How to Lift Atlas Stones (Stone Series Pt I) 

That 400 pound stone looks like the death star! May the force be with you!

Nothing says "manhood" more than lifting stones. Keep up the good work Brian, cant wait till part 2

3:49 Boondock Saints reference - this is why Brian is the best! You sir, are extremely motivational and entertaining. We all love you Brian!

I just found you like a month ago and I gotta say you are by far one of the best RU-vid channels out there. Such informative content!

Was that a boondock saints quote at around 3:50 mark?! Haha Great walk through as always. Simple and precise.

"The Rule of wrist" I love the Boondock Saints reference!

(Q&A vid q's) 1. Did you have a clientele before buying/establishing you're facility? 2. Did you get people to invest? or did you take out a small buisness loan? if so did you utilize any of your VA benefits? or perhaps through the small buisness administration? (sorry if these q's are too personal, I'm very adamant on owning my own facility one day and quite interested in your input) Once you decided to open your own gym, did you continue on. what was, your current career path and slowly do the purchasing over time? or did you go all in at once? thanks alot! I'm a huge fan

Like the way you did the video that it's interesting, even when someone dosen't have access to one at preasent

Well done! This is by far the best how to lift an atlas stone video I've seen. I've got some great tips on how to lift that 315 lb stone that's just being taking up space in my garage!

Loved the video Brian. I'm not a great stone loader so now I have some new things to try. Thanks for sharing. Here are some business related questions for you: What was the best method of advertisement to draw clients into your gym? Could your gym survive financially (now or in the past) having only an open gym policy (no group training, classes or personal sessions)? What variables do you use to decide when to grow the gym (more clients, bigger space or more equipment)? What do you think is important for having a high retention rate of clients? Do you think its viable to work part-time while the business is starting up (and doesn't provide a full income) or do you need to focus full-time on the gym? When would/have you considered highering employees to help with business or training tasks required by the gym? How often do the business activities interfere or take away from your ability and passion to help people get stronger?

great video! waiting for part 2 (what to do if you don't have atlas stones!) so that i can retroactively apply what you've said here!!!! and so awesome that you're doing the Gym questions! it shows real appreciation for your viewers!

Your view to like ratio is very like dominant.

This made me watch my video from my last comp. I guess because I'm a LW woman and my stones are still rather small, the technique is a bit different. I want to try that rebound with the hips. That should definitely help with height with the heavier stones. Great video as always!! The things I learn from here, I try to incorporate into my training just for a different feel and approach. Thanx so much for spreading your knowledge!!!

I have yet to try the atlas stone but it is something I am looking forward to as we slowly add to our home gym aka the Iron Chapel. :)

rule of thumb? can't do much damage with that.

Free Lifting History lesson! best part of the video dude, loved it.

Brian, you're working hard, therefore people happily support you. Cheers, bud.

totally wish I had access to stones and other kick butt strongman equipment, but I don't, so I cannot wait for video two with substitute options. I have Mickey moused two curl bars into farmers walks, but i am at a loss for stones. also, cannot wait for my shirt to arrive. running your program....conditioning as programmed is no joke. I have yet to keep tempo as listed but am improving.

What are some unexpected costs? Do you save up to open the gym? Take loans? Borrow from investors/co-owners? Do you have any employees? Would you hire other trainers as employees or contractors? What's your favorite thing about owning your own gym? Will you ever sell supplements or beverages? How much wood would a woodchuck chuck...

I'm making a whole bunch of atlas stones come spring time (because I don't have a garage big enough to workout in so I gotta use the yard) can't wait! I think lifting stones is one of the manliest exercises you can do

341 lb stone? Who the fuck can lift that?

as always awesome vid !! my question for your Q&A : What the physical level relevant to open a gym ? knowledge is power, but having a good physic must be an obligation to drive your students up and show them the way ?

Question for the Q&A: How to attract your own potencial personal clients or regular people to my own gym, why would they come to my strongman/powerlifting gym and not go to commercial gym?

Hey Brian another great video!!! With the demanding schedule of a gym. How hard is it to plan for personal time or family events when your business schedule is structured around being convenient for others to attend? And I completely understand that when it's your passion you make it work but I figured I'd ask.

