We’ve all scene commercials and pictures on the internet of people flipping tires during their workout.
Pretty cool, right?
Done correctly, flipping a tire is a great total body exercise, that challenges your legs, hips, back, grip, timing and more. Perfect for wrestlers, football players, wanna be strongmen and others looking for a new challenge.
5 Steps to Flipping a Tire
Step 1: Setup
- Chest on the face of the tire
- Arms wide and straight
- Feet back
- Back straight
Step 2: Initial Drive
- Brace the stomach
- Shoulders down and back
- Drive through the feet
- Chest and shoulders will drive into the face of the tire
Step 3: Accelerate
- Drive hard with your legs
- Far edge of the tire will catch the ground and the tire will start to flip
- Think of running through the tire
Step 4: Follow Thru
- The momentum from your inital drive will get the tire moving up
- Drive the hips through
- Drive a knee into the bottom to continue the flip
- Reposition hands underneath to catch and start the push
Step 5: Finish Strong
- Both feet on the floor
- Continue to drive through the tire with your legs
- Push hard with your upper body
- Finish by driving completely through the tire
Done.
Should everyone do it?
No. Flipping tires was made popular by Strongman competitions on TV. Its an advanced exercise to be used for strongmen, athletes and others that have developed a strong foundation of strength, coordination and timing. Its simply another great full body exercise to throw into your workouts. Perfect for wrestlers, football players and other people looking to develop high levels of strength and power.
If you have mobility issues, lack high levels of strength, back pain or similar, you should avoid this exercise, regress to other movements and work on your weak links. Hip extensions, bridges, deadlifts, swings and other exercises may be a better choice and can help you develop the strength needed for flipping the tire.
Finding the right tire…
You will have to track down a tire yard in your area. Someone that services these big commercial tires and they will probably have a graveyard on site. These tires may be unfit for commercial use, but they are perfect for us.
You will need a tire that is thick enough (2.5-3ft) and the right weight for your goals and ability level.
Too thin and you will end up deadlifting the tire, which is NOT what we want.
Too heavy and you will not be able to use it.
You will probably have to check out a bunch to find the right one, but take your time. Once you find one or more that fit your needs, these things will last forever.
Once you get em back to the gym, you will want to scrub them down with soap and water. This will get rid of all the dirt, dust, etc.
Flipping tires is a great, fun way to mix up your workouts. Although its not right for everyone, it is a great total body exercise for people with appropriate levels of strength. Give it a try and let us know how it goes. We would love to hear about your progress.
#IRStrong
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Madison Murphy says
i love flipping the tire! especially after i learned the right way! it is such a good workout!