These dudes are wicked strong. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the men all around the world who’ve proven they’re the strongest around.
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00:00 "If the Vikings were pulling boats with me, I would by far go down in history as the best Viking boat puller that ever lived."
00:07 Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the men all around the world who've proven they are the strongest around.
00:15 "He was one of the people who showed humanity what a noble human machine could do."
00:22 Number 10. Eddie Hall
00:26 This British muscleman completed his first strongman competition in 2007. By 2011, he was placing first in the UK's Strongest Man competition, a title he would go on to win six years in a row.
00:38 That's not the only contest he's impressed at, though.
00:40 "Now there's double figures! This is unbelievable!"
00:44 In 2017, he notably won Britain's Strongest Man as well as the highly coveted World's Strongest Man title.
00:51 The latter event saw him max deadlift 1,042 pounds. He also finished in second place in the Europe's Strongest Man competition that year.
01:00 Hall has since retired from strongman competitions, but you may have seen him making his acting debut in 2023's Expendables 4.
01:08 "This is way fat." "Mm-hmm. Bats are fat, huh?"
01:12 Number 9. Leonid Taranenko
01:15 At the 2021 World Weightlifting Championships, Lasha Talakhatsa lifted 267 kilograms in the clean and jerk.
01:23 This was significant, just breaking the previous record of 266 kilos, a record that had stood since 1988, when the great Soviet Belarusian weightlifter Leonid Taranenko set it.
01:43 But wait, there's a lot more that speaks to Taranenko's strength.
01:46 For instance, he took home a weightlifting gold medal at the 1980 Olympics in Moscow and a silver at the Barcelona Games 12 years later in 1992.
01:56 He's no stranger to medals at the World Weightlifting Championships either, with a bronze, a silver, and two golds to his name.
02:03 Number 8. Andy Bolton
02:11 Born in Yorkshire, England in 1970, Andy Bolton notably has an impressive fifth-place finish at the 2002 Arnold Strongman Classic contest.
02:20 However, he's primarily known as a powerlifter.
02:23 In fact, he has three first-place finishes at the World Powerlifting Championships of 2000, 2001, and 2008.
02:36 And he's probably best known to fans as the first man to ever deadlift 1,000 pounds.
02:41 About a year after he amazed everyone with that feat in 2006, he also set the squat and the World Powerlifting Organization total weight world records.
02:50 Number 7. Hafthor Julius Bjornsson
02:53 He isn't just a mountain of a man. He played a man called "The Mountain" on HBO's Game of Thrones, while he was playing The Mountain on TV.
03:03 He was also mounting an impressive number of Strongman trophies on his mantle.
03:07 Going through the 56 international and national solo first-place finishes of his career would take too long.
03:19 But his accomplishments in 2018 kind of put everything in focus.
03:28 That was when Hafthor became the first man to win the Arnold Strongman Classic, the Europe's Strongest Man, and the World's Strongest Man contests all in the same year.
03:37 He also won the titles of World's Ultimate Strongman and Iceland's Strongest Man. Talk about domination.
03:43 Number 6. Louis Uni
03:56 Also known as "Apollon the Mighty," Louis Uni was born in France in 1862.
04:01 Given the time period, the accounts of his feats of strength are not always easy to confirm. But there is no doubt about his place in history.
04:18 Most any conversation about the Strongest Man ever will come around to Uni. Famous for his grip strength, he performed feats that few others could attempt.
04:41 This included everything from one-handed snatches to an escaping prisoner stage act that saw him bending iron bars at will.
04:48 In 1913, he even put on a show that had him extending his arms to keep two vehicles back, though he was sadly injured in the process.
04:56 Number 5. Brian Shaw
04:58 Imagine winning the World's Strongest Man title and the Arnold Strongman Classic in the same year.
05:04 Someone who doesn't have to imagine such an accomplishment is Brian Shaw because he's done it. Twice.
05:09 When he pulled it off in 2011, it was a first. Four years later, it remained as impressive.
05:15 It's no surprise since if you look at the ranking of most decorated strongmen in 2023, you'll see he sits at an impressive fourth place.
