The Quarry Hand Stones of Nought Moor

8 Sept

Some lifting stones come with centuries of history. Others become lifting stones simply because somebody walks past them, looks at their shape and wonders whether they can pick them up.

The Quarry Hand Stones of Nought Moor belong firmly in the second category.

Sitting in the Yorkshire landscape near Pateley Bridge, these two pieces of stone weigh approximately 107kg and 152kg. There is no ancient legend attached to them, no famous strongman whose name has been carved into their history and no established rules for how they should be lifted.

They're just two big, awkward pieces of Yorkshire stone.

Which is more than enough reason to try.

An Early Start on Nought Moor

I headed out early, arriving around sunrise while the ground was still carrying the morning dew.

This is one of the things I love about taking stone lifting out of the gym. Indoors, we can control almost everything. The floor is flat. The equipment is dry. Chalk is nearby. You know exactly what the implement weighs and usually have a pretty good idea of how you're going to approach it.

Outside, the landscape gets a vote.

The ground under the stones was damp, the morning air was cool and the surface of the rock had none of the reassuring consistency of a barbell or manufactured strongman implement.

There would be no tacky and, on this occasion, no chalk.

Just hands and stone.

The 107kg Stone

The smaller of the Quarry Hand Stones weighs approximately 107kg.

Calling a 107kg rock the "smaller stone" tells you quite a lot about what was sitting next to it.

It proved relatively cooperative. There's still a huge difference between lifting 107kg on a bar and lifting the same weight when it is an irregular piece of stone, but this one offered enough purchase to get close, wrap the arms around it and stand.

That first successful lift is also useful reconnaissance.

Natural stones tell you things when you pick them up.

You find the point where the weight wants to pull away from you. You discover which edge digs into the forearm. You learn whether the stone wants to roll as it leaves the ground and whether the shape you thought would give you a good grip actually disappears as soon as the full weight comes into your hands.

Then there was the larger stone.

The 152kg Quarry Hand Stone

At approximately 152kg, the bigger Quarry Hand Stone was a very different proposition.

With natural stones, an extra 45kg doesn't tell the whole story.

Shape matters. Width matters. Texture matters. Where the weight sits relative to your body matters.

A well-shaped 150kg stone can sometimes give you far more to work with than a horrible 120kg one. Equally, a stone can look perfectly manageable until you actually put your hands on it.

The first battle was getting the 152kg stone into a useful position.

On one attempt, the stone caught against my clothing as I tried to bring it into the body. That's the sort of mundane problem that becomes very significant when you're dealing with more than 150kg of rock. A tiny snag can kill the momentum of the lift completely.

Reset.

Get around it again.

Find the position.

Pull.

Once I managed to get the stone where I wanted it, something interesting happened.

Standing up with it felt easier than getting it there.

That's another peculiarity of natural stone lifting. The hardest-looking part of a lift isn't necessarily the hardest part.

With this stone, solving the initial pick and getting enough of it into my body was the real challenge. Once it was secured and I could actually use my legs and hips properly, the stand was surprisingly convincing.

Sometimes lifting stones is less about producing more strength and more about finding a position that finally allows you to use the strength you already have.

The Gym Doesn't Get the Final Say

This is one of the reasons I think anyone interested in natural stone lifting should eventually take their strength outside.

Gym training gives us the tools.

Deadlifts build the ability to produce force from the floor. Zerchers teach you to tolerate load in front of the body. Sandbags and Atlas stones develop extension, upper-back strength and the ability to stay connected to an awkward object.

But the rock doesn't know your numbers.

It doesn't care what you deadlift.

It doesn't care what you loaded onto a platform last week.

And it certainly doesn't care what the programme says you're supposed to be capable of.

You still have to solve the object in front of you.

Finding Lifting Stones

The Quarry Hand Stones also represent another side of stone lifting that interests me.

Not every lifting stone needs an established history.

Britain and Ireland have some extraordinary historic stones associated with old tests of strength, local traditions and stories of the people who lifted them before us. Seeking those stones out and attempting them connects you to something much older.

But there is another tradition that can be created simply by looking at the landscape around you.

Find an interesting stone.

Lift it.

Give somebody else the location.

See what they can do with it.

Over time, a completely anonymous lump of rock can start accumulating stories.

Who was the first to lift it?

Who shouldered it?

Who couldn't break it from the ground?

Who found a completely different technique?

That's how a rock starts becoming a lifting stone.