I have been out to dinner with him and spent a decent amount of time with him at competitions. He is a very nice guy....His hands are literally about a foot long each. They are MASSIVE. Only in person would you understand...
I judged him at WSM Madison Square Garden as well as many other competitions since 2007.. I personally watched him deadlift 800lbs, the way you and I would deadlift 135lbs. When he got to 900lbs, he dragged the weight up his leg and I watched it peel the skin off his leg and he kept going and just missed locking it out. Poundstone or Ortmayer won with 900+ lbs, so I knew Mark was hurt. His deadlift is by far the best of any competitor. His arms are super long and his hands are mitts.
This is a video from WSM Madison Square Garden 2008..watch him pickup the weight...You can see me as a judge many times in the video, Im the short one in long black pants. I have hair in the video. At 1:06 I am standing directly in front of Poundstone clapping. At 1:49 I am to the right of Jouko Ahola the main judge and past Worlds Strongest Man Competitor. Me in the middle and to my right is Odd Haugen, WSM competitor and Part owner of Giants Live and Dot Fit. I consider myself very fortunate to have met and judged these men in my lifetime. They are once in a lifetime type of experiences. We all went to dinner after this in NYC. It was insane walking around with 10 WSM competitors. Mariusz Pudzianowski was there faking an injury only to win the title of Worlds Strongest Man shortly thereafter.
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