With the 2023 World’s Strongest Man (WSM) contest in Myrtle Beach, SC, fast approaching on April 19-23, the 30 athletes on the roster are prepping themselves to battle through 12 events, some on the sandy beach, to claim the most coveted prize in the sport. One of those athletes is Evan Singleton, one of six qualified American strongmen.
Singleton most certainly aims to improve upon his 2022 WSM performance, where he withdrew during the Qualifying stage due to a heat stroke before re-entering after missing an event, and ultimately, his chance at his WSM Final debut. On April 4, 2023, Singleton took to his YouTube channel to share his stretching routine to stay limber and stave off injury when lifting heavy and unusual objects in training and competition. Check it out below:
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The first order of business every time Singleton steps into the gym is grabbing a foam roller to roll out his back, glutes, hamstrings, and quads. Singleton spares no expense to ensure he is sufficiently warm before hitting any exercises or lifting any weights.
Singleton lays semi-supine on a horizontal foam roller under his shoulder blades. With his arms straight up overhead as though he were doing a bench press, he rolls the foam roller down his spine. For the glutes, he lays one glute against the roller and moves it from the top to the bottom of the glute being worked. He keeps the leg of the glute stretched straight throughout the entire movement.
For those who want added stretch, place the ankle on the same side as the stretching glute over the knee of the opposing leg. While moving through the range of motion, this position will further lengthen the glute.
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To hit the quads, Singleton lays prone with a foam roller underneath them. He rolls the roller from the top of the kneecap to the base of the pelvis to break up all the tension held in the quads. He will adjust the positioning of his quads on the foam roller by feel.
Once Singleton has rolled out his legs, he gets on all-fours to rotate his elbows in and out to warm up his rotator cuffs. This position offers him the stability to better target his shoulders for these rotations. From there, he maneuvers into the cat-cow stretch to further decompress his spine.
To open up his hips, Singleton uses the foam roller to counterbalance his way through a deep runner’s stretch. He adds some external rotation of the forward leg to lengthen the groin. On some days, like the one he filmed, this stretch can also be felt in the quads, depending on how tight they are.
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Singleton’s final stretch on the floor is a frog stretch. He starts on all fours and then splits his knees as far apart as possible before sinking back and down to further open his hips. Incidentally, by laying toward the floor and applying pressure with outstretched arms into the frog position, Singleton feels a stretch in his lats. This stretch is primarily for the hips, but Singleton finds that it has helped his shoulder mobility to improve his overhead press.
After resistance band work to further warm up his rotator cuffs, Singleton grabs a small spherical object, in this case, a six-kilogram kettlebell, and uses it to roll out the bottom of his feet. Breaking up the scar tissue to ensure a warm and stable base — his feet — for his bigger lifts is an aspect of warming up that Singleton feels most athletes too often neglect.
Singleton seeks his WSM Final debut at the 2023 WSM contest — his fourth career WSM appearance. Given he trained with the other American strongmen, including four-time WSM champion Brian Shaw, and appears to have recalibrated his training to shore up his weaknesses, perhaps Myrtle Beach seed Singleton into contention for the podium.
Featured image: @evan_trex_strongman on Instagram
