On May 12, 2023, Giants Live announced the captains for Team UK and Team USA, and they are the same captains as the 2022 contest — 2017 World’s Strongest Man (WSM) winner Eddie Hall will lead Team UK and the 2019 WSM champion Martins Licis will be at the head of Team USA.

At the time of this article’s publication, neither Hall nor Licis made any statements or shared their thoughts about the announcement. It will be the second time that Hall and Licis face off as captains for their respective nations.

Licis was a replacement captain after Robert Oberst bowed out for undisclosed reasons. Neither man has competed in strongman since the first matchup in the inaugural World’s Strongest Nation event, which was held on Nov. 26, 2022 in Liverpool. The UK team won that contest, but Hall suffered a torn teres minor when competing in the Viking Press.

One of the main highlights of that show came from neither of the WSM champions. Gabi Dixson of Team USA dominated the Hercules Hold event by holding on to the pillars for a time of one minute, 8.61 seconds, which was the longest of any woman and only behind Team UK’s Mark Felix, who managed to maintain his grip for nearly 20 more seconds.

Hall’s and Licis’ teammates — four men and four women on each team — have not been announced as of this writing, but their own accolades make this contest a must-see. Hall was the first man to deadlift 500 kilograms (1,102 pounds) in 2016, and he followed that up by winning the 2017 WSM title.

After winning the 2018 Britain’s Strongest Man contest, he retired from competition. His appearance in the World’s Strongest Nation was his first sanctioned strongman event since. He stayed involved with the sport in a media-based role, rather than directly competing, as well as being one of the stars of the History Channel’s series, Strongest Men in History.

Licis made one of his earliest big impacts on the sport when he won the 2019 Arnold Strongman USA contest, and he finished second in the Arnold Strongman Classic to Hafthor Björnsson. That same year, he won the WSM title. After taking over a year off to recover from injuries, he won the 2021 Rogue Invitational Strongman contest, and he claimed the 2022 Arnold Strongman Classic six months later. Licis finished as the runner-up in that year’s WSM to Tom Stoltman.

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The post Eddie Hall and Martins Licis Named Team Captains for 2023 World’s Strongest Nation Contest appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

As seen at the 8:56 mark in the Youtube video posted on Licis’ channel, he managed to perform a single-arm row with one of the 150-kilogram (330-pound) dumbbells for a quick first rep, followed by two more reps after a very brief pause to re-grip the weight. Watching from behind was Licis’ mentor and renowned grip strength legend Odd Haugen. After an unspecified rest period, Licis then did a second set, getting five reps. Both sets were performed with only chalk on his hands and without the aid of a lifting strap.

Licis and his business partner, Romark Weiss, originally went to the iconic bodybuilding gym with a challenge of having members attempt to lift the legendary Thomas Inch Dumbbell to a standing position using only one hand. The legendary Inch Dumbbell weighs 77 kilograms (170 pounds) and has a handle nearly two and a half inches thick. Licis offered $100 to any person that could complete the challenging lift, and two men managed to perform that feat.

There is no official list of people that have lifted with the Golden Dumbbells, but among those that have done so on camera include 2022 Arnold Classic UK bodybuilding champion Andrew Jacked and social media personality Jake Johns (a.k.a. Big Boy), who performed a single-arm row for 10 reps with the dumbbell. However, they used straps while Licis did not.

Licis is coming off a busy 2022 season that saw him win the Arnold Strongman Classic in Columbus, OH in March, followed by a second-place finish to Tom Stoltman at the 2022 World’s Strongest Man contest in Sacramento, CA. Licis then took fourth place at the 2022 Rogue Invitational strongman contest in Texas. The champion at that event was Oleksii Novikov.

Licis’ 2023 plans are still to be determined. He had previously said that he would like to pursue challenging world records, and he is unsure if he will enter any major contests. His most recent contest appearance was a short notice entry in November 2022 to replace Robert Oberst as the captain of Team USA against Team UK at the 2022 Giants Live World’s Strongest Nation contest. Team UK, captained by 2017 World’s Strongest Man Eddie Hall, won that competition.

Featured Image: @martinslicis on Instagram 

The post Martins Licis Rows 150-Kilogram (330-Pound) Gold’s Gym Golden Dumbbell for Five Reps appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

On Oct. 17, 2022, Licis shared a video of himself capturing a 455-kilogram (1,003-pound) block-pull deadlift for four reps. Per the caption of his post, Licis apparently had “plenty more in reserve” even after finishing the set. Notably, Licis did not disclose the precise heights of the blocks. However, judging by the video, they appear to be roughly half the height of the 6-foot-3 strongman’s calves when standing straight up. The athlete wore a lifting belt and lifting straps, and completed the set while donning just his socks.

 

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Licis’ unique deadlift training is part of his preparation for the upcoming 2022 Rogue Invitational. The American strongman is the defending champion of the contest that will take place on Oct. 28-30, 2022, in Austin, TX. According to Strongman Archives, it will also be Licis’ first appearance in a formal competitive strongman setting since he finished in second place to Tom Stoltman at the 2022 WSM.

Licis is one of the more decorated and accomplished active strongmen. His 2019 WSM title aside, the athlete has also never failed to qualify for the WSM finals in five appearances. His overall precedent shows that he usually fares well amongst his peers in other competitions, too.

Here’s an overview of the more significant results from Licis’ illustrious career to this point:

Martins Licis | Notable Career Results

• 2015 America’s Strongest Man — Second place
• 2017-2018 Ultimate Strongman Summermania — First place
• 2018 Giants Live World Tour Finals — Second place
• 2018 Arnold Europe Arnold Pro Strongman World Series — First place
• 2019-2020 Arnold USA Arnold Pro Strongman World Series — First place
• 2019 WSM — First place
• 2019 Giants Live Wembley — First place
• 2021 Rogue Invitational — First place
• 2022 Arnold Strongman Classic — First place
• 2022 WSM — Second place

At the time of this article’s publication, here is the current roster for the latest edition of the strongman Rogue Invitational:

2022 Rogue Invitational Roster

• Martins Licis — Reigning Champion
• Oleksii Novikov
• Rob Kearney
• Trey Mitchell
• Mitchell Hooper
• Pavlo Nakonechnyy
• Maxime Boudreault
• Bobby Thompson
• Eythór Ingólfsson Melsted
• Kevin Faires

 

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[Related: 4 Workouts with a Single Dumbbell for Muscle, Fat Loss, and More]

This latest deadlift pull might be an example of Licis ramping up his training as he gets set to compete again. Should the strongman successfully repeat as Rogue Invitational champion, it’ll undoubtedly be another impressive notch in the belt for one of the biggest names in strongman.

Featured image: @martinslicis on Instagram

The post Strongman Martins Licis Crushes a Block Pull Deadlift Over 1,000 Pounds for 4 Reps appeared first on Breaking Muscle.