Strongman is a competitive strength sport that 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 limits. In modern strongman, athletes compete to score points based on their relative position in an event. An athlete who engages in the sport of strongman is also called a 'strongman'.
Etymology Many sources state that strongman is a man who performs remarkable feats possessing enormous amounts of strength. In the 19th century, the term strongman referred to an exhibitor of strength during circus performances.
History
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. 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, World Strongman Challenge and Siberian Power Show have adopted a standardized format based on the original World's Strongest Man.
More than 30 countries also hold national-level strongman competitions. 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.
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
Though competitive strongman events are ever-changing, there are a number of staples that frequently appear on the international stage, including:
Notable strongmen
Traditional strongmen The strongmen are listed according to the chronological order of their birth.
Modern strongmen The following 78 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 and/or World's Ultimate Strongman from 2018 to 2021 and/or Rogue Invitational since 2021 and or Strongest Man on Earth since 2023. They are listed according to the chronological order of their podium appearance.
25 of them have won the World's Strongest Man (WSM), 11 have won the World Muscle Power Classic (WMPC), 9 have won the Arnold Strongman Classic (ASC), 3 have won the World's Ultimate Strongman (WUS), 3 have won the Rogue Invitational (RI) and 4 have won the Strongest Man on Earth (SMOE) or Shaw Classic (SC).
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). 2 men have won both WSM & WUS (Björnsson, Novikov). 3 men have won both WSM & RI (Licis, Novikov, Hooper). 2 men have won WSM, ASC & RI (Licis & Hooper). 1 man has won WSM, WUS & RI (Novikov). 1 man has won WSM, ASC, RI & SMOE (Hooper).
Additionally, the following 53 strongmen have reached either 4th or 5th places of World's Strongest Man and/or World Muscle Power Classic and/or Arnold Strongman Classic and/or World's Ultimate Strongman and/or Rogue Invitational and or Strongest Man on Earth:
International accolades The table below summarizes the most decorated strongmen in modern history with the most number of international wins in their careers.
# Name Country Active Competitions Wins Win % 1 Žydrūnas Savickas 1996–2022 147 79 2 Mariusz Pudzianowski 2000–2009 61 43 3 Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson 2010– 73 33 4 Aivars Šmaukstelis 2014–2025 86 28 5 Brian Shaw 2007–2023 65 27 6 Krzysztof Radzikowski 2005–2019 112 24 7 Ervin Katona 2003–2015 117 23 8 Matjaž Belšak 2014–2025 80 21 9 Mitchell Hooper 2022– 31 18 10 Hugo Girard 1998–2008 37 15 11 Dainis Zageris 2009–2022 87 15 12 Riku Kiri 1986–1999 28 14 13 Jón Páll Sigmarsson 1982–1992 29 13 14 Magnus Samuelsson 1995–2008 64 13 15 Jouko Ahola 1994–2003 25 12 16 Mateusz Kieliszkowski 2014– 48 12 17 Magnús Ver Magnússon 1987–2005 55 12 18 Oleksii Novikov 2016– 46 11 19 Mikhail Koklyaev 2005–2014 50 11 20 Rayno Nel 2023– 15 10 21 Svend Karlsen 1996–2006 69 10 22 JF Caron 2007–2023 73 10 23 Geoff Capes 1979–1988 20 9 24 Čestmír Šíma 2012–2021 26 9 25 Bill Kazmaier 1979–1990 18 8 26 Derek Poundstone 2006–2017 22 8 27 Martins Licis 2015– 26 8 28 Vytautas Lalas 2007–2018 30 8 29 Kelvin de Ruiter 2011– 46 8 30 Janne Virtanen 1998–2009 50 8 31 Kostyantyn Ilin 2007–2020 54 8 32 Laurence Shahlaei 2007–2021 59 8 33 Oskar Ziółkowski 2020– 25 7 34 Evan Singleton 2018– 37 7 35 Travis Ortmayer 2005–2023 51 7 36 Manfred Hoeberl 1990–1996 18 6 37 Adam Roszkowski 2021– 30 6 38 Vasyl Virastyuk 2002–2008 28 6 39 Didzis Zariņš 2011– 32 6 40 Pavlo Kordiyaka 2017– 37 6 41 Andrus Murumets 2003–2009 40 6 42 Stojan Todorchev 2005–2017 46 6 43 Mikhail Shivlyakov 2011–2025 47 6 44 Rauno Heinla 2009–2025 66 6 45 Luke Richardson 2019– 16 5 46 Flemming Rasmussen 1995–2001 19 5 47 Mike Burke 2011–2015 21 5 48 Gerrit Badenhorst 1992–2002 24 5 49 Mykhailo Starov 2004–2006 24 5 50 Juha-Matti Räsänen 1996–2006 26 5 51 Gary Taylor 1990–1997 29 5 52 Glenn Ross 1997–2011 36 5 53 Johannes Årsjö 2007–2017 39 5 54 Jamie Reeves 1988–1999 41 5 55 Raivis Vidzis 2002–2009 44 5 56 Jarek Dymek 2000–2010 46 5 57 Heinz Ollesch 1994–2006 49 5 58 Jarno Hams 1999–2015 56 5 59 Martin Wildauer 2008–2017 68 5 60 Tarmo Mitt 2001–2019 70 5
- As of 5 September 2026
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.
Strongwoman
The sport also extends to female competitors. From 2000s onwards, women's competitions were held internationally and from late 2010s, they received mainstream attention thanks to competitions such as World's Strongest Woman, Arnold Strongwoman Classic and Rogue Invitational.
See also Strength athletics History of physical training and fitness List of strongmen List of strongman competitions Lifting stone Grip strength Power training Strength training Highland games
References
External links
United States All Round Weightlifting Association Oldtime Strongman Old-School Strongmen – slideshow by Life magazine Oldtime Strongmen List World Strongman Federation