Hafthor Björnsson shot to stardom after playing The Mountain in Game of Thrones. He’s also the reigning World Strongest Man
The Icelander therefore knows a thing or two about strength training. For him, bench presses, squats and deadlifts are a mere warm up for the finals of World Strongest Man. Competitors at the very top endure brutal lifts including atlas stone relays, kettlebell throws and car pulls.
Such jaw-dropping shows of strength require a ridiculous amount of fuel, too. The Mountain often puts away a mountainous serving of food – sometimes weighing out at 12,000 calories each day. That’s about 12 footlong Subway sandwiches.
Recently, Björnsson has been training at his home facility of Thor’s Power Gym in Kópavogur, Iceland, with American powerlifter Larry Wheels. Wheels is himself a huge name in the strength training world, regularly overhead pressing crazy numbers that would make 95% of lifters wince.
It was at one of these recent sessions that Björnsson broke one of his own personal records – by deadlifting over 1000 pounds.
Watch the lift below:
The total weight measured out at 1042 pounds. If you train at peak times, you’d probably struggle to find this many plates free to use in the gym.
Footage of The Mountain successfully pulling the lift off shows him being treated with understandable levels of hero worship, in a shot that resembles a kind of powerlifting Last Supper.
How to boost your own deadlift
You may not be expecting to smash The Mountain’s record attempt anytime soon, but the deadlift is still worth including in the majority of gym routines.
It is one of the fundamental weightlifting exercises, part of the ‘big three’ alongside the bench press and the squat.
The deadlift builds your lats, legs and core strength – and is such a demanding lift that it burns a high number of calories too. Strength training should form the basis of any training routine, whether you’re looking to build size or burn fat.
Perfect your deadlifts with these form tips:
- With a slight bend in your knees, grip the bar with hands shoulder-width apart
- Keep your back straight and neck in line with your spine
- The bar should be over the middle part of your foot – not too far in front of the body
- Keeping your back straight, drive through your hips and bring the bar up until you are standing upright
- Imagine squeezing a golf ball underneath your armpits when lifting – this engages your lats and helps to control the weight when lifting
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