Is Die Hard really a Christmas movie? It’s a debate that rages on every year and splits opinion completely. Now we’re not going to wade into that debate but what we do know is that World’s Strongest Man is certainly a festive tradition. Airing this month, this year’s instalment will be shown on Channel 5 on December 23rd and we can’t wait.
While we’ll no doubt be stuffing our faces with mince pies as we watch the fittest and biggest show their strength, we wondered, what is it the strongest men on the planet eat to give them such strength and so we’ve decided to take a look at just what their diet entails.
Breakfast
Tea and toast doesn’t really exist for the strong man, in fact they may ditch food and instead take an assortment of supplements. Eddie Hall, who won the 2017 strong man competition, starts his day with a host of multi-bits and oils. Sharing an array of his intake on Instagram, Hall washed them down with 30grams of DynaPro lean and enjoys them with raspberries, blueberries and even spinach. Rather him than us at 7.30 in the morning.
Alternatively, four-time World's Strongest man Brian Shaw enjoys eggs. Eight of them. Protein, protein, protein.
Average Calorie Count: 1,200
Lunch
Hafthor Julius Bjornsson won the World's Strongest Man competition in 2018 and is an absolute man mountain. You might recognise him too as he literally played ‘The Mountain’ in Game of Thrones from Season 4 onwards. Bjornsson stocks up when it comes to lunch, chowing down on fish, vegetables, oatmeal and not one but four slices of wholemeal bread. He gets through 10,000 calories a day too.
“I eat mostly steak, rice, carrots, with some peppers, sometimes chicken,” he told Stuff.co.nz. “I eat so much, really. And definitely the hardest part of being in these competitions really is the diet.” We don’t doubt it for a second, big man.
Average Calorie Count: 2,200
Snacks
Hall boosts himself in the mid-afternoon with a bunch of carbs ahead of going to the gym. From a peanut butter sandwich and beef jerky to bananas, apples and two bottles of Lucozade, he stocks up before working out.
Loading on carbs will increase the glycogen stores and improve your performance during longer workouts. The diets and disciplines these guys have to live by are as impressive and mind-blowing as the feats they pull off in the World’s Strongest Man competition.
Average Calorie Count: 1,000
Tea (not dinner!)
For Hall, the last substantial meal is seemingly a chance to treat himself, only slightly of course, and he enjoys chips with steak and salad, spaghetti bolognese or pepperoni pizza. Shaw, meanwhile, who stands at 6ft 8 and weighs 440lbs, eats rib-eye steak, with brown rice and broccoli. And then comes the good part, desert - he enjoys vanilla ice cream with a large protein brownie. Yum.
Average Calorie Count: 3,500
