CB: Rob, thank for agreeing to do this interview, as I know you’ve been really busy at work and with your house renovations, which you seem to be undertaking single-handedly! What’s more, I recently described you as “a man mountain, former shot and discus thrower, amateur heavyweight strongman and grip fanatic.” Am I being fair?
RR: Yeah, the renovation work has really got in the way of my training of late, but I’m planning a comeback sometime between now and Christmas. Think heavier than ever bottom-up presses (BUPs), lots of kettlebell snatch (endurance and singles), deadlifting, stone lifting and some grip goals I will get back on track with.
I’m certainly a former discus thrower and shot putter, have competed in a few amateur heavyweight strongman comps and love grip training, as for ‘man mountain’ quite possibly as I’m the heaviest I’ve ever been at the moment some of which helps lifting and some of which doesn’t. It would be fair to say strength training has been a large part of my life for at least 22 years of my life, if not more. I’ve been interested in lifting and throwing things since as far back as I can remember.
CB: So I wasn’t using too much artistic licence then. Anyway, you’re from Yorkshire, in the north of England. As many of my readers will know from my Oldtime Strongman series, there is a tradition of Yorkshire strongmen that goes back to Thomas Inch, George F Jowett, Apollon (J C Tolson) and Edward Aston. Does all that history inspire or intimidate you?
RR: Geoff Capes was one of my biggest heroes, being a world class thrower and then World’s Strongest Man he really fitted the bill, not from Yorkshire but near enough! I read his autobiography in one sitting and was inspired, really inspired by him! As for Yorkshire strongmen of old I would say I’m still learning about some of them, especially Thomas Inch who was born a few streets away from where I live now and who was also a member of Scarborough Rowing Club which my wife joined earlier this year, I’ll also be making my debut in a boat next summer. Which will be fun!
CB: Fantastic. I look forward to hearing about it. Speaking of Thomas Inch, one of your goals is to press the Inch dumbbell. I was at the competition where you pressed a replica 69kg Inch dumbbell for 8 reps. What is so difficult about the real Inch dumbbell and why?
RR: For those who don’t know, the Inch Dumbbell is 78kg globe dumbbell with a very thick handle at 2 3/8”. Deadlifting the inch with one hand is particularly difficult due to the thickness of the handle and the fact that the bell rotates out of your hand when you pick it up if you’re not strong enough. I’ve made some fairly decent gains with the 78kg Inch this summer getting quite a few inches of air. It’s considered to be an ‘Elite Grip feat’ to deadlift the Inch to lock out and to clean it is just incredible. We can all dream about this, but there are a few guys out there who have done it. Once such fella is Laine Snook, amazing!
I like to prime my grip prior to inch dumbbell training with heavy kettlebell cleans up to 80kg. As for pressing the Inch, it’s certainly a totally different beast to pressing a traditional dumbbell or kettlebell. For best results make sure you have the bell in line with and one end resting on your shoulder, otherwise it tends to bear down on your elbows too much and sits just a little bit higher this way.
CB: Great tips, thanks Rob. Speaking of heavy kettlebells, in the last few years, you’ve developed a significant obsession with what I would call very heavy kettlebells. So let’s talk about those for a bit. To start with, you’ve jerked an 80kg kettlebell overhead and flipped it as well. When are these insane weights going to stop going up?
RR: To be honest I don’t even know where these ‘insane feats’ started! I got my first kettlebell, a 24kg comp bell about 6 years ago and found it to feel a lot heavier than a 24kg dumbbell, got really interested by that and the fact that it looked unusual and medieval and it went from there. I had trouble bottom up pressing the 24kg to start with managing a rep or 2 in each hand. At this point I’d had quite a long lay off traditional weight training and dropped my bodyweight down to a meagre 17 stone.
As my love for heavier kettlebells grew I got a couple of 40kg kettlebells and started training with them on a lunchtime at work. I think it was a double 40kg kettlebell flip that set me off wondering what else I could do with kettlebells. From there it lead on to flipping for reps and then I got a 48kg bell which felt pretty heavy at the time but I ended up bottom-up pressing it only a few weeks later after daily swings, cleans and the odd snatch. I couldn’t resist carrying on further but couldn’t find a 56kg so made the step up to the 60kg, although I spent a lot of time working on pressing, flipping and snatching the 48kg as well.
It took a good couple of months of weekly bottoms up cleans and push pressing before I got confident enough to snatch the 60kg and then a bit more work to bottom-up press it which certainly was a great personal goal for me as I put a lot into it!
