On Apr. 27, 2023, recently retired strongman Nick Best shared a clip of himself working out on a seated iso-lateral row machine with six 45-pound plates affixed on each side. Best is shown rowing 244.9 kilograms (540 pounds) for eight repetitions. Best is also seen rowing five 45-pound plates per side (totaling 204.1 kilograms/450 pounds) for 10 reps and four 45-pound plates per side (totaling 163.3 kilograms/360 pounds), also for 10 reps.
According to the caption of Best’s post, the row machine routine at this high weight comes on the heels of an early-January 2023 nephrectomy — surgical removal of either of the kidneys. Best had previously posted on Instagram detailing his necessary kidney removal due to a diagnosis of stage one renal cell carcinoma.
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By his standards, Nick Best has seemed to keep it somewhat easy in the weight room lately. While he’s still posting regular training updates that likely require massive power and strength from his home facility, Best has dialed it back in some official respects.
Some of Best’s other recent training sessions are aligned with the established precedent of a seasoned strength star.
In mid-April 2023, Best completed 52.1-kilogram (115-pound) dips for 10 reps and combined them with 47.6-kilogram (105-pound) dumbbell bench presses during a chest day workout. Before that, Best had a leg day where he completed a top back squat of 332.5 kilograms (735 pounds) while wearing a lifting belt and knee wraps. If the athlete lost any strength after his recent kidney operation, it’s not apparent how it affected him based on these examples of his lifts.
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Best turned 54 in November and hasn’t shown any evident signs of slowing down. After all, shining in powerlifting still seems to be present in his front-view mirror. Even despite his operation and a devastating lat injury from Spring 2021, he resembles an athlete with the intent to continue picking up (pun intended) where he leaves off.
For over 16 years, Nick Best was a fixture on the competitive strongman circuit. As a simultaneous powerlifter for much of that time, he developed a reputation for being one of the more versatile strength sports athletes of his era. In at least one competitive avenue, the 54-year-old athlete is formally drawing the curtains.
After finishing in second place to Mark Felix in the Masters (50-plus) World’s Strongest Man competition during the 2022 Official Strongman Games (OSG) in Daytona Beach, FL, on Nov. 13, 2022, Best did something a little out of the ordinary. He left his performance shoes behind, revealing he would beretiring from strongman competition.
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In a post-competition interview from the livestream, Best was understandably emotional over the weight of his decision. He had nothing but kind words for a rewarding endeavor of which he had dedicated himself to for years.
“Thank you all so much,” Best said. “I love this sport with all my heart, and it’s been a wonderful ride.”
The 2022 OSG was Best’s first strongman contest since an appearance at the 2020 World’s Strongest Man (WSM). After an unfortunate lat muscle tear in April 2021 that temporarily derailed much of his training and competitive plans — a second-place result in his strongman swan song roughly just a year and a half later is commendable.
According to BarBend, while Best is retiring from full-time strongman contests, he did not rule out featuring as a professional powerlifter or any future singular attempts at breaking a strongman record. One-off short strongman events aren’t out of the question either, depending on what is detailed. Best noted he will be participating in an undisclosed full powerlifting meet in May where he wants to become the oldest man ever to record a 1000-kilogram (2,204-pound) total.
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Given the extended time he spent as a competitive strongman, Best can count on plenty of highlights on his strongman resume.
Among the potentially more notable achievements, Best won the 2009 Jesse Marunde Memorial Invitational, as well as the 2016 Masters (40-plus) World’s Strongest Man and the 2016 Giants Live North American Open contests. From 2010-2020, he was a mainstay at the flagship WSM, notching his best-ever result of sixth place in 2010 and once again finished in the top 10 in 2017.
While Best refocuses his energies outside of major strongman contests, this likely won’t be the last anyone in the strength sports community hears of the icon. For a dedicated and experienced athlete like him, it might just be the beginning of the next promising phase of his overall competitive career.
When it comes to making a lasting impact, few strongman athletes can compare to the sizable footsteps of Žydrūnas Savickas. A four-time World’s Strongest Man (WSM) champion (2009, 2010, 2012, and 2014), among other illustrious achievements, Savickas is one of the most decorated people ever to lift an Atlas stone or press a log over their head.
