On 9 July 2016, Staffordshire-born strongman Eddie Hall made history after becoming the first person to complete a half tonne deadlift at the World Deadlift Championships in Leeds, UK.
Beating the previous 463 kg record, the reigning World's Strongest Man champion raised the heaviest Strongman deadlift to an unprecedented 500 kg (1,102 lb 4.9 oz).
He describes it as "the most incredible lift in human history and one of the most dangerous things I’ve ever done."
We caught up with the 30-year-old to find out how he trained for this seemingly-impossible feat of strength.
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"It’s a full-time job," says Eddie. "It takes a whole combination of things to get this right."
His daily training schedule includes:
- 1 hr 30 min of physio
- 1 hr 30 min of hot/cold treatment
- 1 hr 30 min of stretching
- 3-4 hr weight training
- 1 hr of cardio
However, it’s not all about putting time in at the gym – Eddie has to consume a staggering 12,500 calories per day in the lead up to a contest.
That's 10 times more food than the average man is recommended to eat in one day!
To maintain and build his strength he has to eat every two hours, even during the night.
"You’ve got to be constantly grazing like a cow."
His daily diet looks like this:
- 3am: Raw steaks and protein shakes
- 7am: Full English breakfast
- 10am: Second breakfast – fruit, beef jerky
- Midday snacks: 150 g cashew nuts, litres of cranberry juice, milk, protein shakes
- Lunch: Steak and chips, salmon and pasta or chicken and pasta/rice
- Dessert: Half a family cheesecake
- Second lunch 3pm: Tuna sandwiches, flapjacks, five or six portions of fruit, Lucozade, cranberry juice
- During training: Cranberry juice, litre protein shakes with full fat milk, coconut water
- Dinner: Curry, spaghetti bolognese or steak and chips
- Dessert: The other half of the cheesecake
- Snacks: Protein bar, beef jerky
- In bed: Protein bars, beef jerky, raw steak
This intense meal plan sets him back £250 a week!
"It’s relentless. You’ve got to be obsessed to be the best in the world at strongman... or anything."
Now that Eddie Hall has achieved his goals of achieving a Guinness World Records title and winning the World’s Strongest Man competition, he plans to cut back on weightlifting competitions because he is concerned about his health.
His weight peaked at a whopping 32 stone - he couldn’t fit in cars and struggled to get out of bed - and it was starting to take its toll on him.
His new ambition is to launch a career in film and he has already started channelling his record-breaking determination into acting lessons.
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