I first encountered John Hadzi when my company, MAX Kettlebells, produced some of the first heavy kettlebells around 2001. We recently posted that we would be selling 145-pound kettlebells on our website, and shortly after, John called from his hometown of Toronto. He asked if we were actually selling 66-kilo kettlebells, and I confirmed that we were. Then he asked for two. Since John would be one of our first heavy kettlebell customers, I was quite excited to see what a strong guy could do with some of our big weights. At the time, I was personally struggling with the 145-pound behemoth affectionately known as the Baby, because it was the size of a human toddler. During my initial call with John, I was thinking A.) This guys must be a monster and/or B.) This guy must be nuts.

John and I maintained our correspondence where he would fill me in on his latest feat of strength — bending steel bars, flipping earth-mover tires, lifting heavy stones, etc. Eventually, John got into kettlebell flipping. At that time, I had also been working with living legend and Guinness World Record Holder, John Brookfield, who had worked up to flipping the 145-pound kettlebell. Following in Brookfield’s considerable shoes, Hadzi set his sights on matching Brookfield’s feat. The following year Brookfield, Hadzi, and I met up at the Arnold Classic, named after bodybuilding great, Arnold Schwarzenegger, where my company was sponsoring a booth. Brookfield showed his usual world-class strength by bending nails while balancing sledgehammers on his chin, breaking tempered steel files, bending wrenches, etc. He also put on a show flipping the 145.

Hadzi, with all appropriate modesty, asked if he could take a shot at flipping it as well. I happily agreed, and he was able to do it on the first try. For those unfamiliar with kettlebell flipping, it involves pulling the kettlebell off of the floor with enough force to raise it to chin height or greater, push the handle forward in such a way that the kettlebell begins to rotate mid-air, then catch it and set it down on the ground under control. All of this is done with one hand. Prior to these two gentlemen, the only record I could find of heavy kettlebell flipping in the last 100 years was Herman Goerner of Germany, a 315-pound giant for the times, flipping a 171-pound kettlebell. At that moment, I knew I was watching not only a living legend but a legend in the making.

A couple of years later, Hadzi went on to single-hand flip a custom-made 180-pound kettlebell, and, as far as I know, that record still stands. Hadzi, standing 6’1” and weighing 260 pounds, is by no means considered big in strength circles, where giants over 500 pounds have been known to roam. He is, however, a true class act and arguably possesses some of the strongest hands and overall body strength I have ever seen.

John is a true renaissance man and works as hard at developing his mind as he does his body. Favoring old-school strength training over anything modern, John reads everything he can get his hands on, especially if it concerns health, nutrition, or 19th-century strength training techniques. A fanatic of the great Arthur Saxon, Hadzi chooses to live a life of few modern conveniences. In an effort to live as chemically free as possible, John filters all of his water, including that for washing dishes and showering. He eats only organic food and has actually had soil samples tested from the farms where he buys his produce. He is a student of fasting and strongly believes that the human body needs periodic rest from the exertion of digestion. He regularly fasts for three days at a time. He will fast annually for a period of eleven days, consuming only filtered water, psyllium fiber, and clay bentonite (basically mud) to help clean out his digestive tract so that it is more able to absorb the nutrients he consumes.

While this type of Spartan lifestyle is not for everyone, it certainly works for John Hadzi. He has devoted his life to a personal development that has encompassed his mind, body, and spirit and is a man of character. He has always been generous to friends and family and has always been there to lend a hand or give advice. To me, much more than the pursuit of fame or possessions, these things matter, and for that, I would like to recognize John Hadzi, the greatest strongman you haven never heard of — until now.