Strongman

Angus MacAskill was a notable strongman.

The Great Gama, a strongman from 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 with a specific fan base. 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.

Description

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.

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

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

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, including:

Incorrect usage

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

Traditional Strongmen

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

Modern Strongmen

The following 74 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.

24 of them have won the World's Strongest Man (WSM), 11 have won the World Muscle Power Classic (WMPC) and 9 have won the Arnold Strongman Classic (ASC).

7 men have won both WSM & WMPC (Kazmaier, Capes, Sigmarsson, Reeves, Magnússon, Ahola, Karlsen). 5 men have won both WSM & ASC (Savickas, Shaw, Björnsson, Licis, Hooper).

Additionally, following 48 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, Laurence Shahlaei, Krzysztof Radzikowski, Dimitar Savatinov, Konstantine Janashia, Matjaz Belsak, Rob Kearney, Trey Mitchell, Thomas Evans and Evan Singleton.

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.
• 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-	64	26	40.63%	Multiple times World Champion
5	Krzysztof Radzikowski	Poland	2005-2019	112	23	20.53%	Strongman Champions League
6	Aivars Smaukstelis	Latvia	2014-	58	20	34.48%	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	2009-2022	87	15	17.24%	Strongman Champions League
10	Jón Páll Sigmarsson	Iceland	1982-1992	29	13	44.82%	World's Strongest Man Hall of Famer
11	Magnús Ver Magnússon	Iceland	1987-2005	48	12	25.00%	World's Strongest Man Hall of Famer
12	Magnus Samuelsson	Sweden	1995-2008	63	12	19.05%	World's Strongest Man Hall of Famer
13	Jouko Ahola	Finland	1994-2002	22	11	50.00%	Multiple times World Champion
14	Riku Kiri	Finland	1987-1999	25	11	44.00%	World Strongman Challenge
15	Oleksii Novikov	Ukraine	2016-	36	11	30.56%	World's & Europe's Strongest Man
16	Mikhail Koklyaev	Russia	2005-2014	50	11	22.00%	Strongman Champions League
17	Mateusz Kieliszkowski	Poland	2014-	41	10	24.39%	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	Mitchell Hooper	Canada	2022-	10	5	50.00%	Multiple times World Champion
34	Flemming Rasmussen	Denmark	1995-2001	19	5	26.32%	World's Strongest Viking
35	Mykhailo Starov	Ukraine	2004-2006	24	5	20.83%	World Strongman Cup
36	Mikhail Shivlyakov	Russia	2011-2021	44	5	11.36%	Arnold Strongman Classic South America
36	Stojan Todorchev	Bulgaria	2005-2017	44	5	11.36%	World Strongman Cup
37	Raivis Vidzis	Latvia	2002-2009	45	5	11.11%	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-	51	4	7.84%	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	Pavlo Kordiyaka	Ukraine	2017-	13	3	23.07%	Europe's Strongest Man
48	Mike Burke	United States	2011-2015	18	3	16.66%	Giants Live
48	Grzegorz Szymański	Poland	2007-2022	18	3	16.66%	Strongman Champions League
48	Evan Singleton	United States	2018-	18	3	16.66%	North American Open
49	Trey Mitchell	United States	2016-	19	3	15.79%	Shaw Classic
50	Gerrit Badenhorst	South Africa	1992-2002	20	3	15.00%	IFSA

- As at 25 April 2023

See also

• 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

External links

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