Strongmen Smash 1,580kg In 'Heaviest Deadlift Ladder To Date'

Content Executive2 years ago

The countdown to World’s Strongest Man for the Stoltmans starts now. They're not here to play — they’re here to win. And with both brothers having had a taste of success at the Arnold’s and Britain’s Strongest Man, they were never going to settle for anything less. They're hungry for more. And you never want to get in the way of a hungry Stoltman.

10 weeks to get ready. It's go time. And for their first day back training, they didn’t choose to ease themselves in with a relatively light day; they chose to jump in at the deep end with a deadlift medley.

This session’s setup included four deadlift bars with differing weights: 10kg, 20kg, 30kg, 40kg. I'm joking, of course. That's not how the World’s Strongest Brothers roll. The actual weights were: 240kg, 260kg, 280kg and 300kg. That's more like it.

And the most striking part of the day? The amount of time and energy it takes to set up 1,580kg worth of plates. Sounds like they should be exhausted before even starting the deadlifts. I know I would be.

The Stoltmans are hoping for deadlift medleys at both Europe's Strongest Man and the World’s Strongest Man. The medley can consist of various weights and styles of deadlifts. Normally, there is a required number of reps that must be completed on each type. Oh yeah, it’s also timed.

First things first: a warm-up. The brothers started off with 70kg deadlifts, then 110kg, 150kg, 190kg and finally 230kg. After that, it was time to get into it.

Today's setup:

240kg x2
260kg x2
280kg x1
300kg x1

The aim was to complete the circuit five times. Tom managed four sets and Luke managed five.

The verdict

It’s hardly a surprise the brothers gave themselves a difficult challenge for their first session back. Maybe it’s more of a surprise that the weight wasn’t even the hardest part for them. Both brothers mentioned they struggled with the transitions between the deadlifts. They felt as though they should’ve been completing more reps but instead had to move on to the next weight — so they couldn’t get into a rhythm. Regardless, the session looked impressive to us.

Take Home Message

10 weeks sounds like a long time, but the World’s Strongest Man is bound to creep up in what will feel like no time at all. And we can’t wait. We're sure the Stoltmans will continue putting the time to good use and provide an impressive performance for the second year in a row.

Emily Wilcock

Content Executive

After completing an internship with Myprotein, Emily returned to university to finish her Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management and Marketing. With experience in lifestyle writing, Emily aims to entertain and educate through her work. Her focuses include recipes, real and inspiring stories, and working with writers to help provide easy-to-digest evidence-based research. Her work on recipes has been previously featured in The Supplement magazine, with a particular focus on high-protein, nutritious meals, plus advice on how to properly fuel your body. Outside of work, Emily’s top priority is food. She’s a self-professed star baker and a connoisseur of all things baked. In her spare time, she’s either cooking up a storm, our looking out for the opportunity to try out Manchester’s newest restaurants. But as a huge fan of carbs, if it’s not pasta or pasta-adjacent, she’s not interested. If she’s not in the kitchen, she’s tucked up with a book for an early night, or you’ll find her in the gym working up a sweat. Afterall, all those carbs require quite the appetite.