Hi Brian, recently started watching you and Alan’s channel, becoming a huge fan! Thank you for sharing your knowledge! Could you break down your initial investment, 1-5 year P&L? Break even point? Hiring coaches/managers? God Bless!

This channel is about to be on the rise. Definitely on par with the best of the best.

is there a way to figure out how heavy of a stone u should make for beginners. Like if u deadlift * amount start with a stone * heavy? can't wait for collab with Allen!

Bump. Just bought my first atlas stones today! Looking forward to implementing techniques

I lifted my first Atlas Stone this past weekend in prep for a competition. My only "training" for the stone was watching this video like 12 times. i was able to get the ugliest 250lb stone you will ever see. Just ordered some tacky, hoping to hit 275 this weekend!

That Boondock Saints reference, so good.

What business structure did you decide to go with? Llc? Sole proprietorship? How did that effect your personal taxes prior to doing NeverSate full time? Being a "niche" style gym, do you do auto-regulated payments monthly via credit card like most cookie cutter gyms? Thanks!

i started 2 weeks ago, my first stone was a 100kg one and a week later i played with him, put it on my shoulder and all the stuff but 110 wont move from the ground shall i kill myself now?

"Yu, ah, droapped yuer roack" "Call'a a taest ah manhud" "Yu waen"

Just competed in my first novice strongman comp. & won!! This video helped me a ton for the Atlas stone event, thanks so much Brian!!

Hey Brian another great video!!! With the demanding schedule of a gym. How hard is it to plan for personal time or family events when your business schedule is structured around being convenient for others to attend? And I completely understand that when it's your passion you make it work but I figured I'd ask.

Hi Brian, huge fan out your channel and look forward to every video! I myself am a small garage gym owner in a place called Wellington, New Zealand. I would be super keen to see a video on opening a gym! I'm three years into opening and running mine and my question to you would be what have been your biggest challenges as a gym owner and how have you overcome them? Thanks for all the content you put out there and keep it coming!

Nice 10th mountain flag. My gym partner was A-Co 2-14

Quick question for you Brian: just started doing atlas stone over a yoke and I have noticed that I have some pain in my sternum. Is this common when just starting out or is the stone too high on my chest when loading over?

Question for next video: What is the average cost of ones facility (particularly strongman) and where does more money go to? Equipment, rent, utilities etc?

For opening up a gym, would you recommend using savings or trying for a business loan? Also, if someone has never competed or trained in strongman, but wanted to incorporate implements at their gym, how would you go about making sure the people who wanted to use the implements could do so safely and productively?

I would love to see Brian Shaw pick up a 700 lb Dinny stone

Another great video. Thank you. In regards to opening a gym, are there other facilities in your area that offer similar training opportunities? How do you differentiate your gym from others that offer similar formats? Thanks

A question for the gym QnA: How do you choose a spot to have a good amount of client without fighting the competition or being in the middle of nowhere which reach 10 folks at best?

For the q&a - how did you start getting people to your gym? and did you have a backup plan in case owning a gym failed? I want to open my own gym one day as well.

How difficult is it to pick a piece of property to open your own gym? Do you decide what kind of gym you want first, or pick the space then decide the niche after?

Brian I heard that you are a avid reader, what books you suggest?

I want to have mold weight atlas stone I'm looking for from you help me turkiyede

Didn't realise the logo on the shirts was an atlas stone... thought it was a reindeer

Isnt it dangerous ro pick stones since everyone rounds their lower back?

was that a boondocks saints reference? rule of thumb/wrist?

Love the Boondocks Saints reference! 😂

Education, Property like yours, Size of building, Well for water, Septic, Parking, Membership cost,, Heat Gas or electric, Location, How much of your own money do you need up front ( the more the better). Putting all this into a detailed plan is what I find the hardest. I happen to know a retired gentleman who runs his own gym for money at home basically just off of general knowledge and experience. He does well and people say he does a good job. I would like to do the same but education is my no.1 concern. If you could touch on some of these thing in some kind of order that would be great. thanks Brian.

Left a comment earlier that I was going to give these a try using your cues but the comment is gone :( Anyhow, wrote down the cues in this vid and gave them a go. So much to remember and first time ever doing them but they were fun. Worked up to a few reps w/ the 215 stone. I'm going to practice weekly and see what happens. Thanks for the vid!! ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-h5l7bZ7BFvk.html My first attempt at them using your cues ( badly I think :D ).

