Been somewhat following Thor and some other strongman/powerlifting on YouTube past couple years …
Halftjor bjornson has a best dl of 1104lbs…but I saw a video titled ‘thors powerlifting challenge’ where he couldn’t even do 1000 RAW. And yes I found raw doesnt mean NO SUIT BUT ALSO NO STRAPS JUST RECENTLY. Is Larry Wheels and other guys who do RAW actually stronger than Thor and other strongmen like eddie hall? Theres a number of YouTube raw dl of guys way less body weight pulling 900lbs+ RAW. Theres also another video out there of Thor unofficial raw dl of 1058 that’s more recent but idk.
Off topic:
I don’t conventional deaflift and only tried because it’s a main body strength exercise so I tried doing like mid 250lbs’s in 4 sets of 1-5 reps or so I think for a few weeks a few months ago…i never consistently deaflifted for more than a month lol. Yes I know for my bodyweight I’m weak as hell (literally 1.0 x my bodyweight) cause I’ve seen guys around 200lbs or less dl 400’s.
I never noticed the reason why sometimes it felt heavy and couldn’t even lift off ground. It was because of the actual grip of a deadlift that I didn’t know is much different for grip of other exercises.
Nope. Larry couldn’t place first at an amateur strongman competition. Thor and Eddie are WSM champions.
Squat
Thor - 970 with wraps
Larry - 870 without wraps
Bench
Thor - 551 raw
Larry - 645 raw
Deadlift
Thor - 903 raw
Larry - 855 raw
Total
Thor - 2425
Larry - 2370
Kind of hard to compare squats when Thor uses wraps and Larry wears sleeves.
Thor’s deadlift is 1104, Larry wheels best comp deadlift is 855, with a video being out there of him doing 922. So no, 1104 is not less than 855 or 922.
At that level, straps don’t make that much of a difference. I don’t think Larry Wheels would add 200lbs to his deadlift just because he wore straps.
For your off topic, I’d follow the programming of 5/3/1 or 5x5 rather than sets of 1-5. You might benefit from learning and hammering RDLs as a prerequisite to deadlifts. Check out some Chris Duffin bracing videos too
Straps don’t make that much of a difference at that level? I wondered why bendedict magnusson did RAW for 1015 but couldn’t get 1104 with straps…not even close to halfthors strapped first 1104 attempt at 2019 arnold classic
I do stiff leg DL’s one of my workouts hypertrophy style lifting on one day…and sometimes DL’s another day. Should I use 5/3/1 or 5x5 for both DL’s instead?
Are you a competitive power lifter…what are your numbers? Hypertrophy training is boring and I only do it to build muscle just like the others who do it however in a few years I think i’m going to fully transition my lifting into all strength lifting.
Theres powerlifters who lift more than strongmen at compound exercises and strongmen who outlift powerlifters at strongman exercises. In your opinion who is really more stronger and deserve more respect from us?
Ultimately this comes down to who has the highest concentric leg press without a warm-up.
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I should clarify - if you believe the combination of one’s squat, bench, and deadlift in a raw powerlifting competition is the true show of absolute strength, then Larry’s ability to lift those in competition is incredibly impressive and way closer to Thor than one would normally expect. Thor narrowly wins at powerlifting, Thor wipes the floor with him in a strongman competition, which could include any crazy number of different events all requiring different disciplines.
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If by stronger, you mean can lift more in particular lifts, then in general you shouldn’t be surprised if there are powerlifters that can out lift Strongman athletes.
Powerlifters focus on three lifts and on limit strength. The deadlift in Strongman is not always a contested lift (though it almost is nowadays) and it is almost never a maximum, raw lift, on a barbell with calibrated plates with no straps and it will never follow a squat and bench that are also maximal lifts.
Where for a powerlifter it is always the case. After a decade of exposure, that is going to make a difference on the platform.
One thing I forgot to mention in equipped lifts for DL is not only straps but also the vest.
What do you think Thor’s MAX would be unequipped? When I saw him drop the 9## I was like holy crap this guy is not thY string as I thought lol made him look human cause there are others who RAW lifted more than that
Yeah but my shits mad poverty 445Wraps/292/445 at 198. But outside of meet prep, I basically do hypertrophy training. That’s where muscle, strength, and technique is built.
Thats because its sports specific. A football player will play football better than a baseball player. A baseball player will play baseball better than a football player.
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Yeah it’s just too bad these strong powerlifters don’t transition into strongman training and aim for that prestige name
“Everyone would like to be called World’s strongest man”
-Eddie Hall
It’s def not a bad idea. I did a strongman push/pull meet last year. I planned on doing strongman at a nearby gym before the covid shut down. Some gyms have access to both sports and some don’t.
They don’t do it because they can’t.
Dude, Thor took 8 weeks away from his sport, trained for powerlifting and set the 10th highest total of ALL time in the sport. Larry Wheels took time off, trained strongman, and took second place in an amateur comp against a dude with a full time job taking not NEARLY as many drugs. And then he hurt his bicep on some stones and cashed out. These athletes are worlds apart.
Static strength on barbell lifts is helpful in strongman, but far from the only things and the guys who are the best at being the strongest are going to go where the money is. Right now there is way more of that on strongman than in powerlifting.
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Nah. Takes 30 seconds to look it up on OpenPowerlifting: Thor 900 v Larry 880. Grip strength/issues comes into it for both guys though like Larry says he has issues with tearing as opposed to grip strength.
There’s strong deadlifters in both disciplines and their respective rule sets. Depends how u define strength as to who is stronger than whom
Look up Luke Richardson. World champ as a junior powerlifter would’ve gone on to be an all time great in powerlifting probably but he has gone into strongman instead. Can’t think of many super successful powerlifting > strongman transitions at the highest level
Brian Siders had some success at the Arnold and got an invite to WSM one year.
And then, or course, Kaz.
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Mark Henry supposedly has a drug tested powerlifting total of 2396lbs back in 1995.
I would hate doing strongman as a sport real fast …it’s not traditional static lifting and more geared it seems to your typical brute guy with old school manpower/speed…the true definition of an all around strong man …
My v8 Jeep Cherokee suv is way more hard to turn pushing it in neutral…I can notice the weight difference between that and a 2000lbs car…yet these guys pull 70,000lbs vehicles wtf lol…btw that 20,000lbs wheel of pain turning thing at arnold classic why do they say it’s the worst pain like can someone describe it
Don’t u wanna be … strong man?
I want to be a strong man who looks very strong(muscle definition)
I think we’re all glazing over a very obvious question.
If Larry was actually stronger, and all the difference was in the suit and straps, do you really think for one minute he wouldn’t have put on a suit and straps and taken the glory of the 501 instead of Halfthor?
If he could deadlift 500+, under any conditions, he would have done it if for nothing other than the instagram clout and the ability to sell another training program #19.99 #linkinbio
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