Strongman Supplements: What the Strongest Men in the World Take
Strongman Supplements: What the Strongest Men in the World Take
Whether it’s pulling trucks or deadlifting cars, strongman athletes ask a lot of their bodies. So, as well as rest and buckets of food, it’s important that they take advantage of scientifically supported supplements to ensure they get the most out of every workout.
Here, we take a look at the strongman supplements taken by four of the best strength athletes in history: Eddie Hall, Brian Shaw, Hafthor Bjornsson, and Tom Stoltman. We’ll also take a quick look at their diets and personal bests.
Eddie Hall: Supplements, Diet, and Best Lifts
Eddie Hall’s Strongman Supplements
As with most strongmen, protein shakes represent a crucial component of Eddie’s diet. When still competing, he’d even get up in the middle of night to have a shake to ensure his body was never short on protein.
As well as protein shakes, Eddie takes branch-chain amino acids (BCAAs; leucine, isoleucine, valine – three of the nine essential amino acids), which have a range of benefits, such as reducing fatigue during workouts and supporting muscle growth and muscle repair. He also takes taurine, which can promote fat oxidation (1), glutamine, which can prevent muscle breakdown (2), and coconut oil, which can assist with recovery (3). Eddie even has his own pre-workout supplements, the active ingredients of which include caffeine and citrulline malate (which can increase blood flow to muscle tissue)
The Eddie Hall Strongman Diet
To maintain his 160-kg bulk and to avoid weight loss while competing in strongman, Eddie would get his protein from eggs, chicken, steak, sausages, and bacon, his carbs from oats, fruits, and beans, and his fats from yoghurt, coconut oil, and peanut butter – a good source of plant-based l-arginine, an amino acid implicated in protein synthesis.
During workouts, Eddie can often be seen necking litres of cranberry juice, which not only helps him to stay hydrated but also provides him with atrophy-inhibiting antioxidants (4). A typical pre-workout meal for Eddie consists of tuna sandwiches, a litre of Powerade, and blueberries (thought to protect DNA from free radicals and to support overall health).
As shown in this Men's Health article, while still massive, Eddie is noticeably smaller since coming off of his professional strongman diet.
Eddie Hall’s Best Lifts
Also known as The Beast, England’s Eddie Hall won the World’s Strongest Man in 2017 and set a Guinness World Record in 2019 for deadlifting 500 kg.
“It's that great feeling, like the first man on the moon, the first man to run a mile in under four minutes. And now, I'm the first to deadlift half a ton. It's history, and I'm very proud to be a part of it.”
Eddie’s other best lifts include a 216 kg axle press, a 405 kg squat, and a 225 kg incline bench press for 7 reps.
Brian Shaw: Supplements, Diet, and Best Lifts
Brian Shaw’s Strongman Supplements
Like Eddie, Brian relies on whey protein to ensure he’s never short on protein for muscle building. Creatine, which has a multitude of positive effects, including energy production and muscle growth (5), is also one of Brian’s go-to strongman supplements for peak performance. Creatine supplementation increases adenosine triphosphate (ATP), an essential source of energy in muscle cells. He also uses a weight gainer to stay in an anabolic state.
The Brian Shaw Strongman Diet
Standing 203 cm (6 ft 8 in) tall and sometimes weighing over 200 kg, Brain has been known to eat up to 12,000 calories to maintain his size while undertaking his strongman training.
“I’m eating to be the strongest human being on the planet.”
As well as making use of protein powders, he enjoys turkey, grass-fed beef, and eggs (containing essential nutrients like vitamin B1, vitamin B12 and vitamin D, known to support kidney function, metabolism, and immune system health, respectively), while his carb sources include blueberries, pasta, and cereal, and one of his main sources of fat is peanut butter.
Brian Shaw's Best Lifts
Being a four-time winner of the World’s Strongest Man, the Earth's preeminent strongman contest, Brian has some incredible personal and world records. Besides being able to squat 410 kg and bench press 240 kg for reps, he once set an unofficial (and unplanned) world record on a rowing machine, completing 100 metres in just 12.8 seconds.
At the 2021 World’s Strongest Man competition, he set a world record for the keg toss, launching the 15-kg keg 7.75 metres into the air.
