For those of you who don’t know him , Mariusz Pudzianowski is the 2003 World’s Strongest Man .
Just for the record , there’s nothing wrong with that .
What has been poking my brains for a while is how does this guy manage to stay strong , keep a relatively low BF% and have the looks of Bodybuilder (+ the flexibility of martial artist ?).
There hasn’t been a lot of talk about this guy either , he seems to remain in the shadows …
I was just wondering what T-Nation’s oppinion was on this guy and/or have you heard anything else about him except his site biography ? (http://www.pudzian.pl)
I used to have this teacher in high school that would help you answer your own question by asking it back to you. Let me see if it works.
“How do YOU think someone gets THAT strong and still stays THAT lean.” I could just tell you my opinion but I think that you and everyone else here already knows the answer to this question
How dissapointing! I just went over to his site to take a peak. Started browsing through the pictures and under a group called training, sure enough several pictures of super mario doing leg extensions.
[quote]Vegita wrote:
How dissapointing! I just went over to his site to take a peak. Started browsing through the pictures and under a group called training, sure enough several pictures of super mario doing leg extensions.
Vegita ~ Prince of all Sayajins[/quote]
Considering that Mariusz is probably twice or three times as strong as you will ever be, the only thing dissapointing is that you can’t recognize talent when you see it. Gear or not, his accomplishments are still real.
Vegita- No exercise in and of itself is worthless.
Anyway, I think the ? is how does he manage to do EVERYTHING so well?
Obviously he’s jucing, but how can he combine all these qualities in one?
I think he is simply an excellent athlete, not just a massive strong dude. He is athlete who happens to be exceptionally strong. He wins most of the strongman tests that require speed and coordination easily.
Flexibility is one of the 7 (8?) athletic traits, obviously he has it.
(Personally, I feel flexibility is something that isn’t that hard to achieve and it doesn’t impress me too much)
It’d be nice to have info on his diet and training though.
Mariusz is awesome. He is by far the best conditioned strongman ever and they don’t call him the dominator for nothing. He may not be the outright strongest but he is very driven and very consistent.
Steroids!? Get over it. If all it took was steroids then why isn’t everyone that strong? He is a superbly gifted athlete and trains like a madman. All top level strongmen HAVE to use its just a fact of life!
He’s the man. He’s what 26 or 27? And doing what he does against the veterans of the sport, who know the tricks?
C’mon, it doesn’t matter if he is or isn’t on any gear. I bet he popped out of his Mama with the talents that are necessary for WSM comps.
I had a discussion with my brother about him about a month ago. We concluded that even if Johnny Perry were still alive he wouldn’t be able to hold Mariuz’s towel.
Johnny Perry was on the bean for 5 solid years and it killed him. Outright.
Mariuzs is impressive, no doubt, and he is proof of the saddening direction many strongman competitions have taken into fitness. Jokho Ahola was another example. The events now are leaned more and more to fitness and cardio ability.
These days, the man with the greatest absolute strength does not win the world’s strongest man competition. It is the strong guy that has great cardio.
An event at a provincial championship 2 years ago was plate loading at a naval dock. the heaviest plate weighted 90lb. That’s disgusting.
I know I’m biased due to how I was introduced to Strongman events, but I truly believe that some of the events are terrible misrepresentations of strength athletes.
Finally, I consider Mariusz the greatest competitor in the Conan’s Wheel ever. He’s a maestro in that event.
Mariuzs is impressive, no doubt, and he is proof of the saddening direction many strongman competitions have taken into fitness. Jokho Ahola was another example. The events now are leaned more and more to fitness and cardio ability.
You’re absolutely right, WSM over the last few years hasn’t had any maximal strength events but that could change this year according to a piece in Milo.
Surely there’s room for at least a couple of max strength events out of the 7 or 8 events that they currently do. I’d love to see the return of the Silver Dollar Deadlift for max weight as well as the over head log press.
Regards B.J
do you suppose that he is the only wsm competitor that uses steroids? i suppose ronnie coleman is the only bodybuilder that uses them too. that must be why they totally trash the competition.
strongman is geared toward functional strength. powerlifting is for maximal strength or “voluntary absolute strength”. bodybuilding is the art of looking strong and graceful.
jouko ahola hoisted a 475ish pound atlas stone. if you think that is a cardio test, try lifting a 200 pounder and see what happens. I know a powerlifter who squats 800 and deadlifts 640 but can’t get a 250# stone an inch off the ground. (functional strength, baby)
From what I have been told there are several WSM orgs. If Mariusz is the #1 ranked in one he could be #6 or #7 in another.
A good friend of mine is a WSM competitor who had been #1 for quite a few years until he tore both of his biceps doing the farmers walk. After surgery he wants to give it one more shot.
I went to Sweden last year and saw his training facility which is on his farm.
And he has a barn with equipment that you would see in one of these events. I could not even pick up one of the stones to put on top of the platform.
I must say I have the upmost respect for these athletes, after seeing some of the workouts.
Mariusz is an incredible athlete and nobody can take that away from him.
“Sancho”
I would go so far as to say Mariusz is one of the two or three best overall athletes in the world right now…
What I don’t understand are the insinuations some of you are making about the guy…are you intimating that his drug regimen is somehow substantially different from his competition’s? That he has some kind of secret ‘unfair’ advantage?
Just watch the man work and enjoy it, talent like that doesn’t come around too often, and from I can tell, he seems to be a decent enough guy…
I’m not trying to dig up dirt on this guy . I just wanted everybody’s oppinion on him and if even Strongman competitors like Brad Cordoza say that he’s a great athlete , one would begin to take steroids out of the equation
I do respect his athletic abilities and aside from WSM competitions would like to see this guy sparring (he does Kyokushin Karate ) .Man ,imagine a 300 lb WSM competitor like Mariusz giving you a low kick …That would be a treat .
The man is amazing. Definately not just the juice doing it for him. He’s naturally gifted and just outright dedicated. When you’re pulling a train behind you with such force and power that you puke mid-stride, and you continue to finish the event with first place time, that is pure dedication.
The guy was a boxer as well. I would not like to get in the ring with him ever!
Johnny Perry had a BIT of a recreational drug habit, I’m sure that didn’t help. Coke is one of the worst drugs you can take for your heart.
As for the events not geared toward absolute strength that does seem to be more the case. But in defence of the current strongmen, they are still pretty damn strong.
Take Zydrunas Savickas he holds the Log Lift world record at 188kg. I say he’s the absolute strongest at the moment. He has totaled over 2400lb in powerlifting which is pretty close to the great Bill Kazmier arguably the best strongman of all time.
And as for Mariusz he out deadlifted Zydrunas at WSM 2003 in the deadlift for reps with increasing weight, the final lift being 365kg or 805lbs. And he weighed almost 20kg 44lbs less than his opponent. And beat him in the log lift for reps with increasing weight, final log 165kg. Pretty good for a little guy.
