Strongman

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Strongman is a competitive strength sport which tests athletes' physical strength and endurance through a variety of heavy lifts and events. Strongman competitions are known for their intensity, pushing athletes to their physical and mental limits. [1] Severe injuries are common.

Contents

In modern strongman, athletes compete to score points based on their relative position in an event. [2] An athlete who engages in the sport of strongman is also called a 'strongman'. [3] They are often regarded as some of the strongest men of the world.

The sport also extends to female competitors. Competitions of this sort are typically referred to as strongwoman. Local women's competitions are common and major strongman competitions are increasingly featuring women's competitors. In 2024, women were invited to the Arnold Strongman Classic and Rogue Invitational for the first time.

Etymology

Many sources state that strongman is a man who performs remarkable feats possessing enormous amounts of strength. [4] [5] In the 19th century, the term 'strongman' was referred to an exhibitor of strength during circus performances. [6]

History

A 19th century Strongman doing a bent press using a circus dumbbell. Fred Winters, New York, winner of the dumbbell competition at the 1904 Olympics.jpg
A 19th century Strongman doing a bent press using a circus dumbbell.

Modern strongman generally credits its origins to circus strongmen who became popular in the 19th and 20th centuries. 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. [7] Athletes including Louis Cyr, Apollon, Donald Dinnie, and Arthur Saxon are credited as major innovators in the sport. Many events today, including the Cyr dumbbell, Apollon's axle clean-and-press, Dinnie stones, and Saxon bar deadlift bear their names.

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 deadlifts, squats, overhead log lifts, lifting stones, toting refrigerators, pulling heavy vehicles and tossing or loading weights. With the advent of the World's Strongest Man competition, strongman began to be formalized as a competitive sport rather than a non-competitive spectacle. Since the advent of the modern sport, competitions including Arnold Strongman Classic, Europe's Strongest Man, Strongman Champions League, World's Ultimate Strongman, World's Strongest Viking, World Muscle Power Classic, Fortissimus, Pure Strength, Rogue Invitational, Shaw Classic, Giants Live, IFSA World Championships, Strongman Super Series and World Strongman Challenge have adopted a standardized format based on the original World's Strongest Man. [3]

More than 30 countries also hold national-level strongman competitions. [8] Local competitions featuring amateur athletes are also common.

Modern Format

In its modern format, a strongman competition will typically consist of several events (ranging from as few as five to as many as eight at the international level) testing different aspects of strength. These may include static lifts such as a deadlift, overhead press, or squat or a dynamic event involving moving with weight. Athletes may, for example, pick up a heavy apparatus and carry it for a certain distance or drag a vehicle attached by a harness.

Strongman competitions score competitors by comparing their relative place in an event and awarding more points to competitors with better finishes. Typically, first place in an event will receive a number of points equal to the number of competitors. For example, if an athlete finishes first in the deadlift in a competition with 10 competitors, they will receive 10 points, with second receiving nine, and so on, until last place receives only one point.

Most competitions award zero points if an athlete could not complete a lift or start the event--if, for example, an athlete could not pick up a stone in a stone-carrying event, they would be awarded zero points. Competitions will also normally split points based on ties, adding up the combined points for their places and averaging them out. For example, if two athletes finish tied for first in a 10-athlete competition, the scores for first and second (10 and 9 points) will be added up and divided by two, resulting in each athlete being awarded 9.5 points.

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. Explosive power is also important, which is developed by weightlifting style lifts and cardiovascular conditioning. Additionally, grip strength must be developed and it is also imperative to improve mental toughness and pain tolerance. [9]

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.

Events

Brian Shaw performing the Rogue Elephant bar raw deadlift at the 2017 Arnold Strongman Classic Brian Shaw Arnold Classic 2017b.jpg
Brian Shaw performing the Rogue Elephant bar raw 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, [10] including:

Notable strongmen

Traditional strongmen

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

Modern Strongmen

The following 75 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 50 strongmen have reached either 4th or 5th places of World's Strongest Man and/or World Muscle Power Classic and/or Arnold Strongman Classic:

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). [11]

