Giants Live In Vegas | Straight Outta The Lair Podcast

Ever wondered what happens when a group of strongmen tries to fit into an Uber? Our latest episode welcomes a crew of giant athletes who share their side-splitting travel adventures, starting with a tale from Las Vegas where they left an Uber driver in disbelief. From pranks on planes to jaw-dropping reactions on crowded flights, you’ll get a front-row seat to the unique challenges these titans face on the road. Their camaraderie and shared laughs will have you hooked from the get-go!

Prepare to be transported to the exhilarating world of competitive strongman events. Our guests recount their experiences at the World’s Strongest Nation event in Ukraine and give us an insider’s look at the upcoming Giants Live show in Las Vegas. We discuss the evolution of strongman physiques, the physical and mental toll of the sport, and the inspiring journey of female strength athletes like Lucy, who’s setting new records and breaking barriers in women’s strength sports. The energy and passion for their craft are palpable as they share the highs and lows of their careers.

We also dive into the fascinating crossover between strongman competitions and bodybuilding. Hear personal stories of athletes who transitioned from other sports, like WWE, and found their true passion in strength athletics. Eddie’s unique blend of lifting and singing, Evan’s transformation post-WWE, and the humorous yet competitive spirit among these giants will leave you inspired and entertained. As we build up to the Giants Live event in Las Vegas, we explore the growth of the sport, fan engagement, and the legacy being created by these incredible athletes. Don’t miss out on this action-packed episode filled with laughter, inspiration, and behind-the-scenes insights!


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----- Content -----
00:00:00 - Intro
00:08:13 - Giants Live
00:20:08 - Women's Strength Records and Progression
00:27:05 - Weightlifting Competition and Records Discussion
00:37:01 - Mindsets in Strongman and Bodybuilding
00:40:01 - Bodybuilding to Strongman Transition and Performances
00:47:28 - Strongman Competitions
00:53:43 - Evolution of Strongman Fan Engagement
01:01:13 - Giants Live Las Vegas Preparations

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Hey, Straight out the rock.
We have had some incredibly bigguests, and the last time I
said they can't be any biggerthan the last two, and that was

(00:24):
the Stalked Down Brothers.
Today we have this crew Giantslive on the podcast Rock.
What a group of guys and girls.

Speaker 2 (00:36):
Yeah, I'm just sitting here thinking to myself.
There's a lot of calorieconsumption happening at this
table right here.
We slaughtered a couple cowsjust for lunch today, so we're
ready to go, guys.

Speaker 1 (00:46):
Absolutely Well, guys and girls, welcome to the
podcast, Welcome to the show.
You know we're doing somethinga little bit different here,
hence why you are not in thestudio.
In fact, we couldn't get youguys in the studio.
That's how much meat we've gothere.
So we had to rent out thisstudio courtesy of my guy Tyus,
our podcaster producer, and Iwant to get you all on the show,

(01:08):
but thank you very much forbeing here.
I know that you're all in Vegasfor a reason and we're going to
talk about that in a little bit, but that didn't go off to a
good start, certainly.
I know that day one ended in auber catastrophe.
I want to bring this up,straight up off the back.
Who wants to take that story?

Speaker 5 (01:30):
Everyone, I do All right.

Speaker 6 (01:34):
Don't forget, we came to train at Flex's Gym.
Yes, we were at the.

Speaker 5 (01:36):
Dragon's Lair.
We came to train.
We were just getting our lastworkout and a little bit of
blood flow.
Nothing strenuous, nothing bad.
It was me, graham and Eddie.
We ordered an Uber back to thehotel, freshen up, get ready for
dinner and last food and allthat good stuff.
I am outside waiting for theUber.
He pulls up like big SUV, smallminivan-type car, pretty big,

(01:58):
and this is Uber XL, by the way.
I ordered Uber XL, so I orderedthe big car and I put my gym
bag in the back in the trunk,and then graham and eddie came
out.
He had all of the doors open.
I was about to get in there.
He puts one of the seats downso that one of us can get into
the back of the car and then heturns around.

(02:21):
He looked at all three of usand and he said you guys break
my car, you're too big.
He puts the seat back up, closesall the doors and says you can
order another Uber, and thenjust gets in and drives away
when you told me this I thoughtyou were just taking a piss.
We thought he was joking too.
No way bro.

Speaker 8 (02:39):
We thought he was being sarcastic, because he was
like oh no, no, closes his doorbecause I was trying to say
we're going to put you in theback yeah, I'm happy to go to
him talking of tip you were likemy car is going to tip over
that's not happening but youguys didn't even try to convince
him.

Speaker 5 (02:56):
He was just like he was gone, right no, no, he as
soon as those doors were closedhe got in his car and just left.
He was done with the situationbecause I went into my office.

