Welcome to the world of the top 10 incredible strongman marvels, where ordinary mortals become super‑human legends. In this list we’ll dive into the awe‑inspiring achievements of athletes who have turned raw power into unforgettable spectacles – all while keeping a playful, conversational tone that lets you feel the grit and glory.

Top 10 Incredible Feats of Strength

10 Mark Felix

Mark Felix burst onto the professional strongman scene in 2004 and quickly became a household name, racking up an astonishing 14 appearances at the World’s Strongest Man finals and six medals at Britain’s Strongest Man. Remarkably, he didn’t even start his career until the age of 38, proving it’s never too late to chase greatness.

Now 54 and still defying the odds, Felix’s crowning moment arrived in 2019 at the Giants Live showdown in Manchester. He entered the grueling Hercules Hold, where competitors clutch massive steel pillars—each weighing 350 kg (772 lb)—and battle gravity’s pull for as long as they can.

Going head‑to‑head with the reigning World’s Strongest Man, Felix held on for an unbelievable 83.62 seconds, blasting past the competition to seize second place and set a new world record in the process.

9 Eddie Hall

Eddie Hall, affectionately nicknamed “The Beast,” transitioned from competitive swimming in his youth to becoming a dominant force in strongman. His relentless drive to claim the World’s Strongest Man title finally paid off in 2017 after five consecutive qualifications.

But before that crowning achievement, Hall amassed a string of impressive victories, including six straight UK’s Strongest Man crowns and five consecutive Britain’s Strongest Man titles, cementing his status as a powerhouse.

The pinnacle of his career unfolded in 2016 at the World Deadlift Championship. After tying a world record with a 465‑kg (1,025‑lb) lift, Hall attempted the half‑ton barrier, hoisting a historic 500 kg (1,100 lb) and becoming the first human ever to do so.

The massive effort came at a price: blood vessels in his brain ruptured, spraying blood from his nose, ears, and eyes. Hall later admitted the ordeal left him with memory lapses for weeks and even made him forget his own children’s names temporarily.

Now retired from strongman competition, Hall has turned his attention to a new challenge: a September 2021 boxing bout against fellow titan Hafthor Julius Bjornsson, promising another chapter of headline‑making strength.

8 Hafthor Julius Bjornsson

When most people picture a strongman, they imagine a towering figure with muscles rippling like steel. Hafthor Julius Bjornsson, better known as “Thor,” embodies that image perfectly, standing a colossal 206 cm (6 ft 9 in) and weighing 205 kg (452 lb).

Beyond his on‑screen fame as “The Mountain” in Game of Thrones, Thor began his athletic journey as a professional basketball player before devoting himself entirely to weightlifting. This dedication earned him the World’s Strongest Man title in 2018.

In 2020, Thor shattered Eddie Hall’s deadlift record by hoisting a staggering 501 kg (1,104 lb) in his Icelandic home gym, sparking a friendly rivalry between the two giants. Although the lift was overseen by a professional referee, some in the community questioned its competitive validity.

Regardless of the debate, Thor’s achievement cemented his reputation as one of the planet’s strongest men, a status that continues to inspire awe across the strength world.

7 Julius Maddox

Anyone who’s ever set foot in a gym knows the bench press as a staple exercise. While the average adult male might comfortably press around 60 kg (132 lb), Julius Maddox has turned that benchmark on its head.

Formerly incarcerated, Maddox reshaped his life through faith and an unyielding passion for lifting, eventually becoming the world’s premier bench‑presser. In 2019, he smashed the raw bench‑press world record with a monumental 335 kg (739.6 lb) lift.

Unwilling to settle, he eclipsed his own record just three months later, hoisting approximately 338 kg (744.1 lb). Still hungry for more, Maddox pushed the envelope again, delivering a near‑350 kg (770 lb) press that left spectators speechless.

June 2020 saw Maddox attempt an audacious 363 kg (800 lb) bench press. Unfortunately, a mishap—an extra 25‑kg plate mistakenly loaded on one side—caused the bar to tip, resulting in an unsuccessful attempt through no fault of his own.

Undeterred, Maddox accepted the error with grace, acknowledging that mistakes happen and vowing to return stronger than ever, ever‑ready to chase the next record.

6 Rob Kearney

Breaking away from the traditional strongman mold, Rob Kearney stands out not just for his strength but for his vibrant personal style. At 178 cm (5 ft 10 in), he may appear modest next to giants like Thor and Brian Shaw, yet his presence is unmistakable.

