KAZ—three letters that spell STRENGH. Bill Kazmaier is a living, strength legend. In the early 1980s, he was the strongest man in the world and, perhaps, the strongest human who ever walked the earth. He had no weaknesses, only strengths. Squatting, overhead pressing, deadlifting, boulder lifting, curling, bar bending, bench pressing—he was freakishly strong in everything. And unlike so many other super-heavyweights, he looked as strong as he was. At a densely muscular, surprisingly lean, 300+ pounds, with traps that strived to touch his ears, Bill Kazmaier was the strength athlete many bodybuilders wanted to look like and every powerlifter and strongman strived to emulate. This is the story of that living legend—Kaz.
THE RISE OF KAZ
Of German ancestry, William Kazmaier was born on December 30, 1953, in Burlington, Wisconsin—a small town of then around 5000 residents, 35 miles southeast of Milwaukee. It’s home to a Nestlé chocolate factory and NFL quarterback Tony Romo. From an early age, Bill Kazmaier’s physical aptitude and intense determination set him apart. When he was merely 10, he pressed a weight overhead that equaled his 110-pound bodyweight.
“I’ve always been strong, but it was the desire to test my limits that drove me,” Kaz said. The first time he deadlifted when a teenager, he pulled over 400 pounds. The slightly under 6’3” Kazmaier was a star athlete in high school, and played football for two years at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Lifting weights at the Madison YMCA, he learned the fundamentals of powerlifting. He also had a spiritual awakening after reading Psalms 40. With his natural strength, intense training, and steroids (Kaz has been truthful about his usage), he excelled at the new sport of powerlifting.
“I really did not have any teachers,” he stated. “I trained and followed the discipline of powerlifting, and I felt there was something special going on.” Was there ever! At the 1978 National Powerlifting Championships, when only 24 and still an novice, Kaz squatted 783 pounds, bench pressed 535, and deadlifted 805. The deadlift made up a 55+ pound deficit to Dave Waddington, so that both men tied for the class title and the biggest total in the meet. Kaz wouldn’t be denied. “Strength isn’t just about muscle,” Kazmaier stated, “it’s about heart, dedication, and an unbreakable will.”
DOMINATING POWERLIFTING
In 1979, weighing 316 pounds, Bill Kazmaier set an all-class world record with a bench press of 622.8 pounds (282.5 kg.) on the way to winning his first World Powerlifting Championship. That same year, he entered the third annual World’s Strongest Man competition in Studio City, California, placing third overall, barely edged out for second. After struggling financially in California, he settled in Auburn, Alabama, first working in strength research at Auburn University and then for a barbell company. This Upper Midwesterner made the Deep South city of Auburn his home for decades. He opened Kaz Fitness Center there in the early 1980s.
Kazmaier’s dedication to powerlifting was uncompromising. Many others with world-class strength were superior in one or two of the three powerlifts, favoring either lower body or upper body power. Kaz “specialized” in the squat and bench press and deadlift. His upper body and lower body were both freakishly strong.
In 1981, at 28, weighing 325, he became the first powerlifter to total over 2,400 pounds, hitting 2425—a staggering achievement that was unheard of at the time. His world record total featured an 838-pound deadlift, a 926-pound squat, and a world record 661-pound bench press; and, though it occurred at the West Georgia Open Powerlifting Championships, it earned him international recognition. “When you stand in front of a bar loaded with nearly half a ton of iron, it’s you and your limits,” Kazmaier said. “And in that moment, you have to decide to be unbreakable.”
BILL KAZMAIER’S BIGGEST OFFICIAL LIFTS
SQUAT – 925.9 lbs. (420 kg.)
BENCH PRESS – 661.4 lbs. (300 kg.) World Record: 1981-84
DEADLIFT – 837.7 lbs. (380 kg.)
TOTAL – 2425 lbs. (1100 kg.) World Record: 1981-89
DOMINATING STRONGMAN
It was the World’s Strongest Man that brought Kaz his greatest fame and bolstered his legend. After his third-place finish in his WSM debut in 1979, he returned to win the World’s Strongest Man in 1980, 1981, and 1982, dominating each year and becoming the first three-time champ. Hulking and grinning on TV screens in living rooms around the globe, Bill Kazmaier became world-famous as the strongest human on the planet. And the gregarious giant, became the face (and body) of heavy weight-training for a generation of gym rats.