Speaker 1 (03:03):
I come back out and then I see all of you after
saying goodbyes.
You know it was kind of likethat who you know for me.
I'm on my tip towards saying hi, bye and hi to every one of you
and then you come back in.
You're like what the fuck?
You said?
No, my uber got canceled.
There's no way.
He said flex this is whathappened.
I went outside he said you'reall too big.
And he drove off and I was likebro, I've been living here four

(03:25):
years.

Speaker 2 (03:25):
You've been living here 20 something years, right I
mean, have you ever heard ofthat before?
I'd never seen it.
But it's funny because we weretalking to to luke and tom
yesterday, like when we weretalking about how they travel,
and I'm like dude, like if I'msitting on a plane and I see
either of you two guys come andI'm like oh shit I'm trying like
please don't sit here, right.
So I I feel like this kind ofstuff must happen.
You know, all the time, rightlike you guys, run into these

(03:48):
type situations no, no, that'snever happened to me before.

Speaker 5 (03:52):
That's why.

Speaker 1 (03:53):
I was so taken back by it, and you live in.
Tennessee, and that's likeyou're coming over from the UK,
like a lot of the guys, yeah.

Speaker 8 (04:00):
I actually prank a lot of people on my flights.
Oh no.
So I'll walk up to people.
It's not in my seat but I'llsay, oh, I'm next to you, and
they go, oh no.
And then like, especially whenthere's like an old lady or a
you know.

Speaker 1 (04:16):
Yeah.

Speaker 8 (04:17):
And just their reaction and I like I've got a
few online that I've posted.

Speaker 2 (04:31):
But their reaction is so funny when they get up and
go to move their bag and they go.
I'm jerking, oh, thank god, butI am behind you.
Yeah, it's like they see debocome in they're like oh my gosh,
I just you can tuck mine in.

Speaker 1 (04:36):
Yeah, you guys got any stories like with traveling
and stuff that, uh, that you'verun into nick's nodding what
have you got?
You need a mic.
Just hold on, hold on, hold on,hold on.
There we go.
Sorry, I got a mic now Just tolet everybody who's watching
know.
Right, we have a big group ofguys and girls, as you can see.
Literally a big group and we'vegot very limited mics, so for us

(04:56):
to scramble.
And then Nick.
You know Nick has was going tobe because he blew his hand up a
few fucking weeks ago.

Speaker 5 (05:03):
But anyway, carry on with your traveling story.
Before he goes on with thestory, I just want to say Naveed
with Uber XL, fuck you.

Speaker 1 (05:09):
Fuck you Naveed, Fuck you Naveed.
There we go, no, no.

Speaker 8 (05:15):
We just got canceled.
Right at that point in time wegot to give him one star, one
star.

Speaker 6 (05:26):
He's an investor on this podcast, by the way.
I was sorry, v.

Speaker 7 (05:28):
I know you're the biggest sponsor on the show.
No, I'm joking, I feel betternow too.
We were doing the TV show andwe were going from Denver to
Cody Wyoming and we all flewinto Denver, caught up with
Brian, caught up with Brian andthen we all got on the plane and

(05:49):
the person put Eddie and Robbiein the same two seats next to
each other.
Oh, I've seen this picture andit was real.
They actually screwed that up.
They had me in the seat next tothem and I had an open seat
next to me, which was awesome,but they got stuck on that hour
and 15-minute flight right nextto each other the whole way down
the plane was full.
On that hour and 15 minuteflight right next to each other.
The whole way down the planewas full.
Brian got stuck up in front andthey had him on the bulkhead
with the arms that would notmove.

(06:10):
I mean, they're solid.
All the way down he literallycouldn't get in the seat.
So they had to move him back acouple rows and then move him
over once so that he couldactually get in the seat,
because he could not literallysit in the seat, because he
could not like literally sit inthe seat.

Speaker 2 (06:24):
It's just crazy.
Those are long flights too.

Speaker 7 (06:25):
Yeah, that's a long time to be stuck like that it's
a short one because it's only anhour and a half but, but it's
long, it's long when you'recramped.

Speaker 1 (06:32):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, well, some of these guys.

Speaker 2 (06:34):
I mean I know somebody flew from from across
the pond right.

Speaker 1 (06:37):
So eddie came from across the pond, terry's come
over as well.

Speaker 6 (06:40):
Yeah, yeah, I've had a few occasions where I've been
on the flight in the seat firstand the other customers have
come on, and when they've seenthe seat next to me, they've
just been like no.

Speaker 3 (06:52):
And they fucking get in the air, I'll sit.

Speaker 6 (06:53):
I don't even have a seat.
I like people literallystanding there and say I refuse
to sit next to him.
It's unbelievable.

Speaker 4 (06:59):
I wouldn't want to sit next to you either.

Speaker 1 (07:02):
Would you want to sit next?

Speaker 4 (07:02):
to any of us.
No, I wouldn't want to sit nextto me either.

Speaker 7 (07:07):
Flying Southwest is they don't have that assigned
seating.
So you get in that first 25,pay the little extra, you get in
there and then you sit likesecond row front seat and then
you'll watch somebody come inand sit next to the window.
Next to the window and you seeif anybody will come in and it's
the very last person that getson the plane that will take that
seat.

