Path to power Living the strongman life means special training for special strength Behind the Scenes
By: Eva Wasney Posted: 4:54 PM CDT Wednesday, Jul. 29, 2026

Behind the Scenes: How is the stage lit? Who hangs the paintings? What happens in the dish pit? Behind the Scenes is a recurring series highlighting the important and often invisible work happening at arts and culture venues across Winnipeg.

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Vínarterta and vikings, fashion and fris-nok, music and midway rides. There’s no shortage of entertainment at Íslendingadagurinn, Gimli’s long-running Icelandic cultural festival, but one event in particular has proved a strong draw in recent years.

Since launching in 2022, the Magnús Classic Gimli Strongman competition has become a festival highlight, attracting large crowds to the displays of superhuman strength performed under the watchful eye of the town’s lakeside viking statue.

Interest in the sport has been growing globally as well.

“Everybody and their grandma wants to be a strongman now,” says renowned strongman Magnús Ver Magnússon, the event’s founder and namesake, over a video call from his home in Iceland.

“People want to challenge themselves, and you shouldn’t go through life without challenging yourself.”

Ver Magnússon began competing as a professional strongman in the 1980s and holds the title of World’s Strongest Man four times over. As one of many Icelanders who have dominated on the world stage, he draws a direct line between the sport and his heritage — especially with events involving natural stones weighing hundreds of pounds.

“This is how our ancestors did it on their farms. They carried big rocks when they were making fences or sheep’s pens,” says Ver Magnússon, who grew up on a farm.

Since retiring, the 63-year-old has dedicated his time to getting more athletes of all ages, genders (despite the sport’s name, women also compete) and abilities involved in strongman competitions at the professional and recreational level.

The Gimli contest, which takes place Saturday from noon to 4 p.m., is a qualifier for the Magnús Ver Magnússon Strongman Classic, an international event hosted by Ver Magnússon and held annually in Iceland in November.

For local competitors, the road to Íslendingadagurinn is long and heavy.

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At first glance, Iron Age Strength and Conditioning looks like a regular gym.

Located in a nondescript building in South Point Douglas, the room is filled with weight racks, benches and cardio machines.

It’s the comically large dumbbells and giant cement boulders that set the space apart.

“I also have a fire hydrant,” gym owner Tyler Sigurdson says, pointing to a red hydrant near the door that’s been repurposed as strength-training equipment.

“Strongman is a really weird, specific sport and the more specificity you have in your training, the better result you’re probably going to have.”

The sport is a mix of strength, endurance and spectacle that traces its roots to the circus ring.

Athletes hoist and haul everything from fridges to logs to semi trucks in competitions. The use of everyday objects is entertaining and explanatory, designed to help the audience understand how much weight is being moved.

A World’s Strongest Man titleholder, for example, once deadlifted 525 kilograms (1,157 lbs) of cheese, an accomplishment akin to lifting an adult horse.

“It’s a freakshow in the best way possible,” says Sigurdson, a hulking figure with tattooed kneecaps and a tiny braided rattail.

Sigurdson, 36, is a former bouncer and a well-known Winnipeg Pro Wrestling heel who goes by Tyler Colton, a.k.a Canadian Hercules. He discovered the world of professional strongman 12 years ago while looking for a new workout routine and got hooked on the immense challenge and transparency of the sport.

There’s no way to fake feats of strength. Hard work is required.

During the strongman season — which runs spring to fall in Manitoba, as most competitions are held outdoors — Sigurdson spends three to four hours per day in the gym lifting weights while working on his cardiovascular endurance and mobility.

Today, he’s practising his sandbag throws, one of six events at this year’s Magnús Classic in Gimli. Competitors will be tasked with hucking progressively heavier sand-filled bags over a 4.6-metre (15-foot) bar. Scores are based on how many bags make it over the bar in 60 seconds.

Sigurdson sets up in the parking lot outside Iron Age, where a metal pole is protruding from the top of a fire escape. With his back facing the target, he swings the bag between his legs and sends it flying into the sky with a grunt. He’s warming up with a “light” 15-kg (35-lb) sandbag, but weights can reach upwards of 32 kg (70 lbs) in competition.

After winning in Gimli two years ago, Sigurdson has high expectations for this weekend.

“I can’t go down (in the rankings). I’ve gotta win again, that’s the goal,” he says.

While the prize money is attractive (the top three finishers take home between $500 and $1,000), the chance to return to Iceland is even more tempting.

In 2023, Sigurdson, who is Icelandic, spent three days competing against world-class athletes outdoors as winter was setting in on the remote island. Highlights included sharing the experience with his family and lifting the Húsafell Stone, a legendary stone weighing 186 kg (410 lbs).

“A lot of people consider Iceland like a Mecca for strongman. That show is very, very hard, and to get to do it is showing that you are at that next level,” says Sigurdson.

Back inside the gym, Dan Cadger is preparing for a set of zercher squats. The movement involves squatting with a barbell held in the crook of his elbow to keep the weight concentrated in front of his body.

“I’m hoping that helps with stone loading,” says Cadger, referring to a strongman event that involves lifting an Atlas (a heavy ball of poured concrete) or natural stone from the ground and placing it on a raised platform.

In Gimli, competitors will also be expected to carry the stones between platforms.

Cadger, 32, works as a massage therapist at Iron Age and has been competing in strongman events since 2020. A former construction worker and jiu-jitsu practitioner, he finds the sport appealing because of its variety.

“There’s so many different implements and moves to learn. It makes you a more well-rounded athlete,” he says.

While Cadger’s training is focused on prepping his body for a wide range of movements, competition days are all about keeping his mind calm and focused. He can often be found snacking and listening to blues — Marcus King and Gary Clark Jr. are favourites — between events.

Cadger lives in Sandy Hook and is something of a hometown hero at the Gimli showcase, which he’s participated every year since its inception.

“The atmosphere is super fun. It’s right next to the viking statue, the crowd is all around you and, knock on wood, every year the weather’s been unbelievable,” he says.

Magnús Ver Magnússon will also be in town this weekend, acting as MC during the strongman competition and meeting fans during a special event at the Vingólf Beverage Gardens Friday at 6:30 p.m.

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