The 5 Strongest Men In America
America has produced some of the strongest men that the World’s Strongest Man stage has seen. In this article, we will look at some of the greatest American strongman to grace the sport.
The American Strongman Corporation is the main organisation regarding all things strongman west side of the Atlantic. There are a number of U.S competitions out there, like the relatively new “United States Strongman”.
We will be basing our list on the competitions listed below:
- Worlds Strongest Man
- America’s Strongest Man
- The Arnold Strongman Classic.
We are not basing the list based on record lifts or numbers, as there are many factors to consider. The sport has evolved over time, with competitors getting stronger each year. In what can be considered in the golden era, strongman was a niche competitive sport. There was no funding and little information on training techniques, with different events in the competitions.
Brian Shaw
Brian Shaw is one of the most well known faces of the sport all over the world. Shaw was born in Colorado he originally started his athletic journey in basketball. He began to pick up weight lifting through college. During his time, he picked up the nickname “Gigantor” because of his height of 6ft 8 (203cm).
He began his professional journey in 2005/2006 after realizing his potential in amateur competitions in his home state. Shaw has cemented his legacy in strongman, with numerous title wins. Shaw is regarded as one of the strongest men from America. He is notably a 4 World’s Strongest Man winner and 3 time Arnold Strongman Classic winner.
In 2020 Brian started his own invitational competition the Shaw Classic. He won his own competition on the first year and generously divided the prize money out to all other competitors.
Brian has a very popular social media presence. His Youtube channel was one of the first strongman focused channels that gained a lot of popularity in the sport. He is known for his very high standard of sportsman behavior and friendly personality.
Bill Kazmaier
Bill Kazmaier is a legend from the golden era of strongman. Kazmaier won the World’s Strongest Man title three times between 1980 to 1982. He had a famously fierce competition yearly with Icelandic Jón Páll Sigmarsson.
Born in Wisconsin December 30th 1953 Kazmaier was a high school football star athlete. Kazmaier took a gamble of dropping the sport to which he could have become professional. He decided to focus on the very niche world of weight lifting that was not popular at the time. Kazmaer learned powerlifting fundamentals at his local YMCA.
In his powerlifting career, he was considered to be one of the finest athletes in the sport of all time. Kazmaier officially became the first human to raw bench press 300 kg and deadlift 402kg.
Kazmaier was hitting record numbers but wasn’t earning enough. The sport was not established like it is today. Meanwhile, he had to juggle earning a living working on oil rigs also as a lumberjack and bouncer.
Bill Kazmaier moved to strongman in its budding days of professional recognition and was a regular face in Scotland. He won 6 consecutive first places of the Scottish Power Challenge between 1984 to 1989.
Phil Pfister
Phil Pfister was the Worlds Strongest Man winner 2006. He was a regular competitor from 1998 to 2010 in World’s Strongest Man and other high end events. He was considered to be one of the strongest men from America at the time!
Pfister born in Minnesota worked as a firefighter while training for events. He was able to use his stations gym to begin his training journey. This helped Pfister achieve an impressive 4th place finish in the 1998 Worlds Strongest Man. He did not pursue any athletic pursuits outside of skateboarding and jet skiing prior to his training. It was only in his role as a firefighter where he discovered his strength.
He went on to study as a pre-med student. Pfister lacked enough interest in the subject to dedicate himself to the coursework required and left the academic field. An example of finding a change of profession being a success no matter what position you are in life.
Bruce Wilhelm
Bruce Wilhelm was born July 13th 1945 in California. He is a two time winner of World‘s Strongest Man 1977 and 1978. Wilhelm originally started as a track and field star for Fremont High School in Sunnyvale California. An impressive athlete, he also won awards around this time in the shot put.
Wilhelm then pursued his interests onto wrestling and discus. Following this, he then started his weightlifting journey where he won the original two Worlds Strongest Man events in history. Afterwards, Wilhelm then went on to help organise and officiate the future of the budding sport as one of its founders.
Shortly, Bruce was deployed in the US army prior to this. The combination of his army and weightlifting career caused him multiple knee injuries requiring surgery. His body took its toll, he has a life long congenital bone defect hindering recovery from surgery. Goes to show the great strain strongman can have on anyone.
Don Reinhoudt
Winner of 1979 Worlds Strongest Man, Don Reinhoudt is still widely considered one of the greatest powerlifters and strongest men from America of all time. He has set over 40 records in his career.
As a high school student at the time weight lifting was considered detrimental to athletic performance. He was told favouring agility and cardiovascular ability over muscle would be more beneficial. This did not stop him.
Reaching a bodyweight of 365lbs, he began the realization of weight moves weight. Then, he dropped over 100lbs when training for the requirements of Worlds Strongest Man. Reinhoudt knew it was a sport also requiring maneuverability rather than raw power alone.
Reinhoudt worked as an accountant in his parents’ accounting firm. Later, he was the director of the Chautauqua County Youth Bureau, a position he held until his retirement. In his position as Youth Bureau Director, Don gave various motivational speeches to youth in Western New York. He often including minor feats of strength in his presentations in obscure ways.
