Brian Shaw is the fifth man and the first American so far to feature in Keep Fit Kingdom’s World’s Strongest Men series. Standing at 6’8” with a 60 inch chest and weighing over 400lbs, he’s one of the biggest and strongest ever competitors in the history of strength. Let’s take a look at his achievements in this rapidly growing sport, read on for World’s Strongest Men – Brian Shaw!
It was in 2005 that Brian entered his first Strongman competition and won. With his favourable size for Strongman and great determination, it was a speedy entrance into the pro ranks. Brian got his first taste of competing in the World’s Strongest Man in 2008, and three years’ later won the sport’s most prestigious competition. He won three more WSM titles (2013, 2015, 2016) and he’s presently one of four men who have won the title four times since the show’s beginnings in 1977. His outstanding performances have earned him three Arnold Strongman Classic wins too. He notably won both events in 2011 which made him the first strongman to gain both titles in the same year.
Before we look at his training, let’s take a look at what Brian eats to sustain his hulking frame. As you’d expect from any heavyweight strongman, Brian consumes a high-calorie diet, sometimes as much as 12000 calories in a day. Chicken, salmon and bison are some of the high-protein sources in his varied diet. Rice, pasta and potatoes give him the fuel to train hard and get him through demanding competitions. Needing to eat about 8 meals a day means his bank balance takes a big hit; it typically costs him over 600 dollars a week to eat!
Brian has his own home gym which is stocked with a plethora of strength-training tools and specialist strongman equipment. It’s a veritable paradise for any hardcore strongman or strongwoman competitor. He uses a mixture of free weights and machines to build his superhuman strength and sometimes attaches bands and chains to equipment to add extra tension and aid in building explosive power. Training with stones happens to be one of his favourite activities and his hard work on these has paid off; he owns the record for the heaviest Manhood Stone lifted (560lbs). Nothing is ever left to chance as Brian thoroughly analyses his techniques used on all of his lifts.
Seeing as we’ve had some grip strength articles on our site, it only makes sense that we make a special mention about Brian’s incredible hand strength. He’s officially closed one of the toughest hand grippers in the world, an Ironmind “Captains of Crush” number 3. This is a handgripper many strongmen and grip strength athletes aspire to ‘close’. He can make easy work of a Thomas Inch dumbbell, a dumbbell which is tremendously hard to pick up, and can even PRESS two of these simultaneously. This strongman seems to have no weaknesses whatsoever.
So, what lies ahead for Brian? His passion for strength shows no signs of stopping and it’s likely he will be competing for many years yet. He’s still as hungry as ever to achieve his goals. And with the World’s Strongest Man 2019 just around the corner, we may see Brian attain a fifth title and become the second man in history ever to do so.
