Strongman

Strongman in the United States?

By: Jeffrey Lara

The United States has always been the underdog in Strength athletics, especially in strongman for the past 10-15 years. Most might not even know what strongman is, you’ve possibly seen it on television and thought hey! Those guys are a bunch of meatheads lifting massive weights that would add up to more than your mini van but in reality it is a sport much like any other sport it has a point system much like any other sport but instead of shooting a basket or scoring a touchdown you are lifting cars, pulling Mack trucks and lifting circular atlas stones that weigh more than your refrigerator.
Some would say why is the U.S not doing well if we are the best in everything else?
Most would think we would be the best in everything counting that fact that we have the most worldwide known gyms in the world and are the best at pretty much every sport. The last best group of U.S strongmen was in 1980’s-1990’s then after that athletes from the Netherlands and other such countries such as Poland and Iceland have been dominating the sport until recently, the U.S has had a change in luck since the year 2005 when a group of Strongmen from all over the U.S have been taking the sport by storm. Americans Kevin Nee, Derek Poundstone, Travis Ortmayer, Brian Shaw and Dave Ostlund are some of the names of the reigning U.S Strongmen who have been extremely dominant over the past 5 years. Derek Poundstone recently placed top 4 at the World’s strongest man and Travis Ortmayer in the top 6 and Brian Shaw placing top 3 are all impressive feats for American strongmen.
Throughout the past 15 years the strength athletics in foreign countries have been the most dominant in the World’s level of strongman and now things are starting to turn around having 6 men from America place in the top 10 of the entire world. Every year the U.S has been increasing in rank, with Derek Poundstone winning the Arnold Classic twice which is a huge feat in strength athletics for anyone and Fortisimus which are both actually harder competitions than the Met-Rx World’s Strongest man Competition. Some would say the reason for the foreigner’s success is that they are able to survive off such an income that strongmen are able to accumulate through each year as where in the U.S all strongman athletes must have another occupation to survive. With this happening it allows the foreigners to train harder and longer knowing that their bills are paid and as for U.S athletes they have to withstand a full time job and find time throughout the week to train. Bill Kazmair is known as the best U.S strongman in the 1990’s having won the World’s strongest man title 3 times in a row says that “the U.S will be the future of the sport hands down, there are so many hungry young American strongmen out there that they have but no choice but to take over”. It’s just something to look out for next time you see those men of bulk on your TV that it is not just a sport it is a life style for pretty much all Strongman athletes.