Strong Men Compete In Charleston, W. Va.

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RENEE MONTAGNE, host:

Large men of robust health recently gathered in Charleston, West Virginia, for the World's Strongest Man competition. It featured an international field of Goliaths who lifted, pulled, dragged, and threw objects normally only moved by heavy machinery or teams of mules. NPR's Mike Pesca has this report.

MIKE PESCA: In Beijing, Usain Bolt earned the title the world's fastest man. Never mind that the other track gold medalists are the fastest at their distance, the world's fastest man goes to the winner of the 100 meters, case closed. The world's strongest man, well, in those same Olympics, a weightlifter clean-and-jerked over 500 pounds. He won a gold medal. But to win the title of world's strongest man, he'd have to appear here.

(Soundbite of crowd cheering)

PESCA: Right now Dave Ostlund is cranking out reps in one of the 13 different events that comprise the World's Strongest Man competition. Over seven days in Charleston, West Virginia, a few thousand spectators, including the state's governor, witnessed events like the truck pull, the sack carry, the Atlas stones, and the overhead log lift. And they cheered most heartily for a former firefighter named Phil Pfister.

Mr. PHIL PFISTER (Competitor, World's Strongest Man Competition; Former Firefighter): I'm a sensitive, delicate fellow. I tell you what, I'm just like everybody else.

PESCA: Sure if everybody else was six foot six, 345 pounds. Pfister won the 2006 World's Strongest Man title, the first American to do so since Bill Kazmaier in 1982. Kazmaier, who is covering this year's event for ESPN, says that back when he won, no one even told the competitors what the events would be.

Mr. BILL KAZMAIER (1982 World's Strongest Man; Reporter, ESPN): At the time, I had the world records in bench press, dead lift, total. I squatted well over 900 pounds. The guys here today probably couldn't do that in those conditions. That said, who's stronger? I don't know. Who's better at the events? These guys are because they are more well-practiced.

PESCA: Which gets at the underlying question of this competition. What is strength? Why is the man who can place a 300-pound stone on a pedestal stronger than the man who could drag a Hercules C-130 cargo plane? Colin Bryce, the head referee of the World's Strongest Man competition, says that the organization is constantly tinkering with the events. Sometimes they eliminate events entirely.

Mr. COLIN BRYCE (Head Referee, World's Strongest Man): Back in the early years, they were a few events that were, you know, very debatable whether they were tests of strength or not. You know, I remember one event when it was guys hanging from a pole, you know. That was a bit of a stupid one.

PESCA: How the events look is pretty important to a competition which is actually owned by a sports marketing company, IMG. The competitors are fine with this. Most want their sport to be a TV hit because most first saw it on TV when they were young. Derek Poundstone, who may very well be America's strongest man, certainly knows the value of exciting TV.

Mr. DEREK POUNDSTONE (Competitor, World's Strongest Man Competition): People don't want to see stuff that your average Joe could kind of do, you know. It's a TV production. It's what got the sport big. But, you know, people want to see us throwing kegs over walls.

PESCA: Poundstone knows the value of showmanship. He's happy to flex on command. And standing next to defending champion Mariusz Pudzianowski of Poland, one is reminded of the cover of the "Incredible Hulk" No. 453, the one with dueling hulks. Poundstone also bills himself as the world's strongest cop. He's on the Naugatuck, Connecticut, police force and says that strength has its strengths.

Mr. POUNDSTONE: I mean, a lot of the guys in my department like it when I show up for backup or, you know, when we do a search warrant, I gotta kick a door in, you know.

PESCA: Perhaps familiarity with law enforcement gave Poundstone the edge in the dead lift, given that competitors were asked to lift a Charleston Parking Enforcement jeep. These Colossi each strap themselves to a metal bar. They strain, they grunt. The veins in their foreheads look like a relief map of the waterways of Europe. It's the definition of awesome. But according to University of Connecticut Professor of Kinesiology William Kramer, it's not the definition of strength.

Dr. WILLIAM KRAMER (Professor of Kinesiology, University of Connecticut): Strength is defined as maximal-force capability, and when you do reps, you're not producing maximal-force capability, you're doing repeated motor-unit activation.

PESCA: While, the more accurate label for the competition may be, world's man most in possession of high-intensity muscular endurance, that lacks zing. Dr. Kramer says these men are extremely strong, extremely athletic, and visually impressive, but they don't meet the clinical definition of strongest. Now if someone would tell that to the large gentlemen dragging a cargo plane. Mike Pesca, NPR News, New York.

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