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In the 19th century, the term strongman refers to an exhibitor of strength (before strength sports were codified into weightlifting, powerlifting etc., becoming actual athletic competitions) or circus performers of similar ilk who displayed feats of strength such as the bent press (not to be confused with the bench press, which didn't exist back then), supporting large amounts of weight held overhead at arm's length, steel bending, chain breaking, etc. Large amounts of wrist, hand, and tendon strength were required for these feats, as well as prodigious oblique strength.

In the late 20th century the term strongman changed to describe one who competes in strength athletics - a more modern eclectic strength competition in which competitors lift rocks, tote refrigerators, pull trains, walk while towing an eighteen wheel truck behind them, etc. The most famous competition of this type is World's Strongest Man and the " World's Strongest Man Super Series", however North American Strongman, Inc. (NAS) holds amateur and other meets throughout the United States. In recent years, interest in the sport at the grassroots level has skyrocketed, leading to the spontaneous formation of local clubs, loosely affiliated with provincial/state and national associations.

Many sports-specific training facilities have begun to incorporate movements associated with strongman competitions into their general training schemes, albeit with lighter weights used; e.g. tire flips, sled drags, object loading or carrying, log pressing, farmer's walks and so on.

Strongman is often incorrectly used to describe a person who does weightlifting or bodybuilding. This is not exactly true, as neither existed at the time. Interestingly, nineteenth century bodybuilders were expected to mingle with the crowd during intermission and perform strength feats like card tearing, nail bending, etc. to demonstrate strength as well as symmetry and size. Also, many strongmen were superbly built and sold photos of themselves nude or near-nude, flexing and posing (although what they considered the epitome of male beauty was different from modern ideals - particularly the very low emphasis on chest size, and great emphasis on oblique size, and symmetry.

• Paul Edward Anderson
• The Great Antonio
• Charles Atlas
• Zishe Breitbart
• Louis Cyr
• Hermann Goerner
• Angus Graham
• Georg Hackenschmidt
• Karnov (Jinborov Karnovski)
• Georg Lurich
• Angus MacAskill
• Grutte Pier
• Ivan Poddubniy
• Dennis Rogers
• Eugen Sandow
• Arthur Saxon
• Dara Singh Randhawa
• Alexander Zass

• Jouko Ahola
• Gerrit Badenhorst
• Matías Ballejos
• Geoff Capes
• Georges Christen
• Dominic Filiou
• Hugo Girard
• Mark Henry
• Danny Herrera
• Svend Karlsen
• Bill Kazmaier
• Magnus Ver Magnusson
• Jesse Marunde
• Kevin Nee
• Elbrus Nigmatullin
• Thomas Oelfke
• Travis Ortmayer
• Sławomir Orzeł
• Dave Ostlund
• Ted van der Parre
• Johnny Perry
• Phil Pfister
• Derek Poundstone
• Mariusz Pudzianowski
• Flemming Rasmussen
• Don Reinhoudt
• Jamie Reeves
• Glenn Ross
• Žydrūnas Savickas
• Magnus Samuelsson
• Jon Pall Sigmarsson
• Dalip Singh
• Gary Taylor
• Vasyl Virastyuk
• Janne Virtanen
• Mark Wechter
• Bruce Wilhelm

• Grip strength
• Lifting stone
• Strongwoman

• Oldtime Strongman Feats of Strength In The Modern Era
• Oldtime Strongmen History and Physical Culture Site