Strongman

Competitor in strength athletics

This article is about performers and athletes. For an authoritarian political leader, see Political strongman. For other uses, see Strongman (disambiguation).

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
Find sources: "Strongman" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (May 2020) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

|

It has been suggested that this article be merged into Strength athletics. (Discuss) Proposed since July 2022.

|

Angus MacAskill was a notable strongman.

The Great Gama, a strongman from British India

In the 19th century, the term strongman referred to an exhibitor of strength or similar circus performers who performed feats of strength. More recently, strength athletics, also known as strongman competitions, have grown in popularity. These competitions are now composed of a variety of events in which competitors have to move the highest weights possible, the winner being the one having the highest tally across all events.[1]

## Description[edit]

In the first half of the 20th century, strongmen would perform various feats of strength such as the bent press (not to be confused with the bench press, which did not exist at the time), supporting large amounts of weight held overhead at arm's length, steel bending, chain breaking, etc. They needed to have large amounts of wrist, hand, and tendon strength for these feats, as well as prodigious oblique strength.

In the late 20th century the term strongman evolved to describe one who competes in strength athletics – a more modern eclectic strength competition in which competitors display their raw functional strength through exercises such as lifting rocks, toting refrigerators, pulling trains, towing an eighteen-wheel truck behind them, etc. The most famous competitions of this type are the World's Strongest Man, the Europe's Strongest Man, the Arnold Strongman Classic, the Strongman Champions League, the World's Ultimate Strongman, the Rogue Invitational and the Giants Live tour, and more than 20 countries also hold national-level competitions as well.[2]

Many sports-specific training facilities have begun to incorporate movements associated with strongman competitions into their general training schemes, albeit with lighter weights used, e.g. tyre flips, sled drags, object loading or carrying, log pressing, farmer's walks and so on.

## Training[edit]

Training for strongman involves building overall strength in the gym and training with competition implements to gain familiarity. In the gym, it is necessary to train the entire body for strength, especially with variants of the squat, deadlift, and overhead press. Also important is explosive power, developed by weightlifting-style lifts, and cardiovascular conditioning. Grip strength must also be developed.

Although you can do general strength training, at a typical gym, training with a strongman regimen requires equipment not typically found in a gym. Some equipment used in a strongman competition would have to be found custom-made or at a strongman gym. These equipment include Atlas Stone, Log (Log Press), Farmers Walk Bars, Yoke (Yoke Walk), Keg (Keg Toss), a vehicle.

Another part of a strongman's training is its intense diet regime. The biggest strongman competitors would need to ingest around 8,000 - 10,000 calories a day.

## Events[edit]

Brian Shaw performing the deadlift at the 2017 Arnold Strongman Classic

Though competitive strongman events are ever changing, there are a number of staples that frequently appear on the international stage,[3] including:

* Deadlift (and its variants: Elephant bar/ Hummer Tyre/ Silver Dollar/ Deficit/ Car/ Barrel)
* Squat (and its variants: Giant Barbell/ Barrel)
* Lifting stone (Atlas Stones/ Castle stones)
* Natural stones (Husafell Stone, Dinnie Stones, Inver Stones etc.)
* Log Press
* Axle Press
* Circus/ Cyr/ Inch dumbell
* Vehicle pull
* Super Yoke/ Bale Tote/ Frame carry
* Farmers Walk/ Timber carry
* Keg Toss/ Weight over bar
* Loading Medley
* Power stairs/ Duck walk
* Fingal's Fingers
* Hercules hold/ Front hold/ Deadlift hold
* Conan's Wheel/ Basque circle
* Car flip/Tyre flip
* Bar bend
* Grip strength events

## Incorrect usage[edit]

Strongman is often incorrectly used to describe a person who does weightlifting or bodybuilding. Due to the circus and entertainment background, nineteenth-century bodybuilders were expected to mingle with the crowd during intermission and perform strength feats like card tearing, nail bending, etc. to demonstrate strength as well as symmetry and size. Also, many strongmen sold photos of themselves nude or near-nude, flexing and posing. Although, what they considered the epitome of male beauty was different from modern ideals – particularly the very low emphasis on chest size, and great emphasis on oblique size, and symmetry as evidenced by photos of Eugen Sandow.

