Was there ever a strongman that did well at 5ft 8?
Grant Higa is the only heavyweight pro I can think of that is under 5’10" and has won many pro contests or placed highly in them. Granted (no pun intended?), his hay day was around the mid 2000’s before the influx of the cliff giants.
Mariusz and Poundstone were both only 6 foot on a good day, and were clearly out performing taller guys like Ostlund (6’7") and Ortmayer (6’4").
Given the above, it seems WSM started to shift events to cater more to larger guys around 2010-2011. Not sure if this is realistic but there was a paradigm shift somewhere along the way…I think.
Welp I guess Ill do powerlifting or bodybuilding haha. Bodybuilding seems to favor people in the 5ft6-5ft10 range.
Andre Raynes, 5’5 and 300lbs. Made it to Worlds.
Seen there, cheating like hell.
Next closest would be 5’10 320lb Vytautas Lalas
There are weight classes in strongman. Why not compete at 175 instead of worrying about being a pro?
Great mentions wow. I feel so unaware, though I knew of all those guys. Btw, Raynes was a monster squatter. Remember seeing him on TV when it originally aired. I must’ve been 7-8 years old. Blew my mind someone could be that fucking dense.
1 Like
Is that a ring he’s using to compensate for reach? I get that strongman invites cheating but that’s some next level stuff haha.
Yup. No one said you couldn’t do it, haha. I honestly thought about doing something similar using those rubber bracelets that are so popular theses days.
1 Like
LMAO, if someone did that these days, could you imagine the reaction of bystanders?
“Uh…is that…leg–…what? Hey! Stop! Hey…shit he just won the event. Shit. Fuck.”
The smaller competitors in strongman are overlooked and shadowed by the huge guys.
It reminds me of the story of Phil Pfister starting the farmer’s walk from standing rather than with implements on the floor and just completely blowing everyone away.
Or Jesse Marunde using tacky on the farmer’s walk.
Just one of those “That’s clearly…crap, rules don’t say you can’t”
And this is why the rules meeting is so insane now, haha.
If you’re pursuing strongman for fame and fortune, you’re going to be VERY disappointed.
To a large degree, at the pro level, and generally only among heavyweights, yes.
Any other scenario, you’re totally fine with what you were born with, trust me lol. Plus there’s hardly any 6’8" 150-230lb guys. 
LOL wow. OR the best one…Mariusz using cocaine as a preworkout. Fuck yeah Mariusz, don’t take no shit!
(don’t think he actually took it during contest)
2 Likes
Just on the previous line of this discussion. I got an ad for these rehab knee braces, they basically have springs in them to push you out of knee flexion extension.
If I ever have another squat, I am definitely going to try sneak these in lol
PS. Martins came in 3rd at Wembley. I believe he was almost last going into the last event.
Martins! was tied for last after 3 events. Then he won the Hercules hold and the atlas stones.
He failed 440 kilos in the deadlift; at the Arnold he deadlifted 970ish (I think) in fairly strong fashion, so probably a case of post WSM letdown/fatigue.
He sucked at the safe press, which is not surprising. When you watch his training his pressing is nowhere near as strong as Mateusz K, but somehow in competition he has managed to keep pace (tied Mateusz in the Arnold with 2 presses of the Austrian Oak). This is due to Martins’ great technique; but, he needs practice at the specific implements, so I’m pretty sure he never practiced pressing with a safe before the contest. Hence, not surprised he had 3 reps to Mateusz’ 13!!! reps. In training video, Martins had trouble pressing a block (another not normal pressing implement) until he got the technique down.
Jerry Pritchett (co-deadlift event winner, not tired from WSM) was 2nd, edged Martins by 1.5 pts.
Random note: I think Martins missed the podium at WSM 2018(?, not sure), because he couldn’t load a safe in the loading medley. I’m predicting some practice videos with safe pressing and loading in the future LOL!
There will be some serious competition between Thor/Mateusz/Martins in the future!!!
1 Like
Man, you’re forgetting Felix! It was great to see him break the world record, especially after the farmer’s walk.
Oh man, you are so right! I was just thinking of the “contenders” -sorry Mr. Felix!!!
Martins’ video of the Wembley competition is out. He foreshadows his lackluster (relatively) performance at breakfast, where he states that he does not have his usual pre-contest nervous energy.
Surprisingly, while he only did the safe press 3 times (awful result) in the competition, he says he did more than 2x that in practice; but only practiced it once, so technique was not dialed in.
End of the video shows what a cool dude Martins is, because he trolls himself, by having Mateusz K (winner by a lot) ask him: “Martins, how can I be like you, the strongest man in the world?” HAHAHAH -awesome stuff.
1 Like