Speaker 1 (07:27):
It's the most desperate person.
Just like, get me on that plane, right.

Speaker 3 (07:29):
And then he's like oh shit, I signed up for this,
didn't I?

Speaker 1 (07:32):
That's what happens because I came late.
But anyway, don Sadler, youknow you are the OG tournament
director of the World'sStrongest man and promoter
extraordinaire for a giant'slife do my best.
Yeah, you have.
You've got some incrediblestories that uh you've told
about uh travels in your daysyeah, I mean probably.

Speaker 9 (07:51):
Me and terry have been probably around about the
longest.
You know, me and terry werecompeting together.
Well, I don't like to say, itwas like 20 years ago.
Yeah, literally, I was trying togive you I was trying to get
you he even feels wrong sayingit, but it's true.
Yeah, and there's been somecrazy.
We used to compete a lot inUkraine and Russia and places
like that, and there's been somecrazy stories over the years.

(08:12):
Pop some.
We got on a plane, we did athing called World's Strongest
Nation over in Ukraine and weflew into a place called
Sevastopol, which which is ateeny little airport, and we got
on a plane.
It was like it was like apropeller plane and every single
seat had a strongman on it.
You know, and the guys like Ithink the strongman nowadays are
actually leaner than they usedto be.

(08:33):
Yeah, well, look at Terry.
Terry used to be quite fat.
Yeah, yeah, I was fat.
I'm still fat, just less fat andthe plane starts going on the
runway.
It was totally full, I think.
It was maybe like a 30,40-seater plane and it just
literally it just seemed like itwouldn't take off.
And I was saying to the guy whowas tournament director then

(08:54):
I'm like, because I was acompetitor, I was like, does
this guy not realise there'sliterally like three people sat
on each seat here and then weall started panicking, you know
yeah, yeah yeah, and it went.
It just wouldn't take off and itstopped and they came out to it
and all that and I'm satthinking, but but you wouldn't
get like.
Everyone was like, I was thelightest person, I was like 125,
yeah, and these guys are only200 kilos like.

(09:15):
But you wouldn't do that, wouldyou?
What is that?

Speaker 7 (09:18):
440 pounds I gotta get my uh american uh pound
conversion.

Speaker 1 (09:23):
Like believe it or not.

Speaker 9 (09:24):
I mean, if you look at the old line-up of World's
Strongest man, no disrespect tothe older guys, but they did
carry a bit more body fat,whereas nowadays, probably
because of the events, the guysare a bit more slimline, you
know.

Speaker 4 (09:35):
I remember doing the same competition actually, but I
think it was the year after2008, and I had to do I'm not
going to name them because it'sa bit cruel.
I'm not going to name himbecause he's a bit cruel, but we
all flew the same sort of thing.
We all flew into Kiev and thenhad to fly across Ukraine and I
had to sit next to one of theUkrainian guys.
It was only like an hour longflight, but what was the worst
bit about it?
We'd been competing in a reallyhot area of Ukraine.

(09:57):
It was absolutely baking andwe'd been in the same T-shirt
every single day.
We were there.
We'd been there for a week andwe're talking like he's like 190
kilos, like 420 pounds, samet-shirt the whole week, competed
, then put the t-shirt back onevery single day and I had to
sit next to him on a flight justthe two of us and I was pretty
large myself then as well and,um, yeah, I was just like, of

(10:19):
all the people I could have satnext to, he's got to get the
extension thing to fit aroundhim and just sweating all over
me.
It was absolutely disgusting.

Speaker 9 (10:26):
I've been on two flights European flights where
they've run out of seatbeltextenders.
Yeah, because they're all sobig.

Speaker 4 (10:35):
I've never had to use one, even at my fatest.

Speaker 1 (10:37):
Just saying that, just putting it out there.
I mean, how big do you have tobe to get a seatbelt extender?
Brian has to.
How big do you have to be toget a seatbelt extender?
Brian has to?

Speaker 9 (10:45):
Yeah, you were trying to throw him on the airbags.

Speaker 7 (10:47):
I would actually say it depends on the airline.

Speaker 6 (10:49):
Because even I've had an extender.

Speaker 1 (10:52):
But on a smaller airline.
Is that like a badge of honourwhen you get that seatbelt
extender as a strongman?
No, it's embarrassing.

Speaker 6 (11:00):
I don't know if that's a badge of honour.

Speaker 8 (11:02):
Everyone's looking at you, the worst ones is you want
the stealth, I need a beltextender and you go I need one.
Okay, we need this guy.

Speaker 4 (11:10):
Yeah we get an extender.
It's like Do you not think it'sworse when they try and hand it
to you when you don't even needit, though I've had that a
couple of times that's up in thebin.

Speaker 5 (11:19):
You put it on your shoulder.

Speaker 8 (11:20):
You put it on your shoulder.

Speaker 6 (11:22):
Can you show?

