Real or fake?

[Conor Kehoe]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrJ6tWyafDA

Dont know what to make of this guys.
What do you think?

[Ian Duggan]

Don't get me wrong, that's not a light deadlift... but there's no feckin' way that's over 1000lbs.

I seem to recall that guy is one of those "old time strength" guys from the former eastern block i.e. every number he claims is nonsense.

[Alex Apostol]

Agreed, fake. That, and the guy's physique looks like total dog crap to be pulling over 1000 lbs.

[Sean Hatley]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrJ6tWyafDA

Dont know what to make of this guys.
What do you think?
Yeah thats fake, but this isnt.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKlentk2H_o&feature=related

[Rus Mandery]

That, and the guy's physique looks like total dog crap to be pulling over 1000 lbs.
Never seen an actual powerlifter there, have yah?

[Alex Apostol]

Never seen an actual powerlifter there, have yah?

No actually I am quite familiar with them, and those legs are simply not pulling 1000+, especially with that straight back and leg drive type of pull.

A true example of a 1000+ puller: http://www.propeptide.com/gif/andy-bolton-01.jpg

[Eric Jett]

C'mon Alex, if we judged on physique, we'd think Ronnie Coleman was the stronget dude on the planet. Bolton's physique isn't that much greater than this guy. And so what about his form? Maybe he just has a back that he doesn't round because it isn't as strong as his legs.

And I could see this being 460. I can't tell what the plates are, but do we know what he ever did in competition? Anybody?

Might be true, might not, but more importantly: did anyone else notice the Oly lifting shoes?

[Alex Klotz]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ETi-0DSzZE
That is a verified 1003 lb deadlift. Look how much the bar bends. It is presumably a pretty high quality bar if it is being used for a world class powerlifting competition. The bar Dikul uses does not bend, and I doubt some rag-tag guys in Russia have a much higher quality bar.

[Paul_Koskinen]

I just think it's a good clip to see during the holiday season.
Santa Clause deadlifting a new North Pole PR!!

[Billy Wolt]

Don't get me wrong, that's not a light deadlift... but there's no feckin' way that's over 1000lbs.

I seem to recall that guy is one of those "old time strength" guys from the former eastern block i.e. every number he claims is nonsense.

why you hating for?

[Jay Hagadorn]

<object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/BqxEfB5-Lv8&rel=1&color1=0x5d1719&color2=0xcd311b&border=0"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/BqxEfB5-Lv8&rel=1&color1=0x5d1719&color2=0xcd311b&border=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>

[Ryan Nielson]

That guy is a circus performer so I just think it's all show pretty much. I think the guy might well be pretty strong, but just don't believe he's at that level. Just a little too far fetched. If it was real there would be at least some coverage in magazines or the press or he would actually compete in some kind of competition. If I was that strong I'd want to prove it to everyone.

[CharlesDMickey]

I think we all know to doubt the legitimacy of those lifts.

[Jay Hagadorn]

That guy is a circus performer so I just think it's all show pretty much. I think the guy might well be pretty strong, but just don't believe he's at that level. Just a little too far fetched. If it was real there would be at least some coverage in magazines or the press or he would actually compete in some kind of competition. If I was that strong I'd want to prove it to everyone.

I agree. If you watch the second vid, there is some bar bend, but not to the extent of the claimed weight. Why do people do stuff like that? Either you can or you can't. Lying about it...well, what can ya say...

[Brandon Smith]

Here's some biographical info on Dikul, really hard to believe those numbers, especially for a 61 year old guy?

"In 1962, when Valentin Dikul was performing a circus routine in Kaunas, Lithuania, a cable on his trapeze snapped, sending him plummeting 15 meters to the floor and breaking his back. Doctors told him that he would never regain the use of his legs. He was 16 years old.

Dikul had always dreamed of becoming a circus performer, and he was determined to get back on his feet and return to his passion. Immediately after his release from the hospital, he began a rigorous self-imposed rehabilitation program, often passing out from exhaustion on the floor of the gym.

After six grueling years, what seemed impossible was becoming a reality: Dikul was able to rise unaided from his wheelchair and walk across a room in a series of shuffling baby steps.

