Professional strongman: Žydrūnas Savickas

I thought it would be good to study a real life example. To look into the world of someone who has given their life to being strong: Žydrūnas Savickas. Žydrūnas (Za-dru-nas) won the Arnold Strongman Classic 6 years in a row. He has set 40 world records in different events from 2003 to 2009. He won all 15 strongman competitions he entered in 2005. He can do this stuff:
Squat - (938 lb)
Bench press - (629 lb)
Deadlift - (898 lb)
Just one thing, I don't think he has given his life. Stay with me here.

Unfortunately I cannot pinpoint a specific source saying exactly how long he works out. Yet according to http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0KFY/is_5_24/ai_n26903256/  he gives a breakdown of his regiment and his ideals behind them. "The most important exercises for building strength are the powerlifting exercises of squats, bench presses and deadlifts, and [practicing] strongman events; so I train six days a week, three times powerlifting and three times strongman events, alternating workouts. For each powerlifting exercise, I do six or seven sets of three reps."

SAVICKAS' WORKOUT

EXERCISE       SETS  REPS

Monday, Wednesday, Friday
Squats         6-7   3
Bench presses  6-7   3
Deadlifts      6-7   3

Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday
Various strongman events





If you read carefully, you should see that although he does something everyday, 6 days a week, he only does a few reps and 7 sets is his ceiling.

That's not his life. That's working out and practicing. As I said, I did not find a place where it mentions his normal time to complete any given workout. I have not looked into his diet too much, although I assure you he eats a massive amount of calories to maintain his muscle weight.

So what's the point? It's simply this: the pros go above normal, but not by much. Not unreachable heights. Part of it is finding what works for you. So even if he read and studied health for an hour or so 6 days a week, even if he worked out for 2 hours a day, that's just 3 hours a day to be where he is.

Someone willing to work hard doing the right things can be considered 1#, imagine that. Yet, I have to be realistic. By realistic I mean he probably was working at about that level even in the beginning. He figured some things out and got better of course. Still, it is true that patience is a virtue until you hit that "overnight" success.





There will always be someone saying "I don't have 3 hours a day!", but there may be a point for that as well. You don't have to. Unless it is your passion, you probably don't need to. If you want to be fit an hour 4 or 5 times a day can have you super fit. It's been well established by study and example that an hour a day, 5 days a week with make you a pro in 3 years and a world expert in 5. That's for study though, with is essentially shaping the mind. Shaping the body is far easier so imagine what you could be in 6 months. I have gained 15 healthy pounds in my first 2 months.



If you would like a professional example look no further than Jack Lalanne. He is a favorite pick for my next strongman bio breakdown. I've heard that he worked out just 2 hours a day, 5 or 6 days a week. Yet, at age 70 he towed 70 rowboats, with passengers on them, while he was handcuffed, for a mile.