Speaker 1 (11:22):
him, your fucking abs yeah yeah, look around me.

Speaker 4 (11:24):
Yeah, yeah, he's under there somewhere.

Speaker 1 (11:29):
But, darren, obviously we're here in Las
Vegas for a reason, and it's thefirst Giants Live Las Vegas and
this we're a day out fromactually, well, the time this
goes to air we are a day out.
So we've got the best of bestathletes coming in for this
event a superstar lineup,j-rock's first strongman event,

(11:51):
so I'm excited for him to see it.
Obviously, he's seen and met alot of the guys that have come
into the gym.
A lot of the guests we havehere have trained in the gym
throughout the last couple ofyears.
So now to get the role reversalfor me to now encourage these
guys, get my, my fan, my, my, mycurrent members behind a lot of
the people that you know, forexample, evan has got to meet.

(12:14):
He's been to the gym many times.
Um, they're all excited.
They're all excited.
They're all messaging me.
Everybody is pumped up for thisevent and whisper in las vegas
is getting now into excitement.
So, where you are, let's talkabout the event.

Speaker 9 (12:28):
Well, I mean, the thing is about this event and
there is a few across the yearwhere it's literally the top ten
in the world.
Simple as that.
Yeah, you get a guy that'sinjured but arguably, you know,
whoever wins this show probablywill win World's Strongest man.
He's going gonna be one of theguys.
You know what I mean.
And you've got the top three inthe world there.

(12:49):
Evan been number three, you'vegot tom number one and mitch
hooper and these guys I sort ofsee they're the guys that are
going to pass that title aroundin the next few years.
Yeah, yeah, if you, if you lookat strongman probably like most
sports, probably likebodybuilding you see a good guy
coming from like five yearsbefore.
You know you see him coming inand evans built his way up there
to number three.
Hooper came in pretty quick tobe honest, it was a bit
unnatural, but uh, and tom tom,you could tell tom was gonna be

(13:11):
brilliant in the early days.
So it's a real treat.
And the main thing for me was,as a promoter um, you know,
without being sort of cheesylike, I want that fan experience
.
We always try and do that.
We don.
We have the best lighting,sound, the best sound and the
best fan experience.
And I think with Vegas we hadto really do that times two,

(13:33):
because I think in Vegas peopleexpect that, the glitz and the
glamour.
So what we tried to do is we'revery lucky in the UK We've been
going for probably nearly 15years in the arena, tour and
everything, everything sells out.
It's a big success.
It's a successful business.
We've come to america before anddone it probably how we used to
in the uk, like 15 years ago,where it's a bit more car parky,

(13:55):
if you like, whereas this isthe first you know actual.
This is how we do it in the uk.
I've got the same presenters,I've got the same cameras, it's
the same live stream quality,the bells and whistles.
So people are in for a realtreat and if we can replicate
that across America, that's whatI'm wanting to do.
And there's no corners cut.
It's not a lesser version.

(14:16):
This is it, and these guys willtell you they've been training
very hard for this.
This is going to be a realdogfight on Saturday night.

Speaker 4 (14:24):
Well, I think it's a big moment, isn't it?
It's a big moment First bigGiants live, especially in Vegas
as well.
It definitely could be theturning point of the sport,
really.

Speaker 9 (14:32):
I think if we would have tried to cut any corners,
it would have been obvious,because people expect now that's
a Giants live.
I want people to turn thetelevision on and go.
It's Giants Live.

Speaker 2 (14:41):
Right.

Speaker 9 (14:41):
And, honestly, when we've done it before, we've had
great shows, great athletes, butnot glitzy enough, and I think
now Strongman deserves thatEvery show should have that
treatment.
You know, other people aredoing a great job as well.
You know, I'm not just sayingI'm doing it, but Strongman's
moved up a real big level.
The guys big level.

(15:06):
The guys could have more money.
Now, you know, the the fan baseis is massive, even for the
guys out of the top.
Yeah, and, and that's the thing, it's giving the guys the
respect that they deserve,putting them on a platform.
And you know, I always thinkit's only a big deal if you make
it a big deal.
You know these guys want tocome out to fireworks and, yeah,
you know, make it lookspectacular, yeah, so you know,
that's, that's what we're tryingto do.
So on Saturday night you'lldefinitely see that.

Speaker 2 (15:24):
And that's what Vegas is all about the big lights.
You know the production, and Ithink it's perfect for Vegas.
You know we've had this hugegrowth period right now in Vegas
, where you know it's like wegot the Raiders in, we got the
Knights.
You know all these things thathave happened.
You know for the city that wepreviously didn't have all these
sports.
You know all we had wasfighting for the longest time,
and so all these typeactivations coming in, and I

(15:47):
think it's the perfect locationwith Vegas.
Right, we're a heavy touristmarket, you know as well.
Right, but all the biggestevents in the world are here now
.
So you know how, about thebiggest guys in the world as
well?

Speaker 1 (15:59):
right.