Nice video, Brian! I'd add one thing I haven't seen in any stone tutorials (maybe because it's common sense, I don't know): Be careful when loading a lighter stone to a high platform. If you're trying to be as explosive as possible with your triple-extension, the stone will have a lot of momentum when it passes in front of your face. I scraped my chin/busted my lip with one at my last competition. Luckily I came away with all of my teeth still in my mouth :)

Love a good Boondock Saints refrence. Thanks man.

Thanks Brian good stuff! What type of regulation do you have to consider? Do you need male/female restrooms? What's the best way to take payment/ memberships? Something I have seen other professionals, like yourself, do is start a private facebook group for paying members where they can have more access to your time...

great video as always I plan to make some stones once I'm sure the concrete will cure properly(it's like 17 degrees everyday where I am don't think that will make for good stone formation) I plan to make 3-4 between 200-300

I'm having a minor surgery for gynecomastia and I won't be completely recovered for 4-6 weeks how much strength should I expect to lose and will I rebound quickly once I'm healed I need to lift bro thanks for the video

I first watched this video over 6 months ago... Since then I have digested all of you main lift videos and then some... All leading up to my first atlas Stone session... No personal trainer, no coach... Just content like yours... And boom... I just walked out of the gym successfully lifting a stone onto my shoulder and another over a bar. Thank you so much... If it wanst for you, I never would have started strongman training or gotten the results I have achieved in the main 3... God bless you. Respect from Australia

Thanks for the great Video! I've only just started working with Atlas stones (Up to a 150 pound stone at my gym so far) and I am curious, I see in some other videos people will sort of lean forwards on their toes, does anyone know if that's good/bad/inconsequential to form when loading a stone? Last thing I need is to mess up my feet while holding a huge stone mid-load.

Excellent video sir! As far as stone lifting goes, I have a pain in my bicep and elbow from my hand being open around the bottom of the stone. I feel like I keep my arms straight when lifting, and I can break the stone from the floor, but I can't lap it because I get a sharp pain in my bicep and elbow. Any ideas or tips on what's going on? Thanks for any help and keep up the awesome videos.

How do you get enough members interested in this kinda training?

Ha ha! There's a big-ass rock in my front garden that's about a foot off from where I want it. I wasn't able to wedge it and slide it (ground's too soft), and it's already the correct side up so I don't want to roll it. However...

This sounded more like a presentation by Dr. Brian Alsruhe, PhD rather than you know.. some big guy that moves heavy shit. haha no but seriously I really enjoy your videos thanks for the cool content.

Here's a question for your Q&A- How much should you have as start up funds before you can actually open up a facility? And what all should you consider as part of the funds, such as rent, equipment, gym maintenance supplies etc.

As a icelander that has a history of fishermans/farmers i would like to say spot on about info about Iceland! But why don't you like the húsafell stone? As always great video man, loved it!

Here's a question: if you were pretty business-focused, are the profit margins of gyms hefty enough to bother getting a partner? In my experience, the lower the margin, the greater the stress. That turns into bad news should two people not have the right values and communication tools.

Excelent demo and tips, looking foreward to part 2 😁💪 I was in process of opening my own gym and got denied financial support from my town so now I'm looking for alternative route to my goals. I'm curious how to present powerlifting/strongman gym to local populace? Majority of people are into commercial gyms & 'fitness' and also there are 2 new crossfit places and for many of them 'it's all the same' , I have facebook page where I put informative content so more people can understand strength sports but it's still minority and I'm worried about targeted audience being too few for beginning, there is always option to expand with machines and other commercial stuff but it's secondary now bcs there are already ton of places with that.

418lb of anything isn’t light to walk around with .... love your videos. Keep it up

Love your videos!Q.how did you get people into the gym? how did you come to find people interested in more functional style training. My area is heavily saturated with a lot of casual and conventional gyms so id be interested to here how you found people in your niche for example through advertising methods or through word of mouth?

Do you use any software for handling member/client information and billing? Can't thank you enough for the great content.

