Tag Archives: Geoff Capes

Eddie Hall – Worlds Strongest Man 2017

Eddie Hall at Body Power 2015

Eddie Hall at Body Power 2015

Last year one of the top 5 had been injured and in my opinion that’s why he got the podium last year, but that little taste of the podium seems to have pushed Eddie Hall to new heights. All that rarefied air drove Eddie Hall to new heights, heights so great he took the top spot to be crowned Worlds Strongest Man 2017 in Botswana.

Its not all celebrations since Eddie has taken hit time on the podium to follow through with his pledge to retire from Worlds Strongest Man when he won, but remain on the British Scene. Eddie is the first British Strongman to take the Top Spot in 24 years since Gary Taylor took it in 1993, before that it was the mighty Geoff Capes almost a decade before. 

Eddie’s win isn’t without a little controversy (more in the spoiler), but who cares we may get some of that Olympic Mania funding around Strongman now and it will get more popular and more gym equipment, whoop. I remember back in the late 80s maybe early 90s going to the local nature park for a carnival or summer fair to see Geoff Capes, it was a huge fanfare, lets see those days again.

Eddies Words

I can't say how I've done at wsm but I can say I'm now retired from wsm! I'll still be on the British scene for many years to come and I thank all my fans and sponsors and my family and friends to the moon and back. Massive thanks to my wife who I dearly love and ow a lot of my success to her. Also my manager Mo Chaudry not only changed my life for the better but one of my best friends. Big Love The Beast @proteindynamix @xploape @strengthasylum @alphadesignsuk @bobosbeard @blakemans @wrightspies @pulseworldwide @getnewage @sbdapparel @giantslive #alphadesign #wrightspies #strengthasylum #giants #giantslive #proteindynamix #bobosbeardoil #beast #beard #deadlift #deadlifts #boss #bosslife #hulk #strong #strongman #strongmantraining #pulse #getnewage #performance #mouthguard #SBD #supports #SBDapparel

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Spoiler Alert

Don’t click the following if you don’t want to know the final scores and line up: [toggle title=”Spoiler”]The top 3 were the ever predictable Eddie Hall (51 Points), Hafthor Bjornsson (50 Points) and Brian Shaw (49 Points) with only a single point separating them. Hafthor believed he should have won but lost on a referee’s decision that one of his reps didn’t count giving Hall 1 point, and the win. Had that that not happened, Thor would have won, Eddie Second and Brian Shaw Third. Thor posted on Instagram that he believed he was robbed, so little bit upset. Lets hope Eddie doesn’t end up like Oberyn Martell with a crushed head at the hands of The Mountain.

Final Placements

1. Eddie Hall – 51 points
2. Hafthor Bjornsson – 50 points
3. Brian Shaw – 49 points
4. Jean-Francois Caron
5. Mateusz Kieliszkowski
6. Martins Licis
7. Laurence Shahlaei
8. Zydrunas Savickas
9. Konstantine Janashia
10. Nick Best

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The Final Word

Laurence Shahlaei at Body Power

Laurence Shahlaei at Body Power 2017

It would appear that Zyndrunas Savickas’ Upper and Lower back injuries not to mention huge weight loss has reduced his odds of joining the 5x club. Maybe Colin Bryce was right when he said earlier in the year that unless Big Z stops being more like Medium Z and gets back to being Big Z his chances aren’t good (Dec 2016 in WSM PodCast).

Its almost reminiscent of Mark Felix who has taken up Cross-Fit, lost a huge amount of weight and looks damned good for a 50yr old man. The price has been his raw strength, has Big Z fallen in to the same trap. Better question, is the weight loss because of his back injuries ?  

Some strong shows from other finalists, including Laurence Shahlaei who is the come back kid, having retired once now he’s back in the top 10 worlds strongest men again, sporting a rather nice beard. 

Its also interesting that Hafthor has made his 6 consecutive podium place, but its also a shame Mark Felix didn’t make this is 10th consecutive final, but I can’t wait to watch this when its on TV. 

 

Ginormous Strongman Stops Tractor Bare Handed

Arbab Hyat

Arbab Hyat

Abab Khizer Hayat, 25 from Mardan, Pakistan is for want of a better word is a behemoth of a man. Standing at 6ft3in, he clocks in at 68 stones 8 pounds, he were recently named Pakistans Hulk, and won various regional strongman events. 

The internet has literally been torn in half, mostly fat-shaming, and kinda abusive. There is a video of him stopping 2 cars, and holding a tractor back, which attracted some heat. The mechanics of traction explain it, if you’re on a wet road or on loose ground, you lose traction your wheels spin, same deal here. His weight as a land anchor against low traction, means I’m not even going near it.

At nearly 1,000lbs he’s certainly beastly, and now has his eyes set on becoming a professional wrestler in WWE, entering the global world of strongman, and getting even bigger to ease the path. Since I started writing this article, it seems WWE have made clear there is no affiliation on various outlets, so looks like a dead end there… for now. 

What I am going to touch on is, Eddie Hall is similar height, and less than half his weight, Brian Shaw half a foot taller and is rumoured to be half his weight (Brian declares 190’s but many speculate 220s), so I AM going to question how much of his mass is fat rather than muscle when compared to world class strongmen. 

Arbab Hyat Tractor

Arbab Hyat Tractor

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying he’s not strong, every time that dude stands up, he’s basically squatting 400kg, every time he steps he’s calf pressing 400kg, his muscles will be lumping his mass around which means he’s going to be strong, there’s no two ways about it.

The problem is, when you start adding iron on top of his own mass, will his body be able to stand another 100-200kg of pressure. 

What I did find interesting about Arbab is his diet is 10,000kcal per day based on over 7lbs of meat, 36 eggs and a gallon milk amongst other things. It reminds me somewhat or Arthur Saxon Diet, which is crazy when you think Saxon weren’t even 1/4 of the size of Arbab. Many other strongmen from Brian Shaw to Eddie Hall all aim at the magic 10,000 calories, while body builders generally aim at 5,000 while bulking and 2,500 while cutting. 

Its reported that Arbab has no health issues, no pain or joint problems, I can assure you this is age at work. As he gets older and his joints and metabolic system wear down, its not going to be pretty. Geoff Capes said in an interview “I’ve ripped my stomach open three times, my abdominals. I’ve ripped my leg open, I’ve got a new hip. I’ve got degenerative problems in my spine because of the pressure on the lifts and everything else.”. There were more injuries listed too, and this were just about normal strongmen, Arbab will also suffer this too. 

It will be interesting to see how this unfolds, if indeed it does unfold.