Benedikt "Benni" Magnússon (; born 4 June 1983) is an Icelandic strongman and powerlifter. He has held the raw deadlift world record since 2011 with . He also set the world record for the heaviest strongman deadlift in 2014 with , which stood until English strongman Eddie Hall lifted the next year.

Strongman and powerlifting career

Benedikt formerly held the world record for the Hummer tire deadlift of 500 kg (1102 lb) at the Arnold Strongman Classic, in which hummer tires are used instead of powerlifting plates under strongman rules where lifting straps are allowed. Benedikt finished fifth at the Arnold Strongman Classic in 2006 & 2008, and was winner of Iceland's Strongest Man in 2003 as well as runner up in 2004 and recently in 2010. Benedikt is the current WPO powerlifting world record holder in the deadlift. He lifted in 2005 in Helsinki. He currently holds the Log Lift Icelandic Record, standing at 180 kg (397 lb). He had the strongman deadlift world record, lifting 460 kg (1015 lb) at MHP's Clash of the Titan's IV ( Ronnie Coleman classic) on 2 April 2011. Benedikt lays out his training routine leading up to his 460 kg (1015 lb) deadlift in two simple steps, starting with the pre-conditioning phase and ending with the muscle-building phase. Between the two phases, he would spend 4–6 days in the gym per week. He is currently sponsored by online sports nutrition brand Myprotein. After his absence from competing due to injury and the following rehabilitation, Benedikt returned and broke the Strongman Deadlift World Record at the Giants Live Strongman competition in Melbourne, Australia by deadlifting 445 kg (981 pounds) RAW with straps. After only eight weeks of training due to an operation to re-attach a finger tendon, Benedikt broke his own strongman deadlift world record at the World Deadlift Championships at Europe's Strongest Man 2014 with a lift of 461 kg (1016 lbs) on a standard bar and plates. Benedikt then went on to compete in the World Deadlift Championships at Europe's Strongest Man 2016, lifting 465 kg (1025 pounds) to equal the strongman world record deadlift on a standard bar, with standard plates, which had been set moments earlier by Eddie Hall. Eddie Hall then went on to be the first person to deadlift 500 kg (1102 pounds), which Benedikt Magnusson attempted also, but was unsuccessful.

Personal life

Benedikt is the brother of fellow Iceland's Strongest Man winner Magnús Magnússon.Saturday, December 17, 2005, ''IFSA Team World Championships: Team Europe vs. Team Scandinavia'', by Randall J. Strossen, Ph.D.IronMind
/ref> Benedikt and Britain's Strongest Woman winner ex wife Gemma Taylor co-owned a heavy lifting gym in Iceland called Super Gym, which ran monthly "raw" (without the aid of lifting suits) competitions including Log Lift Max, Deadlift Max, Rolling Thunder Max,

Bench Press The bench press, or chest press, is a weight training exercise in which the trainee presses a weight upwards while lying on a weight training bench. Although the bench press is a full-body exercise, the muscles primarily used are the pectorali ...

Max, and Squat Max.

Personal records

Powerlifting competition records

''Done in official powerlifting full meets'' * Squat - 420 kg (937.7 lbs) *

Bench press The bench press, or chest press, is a weight training exercise in which the trainee presses a weight upwards while lying on a weight training bench. Although the bench press is a full-body exercise, the muscles primarily used are the pectorali ...

- 220 kg (485 lbs) ''raw'' * Deadlift - 461 kg (1016 lbs) *Total = 1042.5 kg (380/220/442.5) / 2298.3 lbs (837.7/485/975.5) ''raw with wraps'' ''Done in Strongman'' * Deadlift - 465 kg (1025 lbs) (2016 World Deadlift Championships)

References

External links