maratoolLog Lift
How to do the log lift
- Begin standing with the log in front of you. Grasp the handles, and begin to clean the log. As you are bent over to start the clean, attempt to get the log as high as possible, pulling it into your chest. Extend through the hips and knees to bring it up to complete the clean.
- Push your head back and look up, creating a shelf on your chest to rest the log. Begin the press by dipping, flexing slightly through the knees and reversing the motion. This push press will generate momentum to start the log moving vertically. Continue by extending through the elbows to press the log above your head. There are no strict rules on form, so use whatever techniques you are most efficient with. As the log is pressed, ensure that you push your head through on each repetition, looking forward.
- Repeat as many times as possible. Attempt to control the descent of the log as it is returned to the ground.
Muscles worked
The prime movers are the deltoids, which raise and rotate the upper arm at the shoulder joint.
Because more than one joint is moving, the work does not stay in one place: the abdominals brace the trunk so force can pass between the hips and the shoulders; the chest adds pushing force at the shoulder; the glutes finish hip extension.
The hamstrings, lower back, middle back, quadriceps, traps and triceps take a share of the work as well.
Every exercise for:ShouldersAbdominalsChestGlutesHamstrings
How this movement works
The working muscles shorten as they drive the load away from you, and more than one joint changes angle to do it. Load spreads down a chain instead of sitting on one muscle, which is why a compound push handles more weight than any single-joint alternative — and why joint position, not the muscle, is usually what fails first.
It is filed under strongman, where the load is deliberately awkward rather than balanced. Most of the difficulty goes on holding on and staying braced.
What you need
These train the shoulders too, using equipment this one does not:
- Low Pulley Row To Neckcable
- Lying One Arm Rear Lateral Raisedumbbell + bench
- Lying Rear Lateral Raisebench + dumbbell
- Machine Shoulder (Military) Pressmachine
- Medicine Ball Scoop Throwmedicine ball
Difficulty
Listed at intermediate level. It assumes you already own the underlying pattern and can hold position under load — if the position breaks before the target muscle tires, drop back to a beginner variation until it does not.
Of the 141 shoulders exercises in this database, 46 are listed at intermediate level.
Photos: free-exercise-db — public domain (Unlicense) Full attribution →
ⓘ Informational only — not a substitute for professional fitness or medical advice.