  Active  Retired

#NameCountryActiveCompetitionsWinsWin %
1 Žydrūnas Savickas Flag of Lithuania.svg Lithuania 1996–20221477953.74%
2 Mariusz Pudzianowski Flag of Poland.svg Poland 2000–2009614370.49%
3 Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson Flag of Iceland.svg Iceland 2010–703144.29%
4 Brian Shaw Flag of the United States.svg USA 2007–2023652741.54%
5 Aivars Šmaukstelis Flag of Latvia.svg Latvia 2014–762634.21%
6 Krzysztof Radzikowski Flag of Poland.svg Poland 2005–20191122421.43%
7 Ervin Katona Flag of Serbia.svg Serbia 2003–2015991717.17%
8 Hugo Girard Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Canada 1998–2008371540.54%
9 Dainis Zageris Flag of Latvia.svg Latvia 2009–2022871517.24%
10 Mitchell Hooper Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Canada 2022–231460.87%
11 Jón Páll Sigmarsson Flag of Iceland.svg Iceland 1982–1992291344.82%
12 Magnús Ver Magnússon Flag of Iceland.svg Iceland 1987–2005481225.00%
13 Magnus Samuelsson Flag of Sweden.svg Sweden 1995–2008631219.05%
14 Jouko Ahola Flag of Finland.svg Finland 1994–2002221150.00%
15 Riku Kiri Flag of Finland.svg Finland 1987–1999251144.00%
16 Mateusz Kieliszkowski Flag of Poland.svg Poland 2014–441125.00%
17 Oleksii Novikov Flag of Ukraine.svg Ukraine 2016–451124.44%
18 Mikhail Koklyaev Flag of Russia.svg Russia 2005–2014501122.00%
19 Matjaz Belsak Flag of Slovenia.svg Slovenia 2014–2020641117.19%
20 JF Caron Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Canada 2007–2023731013.70%
21 Geoff Capes Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Flag of England.svg UK / England 1979–198820945.00%
22 Svend Karlsen Flag of Norway.svg Norway 1996–200667913.43%
23 Bill Kazmaier Flag of the United States.svg USA 1979–199018844.44%
24 Derek Poundstone Flag of the United States.svg USA 2006–201722836.36%
25 Martins Licis Flag of the United States.svg USA 2015–24833.33%
26 Vytautas Lalas Flag of Lithuania.svg Lithuania 2007–201830826.67%
27 Kelvin de Ruiter Flag of the Netherlands.svg Netherlands 2011–40820.00%
28 Janne Virtanen Flag of Finland.svg Finland 1998–200950816.00%
29 Laurence Shahlaei Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Flag of England.svg UK / England 2007–202155814.55%
30 Travis Ortmayer Flag of the United States.svg USA 2005–202351713.72%
31 Manfred Hoeberl Flag of Austria.svg Austria 1990–199618633.33%
32 Vasyl Virastyuk Flag of Ukraine.svg Ukraine 2002–200828621.43%
33 Andrus Murumets Flag of Estonia.svg Estonia 2003–200940615.00%
34Rayno Nel Flag of South Africa.svg South Africa 2023–6583.33%
35Adam Roszkowski Flag of Poland.svg Poland 2021–19526.32%
35 Flemming Rasmussen Flag of Denmark.svg Denmark 1995–200119526.32%
37 Mykhailo Starov Flag of Ukraine.svg Ukraine 2004–200624520.83%
38 Pavlo Kordiyaka Flag of Ukraine.svg Ukraine 2017–25520.00%
39 Evan Singleton Flag of the United States.svg USA 2018–29517.24%
40 Johannes Årsjö Flag of Sweden.svg Sweden 2007–201739512.82%
41 Mikhail Shivlyakov Flag of Russia.svg Russia 2011–202144511.36%
41 Stojan Todorchev Flag of Bulgaria.svg Bulgaria 2005–201744511.36%
43 Raivis Vidzis Flag of Latvia.svg Latvia 2002–200946510.87%
43 Jarek Dymek Flag of Poland.svg Poland 2000–201046510.87%
45Oskar Ziółkowski Flag of Poland.svg Poland 2020–13430.77%
46 Mike Burke Flag of the United States.svg USA 2011–201519421.05%
47Didzis Zariņš Flag of Latvia.svg Latvia 2011–23417.39%
48 Trey Mitchell Flag of the United States.svg USA 2016–26415.38%
49 Tom Stoltman Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Flag of Scotland.svg UK / Scotland 2016–32412.50%
50 Glenn Ross Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Ulster Banner.svg UK / Northern Ireland 1997–201133412.12%

- As of 24 November 2024

Incorrect usage

Strongman is often incorrectly used to describe a person who does powerlifting, 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.

See also

Related Research Articles

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References

  1. ↑ Maanas, Aaromal (2 November 2022). "Who is the World's Strongest Man? Ranking the top five Strongest Men in History". Sportskeeda. Retrieved 2 November 2022.
  2. ↑ "About Strongman - competitors are tested for their pure strength". Robert Wood for Topend Sports Website. Retrieved 10 September 2024.
  3. 1 2 "The origins of Strongman sport, a story of strength and challenge". Kingsbox. 15 June 2023. Retrieved 10 September 2024.
  4. ↑ "Strongman". www.collinsdictionary.com. Retrieved 10 September 2024.
  5. ↑ "Strongman". www.dictionary.com. Retrieved 10 September 2024.
  6. ↑ "STRONGMAN". ERA-FIT Ltd Bespoke Fitness Systems. Retrieved 2019-09-05.[ permanent dead link ]
  7. ↑ "Notable Strongmen and their fascinating feats of strength". 20 May 2017.
  8. ↑ "STRONGMAN CONTESTS". strongmanarchives.com. Retrieved 2022-04-13.
  9. ↑ "Strongman Training at Home". Andre Adams. Retrieved 10 September 2024.
  10. ↑ "Strongman Events". strongman.org. Retrieved 2012-12-28.
  11. ↑ "Strongman Archives - Athletes". Strongman Archives. April 5, 2022. Retrieved April 6, 2022.
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