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Phil Pfister and Magnus Samuelsson vs strongmen of today


ChimpGrip

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Two of my favorite strongmen besides Brian Shaw, Phil Pfister and Magnus Samuelsson. 

Both were super strong in their prime. 

How do they compare to the strongest guys of today? Not necessarily if they would win Strongman comps or not, but as far as pure strength goes how do they compare? 

Were they stronger than guys like Licis, Stoltman brothers, Ronnie Coleman and Larry Wheels? 

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I don’t think the guys mentioned had arms or a grip as strong as Samuelsson. Pfister was no slouch in grip either, closed CoC #3 easily and lifted and cleaned inch dumbbell. 

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Pure strength in what? Full body strength they are nowhere near todays strongest people. 

Grip strength Magnus should still be considered one of the strongest. He's closed the #4 on many different occasions, don't think the #4 was that hard for him to be honest. Had the WR for a while on the rolling thunder. I know he was one of the strongest at lifting without straps. Only thing I don't know about is how his pinch strength was.

Pfister. I heard on Jedd's "This Week in Grip", don't remember which episode. He talked about when he met him once and they trained. He apparently had a very strong pinch grip.

As for atlas stones, they were lifted without glue. They way it should be done, not like todays bullshit when they glue the stone to their arms. Which is pathetic.

Magnus, still one of the strongest in the bicep curls. I've only seen Cyplenkov doing more, maybe there's some other armwrestlers that could do it? I don't know...

So in some cases I would say they were just as strong back then. However, in the big lifts, like deadlifts and such they are nowhere near the guys of today though.

Strongman was different back 20 years ago. 200 kg people would not win those contests, and vice versa.

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So many tests with a lot of cardio at the time, probably too much and now may not be enough because even if it is not brute force it is extremely spectacular of such heavy guys able to be fast and enduring. That said last year Martin Licis also won a lot of the strongest man in the world thanks to his incredible cardio, I do not know if he will win again but he would have been even better 20 years ago or it was above all the versatility and resistance to fatigue injuries that won the title.

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That was uploaded today

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  • 2 months later...

Good question but As strong as phil and magnus were they really lacked the lower body strength compared to their super strong upper bodies. I remember both bombing out of squats in comps with weights way less that what is used to todays comps. 

The events have changed so much now, everything is heavier, less cardio based and todays athletes are more well rounded. 

Edited by mcalpine1986
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2 hours ago, mcalpine1986 said:

Good question but As strong as phil and magnus were they really lacked the lower body strength compared to their super strong upper bodies. I remember both bombing out of squats in comps with weights way less that what is used to todays comps. 

The events have changed so much now, everything is heavier, less cardio based and todays athletes are more well rounded. 

Magnus was never a good squatter (relatively speaking). He wasn't even good for his era, he would be the first one to admit that. He wasn't great at deadlifting either, compared to some others but if it would have been 100% raw and with DOH he would be one of the best for sure :)

Weights are heavier now but they use a lot of equipment these days. Suits, glue, straps etc. Plus they are way heavier (and closer to death) these days. However now it's starting to look a little bit better with guys like Liscis. Who is not only extremely strong in the big lifts but also smaller, more mobile etc. I wish they would just get rid of all the equipment and also re-introduce some events where there's a bit more cardio involved. That would make the sport more interesting to watch IMO.  

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  • 1 month later...

Id say arm/upper body pulling strength would probably be similar between both groups. The mass of the modern guys has its biggest advantage pushing straight lines. The further from the core, like with arms, the more competitive smaller guys can become again. Curling, armwrestling, grip , not dominated by 400lb guys.

Similar with wrestling when its open heavyweight limit or open Judo. The giants push a lot harder, but actual grip fighting, hand control, locking up strength,  the freak at 284 matches the freak at 384.

As to whether the earlier guys could lift the same weight in a modern competition. With the same training, time and modern generation of 'supplement' some would be competitive.

 

 

 

 

Edited by Karl
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  • 3 years later...

in terms of consistency saMUELSON AND LHISTER BEAT EXCEPT SHAW, and I consider that these 2 men samueson is a legend he ended up making 10 minimum qualifying strongman finals and a top 5 he is part of the records so the question does not even arise

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