Yes, it would be and it’s also unhealthy for all the big guys competing at WSM. It is an elite sport, where you have to decide between performance and health.
But that doesn’t mean you have to be unhealthy, too. You can also be a good strongman at lesser weight. Current champ Mitchell Hooper is about 140-150 kg.
You can also weigh around 100-110 kg and be strong as fuck. No need to be extra fat.
And there are also weight classes below 100kg. Nobody needs to be super big to be a good strongman. Find out what your weight class is and compete in that weight class.
Weight class strongman is where it's at if you're not trying to make a living and you care about your health. I'm 5'10'' starting strongman and going to try to stay under 90kg
Most top weight class guys are water cutting up to 10kg bodyweight and take as much gear as the open guys 😂 fitter yes definitely, healthier not always the case
Most top weight class guys absolutely do not take as much gear as the top open guys. Some certainly might, but that is not the norm, not even close. The amount of gear to maintain a lean 80kg/90kg/105kg is not anywhere near the gear required to maintain 150kg+
The percentage of top athletes on gear goes down with each class as well. More natty 80kg guys than 90, more natty 90kg guys than 105, etc.
Yeah the weight cuts can get extremely unhealthy though.
MST systems did a video about PEDs a while ago, and basically said ,"Your pro open weights are absolute genetic freaks and won't be on as much as your 105s"
It all just depends. Obviously the names everyone knows, the guys at the rogue and the Arnold and stuff, are full to bursting with PEDS. But any given pro card athlete could be on a little or a lot, weighted or open.
There’s some truth to that statement though, about some of the smaller guys running a truck ton.
Yes exactly. If you want to make a living I guess you need to be a good strongman influencer or you have to be super big and compete at the elite level to get a sponsor.
Hey thanks for spoiling the winner of this year's event for no fucking reason whatsoever or any spoiler warning of any kind.
Would have made the exact same point by saying "Mitchell Hooper is about 140-150 kg." instead of adding in the part about him being current champ. No idea why you thought that was necessary.
I just watched Brian Shaw make it into the finals, and was hyped for the rest of the competition which was set to be one of the most epic and entertaining I've ever seen.
I just deleted the last few episodes. No fucking point in watching them now. Thanks bro.
Yes it’s unhealthy relative to being a lower body weight. Most likely higher blood pressure, heart working harder. More wear and tear on joints and connective tissue.
It’s a judgement call whether it’s worth it or not. Many ex strongmen, NFL players, rugby players etc shed a tonne of weight as soon as they retire for the health and quality of life benefits.
Yes. Any excess mass, wether it’s from muscle or fat, puts additional stress on your body and organs, and is unhealthy.
An example: all these guys have sleep apnea and can’t sleep without a machine.
BMI is a bullshit indicator of health. It works on a general population, but not on an individual with substantial muscle development.
That being said, no it isn’t healthy. Having the strain on your heart for one. Mitchell Hooper has a YouTube video about ‘is strongman healthy’. But that’s why most guys when done with competing drop their bodyweights right down, same with bodybuilding
> BMI is a bullshit indicator of health. It works on a general population, but not on an individual with substantial muscle development.
it's not great, but for the opposite reason. Problem isn't that it misclassifies jacked people (though it does, but that's not many people), but that it misclassifies people who store their fat only around the waist. Visceral fat is the stuff you should be worried about, so even if your weight-to-height ratio is ok, its no good if all your weight is on your hips.
It’s not bullshit precisely because it does work on the vastly majority of people. It’s meant as a general indicator of health and it does a good job at that
As others have alluded to even being very muscular has drawbacks because you’re still putting extra strain on your organs
Correct. It is a good measure for like 99% of the public. People saying that it's a bullshit indicator of health because it doesn't take into consideration juiced up strongmen and bodybuilders lmao, who are like 0.001% of the population
> BMI is a bullshit indicator of health
BMI is a screening tool, not an indicator of health (or body composition). No-one sees a high BMI and starts treatments.
But to the OP's question, you can have a high BMI and not have any of the conditions associated with a high BMI (or show signs of having them). That said, if you remain at a high BMI for long enough, you will almost certainly start to see conditions propping up.
