World's Strongest Man: 3 Generations
773 Eras, 3 Greats
Here are a few stats on the three great strongmen. Let me know who you think is the strongest of all time.
Paul Anderson: 5'9", 360 lb. 36" thighs, 25" arms and neck. 1955 World Champ (weightlifting), 1956 Olympic champ (even though he had a high fever) in weightlifting. Holds the Guiness Book record for greatest weight ever lifted by a human (still unbroken record): in 1957 he did a backlift (not a deadlift) of 6,270 lb! Squatted 1206, benched 627, deadlifted 820 (and 1000 with hooks), clean and press 485, push press 600, one-arm dumbbell overhead/side press 300lb for 11 reps! Note: there was no official "world's strongest man" competition in the 50s and 60s.
Bill Kazmaier: 6'2", 330-350 lb. 3-times World's strongest man in the 1980s. 60" chest, 21" arms, 32+" thighs, 22" neck, 20.5" calves, waist 40". 661 bench press, 925 squat, 907 deadlift, first man in history to clean and press the Thomas Inch dumbell, a dumbell weighing 173 lb and 2.5" thick at the handle. He did this in 1990.
Mariusz Pudzianowski: 5'11", 290-315 lbs, 4-time World's Strongest man (most recently 2007). chest 57", neck 21", waist 37", thigh 31", arms 22". Bench 606, squat 794, deadlift 904.
Paul Anderson in the clean
kaz in log lift
Mariusz in The Walk
Comments
Yes. Jon paul was definitely one of the greatest. He once beat the great Kaz in 8 out of ten events in a strongman competition (until that time, Kaz had never been beaten. I may do a tribute to Jon Paul S. I, like you, believe that Paul Anderson was the strongest of all. He was really like a freak. Maybe he had a mutation in his genes.
I will take Anderson also, he did it without all the steroids and cheating. Also the modern atheletes have so much nutrious sources compared to him. Anderon all the way :)
cgull8m,
I agree. In the 50's and 60's, the amount of steroids taken (if any) by athletes was like taking a B-complex vitamin compared to today's powerlifters and strongmen. Paul's diet was atrocious. I once read that, during his half-hour break between sets of squats, he sat in a chair and drank liters of Coca-Cola. Imagine if he were only 25 years old today. It would be scary. It would be a joke. No one would even come remotely close.
I'm 59 and I remember that on the Groucho Marx show in the mid fifties Paul Anderson dead lifted a section of bleachers with 27 people on it! Check it out. After an olympic match that was won by Alexiev Paul Anderson walked on stage in street clothes and took the weight used by Alexiev, the heavyweight winner, in the clean and jerk and casually dead pressed it five times. He then said something to the effect "who's the strongest man?"
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tom mudro,
Anderson was incredible, wasn't he? He had incredible natural strength. I've read several articles stating that he often performed amazing feats of strength without any warmups. Your comment is another example of Anderson's everyday strength.
After reading Tom's comment, I am going to throw my support behind the late, great Paul Anderson as the strongest man in history. Heaven should have a wrestling match between him and Orson welles.
James,
They already had the match in heaven. It was too close to call after 9 hours, so John Wayne had to step in and stop it.
kaz did not clean the inchdumbbell. he needs the help of his 2nd hand
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JamesRay says:
7 months ago
I think Paul Anderson could take all of them out. He also took the least steorid, if any, since he competed in the 1950s. Kaz was a muntain of a man and the most skiled in traditonal powerlifting. Marius looks like he could pick up the Queen Mary and swim across the Atlantic with the ship on his back. Speaking of power, how about the leat, great Jon-Paul Sigmarsson?