LegendaryLife Profile: Bill Kazmaier
In the world of strongmen, the legend of Bill Kazmaier lives on due to his incredible super human strength and his ability to get a crowd hyped up as he impressed them with his raw power.
Bill Kazmaier’s early years
Bill Kazmaier was born in Burlington, Wisconsin on December 30th, 1953. He played football for the University of Wisconsin-Madison during the 1973 season but then left for the pursuit of powerlifting.
Bill Kazmaier’s brute strength achievements
To say that he was a powerful man is an understatement, he was known to have dumbbell curled 100 pounds 41 times in a row with one arm, curling 315 pounds 15 times and even became the first man to ever do all of MacGlashen stones! Here are more impressive numbers, he was able to do a 925 pound squat with an injury and performed a 907 pound deadlift! He also performed regularly as part of his training 900 pound triple squats and 633 pound triple bench presses! At this time, there where no bench shirts or suits that are used by many powerlifters today, this was just raw power.
A few years later, in 1979, he won both the American Powerlifting Championship and IPF (International Powerlifting Federation) championship. Bill Kazmaier’s incredible strength blew away the competition when he was the first person to ever bench press over 300kg (661 pounds) in competition and achieved an incredible career best of 1 100kg (2 425 pounds) in raw powerlifting without the use of a powerlifting shirt.
Following this success, Bill Kazmaier was invited to compete in the Worlds Strongest Man competition, which he won 3 times in a row (1980, 1981, 1982). He so much dominated the field that he wasn’t invited back until several years later where he placed a respectable 2nd (1988) and 4rd (1989). He had suffered a major pectoral tear that required him to retire away from strength based competition for a few years.
Bill Kazmaier: later in life
Bill Kazmaier later dabbed in the world of wrestling who, like Andre the Giant, could have easily torn his competitors to shreds but decided instead to play the game, never winning a championship and loosing several times. This is a testament to his ability to not take himself too seriously. He even played briefly for the Green Bay Packers and opened a gym which closed in 2005.
Bill Kazmaier Trivia
He was known for his varacious apetite, at over 300 pounds, he could eat just about anybody under the table, nowhere was this more impressive then his ability to consume a thousand goldfish in one shot in which he would simply drink out an aquarium.
Bill Kazmaier Multimedia Tribute
The Bottom Line
Bill Kazmaier was to powerlifting what Arnold Schwarzenegger was to bodybuilding, both giants in their respective fields.
Buzvia: Bill Kazmaier profile on bodybuildingdotcom and Bill Kazmaier on Wikipedia
See also: LegendaryLife Profile: Sergio “The Myth” Oliva and LegendaryLife Profile: Mariusz Pudzianowski
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Mr. Kazmaier i’m a great fan of yours and the Met-Rx World’s Strongman competitions. I would love to see an event, I live in New York City. Can you please share with me how I can find out when there’s an Strongman competition coming up near me. I thank you so much for all you’ve done for the sport and your great knowledge and comments during the shows.
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I am a fan of him as well, I wished I had the build and passion that he and other strongmen have for their sport… but my purpose on this Earth is meant for other things… he is an incredible guy no matter how you look at it and a great inspiration to me as well.
bloody stunning, what a man, He was the man the myth the legend, great vid!!!!
The reference to Kazmaier’s wrestling that he ‘could have easily torn his competitors to shreds but decided instead to play the game, never winning a championship and loosing several times’ is fantasy. The best Olympic Freestyle & Greco-Roman wrestlers have more than strength.
Remember when Kazmaier was flattened by the American Footballers in the old World’s Strongest Man competition. If Kazmaier had devoted his life to wrestling who knows???
I had the great pleasure to meet Bill Kazmaier at the 2008 WSM in Charleston, WV, my home town. He is a pure gentleman, through and through. He did all the comentary for the events, but he always had time to say hello, sign an autograph, or have a picture made with him. He never said, no. I lifted a lot in college and used his Kaz Quest programs. I followed his career and records back then. Little did I know that some 25 years later I would get to meet and talk to him. He has a great sense of humor, suggesting to me and some others that we skip work and come to all the events for the WSM. And, I did just that. I only missed one.
Bill kazmaier is the real deal.
kaz was from wiconsin payed football first the moved to powerlifting . he gained 40 pounds from 1978 to 1979.
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40lbs is A LOT of weight to gain over the course of a year, even with 100% perfect training/diet so he was either under-weight relative to his genetic potential at the time of had “help”. Either way, he is still an incredibly impressive man by any standard!
-Jon
Gilbert:
40 lbs. is NOT an unthinkable amount of weight to gain over the course of a year. It would take Bill (or anyone) eating about 400 excess calories a day over the course of a year to do it. Please spend a few minutes learning about nutrition before you make accusations and assumptions.
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40lbs of fat is EASY in a year but 40lbs of muscle is incredibly difficult. It isn’t about just eating excess calories, it’s converting it into muscle that is the hard part. Most natural bodybuilders following a strict diet and regimen are LUCKY if they are able to add a net 5 pounds of muscle per year once they approach their genetic potential. If you aren’t anywhere near this potential, gaining 10-20 pounds of muscle is do-able in a year but still incredibly difficult. Regardless, the man is a legend no matter how he reached is goal.