“You have to believe you’re the best. That’s not arrogance—that’s necessity,” he explained about his mindset before competitions. Kaz’s best WSM lifts included a 370-pound overhead log lift, a 969-pound Smith machine squat, and a 1055-pound partial deadlift (performed with wrist straps and the weight starting 18 inches off the floor). Reflecting on his success, he said, “When you’re lifting, it’s not just about power. It’s about precision, strategy, and mental toughness.”
Bill Kazmaier claims he was so dominant he wasn’t invited to the next four World’s Strongest Man contests in order to allow others to triumph. Some conjecture it had more to do with American Franco Columbu successfully suing the WSM in 1982 for a million-dollar settlement because of his knee dislocation in 1977’s first World’s Strongest Man. What’s clear is that WSM promoters focused more on non-American competitors as they staged the contest in a different country around the globe each year. After 1982, the contest moved out of the USA for, with one exception, the next 24 years. And, whereas winners of the first six contests, all staged in the USA (1977-82), were all Americans, another American did not win until 2006.
Meanwhile, Kaz again won the super-heavy division at the World Powerlifting Championships in 1983, after also winning the American title in two different organizations. And he won other strongman competitions. He triumphed at the prestigious Highland Games in Scotland the six times he entered from 1984-89. The World’s Strongest Man wasn’t held in 1987, but Bill Kazmaier entered it again in 1988 at 34. He was leading going into the final two events, but, due to a miscue on the high throw, he finished second. Hobbled by injuries, Kaz finished fourth in the 1989 World’s Strongest Man, his final WSM.
KAZ’S OTHER PURSUITS
Bill Kazmaier tried out for the Green Bay Packers in 1981 but did not make the team. In 1986, he began pro wrestling. He wrestled for smaller outfits before joining the WCW in 1991. Billed as the strongest man in the world, Kaz received several heavyweight title shots, but no title. By accounts, he wasn’t much of a character and not very agile. Kaz kept it real, and his fake wrestling career floundered.
In 1991, in Perth, Australia, he became the first person in a verified lift to press the Inch dumbbell overhead with one hand. (After lifting the dumbbell off the floor with one hand, he used his other hand to help clean the dumbbell to his shoulder. Then he pressed with one hand.) This replica of the original lnch dumbbell weighed 174 lbs. (79 kg.), over a pound more than the original, with a thick handle that makes just gripping and lifting it an insurmountable challenge for most strongmen.
Kaz has traveled widely around the world, giving seminars, and proselytizing for both power and the power of Christ. He was an annual TV commentator at the World’s Strongest Man, and he continues to emcee strength contests. He sold strength equipment, and he kept his Kaz Fitness Center in Auburn until 2005. After which, he shortly owned another gym. A few years ago, he even had his own coffee company, named, of course, Kaz Koffee. Today, he provides online strength coaching. He has two children, including son Eric, who lives in Texas.
BILL KAZMAIER TODAY
In recent years, Bill Kazmaier moved to the Philippines. In January, it was announced that the 71-year-old legend had an angioplasty following a heart attack. At this writing, he still needs two more surgeries: a pacemaker and a valve replacement. A gofundme account was set up to help him with the expenses.
BILL KAZMAIER: THE LEGEND
When we asked A.I. to rank the top 10 strongest men of all-time, Bill Kazmaier came in at number six. His 2425-pound powerlifting total in a single-ply suit is still among the best ever, 36 years later. He three-peated as World’s Strongest Man, and may have won several more if he’d competed as his strength peak in the years just after 1982. (The record is five.) Even now when people think of strength, many think first of Kaz. He was tall, but not freakishly so like some modern strongmen. And he’d armored his 300+ bodyweight with muscle, instead of padding it with fat like some super-heavyweight powerlifters then and now. Though Kaz looked crazy strong, he was even stronger than he looked.
Bill Kazmaier gets the final word on strength: “A lift begins in the mind. If you can see yourself completing it, you’re halfway there. The body is remarkable. It heals, it adapts, and it rebuilds—but only if the mind is strong enough to push it there. Anyone can lift weights, but true strength comes from within. Strength isn’t just for the arena or the platform. It’s for life. Strength means resilience, discipline, and never backing down. Keep pushing, keep striving, and never give up. If you want to be the strongest, you must become unbreakable.”