Speaker 2 (15:59):
And girls and you know, I'm really excited to see.
You know, like flex said, thiswill be my first time, um, and
sometimes I think to myself it'slike I've met.
I've met so many of you guysand everybody's so polite and
and and gracious and I lookforward to seeing the switch
turn on when you guys turn intoanimals, right, because I like
that, like I'm a big mindsettype person and like I work out

(16:20):
with flex and like he's thenicest guy, but when he's in the
gym he's not.
There's a there's something thathappens, you know, and and I
like that you know, because I'ma fighter and I have that switch
too you know when I want toturn it on and I like seeing it
live and I like seeing that,like you know everything all out
, you know, uh, and I lookforward to that.

Speaker 9 (16:39):
I mean just to explain to people that are
watching that aren't massivestrongman fans what what you've
got is.
You've got the Giants live.
You know, rubber stamp on it.
That makes it all fancy, if youlike.
And then also we've got theworld dead of championships.
Now people obviously have beentalking about we've had Eddie
Hall did 500 kilos back in 17,which is unbelievable.

Speaker 7 (16:59):
What's the weight?
Oh, 1,102 pounds.

Speaker 9 (17:01):
All right.

Speaker 7 (17:02):
Okay, oh, 1,102 pounds, all right, okay, when I
point I need the conversion.
Don't point at me bro, Just forthe fans to know how much was
it again 1,102 pounds 1,102pounds and again anybody

Speaker 8 (17:18):
who's seen?

Speaker 9 (17:18):
that deadlift Also amazing, you know, and no one
really believed that he could doit all, but I would say not
many people believed he could doit.
Obviously he did, which is themain thing.
And then Hapthor did 501 duringlockdown.
Obviously the shows weren't onAgain, you know, massive lift.
So people have been talkingabout this 505.
There's probably, I think, nodisrespect to anybody else three

(17:41):
names that people have beenbanding about, which is Ivan
Makarov, hicksey and probablyRaul no Heinle for pulling that.
And then last year at the WorldDeadlift Championships, this
lady went and pulled in pounds.
She pulled 700.
700 pounds.

Speaker 7 (17:58):
She pulled 700 pounds , so that's 200, and kilos guys,
so it's 318.

Speaker 1 (18:02):
Unbelievable.
So obviously Lucy's going tolook.
So that's 200 and kilos guys.
So it's 318.
Unbelievable.

Speaker 9 (18:05):
Unbelievable.
So obviously Lucy's going tolook at doing a lot more than
that and the jump that she'sgoing to make actually, if you
compare it to the guys, is likePound for pound.
Well for a world record to jumpup.
She wants to go for 325.

Speaker 3 (18:20):
325, yeah 716.

Speaker 9 (18:23):
But if you look at that for a world record, jump in
a percentage wise, take itacross anything you want.
That is a big jump, it's huge.

Speaker 7 (18:30):
It's a big, big jump.
Yeah, it's huge.
If you beat a record by morethan 1% to 2%, you're killing it
In anything you look at.
In anything you look at.

Speaker 9 (18:37):
So obviously we don't want the deadlift.
It's not just about thedeadlift.
That's very important,especially to the powerlifters
and everything in this world.
I think people want to see thatgo now, because it's been tried
quite a few times.
And yeah, and also you've gotthe big show.
Favourites, in all fairness,are probably Evan Mitchell,

(19:01):
hooper and Tom Stortman for theoverall show.
Again, no disrespect, we've gotsome great guys Eddie and
everybody here, but they've beenwinning everything.
That's a fact over the lastcouple of years.
So it's not justone-dimensional this show.
There's a competition within acompetition.
We've got Ian Bibby coming overand he seems to be a fan
favourite Just broke the worldlog record.
People assume that guy isn'tfast.

(19:23):
He is.

Speaker 7 (19:25):
He's fast already.
He's a weirdish thing, he'sfast, I found that out in
Manchester.

Speaker 9 (19:28):
He's 200 kilos.
I was like, oh, he's just a big100.
But it's like what?

Speaker 1 (19:32):
a guy.
You were telling me a story Iknow I want to stay in the
giant's life, but kind of justgoing out About Ian Bailey.
You were telling me, the daythat he brought the record you
were literally training him howto do a log lift.
Training him to correct hisform a little bit.

Speaker 9 (19:45):
Yeah, so he used to.
For the guys that do log lifts,really, really, you don't want
to use your biceps to curl thelog round.
And his biceps are what?
The 28 inch, the biggest bicepsever.
And he was just using biceps.
His biceps were sore, so Hislegs Just using his biceps.

Speaker 6 (20:05):
Yeah, his legs were bigger than my legs.

Speaker 9 (20:08):
And so the week of the show, like the Thursday, me
and him in the gym changing hisclean technique, which is just
the weirdest thing.
So this guy's pressed more thananyone's ever pressed ever, and
we're changing his technique onthe Thursday.

Speaker 3 (20:20):
And again, that's weird, unbelievable.