Kearney’s wardrobe—a kaleidoscope of multicolored compression shorts, bright socks, and a rainbow‑toned mohawk—mirrors his fearless approach to sharing his identity. As the self‑proclaimed “World’s Strongest Gay,” he has become a beacon of inspiration for LGBTQ athletes worldwide.

His athletic résumé backs up the flair. Known for explosive shoulder power, Kearney shattered the American log‑lift record he previously set in 2019, hoisting a massive 215.8 kg (475.8 lb) press and solidifying his status among the globe’s elite log lifters.

5 Kevin Fast

Kevin Fast may not be a household name in the strongman arena, yet this 57‑year‑old Canadian pastor has amassed a collection of Guinness World Records that would make any athlete jealous.

His feats include pulling 15 cars single‑handedly, pushing a monstrous 11,080 kg (24,427 lb) vehicle a full 100 ft, and hauling a staggering 99,060 kg (218,390 lb) across the same distance. He also pulled an entire house weighing nearly 40 tons for 11.95 m (39 ft).

One might wonder who decides to yank a house across a yard. The answer: Kevin Fast, a pastor at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Cobourg, Ontario, who channels his faith and sheer will into these unbelievable demonstrations of power.

Fast didn’t stop there—he also moved an aircraft weighing 188.83 tons, a feat equivalent to shifting roughly 1,260 adult gorillas, proving that his strength knows no conventional limits.

4 Becca Swanson

Standing at 175 cm (5 ft 9 in), Becca Swanson may not tower over her male counterparts, but she reigns supreme as perhaps the strongest woman ever recorded. Her career spans powerlifting, bodybuilding, and even professional wrestling.

Since debuting in powerlifting competitions in 2002, Swanson has shattered records across the board: she was the first woman to squat 318 kg (700 lb) and remains the only female to squat an astonishing 387.5 kg (854 lb). Her bench‑press record stands at 272.5 kg (600.8 lb), and she once dead‑lifted 310 kg (683.4 lb).

In 2005, Swanson’s combined total of deadlift, bench press, and squat reached 930 kg (2,050.3 lb), making her the sole woman to ever total over 2,000 lb in competition—a true testament to her unparalleled strength.

3 Brian Shaw

Brian Shaw is arguably the most recognizable name in modern strongman, celebrated for both his colossal physique and his unwavering work ethic. Towering at 203 cm (6 ft 8 in) and weighing roughly 200 kg (440 lb), he’s affectionately known as a gentle giant.

Shaw’s claim to fame isn’t a single lift but his remarkable consistency: four World’s Strongest Man titles, an unprecedented 11 straight finals appearances, and three Arnold Strongman Classic victories, each underscoring his dominance.

Beyond competition, Shaw runs a YouTube channel boasting over a million subscribers, appears in films and documentaries, and recently launched his own event, the Shaw Classic, slated for December 2020. He now eyes a fifth World’s Strongest Man crown, aiming to etch his legacy even deeper into the annals of strength history.

2 Martin Tye

If you told anyone that a disabled veteran could out‑deadlift the likes of Eddie Hall and Thor Bjornsson, they’d likely raise an eyebrow. Yet Martin Tye, winner of the World’s Strongest Disabled Man title in 2018, has done exactly that.

During a 2009 tour in Afghanistan, Tye’s vehicle was struck by a suicide bomber, leaving him wheelchair‑bound with numbness below the knees, severe nerve damage, arthritis in both knees, and PTSD. The gym became his sanctuary, a place to reclaim control.

Tye burst onto the strongman scene by breaking the deadlift world record with a 505‑kg (1,113‑lb) lift, later amassing 11 Invictus Games medals. His crowning achievement arrived in 2019 when he set a new world record for a 520‑kg (1,146‑lb) deadlift at the World’s Strongest Disabled Man competition.

1 Zydrunas Savickas

Finally, we arrive at the legend himself, the Lithuanian powerhouse known affectionately as “Big Z.” Zydrunas Savickas is widely hailed as the strongest man in history, boasting a résumé that reads like a mythic saga.

His trophy cabinet includes three Europe’s Strongest Man titles, an astounding eight Arnold Classic victories, and a record‑shattering 15 Lithuania’s Strongest Man crowns. On the global stage, he’s claimed the World’s Strongest Man title four times and finished runner‑up on six occasions.

While Savickas excels across many events, his signature feat is the log lift—a true test of pure strength, requiring athletes to hoist a massive log from the floor to an overhead lock‑out.

