The Strongman Super Series, known from 2001 to 2004 as the IFSA World Strongman Super Series, from 2005 to 2008 as the World's Strongest Man Super Series, and reverting in 2009 to the World Strongman Super Series, is a sequence of grand prix events in the sport of strength athletics. It was introduced in 2001 in response to concerns that, unlike other individual sports such as golf or tennis, there was no recognized international "tour" in strength athletics. The Strongman Super Series ensures that there are a number of high-profile, professionally run contests during the year, with competitors' placings being used to decide the overall Super Series Champion.
IronMind Enterprises, Inc. is an American niche market business based in Nevada City, California, that specializes in "tools of the trade for serious strength athletes." Though many of its products include strength-training equipment and accessories, IronMind also publishes books, DVDs and the quarterly magazine MILO: A Journal For Serious Strength Athletes.
Žydrūnas Savickas is a Lithuanian powerlifter and professional strongman. Due to his prolific 84 international wins in major international strongman competitions including four World's Strongest Man championships, eight Arnold Strongman Classic championships, two IFSA Strongman World Championships, and over 70 world records, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest strength athletes of all time.
Magnus Samuelsson, is a Swedish actor, former strongman and winner of the 1998 World's Strongest Man contest in Morocco. He has also made it to the World's Strongest Man podium 5 times and the finals 10 times and is regarded as one of the best strongmen in history. The son of a former Swedish arm wrestling champion, he has also been ranked among the best arm wrestlers in the world and was a European Arm Wrestling champion prior to becoming a professional strongman.
Grippers, sometimes called hand grippers, are primarily used for testing and increasing the strength of the hands; this specific form of grip strength has been called crushing grip, which has been defined as meaning the prime movers are the four fingers, rather than the thumb.
The International Federation of Strength Athletes was an international governing body for strongman competition. IFSA operated from 1995 to 2007 and was based in Glasgow, Scotland.
Terry Hollands is a British bodybuilder and the winner of the 2bros Pro Luke Sandoe Classic Beginners Class 2019 bodybuilding championships. Hollands is also a retired strongman competitor and a past winner of Britain's Strongest Man, the UK's Strongest Man, and England's Strongest Man competitions. He's also a Europe's Strongest Man silver (2010) & bronze (2017) medalist, a two time World's Strongest Man bronze medalist, a two time Arnold Strongman Classic 8th-place winner, a World's Ultimate Strongman 9th-place winner (2018), and the 5th most prolific strongman contestant in history having competed in more than 90 international competitions, winning 4 of them throughout 17 years. With 12 international event wins, Hollands is noted for his vehicle pulling skills, making him the 6th best vehicle puller in strongman history. He was nicknamed Terry 'The Tank' Hollands or 'Big Tel'.
Mark Felix is a Grenadian-English strongman competitor and regular entrant to the World's Strongest Man competition. He has competed at a record 17 World's Strongest Man contests, reaching the finals three times. He is the winner of the 2015 Ultimate Strongman Masters World Championships, 2016 WSF World Cup India and has won numerous international grip contests, including the Rolling Thunder World Championships in 2008 and 2009, as well as the Vice Grip Viking Challenge in 2011 and 2012. Having competed in over 100 international competitions throughout 19 years, Felix is the 3rd most prolific strongman contestant in history.
The GNC Grip Gauntlet is a strength athletics contest that tests the grip strength of competing individuals over three disciplines, each designed to test one of the three recognised facets of hand strength: crushing; pinching; and supporting. It was developed by Wade and Brad Gillingham and became an internationally recognised contest featured at some of the world's most prominent strength athletics events and expos, including the Arnold Strongman Classic and the various WSM Super Series Grand Prixs. The last time the GNC Grip Gauntlet was run in a competitive format was the 2010 Arnold Classic. Since that time the challenge has changed to an informal challenge with no official results maintained. Prizes are still awarded for successful completion of the challenge.
The Strongman Champions League is a strongman competition circuit, with several Grand Prix events throughout the year and the Strongman Champions League overall champion title going to the overall winner at the end of the season. The competitors include some of the top athletes in the sport, including Žydrūnas Savickas, Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson, Krzysztof Radzikowski, Travis Ortmayer, Nick Best, Mikhail Koklyaev, Ervin Katona, Andrus Murumets, Laurence Shahlaei, Vytautas Lalas and Terry Hollands. Initially in close partnership with IFSA, it quickly asserted its independence and has acted as a unifying force in the world of strength athletics, bringing together athletes from IFSA with those affiliated to the World's Strongest Man circuit, and having close cooperation with other major events such as Fortissimus. In 2012, SCL began co-promoting the new Arnold Strongman Classic-Europe contest which will become part of the annual SCL season of events.