Speaker 9 (20:22):
That's just weird.

Speaker 8 (20:26):
and again that's weird, you know, but he's just
baby is such a specimen, it'sjust unbelievable.
Yeah, you got to see him inperson too, yeah, I've seen it.

Speaker 5 (20:30):
Oh yeah, videos, pictures, they don't do them.
Just.
I've heard a lot about this Igot lost.
I've heard a lot about I gotlost, trying to find myself yeah
, around him.

Speaker 1 (20:36):
But listen, ladies.
First, lucy, how are youfeeling?
You know, going into this, thisshow, you know a couple of days
before, but uh, nonetheless,you've got a big task ahead of
you I feel pretty excited.

Speaker 3 (20:47):
To be fair, I'm, like um, pretty confident that I can
pull more.
When I when I pulled 700 poundslast year it moved so quickly
that I I'm not really scared topull anything heavier.
I think probably 325, going for325 kilos, which was 716 pounds
.
I think I'm probablyunderselling myself a little bit
.
But at the same time I want tobe able to bring the sport up

(21:10):
and I want the girls to catch meup and to be able to put on a
show so that we can bring thegirls out and actually put on a
show out here and push the sport, because our side of the sport
is growing a lot faster than Ithink people thought it would.
So it would be nice toencourage other girls, but at
the minute if I pull the free 25, I'll be 25 kilos ahead of
anybody else in the world.

Speaker 1 (21:32):
Which is a long way ahead.
I don't think you need it.
Let the girls catch up.
You said that, but I've hadquite a lot of grief over this
Because, like, obviously we'retrying to run a business as well
.

Speaker 9 (21:45):
As you know, this is a financial thing involved and a
lot of the girls wanted to come.
So I sort of said, right, ifanyone can challenge Lucy, even
within like 10 kilos of that,I'll buy you a ticket to come
out here.
And the reality of it is it'sno disrespect, but Lucy is just
so far ahead and I think peoplewill start to push you
eventually.

Speaker 3 (22:04):
But the minute I think definitely there are girls
coming through and I do thinkthat the girls do deserve to
come and they will fight fortheir space.
But at the end of the day, oursport is nowhere near where the
men's sport's at, so we've gotto be patient and wait our time
and just prove what we can do.

(22:25):
And until we have more peoplelifting the same sort of weights
and stuff, we can't really puton a show as well as other
people.
And I think it's it's a shamebecause there are.
There are girls that diddeserve to, um, to come out and
pull and they've done reallywell, like in the last year,
like there's two girls that havehit 300 in competition and, um,
they really they.
They had the opportunity toprobably come, they were

(22:45):
probably the next ones really.
But at the same time this isbusiness and I understand that
and sometimes I feel a bitguilty for pushing the record on
quite far, but at the same timeI'm not going to hold myself
back because I know I've got alot more to come I'd like to put
in there.

Speaker 6 (23:01):
I mean, it's evolution of sport.
So you know, if you go back andtalk about Eddie's lift, he set
a standard and that standardhas been chased now since he did
it.
So that's all you're doing.
You're setting a blueprint forthe women to follow.

Speaker 5 (23:14):
And Eddie pushed it just like Lucy it's not only
that, but when Eddie pulled the500 originally, it's not just
raising the bar for chasing thatone rep world record, but it's
not just lowering.
It's not just lower, uh,raising the bar for chasing that
one rep world record, but it'salso raising the bar for all the
other athletes.
Because since eddie's pulledthat, how many of us now have
pulled a thousand pounds, 455kilos?

Speaker 9 (23:35):
it's just constantly making everybody get better.
Well, the year after he pulled,after he pulled 500 and most of
you guys were there the amountof people that pulled a thousand
in the world at one of my shows, it doubled in one night.
Seriously, it went from like 11to like 22 23 in one night.

Speaker 5 (23:53):
Yeah exactly it.
Just it forces everybody togrow, everybody to get stronger,
work harder, and it makes thesport better and I know that's
exactly what the girls say to me.

Speaker 3 (24:02):
They're like, I think , now that I've done the 300,
I've done the 700 pounds, thatmeans that they now believe that
it's doable and that means thatpeople now can look at it and
be like, yeah, this can happen,and I can hopefully keep pushing
people on.

Speaker 4 (24:17):
I think the non-PC answer at the moment is it's not
a competition at the moment.
Lucy's ahead of everyone elseand it's up to them to catch up,
but they will do Exactly that.
It's like you were all sayingOnce the bar's been raised, it
makes everyone else stop at astep.
Everyone's got to be going forit, and they need to as well.

Speaker 9 (24:31):
I sort of feel like just having Lucy here, and she
was here last year as well.
We did it over in Cardiff Likeright, this is so impressive.
We've got to show everybodythis and I think that is a big
move because the reality of itis, you girls weren't in the big
arenas and we've done a coupleof Giants lives now for the
girls and they've got a greatcrowd.