## Notable strongmen[edit]

### Traditional Strongmen[edit]

The Strongmen are listed according to the chronological order of their birth.

* Orm Storolfsson
* Grettir Ásmundarson
* Thomas Topham
* Angus Graham
* Brynjólfur Eggertsson
* Otto Eberstadt
* Charles Vansittart
* Angus MacAskill
* Donald Dinnie
* Louis Attila
* John Holtum
* Signor Lawanda
* Koca Yusuf
* Apollon the Mighty
* Pierre Gasnier
* Louis Cyr
* George Levasseur
* Milo Brinn
* Eugen Sandow
* William Bankier
* Ivan Poddubny
* Georg Lurich
* Georg Hackenschmidt
* Arthur Saxon
* The Great Gama
* Stanislaus Zbyszko
* Monte Saldo
* Thomas Inch
* Karl Swoboda
* Kodi Rammurthy Naidu
* Frank Saldo
* Paul Trappen
* Alexander Zass
* Hermann Görner
* Wladek Zbyszko
* Joe Greenstein
* Zishe Breitbart
* Karl Norberg
* Karl Mörke
* Henry 'Milo' Steinborn
* Don Athaldo
* Gunnar Salómonsson
* Ian Gordon Batchelor
* The Great Antonio
* Doug Hepburn
* Mat Tarzan
* Paul Anderson
* Otto Acron
* Terry Todd
* John Massis
* Douglas Edmunds
* Jon Cole

### Modern Strongmen[edit]

Main article: List of strongmen

The following 73 strongmen have reached the podium (1st, 2nd or 3rd place) of World's Strongest Man since 1977 and/or World Muscle Power Classic from 1985 to 2004 and/or Arnold Strongman Classic since 2002. They are listed according to the chronological order of their podium appearance.

23 of them have won the World's Strongest Man (WSM), 11 have won the World Muscle Power Classic (WMPC) and 8 have won the Arnold Strongman Classic (ASC).

7 men have won both WSM & WMPC (Kazmaier, Capes, Sigmarsson, Reeves, Magnússon, Ahola, Karlsen). 4 men have won both WSM & ASC (Savickas, Shaw, Björnsson, Licis).

* Bruce Wilhelm (WSM)
* Bob Young
* Ken Patera
* Don Reinhoudt (WSM)
* Lars Hedlund
* Bill Kazmaier (WSM & WMPC)
* Geoff Capes (WSM & WMPC)
* Dave Waddington
* Tom Magee
* John Gamble
* Jón Páll Sigmarsson (WSM & WMPC)
* Simon Wulfse
* Ab Wolders
* Cees de Vreugd
* Mark Higgins
* Jamie Reeves (WSM & WMPC)
* Hjalti Árnason
* O.D. Wilson
* Ilkka Nummisto
* Magnús Ver Magnússon (WSM & WMPC)
* Henning Thorsen
* Gary Taylor (WSM)
* Ted van der Parre (WSM)
* Riku Kiri
* Manfred Hoeberl (WMPC)
* Anton Boucher
* Gerrit Badenhorst
* Marko Varalahti
* Forbes Cowan (WMPC)
* Torfi Ólafsson
* Jouko Ahola (WSM & WMPC)
* Magnus Samuelsson (WSM)
* Raimonds Bergmanis (WMPC)
* Flemming Rasmussen
* Mark Philippi
* Regin Vágadal
* Wout Zijlstra
* Janne Virtanen (WSM)
* Svend Karlsen (WSM & WMPC)
* Hugo Girard (WMPC)
* Paul Smeets
* Mark Henry (ASC)
* Phil Pfister (WSM)
* Mariusz Pudzianowski (WSM)
* Žydrūnas Savickas (WSM & ASC)
* Vasyl Virastyuk (WSM)
* Glenn Ross
* Jesse Marunde
* Dominic Filiou
* Mikhail Koklyaev
* Don Pope
* Andrus Murumets
* Sebastian Wenta
* Terry Hollands
* Derek Poundstone (ASC)
* Dave Ostlund
* Travis Ortmayer
* Brian Shaw (WSM & ASC)
* Mike Jenkins (ASC)
* Vytautas Lalas (ASC)
* Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson (WSM & ASC)
* Mike Burke
* Mateusz Kieliszkowski
* Eddie Hall (WSM)
* Jerry Pritchett
* Mikhail Shivlyakov
* Martins Licis (WSM & ASC)
* Oleksii Novikov (WSM)
* Tom Stoltman (WSM)
* JF Caron
* Maxime Boudreault
* Bobby Thompson
* Luke Stoltman

