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 high intense and gruelling nature, pushing athletes to their physical and mental limits. [1] The winners are selected based on a relative scoring system, where participants gather points for each individual 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.
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]
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]
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. Some of the most famous competitions of this type are World's Strongest Man, 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. [3] More than 30 countries also hold national-level strongman competitions. [8]
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.
Though competitive strongman events are ever-changing, there are a number of staples that frequently appear on the international stage, [10] including:
The strongmen are listed according to the chronological order of their birth.
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:
Active Retired
# | Name | Country | 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– | 70 | 31 | 44.29% |
4 | Brian Shaw | USA | 2007–2023 | 65 | 27 | 41.54% |
5 | Aivars Šmaukstelis | Latvia | 2014– | 76 | 26 | 34.21% |
6 | Krzysztof Radzikowski | Poland | 2005–2019 | 112 | 24 | 21.43% |
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 | Mitchell Hooper | Canada | 2022– | 23 | 14 | 60.87% |
11 | Jón Páll Sigmarsson | Iceland | 1982–1992 | 29 | 13 | 44.82% |
12 | Magnús Ver Magnússon | Iceland | 1987–2005 | 48 | 12 | 25.00% |
13 | Magnus Samuelsson | Sweden | 1995–2008 | 63 | 12 | 19.05% |
14 | Jouko Ahola | Finland | 1994–2002 | 22 | 11 | 50.00% |
15 | Riku Kiri | Finland | 1987–1999 | 25 | 11 | 44.00% |
16 | Mateusz Kieliszkowski | Poland | 2014– | 44 | 11 | 25.00% |
17 | Oleksii Novikov | Ukraine | 2016– | 45 | 11 | 24.44% |
18 | Mikhail Koklyaev | Russia | 2005–2014 | 50 | 11 | 22.00% |
19 | Matjaz Belsak | Slovenia | 2014–2020 | 64 | 11 | 17.19% |
20 | JF Caron | Canada | 2007–2023 | 73 | 10 | 13.70% |
21 | Geoff Capes | UK / England | 1979–1988 | 20 | 9 | 45.00% |
22 | Svend Karlsen | Norway | 1996–2006 | 67 | 9 | 13.43% |
23 | Bill Kazmaier | USA | 1979–1990 | 18 | 8 | 44.44% |
24 | Derek Poundstone | USA | 2006–2017 | 22 | 8 | 36.36% |
25 | Martins Licis | USA | 2015– | 24 | 8 | 33.33% |
26 | Vytautas Lalas | Lithuania | 2007–2018 | 30 | 8 | 26.67% |
27 | Kelvin de Ruiter | Netherlands | 2011– | 40 | 8 | 20.00% |
28 | Janne Virtanen | Finland | 1998–2009 | 50 | 8 | 16.00% |
29 | Laurence Shahlaei | UK / England | 2007–2021 | 55 | 8 | 14.55% |
30 | Travis Ortmayer | USA | 2005–2023 | 51 | 7 | 13.72% |
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 | Rayno Nel | South Africa | 2023– | 6 | 5 | 83.33% |
35 | Adam Roszkowski | Poland | 2021– | 19 | 5 | 26.32% |
35 | Flemming Rasmussen | Denmark | 1995–2001 | 19 | 5 | 26.32% |
37 | Mykhailo Starov | Ukraine | 2004–2006 | 24 | 5 | 20.83% |
38 | Pavlo Kordiyaka | Ukraine | 2017– | 25 | 5 | 20.00% |
39 | Evan Singleton | USA | 2018– | 29 | 5 | 17.24% |
40 | Johannes Årsjö | Sweden | 2007–2017 | 39 | 5 | 12.82% |
41 | Mikhail Shivlyakov | Russia | 2011–2021 | 44 | 5 | 11.36% |
41 | Stojan Todorchev | Bulgaria | 2005–2017 | 44 | 5 | 11.36% |
43 | Raivis Vidzis | Latvia | 2002–2009 | 46 | 5 | 10.87% |
43 | Jarek Dymek | Poland | 2000–2010 | 46 | 5 | 10.87% |
45 | Oskar Ziółkowski | Poland | 2020– | 13 | 4 | 30.77% |
46 | Mike Burke | USA | 2011–2015 | 19 | 4 | 21.05% |
47 | Didzis Zariņš | Latvia | 2011– | 23 | 4 | 17.39% |
48 | Trey Mitchell | USA | 2016– | 26 | 4 | 15.38% |
49 | Tom Stoltman | UK / Scotland | 2016– | 32 | 4 | 12.50% |
50 | Glenn Ross | UK / Northern Ireland | 1997–2011 | 33 | 4 | 12.12% |
- As of 24 November 2024
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.
Jón Páll Sigmarsson was an Icelandic strongman, powerlifter and bodybuilder who was the first man to win the World's Strongest Man four times and the first and only man to win the World Muscle Power Classic five times.
Magnús Ver Magnússon is an Icelandic former powerlifter and strongman competitor. He is a four-time World's Strongest Man, having won in 1991, 1994, 1995, 1996 and is widely regarded as one of the greatest strongmen of all time.