Speaker 3 (24:52):
Yeah definitely, it's definitely put the strong women
out on the map Because, to behonest, if I hadn't have texted
to say, can I come and pull £700at the World deadlift champs, I
wouldn't have been there.
Like and like sometimes, likeI'd like I had to put myself out
there to you to be able to showlike that it can be done, and I
think if that's kind of helpednot in a big-headed way, but it

(25:13):
has helped the sport growbecause I've I've put myself in
that position to be like this iswhat we can do, like and we are
here and we want to be seen,and then it's kind of helped
develop the Britain's StrongestWomen shows and stuff like that.
I think it's been a reallypositive experience, to be
honest, for me in the lastcouple of years.

Speaker 9 (25:34):
It's all about appetite, isn't it?
It's all about who's going tobuy tickets, who's going to
watch this, and we've proved nowthat people do want to watch
the girls do this.

Speaker 4 (25:42):
How many of the girls have pulled 300 since you did?
There's been another three orfour, haven't there?

Speaker 3 (25:50):
Yeah, I think Claire and Summer have done it in comp,
and then you've got Rebecca.
Roberts has done it in trainingand Olga has now done it in
training.

Speaker 4 (25:54):
Okay, and how many had done it prior to you?
No one.

Speaker 3 (25:56):
No one had pulled it prior to me pulling 700.

Speaker 1 (25:59):
So it's already happening.

Speaker 6 (26:00):
It's already happening.

Speaker 1 (26:01):
How many years ago was it when somebody pulled
close to a thousand?
After that thousand was pulled?

Speaker 9 (26:09):
I know there's a lot of people in that 900 range, but
then when that thousand poundswas pulled, Well, to put it in
perspective, when me and Terryfirst started competing, I
remember I pulled 400 and Terry,you were like 440.
When I pulled 400, I kneweverybody that pulled 400.
Yes, we're a bit older than alot of these guys, but same age
as you, I think.

Speaker 8 (26:30):
But what I'm saying is when.

Speaker 9 (26:32):
I pulled 400, I knew everyone that pulled 400.
There was a short list when youpulled 440, literally you could
have rang everybody if youpulled 440.
Whereas now I don't even reallyknow everyone that's pulled
1,000 pounds anymore.
No, which makes there's so manyof them.

Speaker 4 (26:50):
Like 1,000000 is the new, which is obviously.
Well, there is a few that arelike almost just hobby lifters,
almost like Instagram liftersthat are pulling £1,000, like
genuinely and they don't evencompete.

Speaker 9 (26:58):
No, God, no, we were all out there on the floor doing
it.

Speaker 4 (27:01):
Yeah.

Speaker 9 (27:02):
And that's a lot.
Again, it's a massive jump yeah.

Speaker 2 (27:05):
If I could ask maybe it's ignorance and not
understanding but are the femalelifts the same as the male?
So exactly the same competition?
Yeah.

Speaker 9 (27:13):
Same bar, same you know.

Speaker 2 (27:14):
Same.
Set up everything, right, okay.

Speaker 1 (27:17):
You were hoping it was going to be lighter, because
you wanted to try something,didn't you?
No, I'm just wondering.
I don't know if there wasdifferences in the lifts.

Speaker 2 (27:23):
That's a good question.

Speaker 8 (27:24):
That's the beauty, about the weight.

Speaker 1 (27:27):
Yeah, yeah, 200 pounds is 200 pounds.
The weight is the weight is theweight.

Speaker 9 (27:31):
And if you saw a guy doing 325 in the gym, you'd go
wow, he's strong.

Speaker 3 (27:35):
Yeah, do you know what I mean?
That's a fact of it, you know.

Speaker 1 (27:37):
That's a good deadlift.

Speaker 9 (27:38):
That's you know who's doing that.

Speaker 3 (27:40):
Most gyms there's nobody doing that the gym that
can pull over 300, and it's anexceptionally strong gym as well

(28:00):
.
Yeah, it's ridiculous.
So like the 300 kilo mark islike what most men are looking
to pull, yeah, yeah, and thenI've kind of exceeded it.

Speaker 1 (28:11):
Yeah, how many guys left when you pulled out 200?
That's my question.

Speaker 3 (28:15):
I have entered a strong man show before, when I
was still coming through,because there wasn't as many
strong women shows and menstarted pulling out because I
entered the show, so I ended upnot competing Unbelievable.

Speaker 2 (28:26):
So it's like nah.
Got him shook, you've got topush yourself.
Is competing as I was, like nahgot him, got him shut.

Speaker 4 (28:30):
yeah, you gotta push yourself they didn't want that
smug big men with fragile egosthat's basically how I got into
the sport.

Speaker 3 (28:40):
So I used to see like tell, like training in the
corner and stuff and be like Ithink I can do that and there
was a couple of guys, like therewas a couple of guys that he
used to train with and I'd belike, if they can do that, I can
do it and I'd go and give it ago.

Speaker 4 (28:50):
To be fair, you were stronger than them, yeah on the
kind of theme of deadlift.