Additionally, following 46 strongmen have reached either 4th or 5th places of World's Strongest Man and/or World Muscle Power Classic and/or Arnold Strongman Classic:

Lou Ferrigno, Franco Columbu, Jon Kolb, Gus Rethwisch, Bishop Dolegiewicz, Jerry Hannan, Craig Wolfley, Ernie Hackett, Hamish Davidson, Rudolph Kuester, George Hechter, Dan Markovic, Jean-Pierre Brulois, Tom Hawk, László Fekete, Adrian Smith, Berend Veneberg, Heinz Ollesch, Pieter de Bruyn, Martin Muhr, Wayne Price, Nathan Jones, Bill Lyndon, Johnny Perry, Brian Bell, Arvydas Pintinas, Andy Bolton, Steve Kirit, Bill Pittuck, Sami Heinonen, Jarek Dymek, Brian Schoonveld, Odd Haugen, Brian Siders, Benedikt Magnússon, Mark Felix, Tarmo Mitt, Vidas Blekaitis, Stefán Sölvi Pétursson, Krzysztof Radzikowski, Laurence Shahlaei, Dimitar Savatinov, Konstantine Janashia, Matjaz Belsak, Rob Kearney and Trey Mitchell.

International Accolades

* Below table summarizes the 50 most decorated strongmen in modern history with the most number of international wins (1st places) in their careers.[4]
* No. of total career competitions against the No. of wins (1st places only).