Big Z set the world record at an awe‑inspiring 228 kg (502.6 lb) in 2015, a benchmark that still stands. He dominates the top‑10 heaviest log lifts, accounting for eight of them, with the nearest challenger managing only 220 kg (485 lb) in 2019. Even at 45, Savickas shows no signs of relinquishing his throne.

About The Author: Joseph has been writing since he was very young. Even though he’s only 19, he definitely thinks he’s wiser than his years. When he’s not running around a field or kicking a football, you’ll find him curled up with a good book or complaining that Australia is far too hot.

The creator of the Incredible Hulk, Jack Kirby, claims that the character was inspired by a mother lifting up a car in “desperation.” Seeing this, he alleged that anyone could perform a feat like this in severe desperation, and he just may have been right. Whether from desperation, adrenaline, or what is known as hysterical strength, there have been documented cases of women, men, adults, and kids all experiencing inconceivable bouts of strength when confronted with a life-or-death situation.

10 Angela Cavallo

Angela Cavallo was in her late 50s in 1982, living in Lawrenceville, Georgia. Her teenage son, Tony, had a 1964 Chevrolet Impala and was working on the suspension in their driveway, trying to knock something loose. This knocking caused the car to wiggle off the jack before landing on the high school junior. As he lay unconscious under the vehicle, an eleven-year-old, Johnny Edwards, who was in town visiting his grandparents, saw what happened. He ran to the front door of Cavallo’s home and explained there had been an accident. In a panic, Angela ran out to the vehicle and began attempting to lift the car while screaming for help.

A 1964 Impala weighs 3,295 pounds (1,495 kilograms). This woman put all of her strength into lifting the rear of this vehicle, which weighed almost two tons, to free her son. Unbelievably, even while screaming and kicking at her son to rouse him so he could attempt to free himself from under the wheel well, Cavallo did, in fact, raise the car enough to release the pressure off Tony. Even more incredulous, she held this car up for around five minutes! The eleven-year-old was sent to collect neighbors to help while she somehow kept the car from falling back onto her son.

Finally, two men came and slid the jack back under the Impala so Tony could safely be pulled from underneath. Tony ended up with only scrapes and bruises and was able to leave the hospital after only a two-night stay. This mother may not have tossed the car over as The Hulk might’ve, but she had not only insane strength but also unimaginable endurance.^[1]

9 Lauren Kornacki

Lauren Kornacki was a recent college graduate living with her parents in Virginia in 2012. On August 1, she was looking for her dad to ask to borrow the car that weekend and couldn’t find him. After her mother confirmed that her dad was outside, she went back outside and found her father trapped under a BMW 525i. He was unresponsive and trapped with one arm pinned under his chest. She realized the jack had fallen, so she attempted to lift up the BMW herself.

At 22 years old and rather petite, it would be a stretch to believe Lauren would have been able to lift up a one-and-a-half-ton vehicle. Yet, in the extreme adrenaline surge, Lauren not only lifted the car off her father but also “threw it” off to the side. After freeing her father, Lauren started CPR, bringing back his ability to breathe on his own. He was immediately taken to the hospital.

With five fractured ribs, a fractured sternum and vertebrae, and some short-term loss of feeling in his arm, Lauren’s father would recover fully from the accident. It is stunning that a car bears enough weight to crush bones underneath it but can be picked up and tossed aside by someone.^[2]

8 Hannah and Haylee Smith

In Oregon, Jeff Smith, a 36-year-old father of two, sent his teenage daughters out to walk the dogs before going to work in the yard. He was attempting to pull a stump out of the ground when his foot stepped off the clutch momentarily as his boot was all muddy. In an instant, the tractor flipped, pinning him beneath it. Barely able to exhale, Jeff did everything he could do to yell for help. Knowing how much pressure was on his chest and that he had sent the girls off just a few minutes prior, Jeff wasn’t sure that anyone would be able to hear him. However, in less than a minute, he saw his girls were right there with him, attempting to dig their father out from underneath the three-thousand-pound tractor.

Hannah, 16, and Haylee, 14, realized that digging would not work. The tractor would need to be lifted if they were going to save their father. He instructed them on where to lift the tractor in between labored breaths. The two girls lifted the tractor the first time only long enough for Jeff to get a breath in before the tractor fell on him again. Thankfully, the girls gave it another try, and Jeff was able to wiggle out to safety.

