Stonelifting documentaries, tools, and Norwegian stones
It has been refreshing not feeling compelled to write an article over the last few months. Instead of stressing over searching for something interesting to write about and spending weeks on drafts and edits, I've been going back to the roots of the project by working on whatever I find interesting.
That freedom has resulted in some nice updates to the site that you'll see in this letter and progress on something I'm excited to share soon.
Here's your list of topics, feel free to jump around to the ones that interest you most:
- Documentary directory
- Updating the Dinnie Stones weight calculator
- Updated navigation panel
- Norwegian lifting stones (loftestein.no)
- The Inver Stone on Out of Doors
- David Keohan on The Blindboy Podcast
- Stonelifter spotlight
Documentary directory
For many, Rogue's documentaries were their introduction into stonelifting. And I linked to those documentaries (and a few others) at the bottom of the Resources page. But I'll admit they were basically tacked on to the end of the page with little thought.
I wanted to make discovering documentaries easier, partly because embedding multiple YouTube videos on the resource page made it a miserable experience, but also because I wanted to put together a more structured collection of stonelifting films you can watch (some of which you may not have heard of). Dumping a bunch of links to videos at the bottom of page isn't exactly the best way to handle that.
So I spent a few days building a new section of the site dedicated to stonelifting documentaries, listing each film in chronological order along with their runtime and production companies.
When you click through to a documentary's page, there are language and subtitle details along with the film's description and some credits. You can also watch directly on the page if the site hosting the film allows embedding.
For now, there are five documentaries in the list that are all free to view on YouTube or Vimeo, and they're all embedded so you can watch directly on liftingstones.org if you'd like. Or just click the "Watch on" links to take you directly to the documentary on the platform hosting them (I recommend Utah Stones of Strength if you haven't seen it yet).
I'll periodically add more documentaries and well-produced films highlighting stonelifting around the world to make them easier to discover.
Updating the Dinnie Stones weight calculator
A few weeks ago I was watching Arnold Strongman Classic and noticed I had some free time while waiting between events, so I decided to do some work on the site.
One of the items on my to-do list was "Update the Dinnie Stones weight calculator". The calculator worked fine, but it wasn't nice. It felt half-finished despite the fact it's been a popular tool for years. The main issue was how the calculator displayed the calculated weights using a couple of scrappy labels under the input.
I wanted it to not only look more like a calculator, but to also make it quicker and easier to get the info at a glance. A small redesign felt like just about the right size task I could get done in the time I had. So I took to Instagram to share progress and get feedback via story posts.
After sharing a few work-in-progress images, the main question was whether to stack the calculated weights on top of each other or to display them side-by-side. So I set up a quick poll to see what you thought.
In the end, side-by-side won the majority vote (last I saw it was a roughly 60/40 split in favour of side-by-side, though I don't have a screenshot of the final results) and I agree. While the larger text is clearer on the stacked format, the text is still large enough when displayed horizontally – compared to the previous labels the text on side-by-side is still massive. Side-by-side also feels more like a "display" and doesn't waste so much space.
As a bonus, I added the ability to hit Enter/Return on your keyboard to calculate the weights instead of having to click the Calculate button.
If you're training to lift the Dinnie Stones give the new Dinnie Stones weight calculator a try – there's also a short guide on some alternative ways to set the weights if you don't have access to the calculator.
At that point I thought I was done. But then another task on my to-do list caught my eye: "Create a Nicol Walking Stones weight calculator". A few people have asked whether I could create a similar calculator based on the Nicol Walking Stones which makes sense given their popularity and considering you can now buy training pins modeled after them.
And since I had just updated the Dinnie Stones calculator, bundling in a bonus Nicol Stones weight calculator seemed fun. Luckily, the only real difference between the two tools is the ratio the calculator uses, so I could largely copy the Dinnie Stones weight calculator and change a few values to get a working Nicol Stones weight calculator for you to use. Both calculators come under a new Tools section on the site.
