"There is no point in being alive if you can’t do deadlift."
- Jón Páll Sigmarsson
Most people who are at least somewhat familiar with strength training and physical culture know that the deadlift is one of the three lifts tested at modern-day powerlifting meets and also, as far back as the beginning of recorded history, we know that men lifted heavy objects from the ground as a test of strength or manhood. The strongman deadlift is like those tests of strength from days long gone because of the many different varieties of the lift and the awkward nature of some of those varieties.
How and What Does a Strongman Pull?
There are three main types of strongman implements that are used for the deadlift at strongman contests: 1) axle (usually a 2" thickbar), 2) olympic barbell, or 3) two side handles, such as a vehicle deadlift and/or farmer's deadlift (picture a farmer's walk without the walk).
Although lifting and loading atlas stones and other awkward objects is an event unto itself and will not be covered in this article, the "lapping" of the stone is still considered to have similarities to the deadlift because it's like a stiff-leg deadlift.
There are also varying heights from which competitors pull the bar(s): besides the normal start position of the deadlift, a standard height of 18" (at or near the knees) is usually used for partial deadlifts with an olympic barbell. When there is a deadlift event with side handles (i.e. car deadlift) instead of a bar, the range of motion decreases, like an 18" deadlift.
Lastly, the three types of deadlift events in strongman are a 1) maximum effort lift (one repetition), 2) maximum repetitions in 60 seconds (or a similar amount of time), and 3) the deadlift medley - a series of different implements and/or objects which must be lifted within a given time.