More than once, we've been told about how so-and-so's big lift was faked with aluminum plates, but when the curtain rises at the IFSA World Championships next week, if there are aluminum weights, you can bet that they will be for real.

With Alcan as a sponsor and Magnus Ver Magnusson designing events, it seems reasonable to expect to see some very special equipment used in the upcoming IFSA World Championships, and it will be made of aluminum.

IFSA already made its mark on strongman equipment with its Jamie Reeves-designed stainless steel implements, striking to look at and part of the IFSA initiative to include some standardized events in its contests. Since IFSA has not released any details about its events yet, this remains speculation, but if Magnus Ver has come up with something along the lines that we are guessing, it would continue this process of IFSA innovations in strongman equipment and it would provide two specific, additional benefits: a natural showcase for the major sponsor Alcan, and elevating Magnus Ver's favorite overhead lift - the rock lift - to new heights.

In the absence of official word from IFSA, additional speculation is that this lift would be run in a progressively-heavy series, and maybe it would go well beyond the range of just several levels of difficulty. If so, how many? Eight? Ten? Twelve? Continuing down the path of rumors regarding events, it also might be very reasonable to see trucks used for the wheelbarrow or the Hercules Hold, but only, time will tell.

The qualifiers for the IFSA World Championships are expected to be on Monday, run in one day, and then the finals will be November 24 - 25, but once again, this is based on hearsay rather than an official IFSA statement.