Edina native one of strongest men in the world

He can lift 400-pound cement stones, pull a C-130 cargo plane and carry two refrigerators at once.
Dave Ostlund is not Superman.

Ostlund competes in the sport of strongman, in which men carry out feats of strength with unusual objects to determine who is the world's strongest man.

Ostlund, 27, a native of Edina who graduated from Edina High School in 1999, described strongman as a decathlon of strength. Events include overhead lift, dragging a heavy object as far as possible, and the yoke walk: walking with something on the person's shoulders. In some competitions, the yoke walk takes the form of carrying a car. The floor and ceiling are removed to allow a person to carry it standing up from the inside.
In September Ostlund, who now lives in Minneapolis, reached the highest point yet of his strongman career, winning third place in the World's Strongest Man competition in Charleston, W. Va. He had finished in sixth place at the 2007 World's Strongest Man competition in Anaheim, Calif.
"If people have seen it on TV or heard about it, they're excited about it and think it's really cool," said Ostlund's wife, Kate. "Other people [incorrectly] think he pulls stuff with his teeth or rips phone books. They have no clue what it is."
Ostlund's parents are Jim and the late Jerrilyn Ostlund of Edina.
Ostlund's interest in strength-building goes back to his time at EHS. He began weight training to help him compete better in shot put and discus. Soon he began weight training for the sole purpose of building muscle, and took weightlifting as an elective as often as he could.
"I got hooked on the whole process of how you can build muscle and make yourself stronger and that whole transformation that takes place," Ostlund said.
He continued weight training while he was enrolled at the University of St. Thomas. During college Ostlund watched a strongman competition on ESPN and wondered how difficult it was. He got some logs out, carved handles into them and started lifting them: his career as a strongman had begun.
In addition to standard weights, Ostlund worked out using rocks and tires. In 2001 he entered his first amateur strongman contest in Lac du Flambeau, Wis., and placed first. As he improved and placed higher, he moved on to the pro circuit and eventually the international circuit.

(Reporting and interview by Jason Kroeker. Video by Craig Lassig. Post-production by Greg Huff)

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• World's Strongest Man
• Dave Ostlund
• strongman
• Edina
• Minnesota

[sportswoman443]

i tried that with my best teacher he trains the world strongest men and he also trains me he nows half of the world strongest men and i tried tht and it hurt my neck cuz he also trains me!!

[estrachota]

I like how you can see Mutsy (the best dog in the world) in the corner of the interview. :)