Jeff escaped with little serious injury: a broken wrist and some bumps and bruises. Haylee pulled a muscle in the struggle, and Hannah reported waking up feeling like “an 80-year-old getting out of bed” the next morning. Jeff understood what was at stake, saying, “They saved my life.”^[3]

7 Cecil Stuckless

In July 2013, Frank Vatcher was replacing the brakes on a Jeep in Salvage, Newfoundland, with his father-in-law Cecil Stuckless. Frank sent Cecil out to his shed to grab a clamp he needed for the brakes. While he was gone, the Jeep somehow became unbalanced, and Frank was stuck alone in the garage with an SUV on top of him. Cecil heard Frank crying out for him to help and rushed back into the garage.

Cecil Stuckless was 72 years old when this event occurred. Without hesitation, he ran to the Jeep and was able to lift it enough for Frank to free himself. Upon seeing Frank, Cecil must’ve still been terrified he wasn’t going to make it. The Jeep fell on Frank with such force he needed 38 stitches in his head. Frank made a full recovery, and Cecil was considered to be a “Superman” in his community. Cecil denied this title, however, saying he “just did what he could do.” Cecil claims to have never lifted anything that heavy, which is pretty impressive to make that record at the age of 72.^[4]

6 Austin Smith

A 72-year-old lifting a car off a young man is quite impressive, but does a 15-year-old have the strength to lift a car that’s pinning his grandfather? Austin Smith was visiting his grandparents, and his 74-year-old Papa Ernie was in the garage fixing the brakes on an old vehicle, preparing it for another grandchild to use. Ernie noticed an oil leak under the car and went underneath to inspect the source. As Ernie pulled himself out, grabbing onto the bumper for a boost, the car shifted and pinned Ernie underneath. This was a 2,000-pound (907-kilogram) Buick, and Austin was terrified and had no idea what to do at first.

So fifteen-year-old Austin did the only thing he could think of and started trying to lift the one-ton vehicle off his grandfather. He knelt down and used all his might to lift up the Buick. Not only did Austin lift the car, but he also pushed the car back about two feet to free his grandfather.

Austin was a very active teen, involved in many sports and working out regularly, but he readily admits lifting one-ton vehicles is not something he would be able to do again. He stated that the only explanation was adrenaline and that “the good Lord upstairs helped me pick it up.” His grandfather suffered broken ribs and was hit in the head by the vehicle, explaining the feeling as an “explosion in my head.” Because of Austin’s miraculous strength, Papa Ernie was perfectly healed shortly after the incident.^[5]

5 Deputy J. Holt

In examples of this kind of miraculousness, many people might assume that the love for the person trapped allows these feats of strength, but that isn’t always the case. Deputy J. Holt, of Gloucester, Virginia, was assisting in an accident and watched as a car spun out nearby. He ran to the scene, where he found the car flipped over, and the daughter of the woman driving the SUV told him her mother was trapped. The child’s screams inside the SUV were horrific, asking someone to please help his mother. Deputy Holt had to coax the young boy out of the vehicle before he could do anything to help the driver. To top it all off, it was Mother’s Day weekend, and these children were on the verge of losing their mom. Once the little boy was out, he knew the only way to save her life was to get the vehicle off her immediately.

Deputy Holt placed his shoulder inside the door frame and told himself, “all I have to do is just stand up.” He then braced himself and did just that. He heaved the car up while the mother was surprisingly conscious enough to pull herself out from the steel deathtrap. She spent the entire time underneath the vehicle unable to breathe but immediately resumed breathing on her own when the SUV was lifted. She was sent to the hospital and made a full recovery. Admittedly, Deputy Holt might actually be a superhero. Holt was a veteran of the Iraq War and, just a year before this incident, had pulled two people from a burning house.^[6]

4 Kenny Franklin

Plenty of people have had shocking rides in Ubers for one reason or another, but Kenny Franklin’s experience may take the cake. Off to work one day, Kenny had called for an Uber, as he often did. In heavy traffic, the Uber driver began suffering from a seizure. As his foot was on the gas pedal at the onset of the seizure, his foot bore down on the pedal, accelerating with no one controlling the wheel. Incredibly, from the backseat, Kenny was able to gain control of the wheel, get the driver’s leg off the gas pedal, and pull the car over to safety. Having already saved his own life, the life of the Uber driver, and countless lives by preventing a major accident, he wasn’t finished yet.

