Strength athletics

[4] Some of the disciplines have similarities to each other and although it is very difficult to master more than one, some athletes participate in several of them and perform at world class levels.

Highland games consists of up to about ten different disciplines (including stone put, Scottish hammer throw, weight throw, weight over bar, caber toss, keg toss and sheaf toss)[2] while strongman span across more than thirty different lifts and events (including deadlift, vehicle pull, log lift, axle press, stonelifting, stone carrying, circus dumbbell press, yoke carry, farmers walk, squat, basque circle, loading medleys and grip events), testing both maximal strength and physical endurance.

[6] There are records in many civilizations of feats of strength performed by great heroes, perhaps mythological, such as Heracles, Goliath, Orm Storolfsson and Milo of Croton.

[7] Competitions that modern strongman events are modeled on, Scottish Highland Gatherings, were formalized around 1820 by Sir Walter Scott.

[11][12] The concept behind 'The World's Strongest Men', as it was originally named, was developed in 1977 for CBS by Langstar Inc. David Webster, a Scot who later received an OBE for his services to sport, was the head coordinator of the competition from its inception.