I will say that strongman is interesting. It eliminates the cutting weight aspect of bodybuilding at least, though admittedly retains the steroid abuse aspect. I think it fundamentally answers an interesting question though in a way that bodybuilding maybe doesn't, namely: What is the absolute limit of strength that the human body is capable of?
While I understand that A LOT of strongman competitors are using steroids, it is entirely possible to compete without them. I know this because I've done it. Not at the international level but at a state level and placed very well. I've never taken a PED in my life. I was also a successful power lifter without PED's (550lbs bench press, 680lbs deadlift, and 725lbs squat at my peak). Those who don't compete don't understand what the human body can be capable of. Don't get me wrong I'm blessed with a lot of natural ability but everyone can be far stronger than they think without the aid of PED's.
I think mobility and staying injury free are probably more important at the level you were at than PEDs and an aspect that many people underestimate. My squat topped out at 300 simply because of old injuries and mobility limitations caused by them.
Clearly strongmen on the international stage are using though.
Staying healthy and injury free is obviously important, but that's important at every single level. Also to be clear, a drug free 725 lb squat is very impressive, that's not something most people would be able to achieve even if they managed to stay injury free.
It is, 725 is a lot of weight. In fact I believe it probably contributed to a severe back injury later in life. At the time I was a division 1 college heavyweight wrestler that was forced to drop out and NEEDED an athletic outlet badly. So I lived in the weight room and chased numbers. I wasn't the healthiest mentally at the time and channeled all of that into it. I actually wouldn't recommend that level of lifting unless you LOVE it.
No need to worry, I don't plan on aiming for that level by a long shot. I'd be happy to hit 4 plates on my squat and would probably go into maintenance mode at that point, although not sure if I'll ever even hit that. Sounds basic but the comment I replied to is exactly my issues, consistency and staying injury free - college years consistency was a problem with homework/sleep, post college years I seem to be injury prone in my non-lifting athletic activities (I'm convinced my knees hate me), and obviously this past year I've also lost a ton of progress with no access to weights. Hoping to come back with a vengeance once gyms reopen.
Those are great numbers. If you don't mind me asking, what did you weigh when doing those?
I agree with you, that people can get far stronger than they realize. I'm not genetically gifted, started quite skinny, and still got a 325 bp, 405 squat and 525 DL at 195 back when I was younger. All I ever took was creatine and whey. I'm fairly tall, which seemed to help the lever action with my DL, but always caused my squat to lag.
Thanks! I'm not really close to that anymore, wish I was but not enough to put in the work. I lived in the weight room back then. I was 19 and bounced between 265-285 depending on the time of year. I wrestled in college for a year before having to drop out and I was right at 265 during that. I'm 6'1" also so not a little guy and that helps a lot. More than anything though I lived in the weight room. I actually mostly hated squats, I had a little bit of a poor technique and I believe to this day that all the weight under load on my lower back with poor technique help contribute to a pretty severe back injury later in life. Moral of the story: we should all be more careful when chasing numbers.
I hated squats also, but loved DLs. I would DL all day every day if I could. No single exercise did more for me strength, body comp or confidence wise.
The heavy lifting is a gift and a curse. I tore my ACL wakeboarding while I was near my strongest and the surgeon said my base strength definitely helped in my recovery. Eventually I had to stop chasing PRs after hurting my back playing basketball (plus I got old hah). I hope your back healed up ok, b/c back pain is the most debilitating pain I've ever experienced.
Yeah, I was referring to the top-level international competitions, the ones where we find out the absolute limit of no-holds-barred strength. Your numbers are absolutely impressive of course, but wouldn't have qualified you for the highest levels of competition (as you know). Hafthor Bjornsson has deadlifted an unbelievable 1,104 pounds, and you know that he's not natural. But without all the juice, we wouldn't even know that breaking 500 kg is at all possible.
