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.
See main article: List of 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:
| 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.