Strength sports are a wide variety of sports, in which athletes perform actions involving physical strength.

The term strongperson refers to an exhibitor of strength or circus performers of similar ilk who displayed feats of strength such as the bench press, supporting large amounts of weight held overhead at arm’s length, steel bending, chain breaking, etc.

Some examples of strength sports are weightlifting and arm wrestling.

There is no set rule about what specific events will occur in a contest, except that to prevent single-event specialists from gaining an advantage, each event will be different.

Normally, a strongman contest comprises six events, though at the top level of competition seven or eight events may be held. Among the most common events are:

Farmer’s Walk - competitors race along a course while carrying a heavy weight in each hand. A variation is the Giant Farmer’s Walk, with a much heavier weight carried over a shorter distance.

Atlas Stones - five stones of increasing weight are placed on top of podia at approximately head height. This used to form the climax of most strongman events but has been seen less in recent years.

Carry and Drag - an object (usually a heavy anchor) is run across half of the course. The competitors then must attach it to a chain of almost equal weight and pull it across the rest of the course.