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On the Massenomics Podcast Dr. Mike made the most compelling argument I've heard for the Continental Clean and Press. It uses the most parts of the body and in different ways and is less technical than the log or an oly c&j allowing for a greater showing of "strength".

You make a great point about squats favouring short femur lifters but then put both stones and deadlifts which massively favour those with long arms

I'm an old guy. Been watching stongman since the 80s. Hooper is something else. The amount of quality information and his teaching style is phenomenal. Cheers mate. You have a fan for life

Would love to see a Moose x Devon collab! I don't do armwrestling because I'm worried about the risks but adore watching the show and battle between the competitors. And the styles people pull with, such that A can beat B, who beats C, who beats A

My modern day regularman competition excersises would be: Farmer's Walk (carrying the grocery bags). The Wheel of Pain (helping a stranger or yourself push a car that stopped functioning). The Deadlift (picking up your drunk friend who just passed out before you get kicked outta the pub). Any other kind of events wouldn't most likely be used by a common guy in his daily life

Love the shoutout to the Strength Unknown series. It is seriously some of the best and most unique strength content out there. Everyone needs to check it out

Atlas stones definitely have a place for "full body" strength. From the bit of bicep tension at the bottom to the back strength to position in the lift, to the front squat and the shoulder stability for the rack. It isn't as vulnerable as log since you don't have to sit it on your neck and risk passing out or messing up your overhead

Personally what impresses me more than anything else is a super heavy log press. It combines moving weight from the ground, through a huge range of motion, in a sort of incline bench press position, then putting it overhead and using all those stabilizing muscles in the back, shoulders, and core area. It's like almost all other lifts in one.

I disagree with this entirely - you can have good enough leverages to be able to pull A LOT in the deadlift. Some relatively weak people in other lifts can deadlift very substantial weight.

Deadlift, sandbag to shoulder or stone, log press, perhaps max yoke walk. I reckon you got it right. John Hack an elite power lifter benches over 500 pounds but with his log press struggled on 130kg, says a lot about what it takes to press a heavy log.

I agree with deadlift. But everything taken from floor and overhead is even more impressive, but more technical.

This video clearly shows that *Hafthor Julius Bjornsson is the Strongest man to have ever lived!* DEADLIFT - He is the world record holder with the standard bar: 501 (1,105) - He is the two time world record holder with the Elephant bar: 474.5 (1,046) & 472 (1,041) raw - He is the only man to beat Eddie Hall's 500 (1,102) and became the first man to Deadlift more than 500. He not only completely locked it out, but wore only a single ply suit compared to Eddie's multi ply suit, did not black out, did not bleed, did not get blinded, just lifted it like nothing and roared like a Lion and went on to kiss his queen. - He is the first man to rep 1000 pounds: He did it raw 455 (1,003) double. - He has pulled 1000 pounds 14 times (more than anyone in history) - He has also done a 480 (1,058) strongman raw lift during training and a 410 (904) powerlifting raw lift as the 8th lift during a meet. - He is also 6'9" and his ROM of 26 inches is longer than anyone. - Bottomline: He is the Greatest and the Strongest Deadlifter who ever lived. LOG PRESS - He has done 213 (470) during a full comp and went on to win the full comp as well (2018 ESM). - His wingspan is 7'1" which means he has to move the log so much further than all other great log pressers. - He has also done 195 (430) Oak for 3 at 2017 ASC and 175 (386) Slater for 4 twice at 2015 and 2016 ASCs. - If you also add the Axle, he has done 206 (454) in a full comp (while winning the full comp), Done the 181 (400) Apollons wheels for 4 reps during 2018 ASC (again while we winning the full comp), and holds the WR for Circus Barbell press (for reps) at 163.5 (360) for 8 reps (he did a 9th beating Eddie but it was slightly after the 60 second time limit). - If you also add stuff like Bench press: 250 (551), Strict press: 200 (441), DB incline press: 100 (220) DBs in each hand for 7 reps " totally unassisted/ he hand picked the DBs from the floor one handed" hence nobody else has done that ever since; and Cyr DB: 146 (322) during training and 136 (300) with brute shoulder power/ unlike other master technicians) at 2020 ASC. STONES - With 24 International stone event wins at a 57.14% winning percentage, He is the Greatest Stone lifter of All time. He holds 9 current (unbeaten) World Records: Húsafell Stone WR, Loon Stones WR, Jón Páll Sigmarsson Stone WR, Atlas Stone over bar (200kg) WR, Atlas Stone to Shoulder (142kg) WR, 5 Atlas Stones (130-186kg), (120-200kg), (140-200kg) WRs & 6 Atlas Stones (100-200kg) WR. SQUAT - He has Squatted 460 (1,014) raw which is heavier than anything done by Zydrunas, Eddie, Brian, Kaz, Pudzian, Jon Pall, Magnus Ver or any current strongman. - Also done 445 (981) twice in 2018 and 2023 and 440 (970) twice in 2018. - He has done 29 reps with 200 (441) raw, which is also a world record. - Again he is 6'9" and his ROM is longer than anyone who has ever squatted more than 400 kg in their back. The list goes on and on and on... He is also the GREATEST Vehicle Puller, Weight Tosser and Loading medley champion of 'All time'. Just read the Wikipedia articles on each of those events for more info. If you want to know even further about Hafthor's hundreds of other world class lifts and performances including 80+ world records across myriad lifts and events, just google search: Hafthor's world records, or world records by Hafthor.

