Probably the strongest Tool Rebel in the world

Franz Müllner is probably the epitome of an extreme athlete.

„Austrian Rock“

At 46 years old, the so-called “Austrian Rock” holds 16 world records and is considered one of the strongest men in the world. Rolling up frying pans, letting a helicopter land on his shoulders, or standing directly in the blast of a 30,000-horsepower jet engine — for Franz, extraordinary is simply not extraordinary enough. How does one come up with all these partly crazy ideas? We spent a day with Franz in Wuppertal. Many know him from TV or newspapers. When it comes to strength and endurance, the man from Salzburg is definitely a familiar name to some — and if not, a quick look at the Guinness Book of Records will make it clear. When he stands in front of you and starts talking, you can’t help but be amazed: Franz is a trained combat swimmer, served as a minesweeper in Iran and Iraq, is a marathon runner and multiple Ironman participant, and has been named Austria’s strongest man several times — a true extreme athlete in every sense of the word.

He is always looking for a new challenge. Back then, his biggest goal was to be listed in the Guinness Book of Records. But with a record that no one before him had ever set. Said and done – in 2006, he had a helicopter land on his shoulders and thus set his first Guinness World Record.

He also showed us what he’s capable of and proved that he’s truly one of the strongest men in the world. He casually pulled a semi-truck from a nearby logistics company as if it were a toy, and in our torque lab, he left our specialists speechless when he casually pulled 1300 Nm using a one-meter pipe.

When asked how one prepares for something like that, Franz replies: “That’s obviously not so easy. I can’t exactly put a turbine in my backyard and try to get a meter closer to it every day.”

The list of his records and projects is already impressive and partly hard to imagine: “Franz Müllner pulls a Boeing 777 weighing 150 tons,” “Franz Müllner lifts the heaviest wooden dumbbell in the world (601 kg),” “Franz Müllner rolls up 21 frying pans.”

But what comes next? What does an extreme athlete do when he has already reached and conquered so many extremes? He simply takes it one step further.

“I always find some new, even crazier project,” he told us, and this time he came up with a new wild idea called “Turbine.”

What was his idea behind the project?
Actually quite simple and yet so absurd. He lies down in the exhaust stream of a 30,000 horsepower jet engine and tries to fight his way as close to the turbine as possible. He is exposed to temperatures over 1,500 degrees and a thrust of nearly 20 tons.

The real challenge in the world record attempt is not the heat, explained Franz Müllner, but rather the pressure exerted by the turbine. Breathing is also a major issue, because as one can imagine, inhaling air at 1500 degrees is not advisable, let alone using an oxygen tank in such heat, as it would explode at around 450 degrees.

When asked how one prepares for something like that, Franz replies: “That’s obviously not so easy. I can’t exactly put a turbine in my backyard and try to get a meter closer to it every day.”

Alternatives were simply tested with the local fire department and a flamethrower.

When asked why he calls himself a Tool Rebel, he simply replied: “In my projects and also in my free time with the motorcycle, I'm always tinkering, and I do think I'm crazy enough to call myself a Tool Rebel. To me, the Tool Rebel idea is more of a lifestyle.”

With Franz, we have found a dedicated Tool Rebel who always pushes his limits and is never satisfied with standards. He infects others with his enthusiasm and remains a very likeable and down-to-earth person despite his crazy 'hobbies'.

We are sure that we will continue to hear a lot from Franz in the future.

More infos about Franz Müllner