Feats and Records: The Documented Strength of Mike Bruce
From a 655 lb deadlift at 195 bodyweight to seven steel bars across the throat in 57 seconds — every feat with its date, place, and source, and the reason the signature feat was retired.
Between 1998 and 2012 Mike “The Machine” Bruce built a documented record of strength feats that runs from a 655 lb deadlift at 195 lb bodyweight to the two feats no one else is on record as having performed: a 300 lb seated neck lift, and seven 5/8-inch steel bars bent across the front of his throat in under 57 seconds — a world record set at a charity event in Somerset, Kentucky on August 25, 2012, after which he retired the feat on his doctor’s advice. The Lane Report noted before the attempt that the Stark Center for Physical Culture and Sports at the University of Texas at Austin had agreed to recognize the record and archive one of the bars. Every entry below carries its source.
The documented feats
| Feat | Details | When / where | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Deadlift, 655 lb | At 195 lb bodyweight | 1998 | Archived bio1 |
| Partial deadlift, 1,000 lb | From knee level | 2003 | Archived bio1 |
| Partial rack pull, 1,500 lb | At 202 lb bodyweight, filmed at Bud Jeffries’ Florida compound | 2007 | Archived bio; his Bud Jeffries essay1,2 |
| Seated neck lift, 300 lb | Two reps at 202 lb bodyweight, lifted with the head from the floor; published in MuscleMag International, per his account | 2008, Lakeland FL | His training history3 |
| Neck curls, 90 lb × 87 reps | On video, recovered from his archived site | era 2010s | Archived video post4 |
| Sit-ups, 400 lb on chest | Ten repetitions | 2000s | Archived bio1 |
| Hangman’s noose neck hang | Full hang by the neck, performed as a demonstration | 2000s | Archived about page5 |
| Horseshoe bent across throat | First known performer of the feat; horseshoe bent by strongman Chris Rider | 2012, AOBS strongman dinner | His record account; Lane Report6,7 |
| World record: 7 steel bars across the throat | Seven 5/8-inch, 4-foot steel bars bent across the front of his throat in under 57 seconds | Aug 25, 2012, Somerset KY | His account; Lane Report6,7 |
| Barbell supported across throat | 405 lb; also two grown men standing on a bar across the throat | as told in interviews | 2016 interviews8 |
Weights, bodyweights and dates are Bruce’s own published figures except where an independent outlet is cited; no sanctioning federation governs feats of this kind, which is how performing-strongman records have worked since the era this site’s history section documents.
August 25, 2012: the night in Somerset
The record attempt was announced through Kentucky press that July. The Lane Report described the plan: bend “as many as five 5/8-inch steel bars across the front of his neck in only 60 seconds” at The Center for Rural Development in Somerset, five dollars at the door, all proceeds to the Lake Cumberland Blue Star Mothers and the Bethany House Abuse Shelter. It also reported two details that give the night its weight: on his doctor’s orders this would be “Bruce’s last public performance of bending the steel bar across his throat,” and the H.J. Lutcher Stark Center for Physical Culture and Sports at the University of Texas at Austin — the largest research collection in the world on physical culture, and a recurring source for this site’s historical archive — had “agreed to officially recognize the world record should his attempt be successful,” with one of the bent bars to be placed in its collection.7
His own account, recovered from his deleted site, fills in the rest. His doctor had told him in February to stop taking anything across his throat — scar tissue had built up on its walls past the point of safety. He decided to go out with a number nobody would follow: not five bars but seven, with Dave “Iron Tamer” Whitley doing the bending — “Dave has bent more bars across my throat than anyone else” — and Dennis Rogers, who flew in at his own expense and refused reimbursement, as master of ceremonies. Standing room only. Seven bars in under 57 seconds, two more than promised, over a thousand dollars raised for the two charities, and a feat retired on the spot after more than 80 shows.6 The world-record certificate and photographs from the Association of Oldetime Barbell & Strongmen dinner appeared on his site in the weeks after.9
Whitley’s words from that night are the epitaph the feat deserves: “One of the most terrifying and literally… death-defying feats of strength I have ever even heard of, much less had the honor of performing. Mike Bruce has the strongest neck in the world. Period.”6
Why he retired the feat — in his own words
The retirement is as instructive as the record. Bruce published the risk list himself: collapsed or crushed trachea, and the scar tissue that had already accumulated across 80-plus shows, which “can lead to plaque which then poses the threat of flaking off and shooting up an arterie [sic] which then can cause stroke or hemorrhage.” His warning to imitators was unambiguous: “DO NOT attempt this feat without the appropriate training… You must be very careful and take years of training to build up the neck to withstand the trauma.”6
The distinction matters for this site’s purposes: these are professional performance feats built over decades, not training methods. What Bruce actually prescribes for building a neck — progressive loaded work in modest sessions — is on The Machine Archive, and how it compares with the published research dosage is on programming. The site’s safety page covers the general case.
What the record does and does not establish
No federation sanctions throat bar-bending, so there is no governing-body record book to point to; there is a documented public performance, independent press coverage before it, a named institutional recognition agreement reported by that press, a certificate presented through the old-time strongman community, and — per The Lane Report — the standing of being “the only performer currently to have bent steel bars and horseshoes across his throat.”7 That is the same evidentiary basis on which the feats of the historical strongmen in this site’s figures section are recorded, and Bruce’s is better documented than most of theirs.
Sources: 1. Bio, mikethemachine.com (captured 28 Oct 2008) · 2. Strongmen You Should Know: Bud Jeffries (captured 20 Oct 2012) · 3. Build a 20 Inch Neck (captured 30 Jul 2020) · 4. Old School Neck Training (captured 25 Oct 2022; video file “Neck-Curls-90-pounds-for-87-repetitions”) · 5. About Mike (captured 17 Feb 2013) · 6. World-record account (captured 19 Oct 2012) · 7. The Lane Report, 11 July 2012 · 8. PG Coaching Q&A, 30 Aug 2016 and OutAlpha, 6 Nov 2016 · 9. Recovered post titles “World Record Certificate,” “AOBS Pictures” 1–3, mikethemachine.com sidebar (captured 19–20 Oct 2012).