Valentin Dikul is, in my opinion, one of the greatest athletes ever to grace the earth. Here is a short biography from one of the following videos:
A circus acrobat, Valentin took a bad fall and broke his back when he was seventeen. Dikul said no to the wheel-chair and painstakingly rehabilitated himself, largely with the help of his trusted kettlebells. But he did not stop there. He proceeded to become a great circus strongman juggling 80kg kettlebells and a powerlifter with mind-boggling lifts at sixty-something years of age!
He is known as the “Maestro” and helped other to overcome back injuries at his clinic with his Dikul Method.
While there is some debate as to the legitimacy of his possible records, there is no doubt that this is a very strong man. Here is a video of his Guinness World Record of 450kg/990lb Squat, 260kg/572lb Bench, 460kg/1012lb Deadlift for a total of 2574 Pounds!
This video shows a strongman feat of squatting up then push pressing a few times two bicycles ridden by two people. Great for any performing strongman.
The following shows some of his juggling with very heavy kettlebells and steel balls in a circus act.
And lastly another feat from his circus act where he supported a car on his shoulders.
Valentin Dikul is not well-known, but he should be. For performing strongmen he would be one to study. For anyone that wants to be strong it would be wise to study his methods and perhaps you can achieve some of his results.
Comments
I agree he should be better known, another great Eastern European strongman is Dimitri Hazaldhi (sp?), I think there’s a lot of strong guys out there who aren’t well known.
As a parallel example, I saw on the Guiness World Records live TV show a few years ago, a gymnast girl was going to do the record for loingest time held in a feat where the performer holds herself up by biting onto a prop with her teeth with her head facing forward and bends her back and legs round to be above her head. I can’t remember the name of the feat but at the time I looked it up on youtube and the first video was about a dozen Chinese girls doing it for twice as long as part of their routine.
@Dave: Yeah I think it was Kim Wood, though I could be wrong and this isn’t exactly a quote, who said the strongest person in the world probably works out in his basement in some random town and no one knows about him.
Why Easter Europe ? Valentinas Dikulis it’s exactly how it spelt !!! Because Dikulis is NOT RUSSIAN HE’S LITHUANIAN !!!! HE BORN AND LIVED IN KAUNAS, LITHUANIA !!! AND LITHUNIA IS NOT EASTERN EUROPE, IT’S NORTH EUROPE !!!! ITS VERY SAD THAT RUSSIANS WAS OCCUPIED LITHUANIA. BUT LITHUANIA’S IS TOTALLY DIFFERENT AND HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH RUSSIA !!!!
Valentin Dikul was born in Lithuania from Ukrainian father and Russian mother. His nationality is not Lithuanian. Very sad that people politicize every aspect of life and people’s achievement when they heir the word Russian. I knew Dikul personally since I was his patient in his rehabilitation center in Moscow. He is definitely the strongest person in the world – physically, emotionally and mentally regardless of nationality.!!
Hi. I’ve seen this website before, and it’s pretty neat. But this post may be a stain. The bicycle and girls feat is not THAT great. He’s basically power jerking somewhat aroud 120kg, which at Dikul’s bodyweight is not amazing. Also, his Guiness “Record” is a complete and total HOAX. Fake. It has been discussed along the web, forums, etc.
Sure, Vlentin is quite a piece, and his rehabilitation (although I’ve never investigated this thoroughly) is something to think about.
Cheers!
His powerlifting record is not a hoax! 450 kg squat, 260 kg bench press and 460 kg deadlift at 59 years! Valentin Dikul have 1,75 m and 120 kg.
discussed on the internet. lol so no legitimate outlets disproving his records. just a bunch of people on the internet saying “no that’s not real”
Pavel Tsatsouline seems to hold this guy in high regard, he mentions him in “Beyond Bodybuilding”, and that’s good enough for me. I wish there was a way to actually study his methods, but I’ve never found anything in English hinting at it, besides Pavel’s brief discussion of him. If anyone finds any of his methods in English, spread the word.
Yeah I’d love to hear more of his training methods myself.
Valentin trains for hours a day. Usually two the three hours before and after his midday meal. He trains using both body building style exercises for very high repetitions, 10 to 18 in squats, deadlifts, bench presses, bent over rows, front presses, press behind neck and barbell curls every other day. He trains alternate days using strongman act based exercises, kettle bell juggling, metal ball juggling, barbell swinging, wrestlers bridge exercises with weights and stretches.
In the afternoons he focuses on heavy lifting and load supporting exercises often with single repetitions holding a load in the lifted position for up to a minute at a time.
where are his knee wraps, compression suit? Doesn’t need them – that’s a TRUE strongman
I bet he bench presses with his back on the bench & not arched up where his navel is almost on the ceiling
You can watch hi lifts on youtube. The guy is legit.