Seven Days: Vermont's Independent Voice

Test Your Metal

Normal barbells are serious business; transform them into 12-inch-diameter logs with 280 pounds of end-mounted metal, and you’ve got yourself a heavy scene. But that’s to be expected at the Green Mountain Strongman Challenge, a North American Strongman-sanctioned benefit for the American Lung Association of Vermont. Unlike über-muscular body builders, “strongman” competitors care less about how their bodies look than about what they can do: Heavy lifters in Saturday’s showdown must log multiple reps on the aforementioned timber press, raise parked cars, and manipulate five globe-shaped “atlas stones” in weight increments that increase from 200 to 360 pounds each. Newbies of both sexes can register solo or as part of a four-person team for an on-site firetruck-pull fundraiser. Harnessed contestants who successfully haul the vermilion vehicle 50 feet in 90 seconds may consider taking up a hefty new hobby.