Strongman

Strength athletics, also known as strongman competitions, are 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. In the 19th century, the term strongman referred to an exhibitor of strength or similar circus performers who performed feats of strength.

 

In the first half of the 20th century, strongmen performed 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 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. Explosive power is also important, which is 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. Some of these equipment includes natural stones, tree trunk logs, farmers walk frames, yokes, kegs and various sorts of vehicles.

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.

 

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

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.

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, the 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

• The table below summarizes the 50 most decorated strongmen in modern history with the most number of international wins in their careers (1st places only/ open weight and age categories only).

  Active   Retired

#	Name	Nationality	Active	Competitions	Wins	Win %
1	Žydrūnas Savickas	Lithuania	1996–2022	147	79	53.74%
2	Mariusz Pudzianowski	Poland	2000–2009	61	43	70.49%
3	Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson	Iceland	2010–	67	30	44.78%
4	Brian Shaw	United States	2007–2023	65	27	41.54%
5	Aivars Šmaukstelis	Latvia	2014–	69	25	36.23%
6	Krzysztof Radzikowski	Poland	2005–2019	112	23	20.53%
7	Ervin Katona	Serbia	2003–2015	99	17	17.17%
8	Hugo Girard	Canada	1998–2008	37	15	40.54%
9	Dainis Zageris	Latvia	2009–2022	87	15	17.24%
10	Jón Páll Sigmarsson	Iceland	1982–1992	29	13	44.82%
11	Magnús Ver Magnússon	Iceland	1987–2005	48	12	25.00%
12	Magnus Samuelsson	Sweden	1995–2008	63	12	19.05%
13	Jouko Ahola	Finland	1994–2002	22	11	50.00%
14	Riku Kiri	Finland	1987–1999	25	11	44.00%
15	Oleksii Novikov	Ukraine	2016–	41	11	26.83%
16	Mikhail Koklyaev	Russia	2005–2014	50	11	22.00%
17	Mateusz Kieliszkowski	Poland	2014–	43	10	23.25%
18	Matjaz Belsak	Slovenia	2014–2020	60	10	16.67%
19	JF Caron	Canada	2007–2023	73	10	13.70%
20	Geoff Capes	Great Britain	1979–1988	20	9	45.00%
21	Mitchell Hooper	Canada	2022–	16	8	50.00%
22	Bill Kazmaier	United States	1979–1990	18	8	44.44%
23	Derek Poundstone	United States	2006–2017	22	8	36.36%
24	Martins Licis	United States	2015–	24	8	33.33%
25	Vytautas Lalas	Lithuania	2007–2018	30	8	26.67%
26	Kelvin de Ruiter	Netherlands	2011–	36	8	22.22%
27	Janne Virtanen	Finland	1998–2009	50	8	16.00%
28	Laurence Shahlaei	Great Britain	2007–2021	55	8	14.55%
29	Travis Ortmayer	United States	2005–2023	51	7	13.72%
30	Svend Karlsen	Norway	1996–2006	64	7	10.94%
31	Manfred Hoeberl	Austria	1990–1996	18	6	33.33%
32	Vasyl Virastyuk	Ukraine	2002–2008	28	6	21.43%
33	Andrus Murumets	Estonia	2003–2009	40	6	15.00%
34	Flemming Rasmussen	Denmark	1995–2001	19	5	26.32%
35	Pavlo Kordiyaka	Ukraine	2017–	20	5	25.00%
36	Evan Singleton	United States	2018–	23	5	21.74%
37	Mykhailo Starov	Ukraine	2004–2006	24	5	20.83%
38	Mikhail Shivlyakov	Russia	2011–2021	44	5	11.36%
38	Stojan Todorchev	Bulgaria	2005–2017	44	5	11.36%
39	Raivis Vidzis	Latvia	2002–2009	45	5	11.11%
40	Jarek Dymek	Poland	2000–2010	46	5	10.87%
41	Oskar Ziółkowski	Poland	2020–	10	4	40.00%
42	Trey Mitchell	United States	2016–	23	4	17.39%
43	Glenn Ross	Northern Ireland	1997–2011	33	4	12.12%
44	Johannes Årsjö	Sweden	2007–2017	38	4	10.52%
44	Jamie Reeves	Great Britain	1988–1999	38	4	10.52%
45	Rauno Heinla	Estonia	2009–	54	4	7.41%
46	Mike Jenkins	United States	2010–2013	9	3	33.33%
47	Tom Magee	Canada	1982–1990	12	3	25.00%
48	Mike Burke	United States	2011–2015	18	3	16.66%
49	Gerrit Badenhorst	South Africa	1992–2002	20	3	15.00%
49	Didzis Zariņš	Latvia	2011–2023	20	3	15.00%
50	Gary Taylor	Great Britain	1990–1997	22	3	13.63%

- As at 13 April 2024

• 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