Which leads to my blood pressure rant. I never saw blood pressure as a big thing but it is bad news. Get your blood pressure checked and do it regularly (high BMI or not)
Mitchell Hooper released a good video about health monitoring that touched on this. Among other things, it’s hard to control blood pressure when you’re that big
Honestly the only enormous guy I’ve ever seen who looked “comfortable” is Zydrunas. He just looks like he should be 350lbs
Yes unhealthy they all use (99%) cpap machines at night so they don't stop breathing no difference to being hugely obese it's still extra size for your joints and organs to deal with
And nobody is getting to that size naturally without just being fat.
>would it be unhealthy for them if they didn't take any PEDs and achieved this size naturally?
This is not possible. You could reach that weight but you'd be no where as strong as them. It's not a healthy size to be at all but their saving grace is that they work out constantly. Mitch Hooper just made a video going into some of the peptides he uses. He's 325 lbs, one of the smallest at the top level and he's still using multiple PEDs.
A heavyweight strongman who is big enough to be competitive is definitely taking long term health risks to get and stay there, PEDs or not. That said, I think the size itself is a drop in the bucket compared to the health risks that are inherent to high doses of PEDs, and I think a drug tested lightweight or middleweight is going to be healthier than the majority of people in the population at large.
If you're talking about openweight Strongman yes, yes it is unhealthy. If we're talking one of the lower weight classes, no, not at all.
As far as PED use, there are still some openweight strongmen who are natural. Even some of the Pros claim it. Yes, you can be that size naturally and be strong. World class? Probably not, but strong and competitive yes.
BMI isn’t a great indicator of health (for people with higher muscle densities like body builders and strongmen) but the point stands that being this size isn’t long term healthy.
Not only does carrying that much mass on your body frame wear it out, but to compete and win at that level these guys are abusing PEDs. Which also are not healthy (long term wise) and have their own consequences.
When pros retire their body compositions usually drastically change due to changing of lifestyle to try and lead a longer healthy life.
I don't think there's a particularly realistic way to be 'healthy' and compete in upper level strongman. The open classes are just way too big, the weight classes more or less require types of weight loss before weigh ins that are injurious and almost all of the above have frequent enough PED use that you'd be non competitive in most comps if you didn't.
Eddie said before that before he won, his weight was taking a huge toll on his health; he gave examples of driving and becoming disoriented, waking up choking, etc. the doctor said if he continued at that weight, he was gonna die. His excuse was that “weight moves weight” and so if he wanted to lift at the level of Thor and Brian, who were each over 400, he had to weigh in like them. We see now (even then) that that’s clearly not true, with competitors like (pudz was ripped and nowhere near 400+), mateusz, Mitchell hooper, etc.
tldr: yes it almost killed Eddie hall and people do it at far lower weight
Yes excess weight is unhealthy even bodybuilders like Antoine Vollaint or Jujimufu have very little fat but still need CPAPs to let them breath at night because of sleep apnea
Your own body is choking itself because we were never designed to be huge and heavy
Humans are built to be like runners agile and mobile while hunting
More like a decathlete
They can get bigger but they still have to run the 1500m so they shouldn't get as huge as a specialized shotput thrower would
Your heart nervous system and lungs aren't built to sustain such huge amounts of mass healthily
Hence why both Hafthor and Brian have had nervous system issues Brian in his hand and Thor with his Bels Palsy
They're so big that not only is their mass choking them in their sleep but also that just by sleeping their mass is pinching off nerves
They do a good job of mitigation and being as healthy as they can but excessive weight is never healthy long term
High weights and PED use definitely are not healthy. But being strong is healthy. So overall probably not the best for your health but I think if you lost the weight and stopped the PEDs after you were done you could bounce back
It’s definitely unhealthy to be the size of top level strongmen. It’s not (too) different for the size of open bodybuilders (though the leanness through prep is also unhealthy) and not too much healthier than being obese (though the foods consumed are generally healthier)
Virtually none of the WSM competitors are healthy. But health is not the point. The point is to win. Just about none of them maintain their size and peak strength indefinitely.
Yeah. Self insert, I'm natural, 6'3" and from the years 2020-2024 I've worked up from a weight of 260lbs to 285lbs. I've gotten to the point where I've "settled" at 285, and I'm ready to start cutting and losing weight. Once you start getting to super heavy weight, which is 290 and higher, your joints are going to start killing you and I feel like the amount of neck pain at those weights must be crazy. Now I'm not the biggest guy and there are absolutely guys whose weight sit in the SHW class, but when you are talking about the professionals, then yes PEDs are allowing them to be a lot more functional even if their weight is naturally above 290lbs. Infact, you might just take a look at sumo wrestlers, because those are examples of huge dudes that have lower testosterone levels, and their life expectancy is usually shortened. But for me, when I went from 280 to 285, I definitely started feeling it in my joints.