Next came the 80kg which I got custom made by LKB (and now they stock) along with an order for a set of Inch Dumbbells. The 80kg really is something else as the handle is around 48mm in diameter and really has to be treated with respect. I flipped it earlier this year which I was quite proud of as flipping and catching 80kg of moving metal ain’t that easy. This feat was inspired by Valantin Dikul. I aim to do much more with the 80kg next year and build up to snatching it, which will take some real hard work and nerve.
CB: I think it’s fair to say that you have arrived when you start having to have weights custom-made for you because no-one else wants them that heavy. And meanwhile, you have found that heavy kettlebell work has good carryover to your barbell lifting, as you’ve worked up to a 120kg clean and press following a cycle of stacked kettlebell work. Do you think that this is something that most people will find? Or do you think it is just that you are very versatile and can turn your strength to most types of lifting?
RR: My experience of heavy kettlebell lifting (namely heavy snatch), has seemed to have had a very good carryover to barbell pressing for me. I’d always been able to go heavy over head with a barbell using the push press up to around 160kg but never had pressed 120kg overhead on a barbell, until I did following on from a kettlebell cycle.
Kettlebells certainly aren’t magic or ‘dumbbells x10’ as some claims have been made about them. You only get out what you put in from my experience, but I think most people won’t ever get close to or even bother doing the Olympic lifts but the basic kettlebell lifts such as the swing and snatch teach the body elements of Olympic lifting that bring the body together.
Add to that that swings and snatches are great for the posterior chain and they carryover to many other lifts. I’m not talking about doing hundreds of swings with a kettlebell you could carry around in your pocket, but heavy snatches and swings with a bell for 20 reps or under per set. That’s my experience with them and yes I’ve done all types of training over the years so probably am quite versatile too.
CB: All very wise words. Speaking of stacked kettlebell work, you finished your cycle of stacked kettlebell training with a 64kg press. That is just daft. I tried it the other day with a couple of lighter weights and nearly killed myself. What is the technique?
RR: Technique? What’s that? Just keep trying! I’ve spent ages learning to bottom-up press. I would recommend starting off with a single kettlebell bottom-up press and work on cleaning the bell straight up and catching it as close as possible to your shoulder and work on keeping your lower arm as vertical as possible, basically just try to be efficient.
When working with a stacked bottom-up press, you need to take an overhand grip on the bell you are putting on top and snatch it to arms length whilst bottoms up cleaning the bell with the otherhand, this in itself is a good exercise. Then practice putting the bells together and balancing them. When you feel confident with that, then move on to the press.
This is where it gets tricky as it’s a different move to the single bottom-up press as you need to make 100% sure the bells stay flat (in relation to the ground), more so at the very end of the press as you naturally tend to twist your wrist a bit at the top. Make sure you’re really careful with this if you try it as I had a few scary moments in my garden (oh yes best done outside).
CB: I’ll bear that in mind. And I might buy a crash helmet in the meantime. But staying on the subject for a moment longer, you’re clearly not content with keeping these ridiculously heavy kettlebells to yourself. Earlier this year, you were trying your hardest to persuade other people to buy some newly-imported 80kg kettlebells as well. Why should people train with heavier kettlebells? Why not just stick with the standard sizes?
It all depends what you want to achieve, I’ve gone with heavy kettlebells as I like feats of strength and have a background in throwing which always involved lifting maximal weights. I’m not personally saying ‘lift heavy kettlebells’ (or buy them, although the ones I recommended were obscenely cheap and good) but I believe, heavy kettlebell swings and snatches are a great way to add a different dimension to your training routine that say barbells do not. Certainly train with traditional methods but using alternative methods can help you break barriers and encourage self development.
CB: That sounds fair. Let’s move on from kettlebells now. You started out as a shot and discus thrower and mentioned recently that you feel that there is still unfinished business for you in that arena. What, realistically, do you think is feasible for you at this stage, with your other commitments?
RR: My athletic career took a real hit in 1997 after a very serious car crash which resulted in a triple fracture to my right femur and some muscle being removed from my thigh + 7 months on crutches. My winter training that year was really on fire, I was stronger and faster than I’d had ever been, was throwing farther than ever and the previous 4-5 years of continous training was taking real effect.
So you can imagine that really stopped me in my tracks. I made a bit of a comeback in throwing in 2006-2007 getting close to my throws the year before my crash but nothing like at my peak when I had the crash. I felt my whole life was geared to throwing as far as possible and achieving senior GB honours and my car crash ripped away a large part of my life. To finish off I would be happy with beating my previous records of 16.77m in the shot and 53.76m in the discus. It’s certainly not out of the question yet but with family and work commitments would take some real work, but I’m never saying never. Well not for now anyway.
