Strongman’s Extreme Pursuit: 8,000 Calories, Record Lifts and the Steroid Dilemma

Mexico’s Raul Flores shattered the world deadlift record by hoisting 511kg at Birmingham’s Utilita Arena — the equivalent of a grand piano or adult male grizzly bear. As he celebrated, Hafthor Julius Bjornsson, the reigning champion and former Game of Thrones star known as Thor, approached to offer a congratulatory hug, encapsulating the sport’s unusual blend of rivalry and respect.

“Ultimately, we are a niche sport,” explains England’s Adam Bishop. “It’s getting bigger, which is fantastic, but we all appreciate what each of us has done to get here. We’re all fans of seeing big lifts — I’ll cheer for the other guys even if they beat me, because I want to witness massive, impossible feats. It is always a super supportive space to be in.”

The history of strongman stretches back millennia, from ancient warriors testing their strength against heavy rocks to modern global audiences. “It was things like who could pick up the heaviest rock, and we still have that kind of ethos today,” Bishop told The Athletic ahead of the Giants Live event. “It is still about lifting the heaviest objects and moving them quickest — just we’re not still wearing kilts!”

Tyre lifts are another feature of strongman competitions (Giants Live)

Although official strongman competition began only in 1977 with the inaugural World’s Strongest Man, it quickly became a televised global spectacle. Bishop, a former Saracens rugby player and skeleton teammate of Lizzie Yarnold, has flourished in the sport, winning Britain’s Strongest Man twice and reaching three World’s Strongest Man finals.

Despite being one of the smaller competitors at 6ft 3in and 24st, Bishop holds a 470kg deadlift record. Training five times a week for sessions lasting 90 minutes to two and a half hours, he struggles to find suitable facilities for specialist events like atlas stones and truck pulling. “It’s not the kind of thing you can do in a standard gym,” he admits. “When I started, there were very few gyms with any strongman equipment. Now we’ve got specialist strongman gyms, but these events are very specialist, and you have to invest in yourself and build your collection of kits. I’ve got a couple of sets of atlas stones and bespoke implements fabricated by a welder friend. It gets expensive.”

Sponsors help; Bishop is backed by truck manufacturers Iveco, who let him train at dealerships. To power through such feats, he consumes close to 8,000 calories daily across eight meals. “I’ve pushed my bodyweight up for this event and just tipped over the 25-stone mark,” he says. “The food’s the toughest bit. People think it would be easy to consume that much junk food, but it messes with digestion and causes inflammation. You have to eat clean. It is the most expensive and toughest part of the job.”

“The diet may be clean, but are the athletes?” Speculation has long surrounded strongman and PEDs. Bjornsson admitted steroid use in a 2019 ESPN interview: “When you want to be the best, you do whatever it takes.” Mitchell Hooper, the reigning World’s Strongest Man champion, has also been candid, competing at the Enhanced Games in Las Vegas and telling Men’s Health: “The cost is that I’ll die younger than I would without it, for sure… I’m playing with a bit of fire.” The stakes were highlighted in 2014 when Mike Jenkins died suddenly at 32; his autopsy revealed a vastly enlarged heart linked to long-term anabolic steroid use.

Hafpor Julius Bjornsson has admitted to using steroids (Getty Images)

While PEDs are banned at World’s Strongest Man, testing is perceived as lax. Bishop seems relaxed: “Well, I say it’s a level playing field and the fact is it’s an untested sport. So people can view that any way they want to.” The packed crowd at Utilita Arena didn’t seem to care, traveling from across England and overseas to witness the Giants tour, a World’s Strongest Man qualifying event featuring athlete entrances like WWE wrestlers.

The competition included the Load and Push, where athletes relay objects — a 120kg anvil, a 100kg tyre, a 150kg sack — into a wheelbarrow-skipping device and push it 20m. The Titan’s Toss saw competitors throw 10 sandbags over a 12-foot bar; Ghanaian Evans Nana reached nine before his shirt fell short. The Dumbbell Press (95kg, one-handed, 60 seconds) saw three athletes hit seven reps. The Castle Stones required lifting weighted stones onto podiums at height. Bjornsson, nursing a knee injury, retained his title, but Canadian James Jeffers and Welshman Gavin Bilton suffered bicep injuries.

Contestants push a ‘wheelbarrow’ full of tyres and other heavy objects (Giants Live)

It is a brutal business. Eddie Hall, probably the UK’s most famous strongman, bled from his nose, ears, and tear ducts when he became the first to deadlift 500kg in 2017. Bishop himself required surgery twice after tearing his biceps off the bone and rupturing his Achilles during a car walk at the 2024 World’s Strongest Man. Despite a strong start, Bishop faltered and couldn’t lift a stone, announcing his retirement: “The body has done too many miles. It’s picked up quite a few injuries along the way.” His competitors walked out from behind the curtain to pay their respects as he received a standing ovation.

That seemed to be the overriding theme of the night — and the sport in general. While they are fierce competitors achieving incredible feats, there is a touching mutual respect that underpins it all.

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