#  | Name  | Nationality  | Active  | Competitions  | Wins  | Win %  | Best win/ Accolade

|
|
|
|
|
|
|

1  | Žydrūnas Savickas |  Lithuania | 1996-  | 153  | 84  | 54.90%  | Multiple times World Champion
2  | Mariusz Pudzianowski |  Poland | 2000-2009  | 61  | 43  | 70.49%  | World's Strongest Man Hall of Famer
3  | Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson |  Iceland | 2010-2020  | 65  | 30  | 46.15%  | Multiple times World Champion
4  | Brian Shaw |  United States | 2007-  | 63  | 26  | 41.27%  | Multiple times World Champion
5  | Krzysztof Radzikowski |  Poland | 2005-2019  | 112  | 23  | 20.53%  | Strongman Champions League
6  | Aivars Smaukstelis  |  Latvia | 2014-  | 56  | 20  | 35.71%  | Strongman Champions League
7  | Ervin Katona |  Serbia | 2003-2015  | 99  | 17  | 17.17%  | Strongman Champions League
8  | Hugo Girard |  Canada | 1998-2008  | 37  | 15  | 40.54%  | World Muscle Power Classic
9  | Dainis Zageris |  Latvia | 2009-  | 86  | 15  | 17.44%  | Strongman Champions League
10  | Riku Kiri |  Finland | 1987-1999  | 28  | 13  | 46.42%  | World Strongman Challenge
11  | Magnús Ver Magnússon |  Iceland | 1987-2005  | 53  | 13  | 24.52%  | World's Strongest Man Hall of Famer
12  | Jón Páll Sigmarsson |  Iceland | 1982-1992  | 31  | 12  | 38.71%  | World's Strongest Man Hall of Famer
13  | Magnus Samuelsson |  Sweden | 1995-2008  | 63  | 12  | 19.05%  | World's Strongest Man Hall of Famer
14  | Jouko Ahola |  Finland | 1994-2002  | 22  | 11  | 50.00%  | Multiple times World Champion
15  | Oleksii Novikov |  Ukraine | 2016-  | 34  | 11  | 32.35%  | World's & Europe's Strongest Man
16  | Mikhail Koklyaev |  Russia | 2005-2014  | 50  | 11  | 22.00%  | Strongman Champions League
17  | Mateusz Kieliszkowski |  Poland | 2014-  | 39  | 10  | 25.64%  | World's Ultimate Strongman
18  | Matjaz Belsak |  Slovenia | 2014-2020  | 60  | 10  | 16.67%  | Arnold Strongman Classic Europe
19  | JF Caron |  Canada | 2007-2022  | 72  | 10  | 13.89%  | North America's Strongest Man
20  | Geoff Capes |  Great Britain | 1979-1988  | 20  | 9  | 45.00%  | Multiple times World Champion
21  | Bill Kazmaier |  United States | 1979-1990  | 18  | 8  | 44.44%  | World's Strongest Man Hall of Famer
22  | Derek Poundstone |  United States | 2006-2017  | 22  | 8  | 36.36%  | Arnold Strongman Classic
23  | Martins Licis |  United States | 2015-  | 23  | 8  | 34.78%  | Multiple times World Champion
24  | Vytautas Lalas |  Lithuania | 2007-2018  | 30  | 8  | 26.67%  | Arnold Strongman Classic
25  | Janne Virtanen |  Finland | 1998-2009  | 50  | 8  | 16.00%  | World's Strongest Man
26  | Laurence Shahlaei |  Great Britain | 2007-2021  | 55  | 8  | 14.55%  | Europe's Strongest Man
27  | Kelvin de Ruiter  |  Netherlands | 2011-  | 31  | 7  | 22.58%  | Strongman Champions League
28  | Travis Ortmayer |  United States | 2005-2021  | 50  | 7  | 14.00%  | Strongman Champions League
29  | Svend Karlsen |  Norway | 1996-2006  | 64  | 7  | 10.94%  | World's Strongest Man Hall of Famer
30  | Manfred Hoeberl |  Austria | 1990-1996  | 18  | 6  | 33.33%  | World Muscle Power Classic
31  | Vasyl Virastyuk |  Ukraine | 2002-2008  | 28  | 6  | 21.43%  | World's Strongest Man
32  | Andrus Murumets |  Estonia | 2003-2009  | 40  | 6  | 15.00%  | Strongman Champions League
33  | Flemming Rasmussen |  Denmark | 1995-2001  | 19  | 5  | 26.32%  | World's Strongest Viking
34  | Mykhailo Starov  |  Ukraine | 2004-2006  | 24  | 5  | 20.83%  | World Strongman Cup
35  | Mikhail Shivlyakov |  Russia | 2011-2021  | 44  | 5  | 11.36%  | Arnold Strongman Classic South America
36  | Raivis Vidzis |  Latvia | 2002-2009  | 44  | 5  | 11.36%  | World Strongman Cup
37  | Stojan Todorchev |  Bulgaria | 2005-2017  | 44  | 5  | 11.36%  | World Strongman Cup
38  | Jarek Dymek |  Poland | 2000-2010  | 46  | 5  | 10.87%  | Europe's Strongest Man
39  | Glenn Ross |  Northern Ireland | 1997-2011  | 33  | 4  | 12.12%  | World Strongman Cup
40  | Jamie Reeves |  Great Britain | 1988-1999  | 38  | 4  | 10.52%  | Multiple times World Champion
41  | Rauno Heinla |  Estonia | 2009-  | 49  | 4  | 8.16%  | Strongman Champions League
42  | Terry Hollands |  Great Britain | 2005-2021  | 92  | 4  | 4.35%  | Strongman Champions League
43  | Janne Hartikainen  |  Finland | 2004-2009  | 4  | 3  | 75.00%  | U105 Strongman World Championships
44  | Andrew Clayton  |  United States | 2014-  | 7  | 3  | 42.85%  | Official Strongman Games
45  | Mike Jenkins |  United States | 2010-2013  | 9  | 3  | 33.33%  | Arnold Strongman Classic
46  | Tom Magee |  Canada | 1982-1990  | 12  | 3  | 25.00%  | Défi Mark Ten International
47  | Trey Mitchell  |  United States | 2016-  | 17  | 3  | 17.64%  | Shaw Classic
48  | Evan Singleton |  United States | 2018-  | 17  | 3  | 17.64%  | North American Open
49  | Grzegorz Szymański  |  Poland | 2007-  | 18  | 3  | 16.66%  | Strongman Champions League
50  | Mike Burke |  United States | 2011-2015  | 18  | 3  | 16.66%  | Giants Live