I've thought about creating a 'universal' calculator that can calculate scaled weights at a ratio based on two reference stones (i.e., any pair of stones inspired by the Dinnie Stones / Nicol Walking Stones at a different weight ratio). If that's something you're interested in (or if you have ideas for any other tools you might find useful for stonelifting), let me know.
Updated navigation panel
It's only a small update, but I think it's a pretty good boost to the experience: I've added a blurry backdrop to the navigation panel, adding some depth and separating the navigation panel and the page. The end result is that the navigation panel draws your eyes, rather than the content under it, so it's much less distracting.
You can tap on the blurry section to close the navigation panel instead of tapping the close button – convenient! You'll also notice the new Tools page with the updated calculators in the new nav. The whole thing feels much better and it was a nice reminder that the small details like this make a huge difference to the experience.
Norwegian lifting stones (loftestein.no)
I've been periodically researching Norwegian lifting stones for a few years, and while machine translation has made researching material in other languages much more accessible, it's still relatively slow and tedious. So native speakers remain uniquely positioned to discover and share their country's stonelifting history – which is exactly what Norwegian Powerlifter Knut Einar Skår is doing.
Knut, who has a 968kg (2134 lb) single-ply Powerlifting total as a junior, published a new website called loftestein.no dedicated to documenting Norway's historic lifting stones!
Since its inception, my goal has been to compile information on all the known Norwegian lifting stones into a single reference. Without such a reference, I fear that an enormous amount of cultural history will be lost.
It's wonderful to see more people focusing on documenting lifting stones in their country! And if Norway's knowledge of its historic lifting stones mostly lies with its elderly (reflecting what David Keohan has found in Ireland) now is the time to find and document as much as possible. Knut goes on to request information from readers:
If you know of any lifting stones that are not mentioned on this site or have more information about any of them, I would love to hear from you.
I shared a few leads I have on some stones with Knut, but it sounds like he's way ahead with plenty of stones, lifts, and research to come! I'd definitely recommend taking a look at the site if you're interested in Norwegian stonelifting – it's available in both Norwegian and English.
The Inver Stone on Out of Doors
Martin Jancsics appeared on BBC Radio Scotland's Out of Doors show to talk about the Inver Stone.
The roughly 10-minute long segment is fairly brief with a few short stories from Martin, covering a few details about the stone, how Martin came to lift it the first time, and the impact stonelifting has had on him.
Martin lifts the Inver Stone at the end of the segment which felt kind of old school in that audio isn't exactly the ideal medium for showing off a stone lift. It probably wouldn't feel out-of-place on the radio before the days of TV! For a lay audience it's a nice introduction to the idea of stonelifting.
I keep saying it, but it's great to see stonelifting getting more and more media attention.
You can listen to the show on Spotify. The segment featuring Martin and the Inver Stone starts around 60 minutes in.
If you can't listen on Spotify, it's also available on BBC Sounds, or you should be able to listen wherever you listen to Podcasts – just search "Out of Doors" or "Scotland Outdoors".
David Keohan on The Blindboy Podcast
It seems all too common these days for Podcast hosts to be overly passive and only ask surface-level questions to their guests – that's part of why I rarely listen to them. However, David Keohan returned to The Blindboy Podcast about a month ago, and Blindboy's thoughtful questions, curiosity, cultural insight, and genuine enthusiasm made for a fantastic show!
If you haven't listened to the full conversation, I'd highly recommend it. David shares an update on the number of stones rediscovered since he last appeared on the show in 2023, his experience with the Inishmore Stone, and more stories from reviving Irish stonelifting culture.
You can listen here or wherever you get your Podcasts.
Stonelifter spotlight
Matt Jones, John Gibb, and Jamie Oates went on a stonelifting tour through Iceland earlier this month. They visited a bunch of stones, including Leggstein and Brynjólfstak, and shared their trip on Instagram. There were impressive lifts from the whole group, but the lift that stood out the most for me was Matt Jones' Húsafell stone carry (watch it if you haven't already).
Just an insane effort at the end to complete the full lap of the pen – well worthy of the Fullsterkur title!
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