I never got to see the Camberwell Werewolf, despite travelling in that vicinity regularly for a few years, mostly after dark. It was a vague preposterous tale, a throwback of a bygone age that appeared in a national newspaper’s weird news section. I’m not saying I believe it, but I like the possibility. I’ve always […]
I read the Saga of Grettir the Strong around twenty-eight years ago. I was an aspiring strongman with a love of mythology. I’d been injured badly when I was 13, recovered and was still on the up with plenty of hope and ambition. It’s no spoiler to reveal that Grettir wasn’t the easiest to get […]
Att träna hårt utan musik är som att äta äppelkaka utan vaniljsås – något fattas. Att lyssna på musik från en dålig högtalare är som att äta den där äpplekakan där vaniljsåsen är utbytt mot klorin. Ett bra hemmagym behöver därför en bra högtalare. Så, vilken högtalare passar bäst för hemmagymmet? Här tipsar vi om […]
What else to do when fuel prices spiral upwards daily than take your friends on a long road trip? Odin and Chopper drove 325km to meet me, and continued 455km as passengers. Atom Bomb had been on night shift and decided to meet us there and ride back. It being a holiday weekend, traffic was […]
Cooking was not something that I thought highly of when I was a child. Eating, that was another matter but the corelation between the two was not obvious to me until later. I spent many Saturday mornings at my Nan’s house marvelling at the food she produced. Better than any restaurant then or since. Conversely, […]
Dragging the lump of tree through the woods was hard enough but brambles and briars pulling at my ankles gave some extra hinderance. My general strategy for manual labour is to move slowly with a big load, rather than make several smaller journeys. Another tug at the ankle made me think of dark horror movies […]
Här kommer information om SSM-kvalet i Ockelbo: Grenar: Kan komma att ändras, ev stryks bagtoss WSM-böj för reps – Raw, apollon, ner till bockar, 285kg, 60 sek, körs i par Farmershold – Bälte och magnesium, körs i par, 190kg per näve, längst tid vinner Stock – Reps, hela vägen, körs i par, 145 kg, 75 […]
Twenty-seven years ago I was having fun in the heats of the UK Strongest Man competition where I was strong enough to move the kit about but never near to qualifying for the afternoon sessions. The best battled for a place in the finals to be held elsewhere. Britains Strongest Man on at the same […]
I listened to some smooth Jazz on the solitary drive North to Preston for a regional armwrestling warzone tournament which was just as well given the time spent stuck in traffic. How do the people who listen to death metal feel under similar circumstances? I imagine it would be stressful. Dave Brubeck, Paul Desmond and […]
Snart drar årets strongmansäsong igång igen. Sveriges Starkaste Man 2026 består av fyra kval från norr till söder, och finalen hålls i vanlig ordning i Malmö. Här är datumen du ska ringa in i almenackan: Kval 1 – 30/5 – Skånes Starkaste Man Sjöbo Kval 2 – 27/6 – Ockelbo-kvalet Ockelbo Marknad, Ockelbo Kval 3 […]
We met at 0610 for the first stage of our roadtrip. Three road warriors – Max, Stevo and l (Dan) set off to take our chances alongside 918 others at the Danish open judo cup in Odense. There was some uncertainty despite resolve as between the three of us we have a fractured shoulder, broken […]
Before the age of eleven I cycled a lot with my Dad. Mum was unimpressed. “How far are you taking that boy?” He’d answer: “Never more than 11km.” It wasn’t really a lie. In later years retracing the routes I can confirm we had not been further than 11km in a straight line from home […]
The endless road led me back to the Grip Factory for a steel bending masterclass. Multi time world record holder and organiser David Horne is legendary in the world of grip and is dedicated to keeping alive strength traditions from an age some have forgotten existed. In the UK (and maybe many other places) strongmen […]
One of the weekly sessions I used to do through the winter several years ago involved very little effort. I was training to swim the English Channel and every Wednesday evening I would make a simple immersion on a boat slipway of a lake. My friends and I would sit or stand in the dark, […]
Working alone on the deer paths managing a woodland provides plenty of thinking time. I made my rounds last week checking for storm damage & reflected I had started managing the site a decade ago. I’d achieved a lot of ambitions & didn’t have anything pressing on the horizon. As Louie Simmons said in one […]
Dagen efter att Anders Axklo hade publicerat sin sista fredagskrönika här på MAXstyrka fick jag ett mejl från en man som heter Dan Earthquake. Han presenterade sig och berättade kort om sin idrottsbakgrund som innefattade både strongman, styrkelyft, armbrytning och sin roll som ”President of the Professional Armwrestling Association of UK & IRELAND”. Han skrev […]
In 2019 Anders Axklo commentated for the live audience of the PAL TOP 8 (the worlds biggest arm wrestling show). I watched the broadcast. Around the same time the International Federation of Arm wrestling formed and I noticed it was him giving the opening broadcast as President. We met for the first time at the […]
Ansökan är nu öppen för kval och final till Sveriges Starkaste Man u120kg. Vi siktar på att få ihop 3 kval med bra spridning i landet. Vi kommer köra en kvalserie så att man samlar poäng från varje kval. Topp-9 i kvalserien går vidare till finalen, tillsammans med fjolårsvinnaren. Topp-10 på varje kval får poäng […]
Det var 2013 som jag började skriva krönikor på Maxstyrka, efter att den förträfflige unge Andreas Johansson frågat mig om jag inte ville skriva något. Jo, på den tiden var han faktiskt ung, numera en medelålders lärare med vuxna barn. Han är dock fortfarande som han själv brukar säga, en stark man fångad i en […]
Det finns få konstanter här i världen. Permafrosten i Sibirien, Norges oljefyndigheter och Grönlands obefintliga attraktionskraft har alla tyckts varit konstanter – precis som den eminenta Fredagskrönikan som demonspeakern och ordkonstnären Anders Axklo punktligt har levererat här på MAXstyrka varje vecka de senaste 12,5 åren. Men, permafrosten har börjat smälta och exponerat fryskonserverade mammutar och […]
