Licis confronted his hardest problem but: stone lifting at 5,200 meters.
Final up to date on December twenty second, 2024
2019 World’s Strongest Man (WSM) champion Martins Licis just lately ventured into the mountains of Tibet to study the traditional artwork of stone-lifting with ropes. For the primary 72 hours earlier than his journey north, Licis was restricted to minimal actions to acclimate.
Licis and crew began their ascent, stopping in Lhasa to see the 1,300-year-old structure. Subsequent, they scaled as much as the sacred Lake Namtso and the stone-lifting mountain at 17,000 toes above sea degree.
“Turning into pants felt like a mile run,” Licis confessed, having by no means been to these altitudes. For comparability, the WSM contest, most just lately held in California — the place it is going to even be in 2025 — is simply 26 toes above sea degree. The Strongest Man on Earth contest in Colorado is 5,100 toes excessive.
“It’s a private problem,” Licis declared. “Simply making an attempt to remain alive feels loopy.”
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What Is Tibetian Model Stone Lifting?
The Tibetans use a big, rectangular cuboid as a substitute of the standard spherical Atlas Stones in Strongman contests. In the course of the stone-lifting pageant, rivals hoist 140-kilogram (308-pound) stones from the ground onto their backs, utilizing a rope for leverage. They then carry the stones for a most distance.
Whereas that weight is comparatively gentle for Licis, who’s outmuscled the strongest athletes on the earth at main Strongman exhibits — he’s a WSM, Arnold Strongman Basic, and Rogue Strongman Invitational champion — the elevation proved immensely difficult. He began with a small rock to study and polish his method. Then, with a lift of oxygen, Licis carried a 130-kilogram (286-pound) stone on his again earlier than hitting a squat.
Lifting these stones felt unbelievable; felt I may elevate something.
—Martins Licis
After churning via 286 kilos, Licis elevated the load. However with out his trusty oxygen can, He admitted that merely bending down to choose up the stones was one of many hardest feats of power he’s ever carried out.
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Featured picture: @martinslicis on Instagram