That’s the same as two rugby union forwards from the World Cup. Björnsson translates as ‘bear’s son’: insert ‘bear gains’ jokes hereĤ40g: What Björnsson can squat: about the same as nine toilets, or 150 bricks – about enough to build an outhouse to put one of those loos in at least.Ģ50kg: Yes, we asked: “How much do you bench, bro?” This was his answer, in kg. Björnsson rang up the organiser Magnús Ver Magnússon, a four-time World’s Strongest Man winner in the ’90s, the day before and asked if he could join Ver Magnússon agreed.Ĥ74kg: Björnsson’s current max deadlift: roughly the weight of an adult grizzly bear. “In my first competition, I realised I had a lot of potential.” “Two of my friends were competing so I decided to give it a try,” he says. Björnsson picked up strongman like he does everything else: all too easily. Nevertheless, he can still dunk and the NFL’s Indiana Colts once tried to sign him. I’ve always enjoyed lifting heavy I saw extremely good results.” He ran less and ate more: “I just got hooked, seeing how strong I got and how much my body changed.” In two years, he almost doubled in weight. “Then I started training more in the gym.
Watch The World's Strongest Man Smash a PB All at once, Björnsson releases his grasp and effortlessly vaults the scaffold with an athleticism that belies his frame, crying “history” over and over again at the top of his lungs. He feels like his back is going to break. Slowly, almost imperceptibly, the log rises from the scaffold, as a pressure that could grind most vertebrae into dust transfers to Björnsson’s spine. He screams to the assembled onlookers – to the gods, to himself – and grasps the thick ropes that bind the log. But stood there, the mountainous Icelander looks like an ant beneath a matchstick. To call Hafthór Björnsson – over 2m tall and 185kg – just a ‘man’ doesn’t quite do him justice, either. Legend has it that, after 50 men helped him get the log in place, the holder, fabled Viking Orm Storulfsson, managed three steps. Like a giant redwood, the record for carrying this monstrosity has stood for 1000 years. Technically accurate, sure, but not quite doing it justice. Still a huge person, mind you, but much leaner than we grew accustomed to seeing him on battlefields in Westeros.To call it merely a log – nearly 10m long, weighing 650kg – is like calling a giant redwood a tree. Björnsson has been posting his progress to Instagram and he looks like a completely different person. One byproduct of two strongmen trying to get into boxing shape? The stunning body transformations.
It broke Hall’s record, and launched a testosterone-fueled war of words that was due to be settled in the ring. The groundwork for “ The Heaviest Boxing Match in History” was officially laid after Björnsson, commonly known as “Thor,” lifted 501 kilograms (an absolutely absurd 1104.52 pounds) at his home gym in Reykjavik last year. Björnsson and Hall are both strongman legends - the former won World’s Strongest Man in 2018, the latter in 2017 - and for a few years now, the two have had a little tête-à-tête over the world deadlift record. Now, the 32-year-old is training for a different kind of fight: a boxing match with British-born Eddie Hall. No spoilers here - pretty thoughtful of us, considering the show ended over two years ago - but suffice to say, he usually tore shit up.
On HBO’s Game of Thrones, the Icelander took part in the show’s most famous bout (“The Mountain and the Viper”) and its most anticipated (“Cleganebowl”). We’re used to watching Hafþór Björnsson fight.