Ancient myths and legends abound with astounding feats of superhuman strength, but the truth is that today might very well be the golden age of strongmen.
"I would argue that the strongest men in history are alive on our planet right now," saysJan Todd, and she would know. Jan Todd and her late husband Terry are powerlifting royalty, sports historians and co-founders of theStark Center for Physical Culture and Sportsat the University of Texas, Austin.
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"I don't think we've ever had a period in history where we have as many men who are in the kind of physical condition and able to lift the kinds of weight they're lifting right now," says Todd, who credits the surge in strongmen to the popularity of competitions like theWorld's Strongest Manand theArnold Strongman Classic, which her husband helped create. (Events at these competitions may include powerlifting, pulling vehicles and lifting heavy round stones called Atlas stones.)
"The Arnold Strongman Classic is typically seen as a test of raw strength," says Conor Heffernan, who blogs about the history of strength and exercise atPhysical Culture Studyand teaches the sociology of sport at the University of Ulster in the U.K. "Whereas the World's Strongest Man combines strength, agility and endurance."
当前的冠军保持者是“世界上最强大的人”Tom Stoltman, a 27-year-old gentle giant from Scotland who stands 6 feet, 8 inches (203 centimeters), weighs 397 pounds (180 kilograms) andholds the world recordfor lifting a 630-pound (286 kg) Atlas stone and hurling it over a chest-high bar. Another up-and-coming champion is American Martins Licis, the 2019 "World's Strongest Man" and the2021 winnerof the Rogue Invitational, who Todd thinks may be "the future of the sport."
But neither of these impressive strongmen has earned the title of the strongest man to ever live, or even the strongest man alive. According to Todd and other strength experts, that crown (size XXXL) goes to a man known as "Big Z."
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