On March 27, 2022, the Lithuanian strongman, known as “Big Z,” appeared on Nick Best‘s podcast, Legends of Iron. Alongside his fellow strongman and bodybuilding co-hosts — Jon Andersen and Akim Williams — Best and Co. appeared to leave no stone unturned (pun unintended) when it came to Savickas, the strongman, and Savickas, the person.
In an illuminating conversation, Savickas detailed how he made his career so exceptional and, in the process, what he’d tell rising strongmen to do if they wanted to emulate his uncommon ledger of work.
Advice to Future Rising Stars
In a professional career that dates back almost three decades, there are few things Savickas hasn’t seen or lifted. Due to that longevity and his possession of at least one championship in the prestigious WSM, the Arnold Classic (ASC), and the Europe Strongest Man’s (ESM), many argue “Big Z” is the greatest strongman of all time. It could be hard to find a rebuttal to someone with over 300 trophies (his words) and counting.
At the age of 46, Savickas still competes fairly regularly. Since April 2018, he’s had a hand in 10 sanctioned events, including a notable win in the 2020 Lithuania’s Strongest Man.
Here’s Big Z’s advice for young strongman athletes who want to be tremendous and model themselves after a professional career that began on the very precipice of adulthood.
Always Have Big Goals
In discussing his beginnings in his home country of Lithuania, Savickas muses that he wanted to reach lofty heights from the start.
“I first went to the gym when I was 13, and of course, I started to build muscle, get stronger,” says Savickas. “Later, I saw a strongman competition, and I wanted to compete there…and when I was 16 [in a competition], all the athletes were 25, 30, 35, and I was just a kid.”
The contrast didn’t stop there. It appeared Savickas wasn’t afraid of these ostensibly more seasoned competitors in this undisclosed event. He wanted to win anyway. He says an athlete in a similar position today should have the same approach.
Aim high, keep the ambition as motivation for a diligent effort, and let the rest take care of itself.
“My goal from the first competition was to win first place,” says Savickas. “The big goals help to motivate every day for hard work.”
It took some time before Savickas made a name for himself on the international scene. For example, he didn’t qualify for the WSM Finals until he was 26-years-old in 2002. Years later, he won first place and captured the esteemed Barry Frank Trophy during the 2009 World’s Strongest Man — well over a decade into his strongman endeavors.
During this period, Savickas says he never fretted over his career pace. He bided his time, gradually built his strength, and won events he competed in when he could. He didn’t stress, and he didn’t rush because, according to him, an excellent strongman career takes time.
“A lot of young guys try to get ready, and [they] get strong very fast, and [they] get injured,” Savickas says. “Don’t make that mistake.”
How to Set World Records
In what might have been the first-ever reveal, Savickas said he never intentionally tried to break any records during competitions. His 20 world records — like a 228-kilogram max log press (502.6 pounds) set during the 2015 Arnold Strongman Classic Brazil— came as a result of the Lithuanian trying his best and coming out on top anyway.
He controlled what he could control and flourished.
“The funny and the sad thing is that I never prepared for any world record in my life,” Savickas says. “[During] m best years, there was no money for records, there were no special events to make the world record, and it just happened.”
From this perspective, Savickas says a young strongman shouldn’t necessarily overthink their place. They should focus on competing and let the dominoes fall accordingly.
“I just went to [a] competition, competed, I feel great that day, and I will try to get a great lift — oh, [a] new world record.”
Whenever Savickas does decide to hang his lifting belt up, he can rest assured his place in strongman history is secure. Here are some of the more notable achievements of Savickas’ career:
As far as what he thinks his ultimate legacy will be, Savickas didn’t mince his words.
He beat some incredible, powerful athletes repeatedly, and, while not impossible, he believes that kind of consistency will be hard to replicate in the future.
“The main thing that I did was I won the most competitions ever in strongman sport,” Savickas says. “And it’s difficult to repeat because the level of the athletes is more close. And it’s difficult to dominate because everybody’s strong now. You make one mistake, and you [don’t win] the competition.”
