2018 World’s Strongest Man Hafthor “The Mountain” Björnsson returns after a four-year break from elite strongman competition. He will compete at the 2024 Arnold Strongman Classic (ASC) in Columbus, Ohio, on March 1-2, 2024.
Björnsson’s hiatus was caused by the need to recover from serious injury. In April 2023, Björnsson tore his left pectoral muscle while bench pressing in a powerlifting meet. The road to recovery has been long.
On Feb. 16, Björnsson shared his last heavy deadlift session on his YouTube channel before his 2024 ASC return. He spoke to his mindset going into the event. Check it out below:
The deadlift event at the 2024 ASC will be on an Elephant Bar — a specialist barbell made by Rogue Fitness exclusively for the contest. The 10-foot-long bar, combined with the two-inch weight plates it uses, has much more bend than a standard power bar or deadlift bar.
Elephant Bars are not used elsewhere, so Björnsson improvised a stand-in barbell in training. He added collars inside the weight plates and alternated bumper plates with steel weight plates to move the weight as far out as possible to approximate the flex he would experience in competition.
Björnsson worked up to 400 kilograms for his working sets, completing two sets of three repetitions each. He said he was trying to be smart with the weight selection in training as he had been progressing fast and wanted to take a step back to guard against injury.
I feel like this is my event to lose, but I still have to put in the work.
Björnsson used lifting straps and a lifting belt during his deadlifts, which are permissible in strongman competition. Both sets of three appeared comfortable, with the third rep moving almost as well as the first.
The workout continued with stone pressing and static behind-the-back holds. Björnsson used 210 kilograms for his top sets and held the lift for 10 seconds.
2024 Arnold Strongman Classic Events
- Elephant Bar Deadlift
- Frame Carry
- Dinnie Stone Carry
- Apollon Wheels
- Stone Medley
2024 Arnold Strongman Classic Roster
- Mitchell Hooper
- Hafthor Björnsson
- Martins Licis
- Oleksii Novikov
- Tom Stoltman
- Mateusz Kieliszkowski
- Evan Singleton
- Bobby Thompson
- Maxime Boudreault
- Tom Evans
- Oskar Ziółkowski
Björnsson plans to lift 460 kilograms in the Elephant Bar deadlift event at the 2024 ASC. Find out on March 1, 2024, whether he will be successful.
Featured image: @thorbjornsson on Instagram
