadlifts from the knees off the safety pins, and quarters squats with the safety pins high. Or put a few 2X4 boards on your chest and do board pressing (where you bench press, lowering the bar to the 2X4s and then pressing). Floor presses, bench pressing while laying on the floor in a squat rack also works to decrease the range of motion while increasing the weight.

This should be use WITH full range of motion lifting and not REPLACE of! You need full reps to gain size and strength! Heavy partials are only a piece of the puzzle!

****The author, 6 Pack Lapadat, is a National Powerlifting Champion and Guinness World Record holder in the Squats. See bio section for more info on him!****

10 exercises for Mass & Strength building!

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1) The Squat

The King of exercises? It just might be! For the bang for your buck you don’t get much better than the squat. Proven when done repeated to raise your test levels naturally, the squat recruits all the major muscles groups. When done with proper technique it takes all your shoulders, arms, abs and back to keep up straight with the weight. It also takes all your lower body to push the weight from the bottom. From top to bottom, you can’t get much better an exercise to work out your body for strength and mass building. If you could only do one exercise the rest of your life and it was squats, you would still be huge and strong!

2) The Bench Press

Is there a better upper body exercise out there? I think not. When executed properly the bench press also has the lifter using their legs and glutes as well (though that might be for only seasoned bodybuilders and powerlifters). The best upper body mass builder and strength builder. If you could only do one upper body exercise for mass and strength, it would surely be the bench press…and you would still be in great shape! It takes chest, shoulders, and triceps to push the weight. However, a seasoned powerlifter who knows how to incorporate all his muscles necessary to get the most out of his bench also recruits his back, glute and leg muscles! The King of upper body exercises!

3) The Clean

Speed is power, and you must learn to use speed to generate maximum power. The Clean is the best exercise you can use to harness speed and power at the same time. It makes your body adapt to moving weights in a much more athletic sense, and functional. You can’t do cleans slowly ala bodybuilding. You must move the weights with conviction and technique. With time, you can move hundreds of pounds free weight in this exercise. Whenever that is the case, you know you are onto something special 😉

4) The Deadlift

If ever the Squat had a rival for the Kind of exercises title, it was with this fella here! The Deadlift requires unmatched stabilizing from the upper body, core, and legs to perform. Those who do this exercise improperly likely see it as a lower back exercise. That is blasphemy! If you let your lower back do all the lifting, or the majority of it, you are not doing it properly. When done with the right form you are keeping your upper body in position (which takes lots of core strength in abs, lower back, upper back, and should blades) and pulling with your lower half of your body (your legs and glutes). This exercise gets your test levels through the roof naturally when done often enough (at least weekly!)

5) The Military Press

While this cannot replace the bench press, it is definitely second place to it above all other “upper body” exercises. This free weight exercise requires the lifter to use the shoulders (no kiddin), upper chest, triceps, and even some of your upper back for stabilizing. Some have mastered the shoulder press to hundreds of pounds in the same range as the bench press.

6) The Bent Over Row

You want to thicken out your back and add strength? Grab yourself a bar bell and rep off a few of these babies. No need to touch a machine. Nothing quite hits your back and widens you out as a bent over row. You can do them light and fast, light and slow, or go heavy. Either way, your back and core get blast, thicker, and of course stronger! This is not just a bodybuilding exercise!

7) Good Mornings

There is nothing friendly about this good morning! These babies will load up your central nervous system for handling heavy weights. You can go even heavier with these than you can with squats and deadlifts! That being said, make sure you know what you are doing. If you are the guy at the gym bending forward at the waist,  instead of pushing your butt backward with your back arched, than you should stop doing them or find some help! If you do these right, they will thicken out your body and build tons of core strength!

8) Lunges

These are not just for the ladies! Doing a lot of squats and deadlifts can wreak havoc on your hips and the muscles running up the outsides of your legs. To help even things out, do some lunges. You will benefit from keeping you body upright (taking considerable upper body strength) as well as tax your legs and glutes in a more isolated way that differs from the squat and deadlift. A great addition to those lifts!

