Vehicle pull is a signature

Strongman In the 19th century, the term strongman referred to an exhibitor of strength or similar circus performers who performed feats of strength. More recently, strength athletics, also known as strongman competitions, have grown in popularity. These ...

event featured in World’s Strongest Man and other similar competitions which requires competitors to pull extremely heavy trucks, buses, trains or planes while being attached to a harness that is connected to the vehicle. The heavier the vehicle is, a rope is provided for them to pull on. The person who completes the course in the fastest time or covers the most distance is declared the winner.

History

In 1920s, farmers in

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and

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began hitching their field tractors to weighted sleds and roared down a track to see who could pull it the farthest, which gathered a lot of spectators. After the tractor pull was a successful spectators event for many years, there was also an event started called the truck pull which became even more famous and continued until strongman Vehicle pull came into play with the inaugural World’s Strongest Man in 1977.

In Strongman competitions

Since 1977, Vehicle pulls involving numerous trucks, buses, trains and planes have been used in more than 460 events organized by World’s Strongest Man, Europe’s Strongest Man,

Pure Strength Pure Strength was a strongman competition held from 1987 to 1990 which was created by Tjalling van den Bosch. Event History The first year of the event was known as "Pure Strength Challenge" and it was a single man competition featuring only Bil ...

, Arnold Strongman Classic-Europe,

World's Ultimate Strongman World's Ultimate Strongman is an annual strength athletics competition which began on October 26, 2018. The event has a number of rival and parallel competitions, including the World's Strongest Man, the Arnold Strongman Classic and the Giants L ...

Giants Live Giants Live was created in 2009 as the official Tour that qualifies strongmen to compete in the annual World's Strongest Man contest. At each Grand Prix, up to twelve international strongmen come together and compete over six events. The top three ...

International Federation of Strength Athletes The International Federation of Strength Athletes (IFSA or IFSA Strongman) was an international governing body for strongman competition. IFSA operated from 1995-2007 and was based in Glasgow, Scotland. History Origins In 1995, David Webster, ...

, World Strongman Cup Federation,

Strongman Champions League The Strongman Champions League is a strength athletics, strongman competition circuit, with several Grand Prix events throughout the year and the Strongman Champions League overall champion title going to the overall winner at the end of the s ...

and in several National competitions of

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, Australia, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Iceland, Germany, Ukraine, Poland and Slovenia. In the World’s Strongest Man competition, the vehicle is often chosen to reference a previous winner or the current host city of the current competition; and the terrains change yearly as well, with vehicles being pulled on snow, ice, sand, concrete etc.

Physical demands

Vehicle pulls are a true test of brute strength and endurance which literally causes the heart rate to hit its maximum within just a few seconds. The start is the hardest as it persuades an extremely heavy vehicle (most often between 10 - 25 tonnes, and up to 40 tonnes) to start moving from a standstill upon overcoming its inertia. Once the vehicle is moving, it is essential that the strongman continues its momentum because it is a rare sight to see someone restart pulling the vehicle for a second time once it has stopped. The biggest and heaviest strongmen are usually the people who excel in this event because the heavier the strongman is, the easier is it for them to lean against the weight of the vehicle and get it moving.

Notable Strongmen

Only 8 Strongmen have ever won more than 10 Vehicle pull events in Strongman competitions. With 2 wins per every 3 Vehicle pulls he undertook, Iceland's Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson is the Greatest Vehicle puller in

history.

References

{{Reflist Strongmen competitions