The World's Strongest Man is an international strongman competition held every year. Organized by American event management company IMG, a subsidiary of Endeavor, it is broadcast in the US during summers and in the UK around the end of December each year. Competitors qualify based on placing in the top three at the four to eight Giants Live events each year. The current event sponsor is SBD Apparel. Previous sponsors include Tachi Palace, Coregenx, Commerce Hotel and Casino, DAF Trucks, Tonka, MET-Rx, and PartyPoker.com.
Strength athletics is the collection of strength sports which measure physical strength, based on both: non-standard and historical implements as seen in Strongman and Highland games, and standardized and calibrated equipment as seen in Powerlifting and Weightlifting.
Riku Kiri is a Finnish former strongman and powerlifter, best known for competing in the World's Strongest Man competition, narrowly missing out on capturing the title on more than one occasion. He has been referred to as: "the strongest man never to win World's Strongest Man."
Svend 'Viking' Karlsen is a Norwegian former strongman, powerlifter, bodybuilder and 2001 World's Strongest Man.
William Kazmaier is an American former world champion powerlifter, world champion strongman and professional wrestler. During his illustrious career, he set over 40 powerlifting and strongman world records, and won two International Powerlifting Federation (IPF) World Championships and three World's Strongest Man titles. In the 1980s, Kazmaier became famous for his claim to be "the strongest man who ever lived" by equaling and surpassing spectacular and versatile feats of strength of famous strongmen of the 20th century. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest strength athletes of all-time, and was inducted into the International Sports Hall of Fame in 2017.
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.
Laurence Cristiaan David Shahlaei is an English YouTuber, strength sports commentator, analyst, coach, and a retired strongman and powerlifting competitor. He is most noted for winning the 2016 Europe's Strongest Man competition.
Brian Shaw is an American retired 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, making him one of only five men to win the World’s Strongest Man four times or more. In 2011, Shaw 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 27 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. Shaw has also set more than 25 world records in deadlifting, stonelifting, keg-tossing, grip related movements and more.
The World Strongman Challenge was one of the most enduring annual strongmen competitions, running in various guises for twenty years, with only two years break. In that time it attained the position of one of the most prestigious strongman contest in the world, after the World's Strongest Man and the World Muscle Power Classic. As with its two international counterparts it attracted the top quality strength athletes of its era, which included every winner of the World's Strongest Man competition from 1980 onwards including Jón Páll Sigmarsson, Geoff Capes and Bill Kazmaier from the 1980s right up to the current WSM champion Žydrūnas Savickas.
Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson is an Icelandic professional strongman who is widely regarded as one of the greatest strength athletes of all time. He is the first and only person to have won the Arnold Strongman Classic, the Europe's Strongest Man, and the World's Strongest Man competitions in the same calendar year and holds numerous Strongman titles from multiple strength federations, including multiple world records. With 31 international competition wins, he is the third most decorated strongman in history, behind Lithuania's Žydrūnas Savickas and Poland's Mariusz Pudzianowski, and in terms of pure brute strength and with over 100 world records, many strength analysts and Strongman experts regard Hafþór as "the strongest man to have ever lived".
Hjalti 'Úrsus' Árnason, is an Icelandic former strongman, powerlifter and a strength sports promoter. Known by the nickname 'The Great Ursus', Hjalti first began in strength sports by competing as a junior powerlifter in 1983. He also coached Jón Páll Sigmarsson and won the 1988 Le Defi Mark Ten International. Hjalti also competed with Magnús Ver Magnússon in Pure Strength team competitions in 1989 & 1990.
Strength athletics in Iceland refers to the participation of Icelandic competitors and holding national strongman competitions. The sport's roots have a long and ancient history going back many centuries with the legends of Orm Storolfsson and Grettir Ásmundarson to the 19th century traditional strongmen including Snorri Björnsson, Brynjólfur Eggertsson and Gunnar Salómonsson; before the televisation of modern strongman competitions in the late 1970s.
Edward Stephen Hall is a British media personality and a retired strongman. He is best known for his world-record setting 500 kg (1,102 lb) deadlift in 2016 which is widely regarded as one of the greatest feats of strength in history. He is also known for winning 2017 World's Strongest Man competition.
Graham Hicks is an English strongman and powerlifter. He won the 2019 Britain's Strongest Man competition and placed second in 2014 and 2018. He is also a two time Europe's Strongest Man bronze medalist.
Martins Licis is an American professional strongman, notable for winning the 2019 World's Strongest Man, the 2022 Arnold Strongman Classic, and the 2021 Rogue Invitational strongman championships.
Luke Bernard Stoltman is a Scottish professional strongman competitor, who won the Scotland’s Strongest Man competition five times and Europe’s Strongest Man competition two times in 2021 and 2024. He has also participated in the World's Strongest Man competition nine times and has reached the finals five times. Renowned for his static shoulder strength, Luke currently holds the British Log Press record. Along with younger brother, Tom Stoltman, the two are widely regarded as the strongest brothers in history and are the only ones to both qualify for the World’s Strongest Man finals; a feat they have managed in 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024.
Oleksii Novikov is a Ukrainian professional strongman. He won the 2020 World's Strongest Man competition, becoming the second Ukrainian to win the title since Vasyl Virastyuk in 2004, and at 24 years, 278 days, he is also the second youngest winner in history, being only seven days elder than Jón Páll Sigmarsson in 1984. He is also a two time World's Ultimate Strongman, the 2022 Rogue Invitational champion, and the 2022 Europe’s Strongest Man.