Hafthor Bjornsson: Supplements, Diet, and Best Lifts
Hafthor Bjornsson’s Strongman Supplements
Like other strongmen, “The Mountain” makes use of BCAAs, creatine, and glutamine, but also takes a range of vitamins and minerals. For instance, Hafthor takes vitamin B12 for bone health (6) and vitamin B9 for heart health (7). Vitamin B12 is also known to regulate hormone levels, promoting efficient thyroid hormone transportation and cortisol metabolism, thereby enhancing muscle strength and recovery. Additionally, he uses potassium to regulate his blood pressure (8) and magnesium to promote protein synthesis (9).
The Hafthor Bjornsson Diet
When competing in strongman events, the 205-cm (6ft 8.75 in) Hafthor would often walk around at 205 kg, a weight he’d maintain by eating every 2 hours and by consuming about 10,000 calories per day.
“I am now very conscious of what I put into my body. My mindset has changed to think about what I can eat to become a better athlete, not just a bigger one.”
To ensure he gets enough protein, Hafthor eats lots of red meat, egg, and salmon (a good source of fatty acids and thought to increase testosterone levels), while his carb sources include white rice, potatoes, and red peppers. As with Eddie and Brian, peanut butter is one of the Icelandic giant’s main sources of fat. In an interview with Men's Health, he also mentioned that he takes a probiotic supplements for gut health.
In this video on his YouTube channel, he goes over what he eats on competition days, which begin with protein pancakes.
Hafthor Bjornsson’s Best Lifts
In 2020, Bjornsson became the first person in history to deadlift 501 kg. He’s also been known to squat 440 kg and in the 2015 World’s Strongest Viking competition he set a world record by walking with a 650-kg log on his back.
Tom Stoltman: Supplements, Diet, and Best Lifts
Tom Stoltman’s Strongman Supplements
Besides the staple supplements, like BCAAs and creatine, used by most professional strongmen, the winner of World Strongest Man 2021 uses sodium chloride and potassium chloride to prevent cramps (10).
The Tom Stoltman Diet
A similar height and size to both Shaw and Bjornsson at 203 cm (6 ft 8 in) and 174 kg, Stoltman usually eats 8,000–10,000 calories per day, getting his protein and fat from sources like mince, eggs, bacon, and sausage, and getting his carbs from rice, pasta, cereal, and porridge to maintain his energy levels.
Tom Stoltman’s Best Lifts
The massive Scot’s best lifts include a 420-kg deadlift for 2 reps and a 215-kg log press. He also set an atlas stone world record, having lifted a 286-kg stone over a 121-cm (4 ft) platform.
“Since I started this sport, I’ve had that one eye on World’s Strongest Man. I write it down every single day of my life. I write it in the kitchen, I write it in books, I write it everywhere, World’s Strongest Man, World’s Strongest Man.”
In an interview with Men's Fitness, Tom shared his workout routine:
On Monday, the focus is on major lifts such as deadlifts, while Tuesday is dedicated to pressing exercises. Wednesdays and Fridays are reserved for specialised Strongman activities like pulling trucks and lifting awkward heavy objects like Atlas stones. Thursdays are dedicated to working on legs, and Saturday and Sunday are rest days that enable him to recover from all of his hard work.
Other Strongmen
If you liked this article and are interested in learning more about strongman nutrition, you might also like this one about Mark Felix Felix's supplements, diet, and best lifts or this one about the supplements, diet, and best lifts of the 2019 World's Strongest Man, Martins Licis. We also have an article about what Mitchell Hooper consumes in a typical day to prepare for strongman competitions.
You might also like these articles comparing BCAA powders and pills, BCAAs and glutamine, and BCAAs and creatine.
We also have articles on the best protein supplements for strength, seniors, and weight gain and comparing hemp and whey proteins, BCAAs and whey protein, BCAAs and pre-workout, BCAAs and glutamine, BCAAs and creatine, and BCAA pills and powder.
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About the Author
Dave Robinson, a co-founder of ukfitness.pro, has a background in psychology (BSc) and neuroscience (MSc, PhD). As well as strength training, he enjoys endurance challenges and has run ultramarathons, cycled across several countries, and completed the Three Peaks Challenge. When writing, he draws on scientific evidence to understand the pros and cons of different diets, supplements, and training regimes.
References
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