CB: I’m really sorry to hear that, Rob. I hope you reach the goals you set yourself and finish off your work in that arena. On a lighter note, you’ve recently competed twice at strongman. I really enjoyed the competition I saw you at in Melton Mowbray, where you came second. Are you planning to compete at strongman again in the near future and do you have any long-term goals here?
RR: No long term goals, apart from making World’s Strongest Man (laughs). Not really, I like the thought of being ‘Herculean Strong’ but seriously Strongman is crazy and hurts like hell. You need and incredibly strong back and a high pain threshold. I plan to do some more comps next year, but right now no real long term goals.
CB: Having seen you in action, I’m sure you have what it takes to be competitive. Still on that subject, though, to get ready for strongman, you did a variety of different training but one of my favourite videos on your site (and one that gets the best response when I show people at work) is where you pick up a dishwasher and press it over your head. You actually make it look really easy. Do you get lots of requests to help people move house? OK, no. But seriously, what sort of training have you found to have the best carryover for strongman?
RR: Should I say heavy kettlebells? Yes, I found heavy bells to be very useful along with trapbar deadlifting and trapbar walking as in farmers walk. The kettlebell push presssing for long sets carried over well for the pressing as it would but also is great for the fitness that is required in strongman today.
There’s one thing that now amount of general training can do and that is training event specifics, if you’ve never tried to press an inch dumbbell before you will struggle the first time you do it (especially in a comp). Same goes for stone lifting and carrying barrels and bag etc. You can’t go wrong with the sandbag clean and press, it has a great carryover to strongman as it’s so awkward.
CB: Great tips, thanks Rob. Speaking of training a variety of exercises, you never seem to do the same thing twice! Is this a fair observation or are there a lot of repeated workouts that go on in the background that you don’t mention on your blogs?
RR: Yeah that’s right I get bored following specific training routines but have a general theme that I’m training for at the time. If I’m training for a heavy bottom-up press I’ll do lots of exercises around that such as mixing presses so I’ll do a waiter press followed by a standard press followed by a bottom-up press just to make the bottom-up press as hard as possible. I do medleys and have mini goals from workout to workout. I basically make it up as I go along with a general structure leading it. I guess you might call it Rob Russell’s Random Conjugate Method.
CB: Indeed. Maybe you should release a book about it… Amongst all those exercises, I noticed that you also had a brief flutter with the king of all exercises a while back but that you tend more towards deadlifting in your training. People often say they’re a natural squatter or a natural deadlifter. Have you found that prefer one over the other? If so, why?
RR: I don’t really have preference. I never used to deadlift at all until more recently when I got into trapbar training and then barbell deadlift. I used to squat a lot for throwing, doing loads of jump squats, static squats etc all done with a high bar and very narrow stance. I’m more hip based now but enjoy both.
CB: OK, a couple of questions about grip now. I don’t know a lot about grip and I’ve never done much apart from a little thick bar work and grippers for fun. I do know, however, that your hands are bigger than my feet. I’ve also read that Jedd Johnson can’t get both his hands through a standard kettlebell handle at the same time. Do you think that big hands are necessary for elite level grip strength?
RR: I’m certainly no authority on grip training especially at an elite level, but I believe big hands would be an advantage for high level grip training but sure there’ll be guys that don’t fit this bill and are top of their game. I think if you want something enough you overcome adversity to achieve it.
CB: And what advice would you give someone who was interested in incorporating some effective grip training into their current strength training programme?
RR: My best advice for grip training is not to center your training around it. Make sure that you train your whole body with whatever takes your fancy and if you’re starting out add it in to the end of your session. I’ve got good results by picking a couple of exercises for a few sets, such as blob lifting and levering one session followed by thick dumbbells and grippers the next etc.
Be very careful when training your pinch grip as the thumb can take months to put right if you overstretch it, believe me I’ve done that once and don’t fancy it again. Remember there are many varieties of grip training and they all tend to compliment each other. I would highly recommend checking out Adam T Glass and Jedd Johnson for inspiration and technique tips. I was especially inspired by Adam to start card tearing cards and phonebooks and more recently vertical bar lifting and grippers.
CB: Another great set of tips. Rob, that has been a fascinating insight into your training, which is especially helpful given how much you have achieved. Thanks so much for your time.
RR: It’s been a real pleasure Chris and I’d be more than happy to give my opinion and help if anyone has any questions.
