The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 8 — 2013
24
Hanging With Giants Iceland’s Hafþór gears up to win the World’s Strongest Man title by John Wilkins Adjusting the squat rack to cater to his 2.06m height, Iceland’s Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson begins his Friday afternoon workout. The 240kg he adds to the 20kg bar seems to put more stress on the weight rack than it does on his 175kg frame. As he adds 25kg plates to each side of the stressed, bending steel bar, he nearly tips over the now 310kg squat platform. Despite being crowned Iceland’s Strongest Man for the last three year years in addition to placing third at the 2012 World’s Strongest Man contest at just 24-years-old, Hafþór isn’t even the most decorated strength athlete in the room. Magnús Ver Magnússon ends a phone call and walks over to watch Thor’s last set. Perhaps not surprisingly, the four-time champion of the World’s Strongest Man contest doesn’t seem impressed. Between him and fellow strongman icon, the late Jón Páll Sigmarsson, Iceland has taken home more world titles than has any one country. Being one of (if not) the smallest countries competing, the fact that Iceland has managed to win more world titles than any other nation is even more astonishing. If you add that to the impressive 13 finishes in the top three at the World’s Strongest Man and Jón Páll’s induction into the strongman Hall of Fame (as one of only three members), this tiny nation in the North Atlantic has become something of a Mecca for strength athletics.
A strong work ethic It’s hard to pinpoint just what makes a nation of only 300,000 so successful, but Hafþór, or “Thor” as he is known internationally, seems to ascribe to Norwegian strongman Icon and Hall-of-Famer Svend Karlsen’s catchphrase, “Viking power!,” attributing his incredible abilities at least partly to his infamous ancestors. Magnús Ver has a different hypothesis that seems at least somewhat conclusive. “It comes from our background, which is that we’re used to working,” Magnús explains. “Even as a young kid, I was working on farms during the summers when I wasn’t in school. I don’t know how it is now, maybe not so much, but young kids still do go out and work.” In addition to developing strength, this working background also plays into the development of Icelanders’ work ethic, which is exactly what is required in this sport. Hafþór’s workouts aren’t your average 24 Hour Fitness, after-work aerobics classes or weight trainings. After roughly an hour of pushing himself to dig deep in some of the common powerlifting exercises like the dead lift and the squat, the now covered-in-sweat and out of breath Icelandic giant begins the second half of his workout. Ducking his head to fit through the doorway, Thor makes his way upstairs to an area of the gym dedicated to training for the various strongman events. These events test aspects of an athlete’s strength beyond your standard gym exercises, including things like the Atlas Stones or the Truck Pull, which add enormously to the entertainment value of these strongman shows. It is far easier for a layperson to understand what it means to be able to squat a car, for example, than to be able to squat a 400kg bar. Unlike many of his competitors who train for these events once a week, Thor trains for at least two of the different events at each one of his workouts. As a routine that Hafþór maintains for five or six days a week, it is easy to see how the working background Magnús Ver described would come in handy. Hafþór isn’t alone in all of this, however. Arriving to the gym shortly after Thor is his long time friend and training partner, Stefán Sölvi Pétursson. Upon his arrival, Stefán drops his bag in the corner and walks over to the stereo to turn on some Icelandic metal to get the juices flowing. After some warm-up exercises and stretching, he pulls on his knee braces and loads the bar with enough 25kg plates to make his own 160kg bodyweight seem light. The rack needs almost no adjustment from when Thor was using it, how-
ever, as Stefán is almost equal in height to Thor at 1.95m. And with the daily routines these two Icelandic behemoths maintain, a good training partner is a must. “It’s not a life many people would choose,” Hafþór explains as he runs through his schedule. As both a working and a family man, Hafþór has to juggle his strength training with his daily 9–4 shift at Arion Bank where he works as a security guard and spending time with his four-year-old daughter. In the background of all of this, Thor also somehow keeps up with his 8,000–10,000 calorie per day diet, which consists largely of a variety of meats, potatoes and other vegetables. In case all of this isn’t enough, his schedule is about to become even busier. Starting this June, Hafþór will be competing in strongman shows and events two to three times
“It’s not a life many people would choose.” a month all over Europe. Despite his enormous size, Thor finds it more economical to squeeze himself into a single airline seat instead of purchasing a second one, which is a problem that not many people have. In some ways, though, competing and traveling this often is a welcomed change of pace. “I like to travel and meet new people, as well as hang out with the other guys in the competition. Seeing new places is something I really enjoy,” Thor says. And while winning these contests remains his top priority, Thor maintains friendships with many of his fellow competitors.
Passing the torch Although the friendly strongman culture and tightly knit community hasn’t changed much over the years, the sport, Magnús admits, has. “Today, you have better trained athletes because they are better prepared,” Magnús explains. “Everybody has their own equipment to train with, so weights have gone up in a lot of the events like Super Yoke or Farmers’ Walks because everybody trains for them.” This access and ability to train for the events, Magnús says, is what is making the difference in the sport today. “I didn’t used to do that; Jón Páll didn’t used to do that. We just trained in the gym and were told to do contests. I never trained for the Atlas Stones, for example—I just showed up and did them.” In response to the evolution of the sport, Magnús Ver opened his own gym in 2008, which gives Icelanders like Hafþór and Stefán a place to train for the various strongman events. The name of the gym, Jakaból, which translates roughly to “giants’ nest,” confirms it—while Iceland may not
