Mike Burke

Mike Burke (born June 14, 1974) is an American strongman and a grip strength specialist from Aurora, Colorado. Before becoming a strength athlete, he worked as a construction worker.

Career Burke won the 2012 All-American Strongman Challenge in January 2012 which qualified him for the 2012 Arnold Strongman Classic where he won fifth place. He also placed third at 2012 Giants Live Melbourne which qualified Burke for the 2012 World's Strongest Man, though he couldn't reach the finals. A few days later, he competed in the 2012 America's Strongest Man contest and won first place.

Burke competed in the 2013 World's Strongest Man in Sanya, China and qualified for the finals where he emerged fifth place. In September, he won second place at the 2013 Strongman Champions League Russia. In the same year, Burke delivered arguably the single most dominating performance ever seen in a grip competition by winning the 2013 'Visegrip Viking', defeating a stacked field which included Odd Haugen, Mark Felix and Alexey Tyukalov. He officially closed the Captains of Crush No. 3.5 , RGC 175) gripper, broke Captains of Crush silver bullet hold world record with a performance of 53.97 seconds, broke the most reps with Thomas Inch Dumbbell in two-minutes world record with 37 reps, and twice broke the double overhand Apollon's Axle deadlift world record with . which is his best performance in World's Strongest Man. He also broke two World Records in the Keg toss event in 2014 Strongman Champions League China's Guinness World Records dual with Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson by clearing . In his last performance at the 2015 World's Strongest Man in Putrajaya, Malaysia, Burke secured fifth place.

During 2016 Rogue Record Breakers, Burke set a world record in the Thomas Inch Dumbbell farmers walk, carrying two dumbbells each weighing in each hand and walking them for .

Personal records Deadlift – (Raw) (2012 Arnold Europe) Log press – (2014 Arnold Strongman Classic) Cyr Dumbbell press – x 5 reps (2015 Arnold Strongman Classic) Apollon's Wheels (cleans only) – x 3 times (2012 Arnold Strongman Classic) Max Atlas stone – x 5 reps (2013 Arnold Strongman Classic) Atlas stones – 5 stones in 50.23 seconds (2015 World's Strongest Man) Bale Tote (super yoke) – for 4 metres in 7.50 seconds (2014 Arnold Strongman Classic) Timber carry (on 40' inclined ramp) – in 10.74 seconds (Raw grip) (2014 Arnold Strongman Classic) Fingal's Fingers – 5 fingers in 33.36 seconds (2013 World's Strongest Man - Group 4) Keg toss (max) – over (2014 SCL Guinness World Records China) (former joint-world record) Keg toss – 8 kegs over in 28.94 seconds (2014 World's Strongest Man) Weight over bar – over (2013 SCL Russia) (former joint unofficial world record) Front Hold – for 70.17 seconds (2012 Arnold Europe) Captains of Crush gripper – No. 3.5 , RGC 175) (2013 Visegrip Viking) Captains of Crush silver bullet hold – No. 3 for 53.97 seconds (2013 Visegrip Viking) (former world record) IronMind Rolling Thunder (V3) – (2013 Visegrip Viking, San Jose and 2014 Visegrip Viking) (former world record) IronMind Little Big Horn – (2013 Visegrip Viking, San Jose) Thomas Inch Dumbbell lift (for reps) – x 37 times in 120 seconds (2013 Visegrip Viking) (World Record) Double Thomas Inch Dumbbells farmers walk – in each hand for (2016 Rogue Record Breakers) (former world record) Double overhand IronMind Apollon's Axle Deadlift – (2013 Visegrip Viking) (former world record) (the thickness of this Axle is )