What Is Yoke Training?
What is yoke training?
The yoke is a piece of equipment used in strongman competitions. It’s a large metal frame with a crossbar and looks like a squat rack but is designed to be placed on the back and carried. Weight can be stacked on the bottom corners to increase the difficulty of the lift.
Like most strongman movements the yoke requires full-body strength as well as balance and precise technique to execute the carry successfully.
Here’s how it’s done (and my 400kg PB!)…
My upcoming competition
I’m set to compete at Queensland’s Strongest Man & Woman 2018 which gives me three months to train for it.
Before starting my competition training I decided to max out on a yoke to test my strength and managed to hit a 400kg beltless PB for 10m (as seen in the video above).
The yoke carry requires a strong back as it holds a serious load of weight in the movement as well as strong legs to power through the carry component. So following my PB I completed some lighter yoke work followed by front squats and lat pulldowns to work the upper back.
The workout
| Yoke carry | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Warm up | 100kg x 10m | 200kg x 10m | 300kg x 10m | 350kg x 10m |
| PB attempt | 400kg x 10 (beltless) | |||
| Working sets | 350 x 10m x 2 sets | 300kg x 10m x 2 sets | 200kg x 20m x 2 sets | |
| Front Squat | ||||
| Warm up | 70kg x 8 reps | 100kg x 8 reps | ||
| Working sets | 120kg x 8 reps | 120kg x 8 reps | 120kg x 8 reps | |
| Lat Pulldown | ||||
| Warm up | 60kg x 10 reps | 70 x 10 reps | ||
| Working sets | 80kg x 10 reps | 80kg x 10 reps | 80kg x 10 reps | 80kg x 10 reps |
Dave Napper is a world record breaking personal trainer, nutritionist, powerlifter and business owner.
He is the owner-operator of Brisbane North Barbell, helping to train the next generation of powerlifters and strongmen.
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