Eddie Bjornsson is the current deadlift world record holder with the 500.5 kg deadlift.

Jimmy Kolb's heaviest bench press is 1401 lbs, and the heaviest raw w/wraps squat is 525 kg by Vlad Alhazov.

Hi Mr. Hooper! You talked about the squat favoring folks with ideal femur length. Can’t the same be said about the deadlift? Favoring folks with longer arms and short lower body? Just curious about your thoughts on that. Thank you!

If Tom’s stone record is the world record , wouldn’t Thor’s record also be considered the world record?

I disagree with the deadlift being the supreme test. I’ve seen plenty of people that can deadlift heavy but fall way short on everything else.

I agree with your three finalists but would order them differently...#3 Deadlift, #2 Stones, #1 Log Press....my logic is, while one may be able to pull more weight in the dead lift, the other two lifts require more strength to lift a weight above the waist, (in the case of stones) and above the head (in the case of logs press), which seems to me to require more overall body strength to lift a weight higher. So while 1000 lb. dead lift is quite impressive, the 500+ lb Olympic lifts are even more impressive.

I can get behind anything ground to shoulder or overhead for a strongman final. Lift it, and lift it all the way.

Channel is growing exponentially Moose. Thanks so much for always putting out great stuff

Gonna have to make some strong deadlifts this year after a video like that and I'm excited to see them! #LHBK

Great video. I always thought pressing stones / log but you convinced me with your deadlift arguement!

Lasha is amazing sir! I really enjoy the channel keep it going!! Yes Deadlift 😳 crazy fun lift👍

Martins Licis Strength Unknown series to me atleast, is very inspiring and quality of the series is just bafflingly good. That said, i've been following your content as well and your content is also very informative and top notch.

As another person mentioned, Dr Mike did a video on this topic recently and his argument for why its not the deadlift was pretty compelling. Would love to see these 2 discuss it both as athletes and as academics

Man, I'm really looking forward to that collab with Devon, please make it happen!

I loved this episode. Feats of strength around the world, today and throughout history are a cool area to explore further :)

Respect for acknowledging other strength sports that some folks may have lacked consideration for

My brother and I are in the Devon Larrett video. A collab with you and Devon would be awesome!

I'm going to fly the flag for yoke. Carrying really heavy weight on your shoulders is the truest test of fortitude, referenced in the Greek legend of Milo of Croton and other cultures across the world

Deadlift is wrong for the same reason you laid out (correctly) that squats is wrong They are so leverage based Cailer Woodlam and Jamal Adams can go toe to toe with WSM deadlift comps but they aren't as strong That's not even bringing shortened ROM sumos into it Mike Isratael's answer is axle clean and jerk, that and your #2 and #3 all have a legit argument

Thanks for your list, Moose. I do have one comment. You took out the squat from your top 3 because it does depend on genetics (like you said femur length). However, you put the stones in #3 although it is also highly depending on genetics. Wingspan is highly impactful on stones the heavier you go. Sure, you need the raw strength in all the other elements of the lift, but all else equal, the wider arm-span will have the best success, not unlike squatting. By the way, I agree with you that stones are more of a test of strength than squat, just not for the same reasons you mentioned 🙂 I will say that stones in WSM and most Strongman comps are also biased for taller athletes but that's a different discussion. Thanks for being great champ!