Captains of Crush Grippers is a brand of torsion-spring grippers designed, manufactured and sold by IronMind Enterprises, Inc., based in Nevada City, California. They are the official grippers of the Arnold Sports Festival, the GNC Grip Gauntlet, United States Arm Wrestling and the World's Strongest Man contest.
The Fortissimus is a defunct event in strength athletics. The name means "the mightiest" and was a multi-event challenge at the end of which the winner is crowned as the "Strongest Man on Earth". It was set up to bring together the strongest competitors on the planet independent of the organisations to which they were signed, and also as a tribute to the nineteenth-century Canadian strongman Louis Cyr, which gave it many similarities to Le Defi Mark Ten International which last took place in Canada in the early 1990s. After its first airing in 2008, the strength athletics magazine Milo described it as the ultimate strongman competition ever held. Despite a successful edition in 2009, a reported lack of a major sponsor for 2010 resulted in the competition being suspended, no future contests have been announced.
Giants Live was created in 2009 as the official Tour that qualifies strongmen to compete in the annual World's Strongest Man contest. At each Grand Prix, up to twelve international strongmen come together and compete over six events. The top three at each contest will receive an invitation to compete at the World's Strongest Man contest for that same year. With 9 wins, Iceland's Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson is the greatest Giants Live champion of all-time.
Brian Shaw is an American professional strongman who is widely regarded as one of the greatest strength athletes of all-time. He won the 2011, 2013, 2015, and 2016 World's Strongest Man competitions, and in 2011, became the first man to win the Arnold Strongman Classic and the World's Strongest Man competitions in the same calendar year, a feat he replicated in 2015. With 26 international competition wins, he is the fourth most decorated strongman in history behind Lithuania's Žydrūnas Savickas, Poland's Mariusz Pudzianowski and Iceland's Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson.
The All-American Strongman Challenge is a leading competition in strength athletics that takes place within the annual Californian FitExpo. Although North America has a number of prestigious strongman events determining the "Strongest Man in America", the "Strongest Man in Canada" and the "Strongest Man in North America", the All-American Strongman Challenge has added kudos because it is open to entrants from overseas with the potential to bring in leading international competitors as well. It is notable for the calibre of entrants it has attracted, with many World's Strongest Man finalists being represented.
Strength athletics in Canada refers to the various strongman events throughout Canada and its provinces in the sport of [strength athletics] in association with the World's Strongest Man. The roots of strongman in Canada go back long before the birth of WSM in 1977, particularly with [Louis Cyr] in the early 1900s, who was deemed the "Strongest Man on Earth" during his lifetime. Four Canadian athletes have finished on the podium, placing 2nd in 1982 with Tom Magee and 3rd in 2005 with Dominic Filiou, Jean-François Caron placing 3rd in 2020, and Maxime Boudreault placing 3rd in 2021. The provinces of Canada hold annual championships with the top 2-4 athletes going on to the National Championships at the end of the year to crown Canada's Strongest Man. Mitchell “Moose” Hooper’s win in WSM 2023 makes him the first Canadian to finish in first place.
Strength athletics in the United States refers to the various strongman events throughout United States and North America in the sport of strength athletics in association with the World's Strongest Man ("WSM") contest. America has both an amateur and a professional sanctioning body.
Vytautas Lalas is a Lithuanian professional strongman, and was the winner of the 2013 Arnold Strongman Classic and runner up of the 2012 World's Strongest Man.
Strength athletics in Iceland refers to the participation of Icelandic competitors and the holding of Icelandic events in the modern phenomenon of strength athletics inaugurated by the World's Strongest Man. The sport's roots have a long history going back many centuries before the televisation of strongman competitions in the 1970s and Iceland has a role in that more ancient heritage. In terms of modern strength athletics, Iceland has held a preeminent position as a nation due to the enormous success of its competitors on the international stage, who between them have won Nine World's Strongest Man titles, and numerous major European and international competitions.
Gunnar Þór Guðjónsson is an Icelandic former strongman competitor who won the title of Iceland's Strongest Man, and competed at the World's Strongest Man and then went on to become a champion bodybuilder.
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