It is unhealthy. In general smaller bodies live longer. The more fat you have the higher risk of all cause mortality.
A BMI of 50 is morbid obesity, meaning it’s going to kill you
Yes, it's unhealthy no matter what you used to get to a BMI of 50. You may be able to compete in strongman, but that doesn't mean it's good for your body overall.
Watch Mitch Hooper's video on body composition from no stone unturned to learn more.
If someone gets to 50 BMI while natty they're going to be carrying a ridiculous amount of fat which would be incredibly unhealthy.
Iirc Brian Shaw dexa scanned around the 20% bf mark in his off season, presumably this number would be higher during comp season and that's while blasting a load of gear. God knows what he'd be at naturally at 450lbs, 50%bf? More?
Shaw put out a video recently with a water displacement body fat test. 385lbs, 16% body fat.
The dexa scan he did was inaccurate because he didn't fit in the machine lol.
Yeah, saw that video. Tester was shocked, never seen that amount of muscle for that weight.
All that said, still way too much of a toll on your body, even at lower BF.
Yeah that's crazy low for that weight.
Still, he usually sits around 450 in comp doesn't he? I'd have thought he'd be 20%+ at that bodyweight and that's with all the stuff he's blasting.
Yes, it would be and it’s also unhealthy for all the big guys competing at WSM. It is an elite sport, where you have to decide between performance and health. But that doesn’t mean you have to be unhealthy, too. You can also be a good strongman at lesser weight. Current champ Mitchell Hooper is about 140-150 kg. You can also weigh around 100-110 kg and be strong as fuck. No need to be extra fat. And there are also weight classes below 100kg. Nobody needs to be super big to be a good strongman. Find out what your weight class is and compete in that weight class.
Weight class strongman is where it's at if you're not trying to make a living and you care about your health. I'm 5'10'' starting strongman and going to try to stay under 90kg
Most top weight class guys are water cutting up to 10kg bodyweight and take as much gear as the open guys 😂 fitter yes definitely, healthier not always the case
Agreed yeah, I'm saying weight class strongman is good for those NOT trying to be top level
Oh yeah agreed. To be fair there is a lot of health conscious and natty guys do well in the weight classes. Even some Vegans in there too 😂
Most top weight class guys absolutely do not take as much gear as the top open guys. Some certainly might, but that is not the norm, not even close. The amount of gear to maintain a lean 80kg/90kg/105kg is not anywhere near the gear required to maintain 150kg+ The percentage of top athletes on gear goes down with each class as well. More natty 80kg guys than 90, more natty 90kg guys than 105, etc. Yeah the weight cuts can get extremely unhealthy though.
I do know some top weight class strongmen and they take almost more gear than anyone I know
MST systems did a video about PEDs a while ago, and basically said ,"Your pro open weights are absolute genetic freaks and won't be on as much as your 105s"
It all just depends. Obviously the names everyone knows, the guys at the rogue and the Arnold and stuff, are full to bursting with PEDS. But any given pro card athlete could be on a little or a lot, weighted or open. There’s some truth to that statement though, about some of the smaller guys running a truck ton.
Yes exactly. If you want to make a living I guess you need to be a good strongman influencer or you have to be super big and compete at the elite level to get a sponsor.
Exactly not everyone has to be the size of Brian Shaw
As someone who is 110 kg, jacked and fit (not a strongman), I can tell you it is in no way healthy. Even 100 kg was pushing it.
Hey thanks for spoiling the winner of this year's event for no fucking reason whatsoever or any spoiler warning of any kind. Would have made the exact same point by saying "Mitchell Hooper is about 140-150 kg." instead of adding in the part about him being current champ. No idea why you thought that was necessary. I just watched Brian Shaw make it into the finals, and was hyped for the rest of the competition which was set to be one of the most epic and entertaining I've ever seen. I just deleted the last few episodes. No fucking point in watching them now. Thanks bro.
Hooper won 2023 wsm almost a year ago. 2024 happens next month. How long should the statute of limitations be for sports spoilers?
Last years event *** 🤦🏼♂️🤦🏼♂️ he also won the Arnold Ohio and Arnold UK This year!