Great video.

arm wrestling is AWESOME!! can't wait to see ya meet up with Dev!!

There is no "one" exercise that determins strength 💯

dead-lifts are still heavily moment-arm, limb length dependent. (more so than some others) I suck at dead-lifts and have a SUPER-long back. I rack-pull 220kg easy enough but can only lift 160kg of the ground. If I put it on two plates then I can lift 20kg more. There are people at my gym who can dead-lift 100kg more than me but cant over head press half. Also I can out-row, out-press, leg-press more than them, so no I am not willing to call them stronger. Sure I could spend another 2 years working on glutes and hamstrings specifically and get those numbers up a bit. (Admittingly I dead-lift reasonably light for spine health and have room in the tank) Dead-lifts have been the bane of my lifting existence since forever.

“And be kind” thank you

So the deadlift record is up for debate but the atlas stone record isn't, when it was done under the same conditions?

Squats would be what i think is the over all strength and maybe powerclean and press. Thats legs, shoulder, explosive, technical, and i arm wrestle for a living. Im glad you mentioned that sport! Love these videos

Good calls, those 3 are fantastic exercises that use many parts of the body to generate force.

Been an arm wrestling and strong man/power lifting fan for a few years now and it seems I like them for similar reasons! What i love about arm wrestling is the camaraderie between athletes. Its a small club, everyone knows each other, everyone is looking to improve themselves and each other all while maintaining that competition amongst athletes! It oddly enough seems like a rather humble sport, in the sense that, yes guys will trash talk to hype matches BUT afterwards they will typically really talk up their opponents, give praise and compliments. Guys will literally explain to their opponents HOW they could have beaten them, its pretty amusing and refreshing to see! Its international! Contestants from all over the world come together for the sport so its something incredible to bridge cultures which is very cool! People from all over the world communicating through the sport! Its a combat sport where people can express that need to dominate through strength and will. Red lining their bodies systems all while staying relatively safe! Devon Larratt is is quite literally a sage. He's goofy, has a beautiful family and we've been fortunate enough to have such an incredible ambassador for the sport! It was pretty surreal going to a talk if his because he is exactly who he is on camera.

Dr Mike Israetel talked about the same thing in a podcast and he said it's the continental clean and press with an axle bar. He disagreed with the deadlift since it doesn't require too much upper body strength. It's a long shot but man would I love to see you two debate / discuss that disagreement.

Love these videos. For me, the deadlift without straps is the truly pukka deadlift. What Benedikt Magnusson did was incredible.

I think the natural stone to shoulder has to be up there....

These videos are really fun. I prett much agree, i think a very heavy frame carry is also a great test. Takes the deadlift element and adds grip and movement under emence load.

Yes, you are telling right❤❤. Love you moose

Deadlift is definitely king if it’s not sumo with wraps, a flexi bar and long arms. A clean conventional deadlift is just primal

I think the coolest thing about arm wrestling is the intimacy of the combat- it's 100% exertion and raw strength to your fingers and hand in direct contact with the reciprocate of the opponent in which you are in direct competition. It's more of an arm fight than an arm wrestle, and you're eye to eye, hand to hand.

I think we need a video like this for a few more aspects of physical fitness. Removing the technique aspects, what is the most Powerful exercise, or the best test of Strength Endurance, cardiovascular fitness, flexibility even. I know they are not as cool as World Strongest Man talks about Strong things, but I respect Mitchell's opinions on all things sports and fitness and would love to hear his opinions on more of these kinds of topics.

