Strength Athletics - Common Disciplines

Common Disciplines

There is no set rule about what specific events will occur in a contest, except that to prevent single-event specialists from gaining an advantage, each event will be different (a single contest will not include two squat events, or two overhead lifting events, for example). Normally, a strongman contest comprises six events, though at the top level of competition, seven or eight events may be held. Among the most common events are:

• Farmer's Walk - competitors race along a course while carrying a heavy weight in each hand. A variation is the Giant Farmer's Walk, with a much heavier weight carried over a shorter distance.

• Hercules Hold or Pillars of Hercules - contestants stand between two pillars, pivoted to fall outwards. The competitor must simply hold them up for as long as possible.

• Vehicle Pull - probably the most famous of all strongman events. The competitor pulls a vehicle from a stationary start, for a prescribed distance - fastest over the course wins. In smaller competitions the vehicle is usually a truck, however in major contests such as World's Strongest Man anything goes, including trains and airplanes.

• Atlas Stones - five stones of increasing weight are placed on top of podia at approximately head height. This used to form the climax of most strongman events but has been seen less in recent years.
• Refrigerator Carry - a staple of earlier WSM events that has made a comeback in recent years. The competitors carry two refrigerators, attached to an iron bar they hold on their shoulders, and walk it across the finish line as fast as they can.

• Carry and Drag - an object (usually a heavy anchor) is run across half of the course. The competitors then must attach it to a chain of almost equal weight and pull it across the rest of the course.