World's Strongest Man - 2018

Was that recent (after the WSM)? If so, then his face is looking better.

This week.

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Makes him a top 5 guy. So, better than half the field. Itā€™ll be interesting to see how many guys go over 1000 this year.

Side note: Iā€™ll be at the Arnold this year. Already got tickets to the Strongman Finals. Anybody in this thread going? I may start a new thread to ask the same question, lol

I donā€™t think anyone broke 1000lbs last year - Shaw is capable.

at that particular contest, on that particular bar, youā€™re correct. Thorā€™s instagram deadlift wasnā€™t at that contest or on that bar. Iā€™m pretty sure there are 5 athletes competing this year who have deadlifted over 1000 either in competition or in training.

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He said that the night before his 500kg deadlift he drank 20 bottles of Lucozade before going to bed. Thatā€™s something

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Are they 3 fluid oz bottles? Why is he drinking 20 of them? Sounds like overkill, or perhaps inflation of what it really was to make people think heā€™s some kind of dehydrated water buffalo.

Sometimes I get annoyed when guys are like ā€œOH MY GOD I had a nose bleed, a gallon of pedialyte, salt and vinegar chips, 4 burgers from five guys and I deadlifted and my shins bled extreme amounts, I am so devotedā€ā€¦like are you sure all that is necessary before a contest after weigh ins? or before a big lift?

I love Brian Shaw for never talking about all the ā€œcrazyā€ shit he does in prep. He just does things so stoically, and thereā€™s no bragging about how much he did etc. He posts training of him SSB squatting less than most powerlifters who weigh half as much as him, but he shows up contest day and wins the gold.

Maybe I just donā€™t like Hafthorā€¦idk.

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That was Eddie Hall. Around 10 liters. You can find the whole interview if you google Vice Eddie Hall, pretty fun.

Hafthor well sure he does weird things like vodka and watches, but I find him pretty cool and humble in the gym and from what Iā€™ve followed

So JF Caron just pulled 1000 in trainingā€¦

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So did shaw, video on Shaw strength was pretty interesting

So this year, theyā€™ve changed the way stones work in the heats again. 1st automatically moves on to the finals and 2nd and 3rd do a classic head to head stone series against each other and the winner then goes to the finals. Should definately be exciting to watch.

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SPOILERS BELOW

So heats have been decided:

ā€“ Group 1 ā€“
Hafthor Julius Bjornsson
Matjaz Belsak
ā€“ Group 2 ā€“
Brian Shaw
Johan Els
ā€“ Group 3 ā€“
Zydrunas Savickas
Robert Oberst
ā€“ Group 4 ā€“
Martins Licis
JF Caron
ā€“ Group 5 ā€“
Mateusz Kielszkowski
Konstantine Janashia

All the heat winners looked very strong so should be a great final.

A couple of guys lost out on the stones qualifier but non harder done by than Mark Felix who was just 1 point off first and a clear 5 points from third but couldnā€™t win the stone race. Just about the last person you want to see miss out like tgat too.

I donā€™t like how the qualifying events where different for the groups. it seemed like all the top guys hit all the reps with ease on the barrel squat, thus not as taxing. Where even some of the top static strength guys missed the last rep of deadlift. I would be pissed if I was shaw and had to pull a RPE 9 rep and then miss the one after, and my competitor got too do a warm up set of squats 4 days before the finals.

Been like that for a long time now. Makes for better TV.

Itā€™s definitely been that the heats have different events for every WSM that had heats as far as I can remember. Doesnā€™t make it exactly fair.

That said, it seemed to me that Shaw just decided not to attempt the last deadlift as he realized it would be too expensive in recovery and he didnā€™t need it to win.

And if we wanna talk fairness, itā€™s definitely been unfair for about as long as itā€™s been on the air, haha.

Always been a TV show first and a sport event second, if that.

Iā€™m not disputing the fact that it has always been unfair. That just isnā€™t a reason to not lobby for more fairness when possible.

Iā€™m not even sure how many people watch the heats. Anyone who watches multiple heats is probably committed to watching strongman and the variety factor is likely less important to that audience.

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I dunno. I see it like trying to lobby for fairness in Game of Thrones.

I watch The Arnold for a fair competition. I watch WSM for a good TV show.

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iā€™m with pwnisher. If Iā€™m watching a marathon of strongman heats, I reallllllly donā€™t want to see the same 5 events over and over again.

I also believe that every competitor who made the finals will be performing at the top of their game for the finals, regardless of what they had to do in the heats.

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Leader Board
Bjornsson 51.5
Kielszkowski 45
Shaw 44
Licis 38.5
Caron 35

Only disaster will stop Thor being WSM. Only deadlift preventing Kielszkowski being a serious threat (again)

Event 1 - Frame Carry
Kielszkowski 10pts
Shaw 9pts
Janashia 8pts
Bjornsson 7pts
Licis 6pts

Event 2 - Jeep Deadlift
Bjornsson 9.5pts
Shaw 9.5pts
Caron 8pts
Licis 7pts
Janashia 6pts

Event 3 - Overhead Barbell
Bjornsson 10pts
Kielszkowski 8.5pts
Licis 8.5pts
Shaw 5.5pts
Oberst 5.5pts
Savickas 5.5pts
Belsak 5.5pts

Disaster of an event for Shaw. Losing 4.5 points to Thor and putting him 2 points behind will likely cost him his chance at WSM.

Event 4 - Vehicle Pull
Kielszkowski 10pts
Bjornsson 9pts
Belsak 8pts
Shaw 7pts
Licis 6pts

Event 5 - Loading Race
Bjornsson 10pts
Kielszkowski 9pts
Els 8pts
Caron 7pts
Shaw 6pts

This looked awesome with the anvil, anchor and safe haha. I reckon they should do these with a theme each year, so you get 4 heavy nautical or farming or construction or whatever things.

Thor and Mateusz had an awesome head to head - really pushed each other and only an excellent pickup of the safe by Thor separated the two.

Event 6 Stones
Els 10pts
Licis 9pts
Caron 8pts
Shaw 7pts
Bjornsson 6pts

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