You and dev larrat collab would be AMAZINGGGG ❤❤

The number one pick of deadlift suffers the same issue as the squat, leverages play a large part in all of the three powerlifting movements, and obviously every movement in strength as well. I would imagine my solution to this issue of us all beint different sizes is to find the most unaffected lift regarding body shape or genetics... my pick in that case wouldn't be the farmer walk which I love (hand size, long arms help out etc), or the strict clean OHP like they did in the old olympics, though it does come close. My stab at this question is the all too boring and forgotten, and massively painful, sandbag to shoulder. It eliminates leverage, although not completely as bag size increases with weight, allowing for longer armed individuals better grasp of the bag. I suppose this is me putting Mr. Mitchell Hoopers third pick of atlas stone to first, just using sandbag instead... but if you've ever done sandbag loads, carries, presses... it is difficult to find a more painful experience in the gym. Thanks a bunch and great video, always work hard

I think shouldering a heavy sandbag gotta be up there for a few reasons: - there' little technique involved - You gotta be able to deadlift heavy weight from an oryen conpromised position - you gotta be able to clean an unstable and huge object - It works both power and strenght - It required good grip strength - It required a lot of ur biceps in the last portion of the lift - The final part is a pressing motion - It requires great core strength

Overhead lift from floor like log, axel, stone, etc. is most impressive feat of strength to me.

Weight overhead is the best test. If you can strict press 405 overhead, you’ll have no problem squatting or deadlifting 405 as a warm up. You don’t see guys put 315 overhead only to squat 185 and deadlift 225. But yet I’ve seen plenty of guys who had a great deadlift and could bench or overhead press to save their lives.

Excellent video- I think a natural stone load and the natural stone to overhead are the real testers.

I wouldn't pick deadlift, but that's because I suck at it! Gotta agree that the log and atlas stones are very good tests of all round strength. I think a side handle deadlift would be my pick. Allows for maximal force output without worrying about the bar pulling you forwards. You can be either quad or hamstring dominant and it doesn't matter, just grab and pull.

Nr 5: 1000lbs conventional deadlift for reps Nr 4: Sandbag to shoulder Nr 3: curling in the squat rack Nr 2: Log or axel clean and press Nr 1: zercher deadlift

The 1 on 1 arm combat is what makes armwresling exciting

Football players are always amazed at strongman strength. They always seem to have deep respect for what strongmen do. Mike Evans was a pro football player and is a good competitor but has a long way to go to make it to the top. I like the top 3 you have as far as strength goes. Especially the stones, they're one of the oldest measures we have. Humans are amazing and I think we should enjoy the process of getting better each day and enjoy the opportunity we have to watch those who are at the pinnacle of their sport.

Armwrestling is a crazy blend of strength sport, martial art, and showmanship that I find amazing to watch and learn. Devon Larratt is insanely charismatic on top of being world class strong

U need to do episode about your running experience it’s could be epic 😃💪

I think it's the clean and press. Taking a wieght from the floor to overhead is the real test of strength

Once you pull a few guys in arm wrestling and either you are humbled or you have success… you will love it

Greet point about the squat. I’m 5’9 with short legs and my squat is at 375 after less than 6 months of total leg training.

My stance on strength has changed quite a lot, I'd say the best sport for expressing strength is strongman as powerlifting becomes an angles game. I will say though, that weightlifting has such an incredible variety of athletes with different genetics that are all so immensely strong, my goal for this next year which is my 2nd year weightlifting is to try hit a 100kg snatch but the amount of total body strength im going to have build for that is currently unimaginable.

Setting up deadlifting as the top strength exercise, then going for a WR. I see you. Sneaky!

I'm actually surprised that you didn't mention the yoke. there's something inherently primal about that exercise that requires brute strength.

Test off strength has always been picking things up ! The stones are good ! I'd like to see lifting actual Rocks!

Rugby Union players are generally absolute units with both strength and aerobic fitness.

I like floor to overhead as an overall test, though it test power as much as strength. Ultimate pure strength test has to be deadlift for me.

Love ya Mitch

IMO Gotta be the axle press. Have to deadlift it to a strongman clean and then press. Entire body push and pull

As someone built to hinge and not to squat, I appreciate you validating my huge bias 😂 my honorable mention is pendlay rows only because I’m weirdly good at them

I think the thing with armwrestling is, that it combines specialized strength with one-on-one combat like nothing else. Sure we could discuss MMA or something, but that one is less strenght focussed and puts skills other than strength center stage. Also we tend to do it in our daily lives and armstrength is probably considered the most impressive kind of strength in a daily life. By the way: By far the most impressive and strong armwrestler is Levan Saginashvili. Check him out!

501kg is the record. How is this controversial? Just because the previous record holder objects? What does governing bodies think.