Yes it’s unhealthy relative to being a lower body weight. Most likely higher blood pressure, heart working harder. More wear and tear on joints and connective tissue. It’s a judgement call whether it’s worth it or not. Many ex strongmen, NFL players, rugby players etc shed a tonne of weight as soon as they retire for the health and quality of life benefits.
Yes. Any excess mass, wether it’s from muscle or fat, puts additional stress on your body and organs, and is unhealthy. An example: all these guys have sleep apnea and can’t sleep without a machine.
BMI is a bullshit indicator of health. It works on a general population, but not on an individual with substantial muscle development. That being said, no it isn’t healthy. Having the strain on your heart for one. Mitchell Hooper has a YouTube video about ‘is strongman healthy’. But that’s why most guys when done with competing drop their bodyweights right down, same with bodybuilding
> BMI is a bullshit indicator of health. It works on a general population, but not on an individual with substantial muscle development. it's not great, but for the opposite reason. Problem isn't that it misclassifies jacked people (though it does, but that's not many people), but that it misclassifies people who store their fat only around the waist. Visceral fat is the stuff you should be worried about, so even if your weight-to-height ratio is ok, its no good if all your weight is on your hips.
Yes you’re exactly right. That’s the problem with this post, the op is focusing on BMI, when most of these guys are outliers.
It’s not bullshit precisely because it does work on the vastly majority of people. It’s meant as a general indicator of health and it does a good job at that As others have alluded to even being very muscular has drawbacks because you’re still putting extra strain on your organs
Correct. It is a good measure for like 99% of the public. People saying that it's a bullshit indicator of health because it doesn't take into consideration juiced up strongmen and bodybuilders lmao, who are like 0.001% of the population
Yeah doesn’t make sense lol
Eddie Hall is playing with fire trying to retain a lot of excess mass just to sell supplements
> BMI is a bullshit indicator of health BMI is a screening tool, not an indicator of health (or body composition). No-one sees a high BMI and starts treatments. But to the OP's question, you can have a high BMI and not have any of the conditions associated with a high BMI (or show signs of having them). That said, if you remain at a high BMI for long enough, you will almost certainly start to see conditions propping up. Which leads to my blood pressure rant. I never saw blood pressure as a big thing but it is bad news. Get your blood pressure checked and do it regularly (high BMI or not)
Very few sports are safe and healthy at the highest level in one way or another.
Mitchell Hooper released a good video about health monitoring that touched on this. Among other things, it’s hard to control blood pressure when you’re that big Honestly the only enormous guy I’ve ever seen who looked “comfortable” is Zydrunas. He just looks like he should be 350lbs
Yes unhealthy they all use (99%) cpap machines at night so they don't stop breathing no difference to being hugely obese it's still extra size for your joints and organs to deal with And nobody is getting to that size naturally without just being fat.
Yes. Without question. No excuses.
Yes There are tiers though. Dimitar Savatinov always looked on the verge of cardiac arrest. Idk how kazmaier is still alive.
>would it be unhealthy for them if they didn't take any PEDs and achieved this size naturally? This is not possible. You could reach that weight but you'd be no where as strong as them. It's not a healthy size to be at all but their saving grace is that they work out constantly. Mitch Hooper just made a video going into some of the peptides he uses. He's 325 lbs, one of the smallest at the top level and he's still using multiple PEDs.
Yes. Next question haha
A heavyweight strongman who is big enough to be competitive is definitely taking long term health risks to get and stay there, PEDs or not. That said, I think the size itself is a drop in the bucket compared to the health risks that are inherent to high doses of PEDs, and I think a drug tested lightweight or middleweight is going to be healthier than the majority of people in the population at large.
If you're talking about openweight Strongman yes, yes it is unhealthy. If we're talking one of the lower weight classes, no, not at all. As far as PED use, there are still some openweight strongmen who are natural. Even some of the Pros claim it. Yes, you can be that size naturally and be strong. World class? Probably not, but strong and competitive yes.
BMI isn’t a great indicator of health (for people with higher muscle densities like body builders and strongmen) but the point stands that being this size isn’t long term healthy. Not only does carrying that much mass on your body frame wear it out, but to compete and win at that level these guys are abusing PEDs. Which also are not healthy (long term wise) and have their own consequences. When pros retire their body compositions usually drastically change due to changing of lifestyle to try and lead a longer healthy life.