Today, more than four decades after the accident, Dikul is back in the big top, this time as a dumbbell-juggling, iron-bending strongman with several Guinness records to his credit. But his recovery has enabled him to do more than simply return to the circus. Now, as one of Russia's leading authorities on treating spinal injuries, he serves as the director of a Moscow clinic group that specializes in the methods he used in his own rehabilitation."

http://www.rusnet.nl/news/2004/03/03/report02.shtml

[Ian Duggan]

why you hating for?
Ignore... ignore... ignore... AH! Here it is.

:marv:

[Chad Robison]

I just cant fathom this being legit, I know that we cannot judge strength by physique, but when numbers ike this are being tossed around and with a man of his age and his apparent and obvious lack of muscular mass on his body, I would be willing to bet anything that his claims are false, someone mentioned Ronnie Colemans physique as compared to Andy Bolton, it doesnt take much to understand why Colemans muscular development is so far advanced, lots and lots and lots of "supplements" and also when speaking of physiques, Andy Bolton has tons of visible muscle mass on his body, you see him walking down the street it is obvious he might work out on occasion,LOL, but this guy not so much, I have to call bull***t on this one.

Chad Robison

[Billy Wolt]

Ignore... ignore... ignore... AH! Here it is.

:marv:

good...thank you.

[Ian Duggan]

Now, as one of Russia's leading authorities on treating spinal injuries, he serves as the director of a Moscow clinic group that specializes in the methods he used in his own rehabilitation."

http://www.rusnet.nl/news/2004/03/03/report02.shtml
If that's true... that's extremely discturbing, given that this guy is clearly full of doohicky.

[James Fernandes]

yep captain birdseye here should just stick to the ship and fish fingers instead of trying to trick everyone into thinking hes the strongest deadlifter in the world

[Ian Duggan]

This reminds me of a documentary I saw on Discovery last year, called the Strongest Girl in the World. Basically a Russian girl (pretty sure it was Varya Akulova) who was a circus performer, and could lift her Mum and Dad at the same time, and squat 300kg and blah blah blah.

Documentary crew follower her for 6 months, basically showing how unhappy she was to be lifting weights for 8 hours a day, and how much of an over-barring tool her Dad was.

And then, in the final section of the film, what she'd been training for all this that time in fact, she went to the Russian Junior Oly Lifting Championships (in fact, it might just have been regional), and promptly came.... 5th.

So World's Strongest Girl... except for those other 4.

My how I laughed. At her Dad. Watching her mainly made me depressed.

[Eric Jett]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ETi-0DSzZE
That is a verified 1003 lb deadlift. Look how much the bar bends. It is presumably a pretty high quality bar if it is being used for a world class powerlifting competition. The bar Dikul uses does not bend, and I doubt some rag-tag guys in Russia have a much higher quality bar.


Well, a good deadlift bar is supposed to have a decent amount of whip in it, so, if anything, Dikul would be using a much worse bar.

[Alex Klotz]

Did not know that.

[Garrick Daft]

Go Santa, Go Santa, it's your birthday, it's your birthday...!!

:M:

Someone should show that video to Roger Ortmayer and Odd Haugen!!

:BP:

[Paul Rogers]

"I have made an educated guess at the weights !"

The quote that scrolls across the top at the beginning of the second video Jay put up.

Also, who in there right mind would press or squat that much without ANY spotters...


Strange...

[Alex Apostol]

I just cant fathom this being legit, I know that we cannot judge strength by physique, but when numbers ike this are being tossed around and with a man of his age and his apparent and obvious lack of muscular mass on his body, I would be willing to bet anything that his claims are false, someone mentioned Ronnie Colemans physique as compared to Andy Bolton, it doesnt take much to understand why Colemans muscular development is so far advanced, lots and lots and lots of "supplements" and also when speaking of physiques, Andy Bolton has tons of visible muscle mass on his body, you see him walking down the street it is obvious he might work out on occasion,LOL, but this guy not so much, I have to call bull***t on this one.

Chad Robison

Exactly my point...the guy doesn't even look like he has any muscle on him. You don't have to be ripped like Ronnie Coleman to have a ton of muscle like Andy Bolton.