Nice job on the stone pr mate it looked easy. Side note on the dinnie stones they are like farmers walk implements. One of the stones is 413 lbs and the other is 321 lbs = a total of 734 lbs haha

Put this into practice today on my second go at stones not heavy 30,40,50,60kg but it works and I loved it

I started lifting stones about 6 weeks ago, and thanks to this video I hit a PB of 70kg today. I have watched a lot of stone lifting videos but this one is the best - thanks for the great explanations and advice. Enjoyed the little history bit at the start too :)

Boondock Saints reference?

You mentioned in the gym tour video that you built the gym piece by piece. At what point did you quit your previous job and go completely into owning your own gym?

I forgot to mention that functional fitness is what I want in my gym. Powerlifting, Strongman, Crossfit. All of these seem to roll into each other.

How do you choose a monthly/yearly fee for your gym and/or classes? Primarily market pressure based?

When opening your gym, is location more based on availability or demographic?

Great tip with getting the stone high on the chest! Can't wait to try this out. Can see my profile pic I don't do this, and I'm short...

400lbs, not today...

Let's just say I might not be on that fishing boat.... dang those look hard!

Great stuff. Thanks.

I was wondering if there are people in the comment section that live in the Netherlands, that also want to order a sweater or shirt. If we were to make an order together the shipping costs won't be as high!

I love the random movie references that you drop. That's exactly how my mind works.

Brian, is this a wizard hat or just regular?

Hey Brian! The Icelanders (and the faroe-islanders) used the stones to determent how much pay the fishermen would earn. Each year every fishermen would retest their strength by lifter a stone over their head. Most town have 4 stones, ranging form 80kg to 160kg (190ish to 360ish freedom units) :). The things you learn when living in Reykjavik and training in Jakabol for half a year!

Do you prefer to wear powerlifting shoes (high heel) or flat shoes while lifting stones?

Thanks for this awesome instructional video :-)

great info

How “good” does your credit score have 2 B 2 open your own gym?

Great stuff as always. You're full of charisma, dude. Also, thanks for the history lesson at the beginning. I really should include atlas stones in my training, but I don't have access to one. That's why I can't wait for part DOS. I ate some bad food and got sick yesterday, therefore I couldn't comment. BUT I'M BACK!!!

Have these damaged (bent) your Rouge Yoke?

Everyone should use super heroes for analogies

Did these a few months ago for the 1st time awkward as fuck

Did you save and open the gym for your own use on your own property then clients followed? (if you build it, they will come) Or did you open it with the intention of doing what you are now?

Hey Brian, Thank you for you amazing videos and thank you for taking the time to answer everyone's questions. I have been thinking about opening a Powerlifting\Strongman gym in my area and have had a lot of questions. I may post more later but here are some questions that have recently been on my mind. When opening a strongman gym did you find it easier to rent or to buy a location? Average cost per month was it cheaper to rent or buy a location? What are some things to look for in a location to know it is good for a strongman gym? What are some of the hidden costs you did not expect when opening a strongman gym? How much is gym insurance? Are there a lot of options to shop for gym insurance? What is the minimum start up capital necessary to open a strongman gym? How did you get to that number? How did you know there was a market for a strongman gym in your area? With a lot of health club gyms in the area how do you attract people to your gym? A lot of health clubs lock people into long term contracts is this how you recommend running a strongman gym? How do you calculate membership rates? What other services should a strongman gym offer and how do you calculate rates for those services? Do you recommend hiring an accountant? Do you recommend hiring a lawyer? What legal papers are generally needed to open a strongman gym? Do I as the owner\operator\only employee of the gym need to be a certified fitness professional (NASM CPT, Starting Strength, etc.) or is it just a nice to have? At what point did you start taking a salary from your gym? (i.e. from the beginning? after a certain amount of revenue?) How did you determine how much your salary should be without taking too much from the gym? Once again thank you for the time and effort you put into your channel.

Really good video! Thanks for the tips

Hey Brian, I have a question! As you explained how to lift a stone, you said it is important to get your hands under it as much as possible. But when you showed us your 400 lbs PR stone lift, I noticed that you grabbed the stone very high on the sides, and I also saw other guys lifting stones like that. How does that come? PS: I love your content, keep it up!

Hey Brian! Thanks for the great content, you are truly inspirational. Please never stop making your awesome videos :) If you could go back, what is the one thing that you wish you would have done differently during the process of opening neversate?