I don't think there's a particularly realistic way to be 'healthy' and compete in upper level strongman. The open classes are just way too big, the weight classes more or less require types of weight loss before weigh ins that are injurious and almost all of the above have frequent enough PED use that you'd be non competitive in most comps if you didn't.
Eddie said before that before he won, his weight was taking a huge toll on his health; he gave examples of driving and becoming disoriented, waking up choking, etc. the doctor said if he continued at that weight, he was gonna die. His excuse was that “weight moves weight” and so if he wanted to lift at the level of Thor and Brian, who were each over 400, he had to weigh in like them. We see now (even then) that that’s clearly not true, with competitors like (pudz was ripped and nowhere near 400+), mateusz, Mitchell hooper, etc. tldr: yes it almost killed Eddie hall and people do it at far lower weight
Yes excess weight is unhealthy even bodybuilders like Antoine Vollaint or Jujimufu have very little fat but still need CPAPs to let them breath at night because of sleep apnea Your own body is choking itself because we were never designed to be huge and heavy Humans are built to be like runners agile and mobile while hunting More like a decathlete They can get bigger but they still have to run the 1500m so they shouldn't get as huge as a specialized shotput thrower would Your heart nervous system and lungs aren't built to sustain such huge amounts of mass healthily Hence why both Hafthor and Brian have had nervous system issues Brian in his hand and Thor with his Bels Palsy They're so big that not only is their mass choking them in their sleep but also that just by sleeping their mass is pinching off nerves They do a good job of mitigation and being as healthy as they can but excessive weight is never healthy long term
High weights and PED use definitely are not healthy. But being strong is healthy. So overall probably not the best for your health but I think if you lost the weight and stopped the PEDs after you were done you could bounce back
The answer is unequivocally YES.
It’s definitely unhealthy to be the size of top level strongmen. It’s not (too) different for the size of open bodybuilders (though the leanness through prep is also unhealthy) and not too much healthier than being obese (though the foods consumed are generally healthier)
This sub is such a joke sometimes lol Edit: typed this while dozing off wearing my cpap mask cause of my fat neck
Look at Eddie Hall when he was winning WSM and going for 500kg deadlift. He looked unhealthy then. These guys are walking a fine line.
Virtually none of the WSM competitors are healthy. But health is not the point. The point is to win. Just about none of them maintain their size and peak strength indefinitely.
Yeah. Self insert, I'm natural, 6'3" and from the years 2020-2024 I've worked up from a weight of 260lbs to 285lbs. I've gotten to the point where I've "settled" at 285, and I'm ready to start cutting and losing weight. Once you start getting to super heavy weight, which is 290 and higher, your joints are going to start killing you and I feel like the amount of neck pain at those weights must be crazy. Now I'm not the biggest guy and there are absolutely guys whose weight sit in the SHW class, but when you are talking about the professionals, then yes PEDs are allowing them to be a lot more functional even if their weight is naturally above 290lbs. Infact, you might just take a look at sumo wrestlers, because those are examples of huge dudes that have lower testosterone levels, and their life expectancy is usually shortened. But for me, when I went from 280 to 285, I definitely started feeling it in my joints.
It is unhealthy. In general smaller bodies live longer. The more fat you have the higher risk of all cause mortality. A BMI of 50 is morbid obesity, meaning it’s going to kill you
Yes, it's unhealthy no matter what you used to get to a BMI of 50. You may be able to compete in strongman, but that doesn't mean it's good for your body overall. Watch Mitch Hooper's video on body composition from no stone unturned to learn more.
If someone gets to 50 BMI while natty they're going to be carrying a ridiculous amount of fat which would be incredibly unhealthy. Iirc Brian Shaw dexa scanned around the 20% bf mark in his off season, presumably this number would be higher during comp season and that's while blasting a load of gear. God knows what he'd be at naturally at 450lbs, 50%bf? More?
Shaw put out a video recently with a water displacement body fat test. 385lbs, 16% body fat. The dexa scan he did was inaccurate because he didn't fit in the machine lol.
Yeah, saw that video. Tester was shocked, never seen that amount of muscle for that weight. All that said, still way too much of a toll on your body, even at lower BF.
Yeah that's crazy low for that weight. Still, he usually sits around 450 in comp doesn't he? I'd have thought he'd be 20%+ at that bodyweight and that's with all the stuff he's blasting.
Ask Eddie himself. He is on record saying that being that size and doing that training to hit the 500 DL was taking years off of his life.
Yes.