9) Shoulder shrugs

These sweethearts will put a massive amount of weight in your hands. Though done free weight with a bar bell or dumb bells it is true that you don’t have a great range of motion these still are greatly beneficial. You gain invaluable grip strength, and because the range of motion is small you can load up the weight. This will acclimatize your body to lifting heavy loads. It will also thicken up your shoulders, in particular your traps!

10) Chin ups

Who says you need to lift weights to gain strength and size? The classic exercise that modern science just can’t top. Use your own body weight and rip off a few of these bad boys with any grip width. Do close grip for attacking the biceps, or spread them out to hit the back. You will be amazed how it does wonders for your shoulder blades and biceps while at he same time hitting your upper back. A great upper body workout all round! Add some weight to them if you need to, or just add more reps!

****The author, 6 Pack Lapadat, is a National Powerlifting Champion and Guinness World Record holder in the Squats. See bio section for more info on him!****

The Sport of Powerlifting

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The Beginning

The sport of Powerlifting began as the “Odd lifts”. Olympic Weightlifters who participated in the Clean and Jerk, Snatch, and Clean and Press in the Olympics often did Squats, Deadlifts, Bench Press, Military Press, Arm curl, and several other weightlifting exercises in training.

Soon enough, Olympic Weightlifters began focusing on these lifts so much they began perfecting them and comparing their results. It got competitive. They noticed that 3 lifts in particular of all the “Odd Lifts” were the best 3 events to measure a person’s power. Even the 3 lifts that were in the Olympic Weightlifting program did not quite measure the human power the same. They relied more on speed and agility. Just like the Olympic lifts, these 3 power lifts required a lot of technique to maximize the lifters efforts. However, unlike the Olympic lifts, these 3 power lifts relied heavily on brute strength with much less emphasis on agility, and speed as the Olympic lifts. Originally called the “Odd lifts”, consisting of many exercises, these lifts were eventually narrowed down to the Squat, Bench Press, and Deadlift, and the sport of Powerlifting was formed.

Developing into a Sport

Many famous Olympic Weightlifting Champions such as Paul Anderson and Doug Hepburn (both recognized as the “World’s Strongest Man” in their respective primes) would eventually adopt power lifts as their favorite, and become equally known for their power lifts as Olympic Weight lifts. Doug Hepburn became the best Bench Presser in the World, and Paul Anderson the best Squatter.

Powerlifting as a sport is born

With its roots in the sport of Olympic Weightlifting, Powerlifting has many of the same rules. Each lifter has three attempts in each event (Squat, Bench Press, and Deadlifts, always in that order), with the best successful attempt going towards their total weight lifted. The lifter’s total determines their placing in the competition. If a lifter attempts a weight and fails they must attempt that weight again or go higher up in weight. Under no circumstances can a lifter go down in weight for an attempt; failing to record a successful lift in the three attempts given for one of the events results in a disqualification of the lifter. This makes for exciting outcomes when a close competition can have lifters fail at a weight three times in a row and “bomb” out of the competition.

To advance from the Squat event to the Bench Press means the lifter must have at least one successful Squat attempt to continue. The same goes for advancing from the Bench Press event to the Deadlift event. At the World stage, in highly competitive tournaments were the lifters are pushed to the max in every lift, “bomb outs” are frequent enough. It is the wild card that keeps the sport interesting as any lifter can move up in placing due to an unexpected bomb out.

These events are also held as single event competitions, with the Bench Press being by far the most popular.

Powerlifting Today

Today, the sport has grown to have more members than Olympic Weightlifting. Powerlifting is recognized by the International Olympic Committee and a part of the World Games. The sport has spread to a total of 115 countries, stretching 5 continents, and has become part of modern culture. In every gym you can find people Bench Pressing, Squatting, and Deadlifting. These exercises have become much more commonly practiced than the Clean and Jerk and Snatch. Strike up a conversation with some one from a local gym and they are inevitably going to ask, “How much ya bench?”

Doug Hepburn would be proud.

***6 Pack Lapadat is a Champion Powerlifter and Guinness World Record holder for feats of strength. He performs his feats to raise money for sick children. To learn more about 6 Pack Lapadat/or help donate towards the cause you can browse through this site.