The myth goes:
“The record has been described in the Icelandic Sagas,” said Ilkka Kinnunen who reported on the event for Iron Mind. “The legend of the Icelander Ormur Stórólfsson goes that he walked three steps with a monster wooden log which weighed over 650 kg and was 10 m long. It took 50 mere mortals to help him place it on his back. After he took his third step, his back broke under the enormous pressure and he was never the same after that.”
The genesis of this question comes from an /r/fitness thread, showcasing Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson (the actor who plays The Mountain on HBO's Game of Thrones as well as a competitive weight lifter) breaking a "thousand year old" record by lifting and carrying a 650 kg log 5 steps.
Link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpUrXJNcS_8
Now, a question arose in /r/Fitness - one that I'm an ongoing participant in: Could anyone 1000 years ago have been this strong? Hafþór has to train like a madman, eat like a lion, consume supplements, drink protein shakes, and utilize the greatest knowledge of fitness and weight training in human history in order to be as big and strong as he is. And of course, he might be taking steroids. He's been working over a decade just to be able to life things like that log in the video, and a surprisingly large amount of people in /r/fitness seem to think that an Icelandic guy 1000 years ago could do it without training specifically for such a feat.
For those who aren't aware, weight trainers and bodybuilders (especially ones 6'9") need to eat 5000-8000 calories a day, at least 300g protein daily, and the biggest strongest men do weight training 5-6 times a week pressing massive weight for 3-4 hours in a gym. These are approximate numbers. The point is it takes a phenomenal amount of food and time in a gym to achieve this in modern times.
Now, in my opinion this is a silly question and the the answer is "Of course no one 1000 years ago could be as strong as this guy," but I would absolutely love to be proven wrong, and if any of you find gentlemen and ladies could describe a scenario where an Icelandic person from the year 1000 had the nutrition, genetics, training regime, and knowledge capable of achieving this feat - I want to learn all about it.
Are there verifiable super-strong characters in history?
Many thanks for your time.
Icelandic diet back in those time was rich in fat and proteins - fish(inluding whales), eggs (from wild fowl), dairy (mostly from goats and sheep, often made into cheese and cottage cheese) and mutton. Cereals were mostly used to brew beer (mostly weak 1-2% beer that was drunk with food) and at times make porridge and bread, but played a relative small role in the Icelandic diet. The Norse also ate a lot of peas and beans, vegetables relatively rich in protein.
Ormur Stórólfsson was the grandson of one of the first settlers of Iceland, a man descibed as a chief, so Ormur was of the upper class of Iceland, and most likely had better access to food than most inhabitants. His father, Stórólf Hængursson got his name (Which means Large Wolf) for his large size and strong physique.
So Ormur Stórólfsson's father was very large and strong (suggesting genetics may have been in his favour) and he was from the upper class, ensuring him the best food in a society that already ate a diet very rich in protein and fat.
Wether or not the saga is true is hard to know, however, what I can read on the Saga of Ormur Stórólfsson, it seems like he, like many upper class Norse were trained in warfare from an early age and at one point asked to join a hird. The hird was the personal guard of a great man and a source of his prestige - to keep your hird strong, well-equipped, well-fed and fat was a away to show that you were affluent and took care of yours and thus a man to rely on.
It is likely that Ormur Stórólfsson did not need to work to bring food to his table, since he belonged to the upper class and that he could have his pick of food and more importantly, could spend his time training.
A lot of Norse training in warfare would make you strong - a common way to train strength and flexibility was for a group to grab a shield each, make two shield walls and then line up against each other and attempt to push the other side over in a sort of inverse tug-of-war.
Strangely enough, it's possible, but it would take a true genetic freak -- a man like Angus MacAskill.
MacAskill was born in Scotland in 1825, apparently to normal parents. The young family emigrated from Scotland to Cape Breton Island in Canada around 1831. MacAskill was a normal child by most accounts, but after becoming an adolescent, he began to grow. Rapidly.
By age 20, he was 7 feet, 4 inches tall. He would eventually grow to 7 feet, 9 inches tall. (Some accounts state 7 feet, 10 inches.)
Unlike most giants in the historical record, he was healthy, suffering no persistent problems. All his features were proportional, and he was enormously strong. Because of his height and his strength, he became famous. The showman P.T. Barnum hired MacAskill in 1849 and made him part of his traveling circus. MacAskill was frequently asked to stand next to Tom Thumb or demonstrate feats of strength.
Thanks to the extensive coverage of Barnum's travels -- after all, Barnum was a showman and cultivated publicity -- we know MacAskill existed. The claims of his strength are uncertain. Again, Barnum was a showman, and we don't know how many feats MacAskill actually performed and how much he was said to have done. He's alleged to have:
There are many more, but you get the picture. MacAskill is as much a John Henry legend as he is fact, but we know he was enormously strong. Here's a digital copy of The Cape Breton Giant, a hero-worshipping book published in 1899 about him.
MacAskill died in 1863 in Nova Scotia, having returned to his home with enough money from his strongman tours to buy a grist mill and farmland. He lived peacefully to the end.
Please note that to carry a log (without even having to lift it from the ground), you don't need to be as muscular as Hafþór is. You mostly need to have strong legs and spine. I am pretty sure that a man with Hafþór's genetics and Ormur's lifestyle could have developed a great strength in his legs and his back 1000 years ago. And if his back did actually break, well, then it's even more believable.