PULLING A LONDON DOUBLE DECKER BUS
There are certain things you do in training that are impressive in the gym.
Then there are the things you tell someone you've done and immediately get:
"Hang on. You pulled a bus?"
A while back, the Commando Temple organised something that falls very firmly into the second category: a race pulling a seven-and-a-half-ton London double-decker bus over 30 metres.
Harness on. Rope in your hands.
Get seven and a half tonnes moving and then run with it.
I went along with two of my personal training clients, Sam and Johnny, and all three of us had a crack.
Can I Actually Move This Thing?
One of the reasons I love challenges like this is that they give strength training a purpose beyond adding another number to a spreadsheet.
Sam and Johnny are both fit, strong guys. But neither is an enormous Strongman.
They're normal blokes with jobs in tech who train consistently and have become very capable as a result.
And when you've never tried anything like pulling a bus before, there's always that little bit of uncertainty.
You can deadlift. You can squat. You can carry heavy things around the gym.
But there's now a bloody great London bus sitting behind you.
And there are people watching.
What if it just... doesn't move?
That's part of what makes these things so satisfying.
Getting Seven and a Half Tonnes Moving
Oddly enough, once you've got the bus rolling, that's not the worst bit.
Starting it is.
You're harnessed to the bus and use a rope in front of you to initiate the pull. You have to get yourself into an extremely aggressive forward angle and use as much leverage as possible.
Your body is extended out behind you, your feet are fighting for grip and you're essentially trying to pull yourself into a ball.
For those first few steps, everything goes into overcoming the inertia of the bus.
Then you feel it move.
And now you can't stop.
From Pulling to Running
Once the wheels are turning, the challenge changes.
Initially you're taking tiny steps, hoping your shoes have enough grip on the ground while working your hands along the rope.
Gradually those steps become a jog.
It's not particularly elegant.
The bus doesn't follow you with a perfectly smooth resistance like something you'd find in a gym. The whole thing feels slightly janky. You're trying to stay straight, keep driving forward, work your way along the rope without missing a hand placement and avoid wasting energy moving from side to side.
Eventually you've generated enough momentum that the rope has done its job.
You throw it away.
And run.
From there it's simply a case of driving as hard as you can for the remainder of the 30 metres, with a double-decker bus following behind you.
Sam and Johnny Pull a Bus
Both guys absolutely smashed it.
Johnny put all the strength he'd built in training to use and got the bus moving successfully.
Sam didn't just manage it — he recorded the third-fastest time of everyone taking part.
That's a pretty good result for somebody who doesn't spend his weekends professionally towing London transport.
But the time wasn't really my favourite part.
It was seeing two clients tackle something that, before you've done it, seems slightly ridiculous.
Then they do it.
And forever afterwards they get to say:
"Yeah, I've pulled a double-decker bus."
People remember that stuff.
My Turn
Obviously, I wasn't going to stand there watching everyone else pull a bus.
I had a go myself and loved it.
The thing that surprised me was how technical the event actually was.
Strength obviously matters, particularly when you're trying to break the bus from a dead stop, but there are plenty of places to lose time.
Your starting angle. Foot position. Grip. How efficiently you move along the rope. When you transition from those first horrible little steps into a jog. When you ditch the rope and commit to the sprint.
Give me a few more practice runs and I'd definitely have wanted another crack at the clock.
That's probably true of most unusual strength events.
Being strong gets you through the door.
Learning how to apply that strength is another skill entirely.
Strength for Things You Haven't Done Yet
This is one of the reasons I don't think strength training needs to be entirely about chasing bigger gym lifts.
There's nothing wrong with wanting a bigger deadlift. I certainly do.
But I also like training that leaves you capable of doing interesting things when the opportunity presents itself.
Carry a stone.
Enter a race.
Climb something.
Run a HYROX.
Pick up an awkward object.
Or, apparently, pull a seven-and-a-half-ton double-decker bus across a car park.
Neither Sam nor Johnny needed a special 12-week bus-pulling programme to take part.
They'd spent years building strength, fitness and confidence.
Then when someone put a bus in front of them, they could use it.
That's the sort of strength I like.
Pulling for Rycroft Forever
The event was held in support of Rycroft Forever.
I'm not going to pretend pulling a bus makes any of us great philanthropists. We got to spend a day doing something ridiculous that we genuinely wanted to do.
But if doing that can also help raise some money and attention for a worthwhile cause, even better.
If you'd like to learn more about Rydcroft Forever and support what they do, they're well worth looking up.
A fantastic day, a great cause and a pretty excellent feather in the cap for Sam and Johnny.
After all, there aren't many Monday-morning conversations that can beat:
"What did you do at the weekend?"
"Pulled a bus."
Want to get stronger?
I offer one-to-one personal training and strength coaching at the Commando Temple in Deptford, London, working with everyone from complete beginners to experienced lifters.
You absolutely do not have to pull a bus.
But it's nice knowing you could.