#stone lifting

[carlprayadubia]

[ARTWORK] "Flower Power" - Carl Praya-dubia for Hidden Crypt Records - Collage - June, MMXXV.

Streaming here: https://hiddencryptrecords.bandcamp.com/album/flower-power

[blatentmisinformation]

During the 1970 Colorado Stone Lifting competition a man who introduced himself only as Sisyphus broke the then world record, lifting a 400 pound stone with one arm. He was disqualified as he was not among the competitors slated to compete and failed to provide relevant identity records after the fact. He has never been seen since.

[hydrogenandtime]

Loch Voil Stone, Scotland

124kg, loaded to plinth

[ilikeit-art]

This man is incredible

[stonesandlogs]

View this post on Instagram

Travis Ortmayer is back in action again, after a long hiatus, with a super easy 460lb/209kg stone!

Always one of my favorite strongman competitors to watch!

[longfalloffashortcliff]

Time to go throw up 🤣

[opticflux]

How Megalith Builders Lifted 1000-Ton Stones

You lifted 1000-ton stones by using wooden sledges and plant-fiber ropes to move them over lubricated surfaces, often placed on logs or prepared paths. Carefully built ramps reduced the effort needed to raise these massive stones, while levers helped shift them incrementally. Human and animal labor worked together, coordinating strength and endurance. Early civilizations combined these tools with…

How Megalith Builders Lifted 1000-Ton Stones

[ryanlawlessuntapped]

Melt My Weakness Into Stone

Stone lifting made something clear to me that should have been self-evident from decades of working out and competing in sports.

I suppose it’s something I already understood implicitly, but stone lifting gave me the articulation, the verbiage.

I would like to share it because, much like all of my personal and professional endeavours, I am always seeking the benefit to others in what I do.

Not in a didactic or pedantic sense, though; I don't want to alienate anyone.

More so in the interest of helping those who want to be helped and possibly see something in my actions or beliefs that resonates with them.

As in, "This benefited me in this way, so it is in that spirit that I share it with you."

Essentially, it comes down to a recently learned lesson: 

Strong people get injured trying to get stronger, but weak people get injured because they’re not strong.

Stone lifting is such a perfect modality for this lesson. Each and every stone acts as a teacher and a guide.

The main reason for this is that you can’t fake stone lifting.

Either you can get it off the ground, or you can’t.

The stone doesn't actively resist you, but it can't assist you in your attempt. You either have enough base strength to even start the pull, or you don’t.

And once you do have that strength, you enter a new world where the margin of error shrinks.

You’re now capable of moving objects heavy enough to tear skin, pull muscles, strain tendons, or ruin your day if you’re even slightly off in the process.

But the difference between "slightly off" and a successful stone lift is almost nonexistent from a “did you, didn't you” perspective.

You won't know until you try and the risk won't be known fully until the moment its over.

Maybe not even then.

That margin of error I referenced is only as broad as it needs to be and not a fraction greater.

It reminds me of something I heard many years ago about taking on a seemingly insurmountable challenge, in that to successfully complete it:

"Anything more is not necessary. Anything less is not acceptable."

Stone lifting exists in that exact space. You find yourself not interested in the stones you know you can lift, or in the stones you have already lifted. You are always going to seek out the stone that stops you, or makes you pay a toll to hoist.

It's in that recognition that you realize how much strength asks of you because strong people will push and pull until something gives.

Strength invites heavier loads, higher intensities, and riskier thresholds because being strong is only as satisfying as it is useful.

Weak people, by comparison, often break before they start.

Not because they’ve pushed too far too soon, but because their baseline wasn’t high enough to withstand the demands of the attempt in the first place.

It's not a moral failing, but it is a failure. It's limiting in clear, definable terms that can leave one feeling somewhat diminished. It can be demoralizing.

To be clear, weak or strong doesn't mean better or worse; as in, a person’s worth is based on who is stronger or weaker. It can, however, raise a question of utility.

However, how useful one is based on how strong one might be is very much context-dependent. But it's better to have it in reserve and not need it than to need it and not have it, no?

Strength comes from many places and takes many forms, but I also think that the root of all strength is a matter of how willing one is to test oneself against seemingly immovable objects.

And in that testing, one might get hurt.

Or not.

There's only one way to find out.

Are you strong?

Yes

No

When I need to be

Voting ended onSep 20, 2025