Strongest Humans to Ever Walk the Earth

Brian Shaw – Strongman

BORN: USA, 1982
HEIGHT: 6’8″
WEIGHT: 435 LBS

Shaw, a four-time WSM winner (2011, 2013, 2015, 2016), has posted bests of 1,014 pounds in the deadlift and 1,140 pounds in the Hummer tire deadlift in competition (with straps). In the gym, he’s credited with squatting 903 pounds, benching 535 pounds, and deadlifting 1,025 pounds (with straps).

Leonid Taranenko – Weightlifter

BORN: USSR, 1956
HEIGHT: 5’11”
WEIGHT: 260 LBS

Taranenko set the world record in weightlifting for the clean and jerk (266 kilograms, or 58.2 pounds) and total (475 kilograms, or 1,045 pounds) way back in 1988—an eon in weightlifting years—and these records still stand today. Due to restructuring by the International Weightlifting Federation of its weight classes, Taranenko’s official records no longer stand, but his lifts have yet to be equaled. You know how hard it is to bench six plates? Imagine lifting it overhead. Now that’s power!

Andy Bolton – Powerlifter

BORN: ENGLAND, 1970
HEIGHT: 6′
WEIGHT: 350 LBS

Britain’s Andy Bolton is the first man in history to have deadlifted 1,000 pounds. Twice during competition he eclipsed his own accomplishment with pulls of 1,003 pounds and a then-record 1,008 pounds. Bolton holds the fourth highest squat of all time (1213.63 pounds), and his three-lift total of 2,806.34 pounds ranks third highest in history. He once stated his goal was to break the mythical 3,000-pound total, a feat not even dreamed of by most powerlifters of any era.

Brian Siders – Powerlifter

BORN: USA, 1978
HEIGHT: 6’2″
WEIGHT: 345 LBS

Siders belongs on this impressive list for his overall strength–he excels in all three powerlifts with personal bests of 1,019 pounds in the squat, 799 pounds on the bench, and a deadlift of 865 pounds for a 2,651-pound total. His best raw lifts include 650 pounds on the bench and 840 pounds in the deadlift. Siders takes pride in having achieved the aforementioned feats without the use of performance enhancement, meaning that his strength derives purely from genetic blessings and brutally hard work, much like that of the following man…

Louis Uni – Strongman

LIVED: FRANCE, 1862-1928
HEIGHT: 6’3″
WEIGHT: 260 LBS

It’s especially difficult to calculate just where Uni, aka Apollon the Mighty, should rank among the all-time greats, as chronicles of his feats are mostly florid, noncritical accounts. But he was known for his great grip strength and large hands, which rendered him capable of lifting bars others couldn’t even fit their hands around. Uni was also quite possibly the world’s first strength athlete, being an extremely fit and agile man who took on all comers in wrestling challenges.

Vasyl Virastyuk – Strongman

BORN: UKRAINE, 1974
HEIGHT: 6’3″
WEIGHT: 320 LBS

Virastyuk is the first person ever to be declared the strongest man alive in both the World’s Strongest Man and IFSA World Championship competitions, winning in 2004 and 2007, respectively. In fact, he edged out the man who tops this list when he achieved victory at the IFSA contest. Additionally, the Ukrainian strongman took second place at the Arnold Strongman Classic on three occasions (2005-07). Now 40, Virastyuk has been retired from competition for some time, but his accomplishments and his legacy live on.

Paul Anderson – Weightlifter, Powerlifter, Showman

LIVED: USA, 1932–1994
HEIGHT: 5’9″
WEIGHT: 350 LBS

Paul Anderson’s name may be the most controversial one on this list. Proclaimed by some to be far and away the strongest man who ever lived, he also has his share of skeptics. Whether he really squatted 1,200 pounds is open to debate, but Dr. Todd personally witnessed him squat 700 for eight reps in an exhibition—at a time when the official world record 1RM for the squat was about 700 pounds. Anderson won an Olympic Gold medal for the U.S. in weightlifting in Melbourne, Australia, in 1956.

Bill Kazmaier – Powerlifter, Strongman

BORN: USA, 1953
HEIGHT: 6’3″
WEIGHT: 330 LBS

“Kaz” is considered by many to be the strongest of the strong, and it’s hard to argue. The winner of the ’80, ’81, and ’82 WSM contests, Kazmaier was barred from competing in 1983 by the event’s organizers because it was assumed that so long as he competed, no one else would ever get the chance to savor victory. Kaz was the first man to lift all five McGlashen stones, which weigh between 90 and 160 kilograms (about 200 and 350 pounds). His 661-pound bench press stood as the world record for years, and if not for a pec tear shortly thereafter he would have surely bested it himself. His 2,425-pound total, set back in 1981, is still the record for raw (no bench shirt, no squat suit) powerlifting today.

Mark Henry – Weightlifter, Powerlifter, Strongman, Wrestler

BORN: USA, 1971
HEIGHT: 6’4″
WEIGHT: 412 LBS

Henry holds the unique distinction of being the only man ever to hold both the U.S. weightlifting and powerlifting superheavyweight championship titles at the same time. Despite his incredible feats, Todd believes that Henry has stores of untapped potential that we never got to see as he pursued a career in WWE. So in theory at least, Henry might have been the strongest man in history. However, we think one man has him beat…

Zydrunas Savickas – Powerlifter, Strongman

BORN: LITHUANIA, 1975
HEIGHT: 6’3″
WEIGHT: 400 LBS

In our opinion, he’s the strongest man of all time. You just can’t argue with these numbers: Savickas has won the Arnold Strongman Classic seven times (2003–08, 2014), which is considered a truer test of pure strength than the better-known WSM competition. In 2005, he broke three world records en route to victory at the IFSA Strongman World Championship. The following year he again took top honors.

Savickas placed second at the WSM competition in 2002, 2003, and 2004, usually dominating the events that involved pure strength while not doing as well in those that required speed and agility. In 2009, he broke the streak by winning the WSM—an accomplishment he’d repeat in 2010, 2012, and 2014. In ’14, Savickas also set a new world record with a 500-pound log lift to complement his other impressive totals: a raw squat of 880 pounds, a 900-pound deadlift, and a 629-pound bench.

Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson — Strongman, actor

BORN: ICELAND, 1988
HEIGHT: 6’9″
WEIGHT: 414 LBS

When we first spoke with Dr. Todd for this story, most people only knew Björnsson for playing “The Mountain” on The Game of Thrones and not for his ridiculous feats of strength. But it’s undebatable that he belongs on this list: among his accomplishments, he was crowned the 2018 World’s Strongest Man, is a three-time Arnold Strongman Classic winner (2018-20), and has won Iceland’s Strongest Man an insane 9 times in a row (2011-19).

Oh, and he now holds the official deadlift world record at 501kg (1,105 lbs.), surpassing Eddie Hall’s 500kg deadlift.