Wednesday 6 October 2010

Who really are the world's strongest men?

We all have something that makes us stop in our tracks and stand open jawed. For some it may be a beautiful sunrise, for others it may be seeing a bungee-jump take place, however for me that sense of amazement comes when i see incredible feats of strength. Many of you other lads out there would probably agree with me that as men we all have some sort of innate desire to be stronger, faster or smarter than others. Maybe this is why athletic competition came along? I don't know.

Anyway, as I was casually flicking through the channels on Sunday afternoon I stumbled upon one of the "Worlds strongest man: Grand Prix" events and decided to stop and have a look. Now, I have always had an interest in these events having grown up watching them on channel 5, but I am constantly amazed at the sheer size and strength of these men. They are genetic freaks! Yes, some of them carry some excess fat and many of you would not consider them athletes but i disagree. They may not have the muscle definition of a body-builder (someone who trains purely for aesthetic looks), however they possess raw strength and power that the muscle bound body-builders do not. Many people mistake body-builders for strongmen and powerlifters which isn't the case. Powerlifters compete in "the three lifts" which are the squat, deadlift and bench press. Strongmen compete in different events which will often involve more repetitions with weight than a powerlifters single lift. Although Body-builders are strong, they will rarely be in the same league as powerlifters and strongmen. 
The reason strongmen and powerlifters carry more fat than body-builders is because they are not after that cut  look, but instead they are chases after pure strength and having some extra weight can help with that. 

Zydrunas Savickas (Current World's Strongest man) setting a new world record in the Apollon Axle with a weight of 212.5KG (33 1/2 stone!!)

I just can never get my head around how some people can get as strong as these athletes do. Even if they are using steroids, which sadly a lot of strength athletes do these days, the amount of strength they possess is incredible.
These thoughts bought me to the point of wondering, who really are the world's strongest men? Is it the powerlifters who register the heaviest lifts but for only single repetitions on in a single plain of motion or the strongmen who use smaller weights for more repetitons and often have to push, carry and run with the weight.



Seeing as the powerlifters register the largest lifts, then surely they are the strongest? However,  before you decide this you need to take a look at what strength actually is. "Strength is relitive to the acitivity you are taking part in" this means that you may have strength in one area, but be weak while doing another activity. 
Take this for example, you could take a powerlifter and make them hammer nails into dry walls with a plastoror and the strength athlete would start to tire very quickly. However the chain smoking labourer would carry on all day because he has built up "strength" in the activity he is doing. The same goes in reverse. 

Andy Bolton (England), is the current Deadlift world record holder with a personal best of 457.5KG with a suit (displayed above) and 432.5KG Raw!!


 So why do we call the top strongman event world's strongest man? Well yes, they are very strong men, but the majority would struggle if they competed in a top powerlifting competition. The same would go in reverse if a powerlifter went straight out of powerlifting and started competing in strongman. You need to be strong in the event/activity you are taking part in. The demands from each are different.  
I think a more accurate name for "World's strongest man"  would be "World's most well-rounded strength athlete". 

Both parties would argue that they are true "world's strongest men". I would not want to get into that sort of arguement fully, and instead i think we should appreciate the different feats of the different sports. They are all extremely strong and the strength they possess is super-human. 





1 comment:

  1. Andy is a wise man.

    http://choppysreviews.com/choppys-reviews/deadlift-dynamite/

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