Hangboarding pays off.

March 11, 2024 10:05 AM

Pro-climber Emil Abrahamsson tries a strongman grip strength competition

This is a nearly half-hour long video that showed up in my YouTube 'next' list and when it auto-played, I never would have imagined myself watching a half hour of strongman competition, but honestly, I found this guy's narrative pretty fun, and the competition impressive generally and I ended up watching the whole thing.

Spoilers: Emil does not win the competition, but he is competitive and he places well in some individual events and gets an award for pound-for-pound best lifter in the competition.

posted by jacquilynne (16 comments total)

The fact that he did the entire thing in sandals is just wild.
posted by Orange Pamplemousse at 10:56 AM on March 11 [2 favorites]

I saw this last week. As I recall, he also absolutely crushes a world record in his weight class, and comes in second over all at least once. The old record is not even close. And he's basically doing it for a laugh. It makes me wonder what would happen if climbers started to seriously compete at this.
posted by surlyben at 11:14 AM on March 11 [1 favorite]

What's notable about this is that, in my utterly unlearned understanding of "grip strength," it seems that it's one thing to have a strong grip—I thought the competition was going to be beefy guys shaking hands and applying pressure until one buckles or one of those grip-strength test machines like one would find at a carnival—and it's another thing entirely to be able to lift heavy weights, which goes beyond the strength of one's grip, per se, and implicates one's upper and lower body strength. But, again, I am beyond ignorant on the topic, so this was fun to see.
posted by the sobsister at 11:25 AM on March 11

It's not his fault he's the strongest. He doesn't even train for this.
posted by tigrrrlily at 11:26 AM on March 11 [6 favorites]

If you like this genre, I recommend Climbing Stuff's Pro Climbers Dominate Game Shows playlist. It's fun to hear someone in the tank for the climber sing the praises of the climber as the climber climbs better than non-climbers.
posted by persona at 11:27 AM on March 11

it's another thing entirely to be able to lift heavy weights, which goes beyond the strength of one's grip, per se,

True, there were a couple of places where I thought his failure seemed less grip-related and more ”that thing is just too heavy for him.” I think he was working at the further edges of his overall ability to lift some of those weights than many of the beefier guys who could probably have lifted then easily if they were in a more convenient form for lifting.
posted by jacquilynne at 11:29 AM on March 11

Reminds me a bit of the Gymnasts Try to Keep Up With Parkour Experts / Parkour Experts Try to Keep Up With Gymnasts pair of videos. Some overlapping skills, but different areas of focus.
posted by gwint at 1:05 PM on March 11 [3 favorites]

Also I just noticed my back has started to hurt just from watching that video.
posted by gwint at 1:06 PM on March 11

There's a follow-up video with, ex pro climber, Magnus Midtbo. Spoiler: Magnus is also really strong.
posted by rhamphorhynchus at 1:07 PM on March 11

O.P.> did the entire thing in sandals
Ayeee, not a steel capped boot to be seen at all at all. At least Emil doesn't adopt a feet-wide stance on the Saxon Bar like the two previous competitors 130secs in. I say this as one who contrived to drop the back-gate of a dumper-trailer in my left foot 25 years ago. I answer to crooked-toes.
posted by BobTheScientist at 1:15 PM on March 11

I love that he unintentionally sets a world record and I wonder if more climbers show up next year. I also love that he tops the mass efficiency chart of “lifted weight to body weight” ratios. Totally enjoyed watching this, thanks for sharing.
posted by Callisto Prime at 3:01 PM on March 11 [1 favorite]

Strength to weight ratio is what climbing is all about!
posted by alex_skazat at 6:23 PM on March 11

If this has inspired people to do grip training, you'll want to read this extreme nerd-out on how to do grip training.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 7:48 PM on March 11

This was fun to watch. it also seemed like he was limited by the fact that as many of the objects got larger, they were also just harder to lift because there was an assumption that they would be lifted by very large men with very large hands. It's hard to grip a thing if you can't wrap your fingers around it.
posted by rockindata at 6:31 AM on March 12

I agree -- I saw that a bit in the rocks. He was allowed to skip some and go for heavier weights and it seemed like he skipped some of the rounder ones in favour of the longer skinnier ones because they fit better in his hands.
posted by jacquilynne at 6:49 AM on March 12

Which is interesting for a sloper specialist.
posted by rhamphorhynchus at 12:48 PM on March 12