A Florida State Trooper, Jack Hypes, pulled up behind the vehicle to assess this vehicle that had been driving erratically and came to a stop on the side of the road. Fortunately, by this time, the Uber driver had awakened but did not have his bearings about him. Unfortunately, thinking he still needed to get the car to safety, the driver mistakenly put it in reverse as Officer Hypes approached them.

He was hit, and as he rolled on impact, his body was pinned under the vehicle. They couldn’t simply move the car forward as Officer Hypes was pinned, and moving the vehicle could cause further damage and pain. The only option was to lift the car. Kenny mustered all his strength and lifted the car, allowing Hypes the time to get to safety. He suffered non-life-threatening injuries, and Kenny planned to get coffee with him shortly after the incident. Kenny has been called a hero in his hometown, but he just believes he was “in the right place, at the right time to help.”^[7]

3 Nick Harris

Nick Harris was dropping his daughter off at school on December 21, 2009. After his daughter happily trotted off to school, another little girl was walking along the sidewalk nearby. As six-year-old Ashlyn Hough walked, a car was pulling out of the driveway. Nick Harris just happened to look over when Ashlyn was struck by the vehicle backing out and rolled underneath it. Without any hesitation, Nick leaped out of his car and ran toward the accident. As he came upon the scene, he realized the vehicle was lying on little Ashlyn’s hips.

Nick has no idea how he did it, but he “grabbed the car, picked it up, and moved it out of the way.” Ashlyn was taken to the hospital immediately, but Nick was able to meet up with her soon after. He was “expecting her to be in a half cast,” but Ashlyn suffered no worse than some lumps and a rash. Nick has tried to lift a vehicle again four or five times but simply could not do it. He believes it was another case of being in the right place at the right time.^[8]

2 Zac Clark

Sixteen-year-old Zac Clark was gardening with his mother, Lora, outside their home in Butler, Ohio, on a Saturday in September 2019. A neighbor was working on his Volkswagen Passat in a house nearby. Suddenly, the wife of that neighbor began screaming for help. Lora and Zac both immediately took off running to offer whatever help they could. Zac was shocked to see only the legs of his neighbor while everything from the waist up was pinned under the VW. His head and ribs were being crushed under the vehicle’s weight. Lora told her son, “there’s no way we can lift this car,” but he knew he was not giving up.

Zac found the strength to lift the Passat, weighing over 3,000 pounds (1,360 kilograms), off his neighbor. Lora and the neighbor’s wife pulled the man from under the car. He had fractured ribs and facial wounds that Zac described as ‘messed up pretty bad,” but the neighbor would recover without any lasting injuries. While lifting an entire vehicle himself was certainly shocking, no one who knew Zac was surprised that he had done everything he could to help. His football coach asserted he “just has a huge heart.” Zac had lost his father the previous year. The incident made him think of his own dad, and he got the strength to lift the car because he “wanted to be able to save him to be with his family.”^[9]

1 Lydia Angiyou

Departing from lifting vehicles, Lydia Angiyou discovered her ultimate strength when confronted with something completely different. In a very small town in northern Quebec, Lydia was on a walk with her children and happened upon some kids playing hockey near the Community Center. Only these kids were no longer playing but screaming incessantly. Lydia panicked when she realized they were saying “polar bear.” Lydia was now face-to-face with a 700-pound (317-kilogram) polar bear, with her two sons standing at her side. She told her children to run and attempted to distract the bear from the group of children behind her.

Barely five feet (1.5 meters) tall and under 100 pounds (45 kilograms), 41-year-old Lydia decided the best way to save the children was to wrestle with a polar bear. She yelled and kicked and even punched one of the deadliest bears on the globe. The bear swatted Lydia, and she fell to the ground. As the bear stood over her, Lydia “bicycle-kicked” at him, resulting in another clawed smack to the face. Finally, the kids had gotten far enough away to get help. A neighbor came and saw Lydia “wrestling with the bear” and got his brother’s shotgun from his home nearby.

He shot four rounds up in the air to get the bear’s attention. He needed to get a clear shot as Lydia was still tussling with the bear. After the fourth round, the bear stopped long enough for a clear shot and then three more. After the bear was put down, Lydia was rushed to the hospital, covered in blood. At first, the only thing she could say was “bear, bear,” completely in shock. Incomprehensibly, Lydia was left only with a black eye and some scrapes. A massive polar bear was thwarted by petite and quiet Lydia Angiyou. It’s astonishing what people are capable of when put to the challenge.^[10]