\- As at 1 January 2023

## See also[edit]

* List of strongmen
* List of strongman competitions
* Grip strength
* Lifting stone
* Power training
* Strength training
* Strongwoman
* World Strongman Federation
* World Strongman Cup Federation
* Highland games (Scottish heritage)
* History of physical training and fitness

## References[edit]

1. ^ "STRONGMAN". ERA-FIT Ltd Bespoke Fitness Systems. Retrieved 2019-09-05.
2. ^ "STRONGMAN CONTESTS". strongmanarchives.com. Retrieved 2022-04-13.
3. ^ "Strongman Events". strongman.org. Retrieved 2012-12-28.
4. ^ "Strongman Archives - Athletes". Strongman Archives. April 5, 2022. Retrieved April 6, 2022.

## External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Strongmen.

* United States All Round Weightlifting Association
* Oldtime Strongman
* Old-School Strongmen – slideshow by Life magazine
* Oldtime Strongmen List
* World Strongman Federation

* v
* t
* e

Circus skills

Acrobatics,
balance, and
contortion|

* Acrobalance
* Adagio
* Aerial hoop
* Aerial silk
* Aerial straps
* Balance board
* Chair acrobatics
* Chinese pole
* Cloud swing
* Contortion
* Corde lisse
* Cradle
* Cyr wheel
* Hair hang
* Hand to hand
* Human pyramid
* Perch
* Risley
* Rolling globe
* Roman ladders
* Russian bar
* Russian swing
* Slacklining
* Slackwire
* Spanish web
* Tightrope
* Trapeze
* Flying
* Static
* Trick riding

Juggling
and object
manipulation|

* Bullwhip
* Cigar box manipulation
* Contact juggling
* Diabolo
* Hat manipulation
* Twirling
* Baton
* Hoop
* Plate
* Fire performance
* Fire breathing
* Fire eating
* Firewalking
* Toss juggling

Vaulting|

* Equestrian vaulting
* Human cannonball
* Teeterboard
* Trampoline

Other|

* Animal trainer
* Lion taming
* Clown
* Circus clown
* Globe of death
* Human firecracker
* Ringmaster
* Strongman
* Target girl
* Wheel of Death

Related|

* Circus school
* Roustabout
* Sideshow
* Flea circus

* Category
* Commons

* v
* t
* e

Strength sports

* Bodybuilding
* Grip strength sport
* Kettlebell lifting
* Lifting stone
* Olympic weightlifting
* Powerlifting
* Strength athletics

* See also: Strength training
* Weight training
* Power training
* Strongman
* CrossFit Games
* Highland games

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template