Hafthor's 501 Deadlift world record is the King of lifts. Btw, you made a few mistake there. 501 kilos is 1,105 pounds, and not 1,102 which is Eddie's former record. Biggest raw w wraps squat is Vlad's 525.

Power clean is the number one for seeing how athletic someone is.

Sandbag or Rectangular/Atlas/Natural Stone to shoulder probably one of the greatest!

Dr.Mike Isratel introduced me to the Continental Clean&Press that sure as s**t is a movement that demands strength

i think the reason people like arm wresting so much is the fact that anyone can do it anywhere so you can test you strength against another person directly with out going to a gym for example idk tho its all skill

Just an honorable mention is Vlad Alhazov who squatted 525 kg or 1,156 pounds raw.

strict ohp/larson press/pull up/conv deadlift/high bar squat

I think this is a good list, but picking just one exercise is hard. For me a perfect 2-lift combo would be a barbell strict press and a heavy farmer's walk. Both are relatively easy to learn and anyone who is strong at both is overall a strong person in my book.

I think when people say arm wrestling is about technique, it's more about developing the muscles used in arm wrestling that never get used otherwise. I saw Devon's arm wrestling exercises video and he says that if you train those muscles, anybody you arm wrestle will think you've been arm wrestling for years. This is what I got from his explanation, I'm not an expert but I see everybody talking about technique and I don't think that is the real issue. I think one muscle I'm talking about is called the pronator.

Honorable mention .know it doesn't really show it. But one thing that just screams strength to an untrained eye from the outside is a truck, plan, bus etc... pull. It just looks impressive to the eye.

The greatest exercise is the ability and discipline to exercise kindness when you have all the reasons not to. :)

Deadlift is highly favored by leverages, which is why beginners or early intermediates with a relatively good deadlift is quite common, but a good squat or bench press is much rarer. In my opinion something like a power clean and strict press which is less technical than a normal clean (without the excessive back bend), would be one of the best single lift markers for how strong someone is.

3:55 what the fuck am I looking at? "Squat" 😆

For me it has to be the log lift, the log lift uses every muscle group in your body whereas the deadlift does not require much arm or chest strength at all.

Log press, or something like a thruster or a clean&pushpress, seem to be the only exercises that include the legs, the back, and the pushing muscles. Deadlift's only con is that you don't need much pushing force to do it unlike the other ones.

Arm Wrestling is my sport, nothing will humble you like 160 pound guy taking your hand and just staring at you while you try your hardest to pin his arm! And you can’t mention arm wrestling without mentioning the Georgian Levan Saginashville !! 6-3” 400lbs best in the world! Still everything you mentioned all of the different sports are all amazing and you’re killing it on the social media !!! Great job!! By the way strong man is by far best test of functional strength picking things up moving them this is stuff you do in every day life

The thing about the deadlift it's that is highly leveraged based.

Continental clean and press imo bc it’s less technical than a clean and jerk/press but still has the ability to roll a bunch of movement patterns in to one

deadlift and pullups and squats i would say. involves most muscles. or even a deadlift + oberheadpress combined

The WR in the dead is not up for debate, it’s 501. Eddie can be a bitter asshole about this until the end of time, but hafthor pulled that comfortably without having the advantage of a stadium of people hyping him up. It was sanctioned by both magnus and big Z as well, two of the most respected and reputable guys in strongman history. Yes, Thor 100% has that record.

Strength will generally be defined as how much weight you can shift in terms of BW ratio. But there is a whole other side to strength, I asked a guy I train with who is a very knowledgeable athletic coach in bodybuilding, strength and sports specificity what is the ultimate example of strength (is as big lean and strong as you could imagine as a natural) this question and he said. It's a tough one as an example Usain Bolt is not particularly strong in the gym but in his prime when in full flight generates about 1000lb of force with each stride which is just insane. Basically around 4500 newtons (similar to strength athletes) but he does this about 41 times (the average number of strides he took for 100m, again insane) in less than 10 seconds

Farmer's Carry. Everything deadlift with walking thrown in. Also feel like it demands better bilateral strength. 😁

I would say also deadlift, but for me more impressive is when 100kg guy pulling 430kg, than 200kg guy pullin 450-470.

I agree! I would put stones second however.