05:29 If you want further proof of his skill, allow us to direct you to an episode of The Strongest Man in history,
05:35 where he took less than 45 seconds to completely dominate a Viking ship weighing in at 60,000 pounds.
05:41 Did we mention it was on an incline?
05:46 Number 4. Paul Anderson
05:49 This man stood atop the proverbial strength mountain in the 50s and 60s.
05:53 He won weightlifting gold medals at the 1955 World Championships and at the Melbourne Olympics in 1956.
06:00 In 1960, he was deemed ineligible to compete at the Olympics. But he wasn't going to let that stop him. Indeed.
06:06 He showed off his might by matching the records set at those games, three times in a row.
06:11 Now, did he really squat 1,200 pounds? There are skeptics to that and some of his other accomplishments.
06:17 Still, greats like Bruce Wilhelm have called him "the strongest of the strong".
06:23 Number 3. Bill Kazmaier
06:25 Back in the 80s, Kazmaier dubbed himself "the strongest man who ever lived" and would pull off amazing accomplishments in order to live up to said claim.
06:44 But Kazmaier isn't some sort of sideshow strong man. He's the real deal and truly one of history's greatest men of strength.
06:51 As of 2023, there have been two men who have won three consecutive World's Strongest Man titles.
06:58 He is one of them. He's also set multiple records, like when he bench-pressed 660 pounds during an international powerlifting federation event.
07:06 He may no longer hold that record, but it doesn't make it any less remarkable.
07:11 "Our many congratulations for the third year in succession declared the World's Strongest Man. What does that mean to you?"
07:16 "Well, it reaffirms my idea that I'm the strongest man who ever lived, and I've already forgotten about it even though it's only two minutes ago. Looking forward to next year."
07:25 Number 2. Mark Henry
07:27 The Arnold Strongman classic is considered by many to be the hardest strongman competition in the world.
07:33 Who won the first ever contest in 2002, you may ask? That would be Mark Henry.
07:38 He excels at the strongman stuff, while also reigning supreme in both power and weightlifting, which took him to the 1992 and 1996 Olympics.
07:47 Sadly, an injury kept him from reaching his full potential on the latter event stage.
07:52 However, his performance at the 1996 U.S. National Weightlifting Championships was one for the history books, as was his 5-lift record.
08:00 "Apparently you're strong enough to twist a spoon, which sounds easy to me. Am I?"
08:04 Henry also joined the WWE, building a Hall of Fame-worthy career, proving he is not a one-trick pony.
08:11 "Oh my gosh!" "It's your turn." "It's not just twisted, it's like twisted." "Yeah, it's like... okay."
08:18 Before we unveil our top pick, here are some honorable mentions.
08:22 Vasil Vyrastyuk
08:24 He won Ukraine's Strongest Man six times and became a Member of Parliament in 2021.
08:29 "A massive amount of weight, as John was saying earlier. Look at the distance he's put between himself and Zavikas. And Vyrastyuk has finished!"
08:37 Magnus Vermagnusson
08:39 He won four World's Strongest Man golds in the 90s, three of which were in a row.
08:44 "Perfect technique with the legs first and then the back. He's got it again."
08:50 Mariusz Pudzianowski
08:52 His five World's Strongest Man and six Europe's Strongest Man wins speak for themselves.
08:57 "Look at the legs on that man. He's just like a prime racehorse, isn't he? Bristling with muscle."
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09:20 Number 1. Zydrunas Zavickas
09:24 In 1989, a teenage Zydrunas Zavickas watched a strongman competition and decided he wanted to do that.
09:31 It only took a few years before he began competing and building what would become perhaps the greatest strongman career of all time.
09:38 "The clock is ticking away still. It's gonna be close. So, so close. Just under."
09:44 "We don't have time to get into every single world record he set, but we will say there are more than 70 of them.
09:50 And if you want to talk about competitions, all you have to do is look at his four World's Strongest Man titles or his eight Arnold Strongman Classic wins.
09:58 Let's also not forget his multiple first-place finishes in the Strongman Champions League competition circuit.
10:04 There's no heavy lifting required to leave us a comment, so go ahead and let us know what you think below.
10:09 "That was real close to a thousand pounds. I'll be doing that in the near future."
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10:21 [Music]