the block
10-04-2009, 17:29
Gym owner took me to see some local Pakistani lads lift stones. These stones are just square lumps of mountain blocks with a handle carved out in the middle. They have different weights.
Apparently it is very technical. You grab the stone and lift it up, swing it between your legs once to get the feel of it and then a 2nd time with lots of momentum and then hoist it up to your shoulder by thrusting your hips forward and sort of snapping jump too. Legs should remain slightly bent at 'lockout'/end position. You then have to hold the weight there for a moment whilst you gesture with 1 hand to indicate you have control of the weight. Then you just dump it. It is a really big sport in Pakistan (very popular and people take great pride in it)
A few pics: (most of the guys are village people!)
http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/7858/p1000046a.jpg
40kg seems to be a standard 'unit' for these guys and they have a word for it "Munn", hence one of the blocks with 2 - 30 on it which means 2 x 40kg + 30kg, so a total of 110kg. I reckon the maths is slightly off on some stones :048:
http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/2841/p1000049a.jpg
This is a close up of the heaviest block they had at this place. You can see the handle is quite thick.
This is a respectable weight. There are people who do well over 4 'Munn' so that's 160kg and then you have the beasts who have done 5 and over which is 200kg +
http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/3669/p1000052a.jpg
This is one of the greasers going for an 85kg block, he's quite new at it. I think this is like his 3rd or 4th week or something.
http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/8339/p1000047a.jpg
This is a couple of inches from completion of the move. The guy lifting is a skinny runt, he probably weighs about 75kg or so. The block he is lifting weighs 122kg I think. All he had to do from there was lift the weight so it touches his shoulder and lean back.
The guy whose body is covered by the stone is the teacher/trainer. Apparently he lifted 160kg, he had much better health, but then someone did magic on him and he was ill for a year. He recovered about 3 months ago and currently he can lift 120kg.
They warm up on the lighter stones and then work with heavier ones for a few reps and then tackle heavier ones. After a lift they continue walking around the stones so it sort of becomes like a circuit. No-one sits/stands still. They continued for near enough a whole hour like that. Most of the guys were really skinny but been doing if for 2 years so had the technique nailed down.
They practise the technique nearly everyday and have at least 1 proper all out session weekly.
I wasn't going to but couldn't resist so gave it a go but I only did the lightest which was 65kg and it was a piece of cake. But that wasn't the objective, I found it quite hard to time the swings with the hip thrusts and my arms were in the wrong position when hoisting the weight up. They were too far away from my body. These guys really turn the wrist so the weight stays next to the body and the forearm is in an upright position.
Just thought to share that with you as I found it rather interesting!
Apparently it is very technical. You grab the stone and lift it up, swing it between your legs once to get the feel of it and then a 2nd time with lots of momentum and then hoist it up to your shoulder by thrusting your hips forward and sort of snapping jump too. Legs should remain slightly bent at 'lockout'/end position. You then have to hold the weight there for a moment whilst you gesture with 1 hand to indicate you have control of the weight. Then you just dump it. It is a really big sport in Pakistan (very popular and people take great pride in it)
A few pics: (most of the guys are village people!)
http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/7858/p1000046a.jpg
40kg seems to be a standard 'unit' for these guys and they have a word for it "Munn", hence one of the blocks with 2 - 30 on it which means 2 x 40kg + 30kg, so a total of 110kg. I reckon the maths is slightly off on some stones :048:
http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/2841/p1000049a.jpg
This is a close up of the heaviest block they had at this place. You can see the handle is quite thick.
This is a respectable weight. There are people who do well over 4 'Munn' so that's 160kg and then you have the beasts who have done 5 and over which is 200kg +
http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/3669/p1000052a.jpg
This is one of the greasers going for an 85kg block, he's quite new at it. I think this is like his 3rd or 4th week or something.
http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/8339/p1000047a.jpg
This is a couple of inches from completion of the move. The guy lifting is a skinny runt, he probably weighs about 75kg or so. The block he is lifting weighs 122kg I think. All he had to do from there was lift the weight so it touches his shoulder and lean back.
The guy whose body is covered by the stone is the teacher/trainer. Apparently he lifted 160kg, he had much better health, but then someone did magic on him and he was ill for a year. He recovered about 3 months ago and currently he can lift 120kg.
They warm up on the lighter stones and then work with heavier ones for a few reps and then tackle heavier ones. After a lift they continue walking around the stones so it sort of becomes like a circuit. No-one sits/stands still. They continued for near enough a whole hour like that. Most of the guys were really skinny but been doing if for 2 years so had the technique nailed down.
They practise the technique nearly everyday and have at least 1 proper all out session weekly.
I wasn't going to but couldn't resist so gave it a go but I only did the lightest which was 65kg and it was a piece of cake. But that wasn't the objective, I found it quite hard to time the swings with the hip thrusts and my arms were in the wrong position when hoisting the weight up. They were too far away from my body. These guys really turn the wrist so the weight stays next to the body and the forearm is in an upright position.
Just thought to share that with you as I found it rather interesting!