Perhaps if a current young unknown strongman follows Savickas’ tried and true tenets, they might be able to challenge him someday.
Roughly 11 months after tearing his lat, strongman Nick Best pulled 755 pounds off of the floor — raw. Now that’s what you call a comeback.
Best’s injury happened during the 2021 WRPF Kern US Open on April 24-25 (where he ranked third overall). Ever since he’s taken the appropriate time and steps to heal while he trains. His latest recovery feat — the staggering deadlift session recorded in his garage — might signify that he’s well on his way back to competing.
On March 27, 2022, Best shared a video of him pulling a 342.5-kilogram (755-pound) deadlift on his Instagram profile. Also of note, the strongman opted for an over-under grip and did not use straps.
What makes this deadlift all the more impressive is that Best’s 755-pound pull isn’t dramatically far off from his best-ever deadlifts.
According to Open Powerlifting, Best pulled a career-best 382.46-kilogram deadlift (843.2 pounds) at the 2017 American Cup Los Angeles Fit Expo. Perhaps more importantly, it eclipses Best’s top recorded pull at the 2021 WRPF US Kern Open, where he sustained his lat injury. There, he notched a 330-kilogram deadlift (727.5 pounds). Best surpassed that mark at home — while using a conventional stance and wearing a lifting belt— by an astounding 12.47 kilograms (27.5 pounds).
Nick Best’s Career
Best is no stranger to the competitive, professional scene. In a strength sports career dating back four decades, he’s appeared in 28 sanctioned powerlifting meets, winning 63 percent of the time (17 victories). Some major highlights include a gold-medal finish in his powerlifting debut at the 1991 United States Powerlifting Federation (USPF), along with a victory in the 1996 World Drug-Free Powerlifting Federation (WDFPF) World Championships.
Perhaps the most recognizable strongman competition Best has recently participated in is the annual World’s Strongest Man (WSM). Here are his complete career results from the event:
World’s Strongest Man Finishes — Nick Best
2010 WSM — 6th overall
2011 WSM — Qualified
2012 WSM — Qualified
2013 WSM — Qualified
2014 WSM — Qualified
2015 WSM — Qualified
2016 WSM — Qualified
2017 WSM — 10th overall
2018 WSM — Qualified
2020 WSM — Qualified
When it comes to his powerlifting output, Best is no slouch either. Here are his career-best in-competition powerlifts:
Powerlifting Competition Records — Nick Best
Squat — 395 kilograms (870.8 pounds) | Raw W/Wraps
Total — 1,010 kilograms (2226.6 pounds) | Raw W/Wraps
The Road Back
Best entered the 2021 Kern US Open in a good place, coming off a win in his previous powerlifting meet, the 2018 IPL Old Dogs World Cup. As he told BarBend, the powerlifter was hoping to break his own deadlift world record of 370 kilograms (815.7 pounds) in the Over 50, 140-kilogram class.
Best’s world record attempt didn’t go as well as he’d imagined — he tore his left lat muscle at the tendon. While his competition was over, because there’s a limited number of nerves and arteries in tendons, Best thankfully didn’t experience much pain.
It was time to look ahead.
The next step for Best was surgery and then, recovery. According to Best, even this process wasn’t so simple at first. For many people, this sort of surgery would take around an hour. Best’s extensive muscle mass complicated this timeline and his surgery ended up lasting three hours and 45 minutes.
Best didn’t waste any time from there on out. The knowledge he gained about body recovery throughout his lengthy strength-sports career allowed him to hit the ground running. Whereas many people might wait at least three months before starting formal physical therapy, Best was back pushing, pulling, and pressing a lot faster. Between his home gym and different local gyms he now usually trains around three times a week.
The Future
At the time of publishing, Best has not yet announced his next sanctioned competition.
Looking ahead to the near future of the 2022 calendar year, Best could try his hand at the 2022 WRPF FQ Classic 2 on April 30-May 1, 2022, in Las Vegas, NV. He might also consider competing in the 2022 World’s Strongest Man on May 24-May 29, 2022, in Sacramento, CA.
Whatever decision Best makes, it appears he’s still going strong after all these years.