Speaker 1 (28:58):
I want to talk to Hicksey.
Obviously you're one of theguys in contention and talked
about for this big deadlift.
How are you feeling?
My friend going in.

Speaker 6 (29:07):
Yeah, I feel fantastic If you compare to last
year.
Last year's prep I mean we hadWorlds in April.
I went home and I decided I'lltrain for the deadlift.
I had a pretty good prep buttwo and a half weeks out before
the show I tore my hamstring.
I was quite quiet about it.

(29:29):
Obviously Darren was aware.
A few of my close friends wereaware.
It was that bad that the sevendays before I couldn't even
deadlift 250.
So I turned up anyway and, yeah, I pulled 470 and won the show
and it was a 20 kilo PB and Igot 505 to my knee.
So you know, if I just reflectalone on that prep, compared to

(29:53):
where I'm at right now, I haveto have a better day on Saturday
, which means there's a verygood chance I'm lifting it.

Speaker 9 (30:00):
Again.
Perspective that puts him inthe top three deadlifts just
about ever.
You know what I mean Like onceyou're up to 470, it's like
three or four people.

Speaker 1 (30:06):
Yeah, yeah, and that is like three or four people
yeah, yeah, but no, no injuriesright now no, I am.

Speaker 6 (30:10):
I am really good too, everything's healed up.

Speaker 1 (30:12):
Are you feeling that this uh rack is going to be
broken?
I feel very confident.

Speaker 6 (30:16):
But yeah, yeah and I don't often say that I'm quite
quiet I'm quite quiet about myabilities, but I'm realistic and
if I think I can do it, thenyeah let a serious thing.

Speaker 2 (30:28):
I see you're training to fight the mountain down
there.
I saw that when you came in.
What's that all about?

Speaker 6 (30:35):
Maybe we can make a joke of it.
It's just Hathor's T-shirt thathe sells at his gym.
I wear it quite often becauseit's quite a funny thing to wear
.

Speaker 2 (30:43):
I thought it was great.
When you walked out, I was likeI like this guy People do ask
me about it.

Speaker 6 (30:48):
I'm like, no, I'm not going to fight him, I'm not
stupid there's big money in that.

Speaker 1 (30:55):
A lot of strong men are crossing over to fights now.

Speaker 6 (30:58):
I want to do a two man against him, not on my own
who would be your partner incrime in that, by the way?
I'll just take Darren, come onmate.

Speaker 1 (31:07):
Darren could jump on his shoulders to be fair.

Speaker 4 (31:09):
The two of you are about the same height as me, two
little Jack Russells going atit.

Speaker 3 (31:14):
They're seeing it, right I?

Speaker 6 (31:17):
will say this you know it's been from a, from a
personal perspective.
You know, I've had Eddie reachout to me, thor's reached out to
me quite a few times throughoutthe year showing me support for
this, so it's been really nice.
You know, like they're both,you know, seeming very genuine
that they want me to do it, soit's been quite nice from them
both.

Speaker 9 (31:37):
They're the two guys that know how much effort you're
putting, because they've doneit.

Speaker 6 (31:40):
Yeah, yeah, I was going to say.

Speaker 3 (31:42):
I think that's the thing.
I don't think people sometimesrealise how much going for the
world records really affectsyour body and stuff the whole
way through prep, and thatthere's not many people like
there's no one in my positionthat knows and they keep saying
to me oh, just break the recordby one kilo and that.
And I'm like every time I putmyself through this, I'm putting
my body through like so muchshit, like I need to be careful,

(32:06):
like I don't want to miss outon that and stuff and it, and it
is like injury territorybecause basically you're doing
stuff that no one's ever donebefore.

Speaker 6 (32:13):
Yeah, yeah, I mean, I get a lot of.
I've had a lot of, I wouldn'tsay, hate online but, like you
get a lot of people thinkingthey know they know better, so I
pulled a 465 kilo deadlift.
Uh, for my last session I wasn'tfully happy with it.
There were a few issues that Iaddressed afterwards.
But you know like I had like a485, 490 on me on that day,

(32:35):
which for me, for a gym lift,that's a win, because I always
pull better in a show, because Ialways have part of me when I'm
training, that's holding backbecause I'm scared of hurting
myself again I was gonna askthat too.

Speaker 2 (32:47):
Like in your prep, like, are you pushing yourself
to that max?
Or it's actually like you'rethere showtime and you don't
even know you might go biggerthan you actually expected,
right like?

Speaker 6 (32:57):
or you should be done right.
Yeah, no, that is.
You know, that's nail on thehead.

Speaker 9 (33:02):
I've literally um haven't trained to max all year
see, I feel like um that I havea macro is definitely one of the
best delifters on the planetand I feel like he just lifts
too heavy all the time.
Yeah, everything's like heavy,heavy and you've got to no one.
I know, no one cares what youdo in the gym.
It's a bit like you know I'vebeen a good box and get in the

(33:22):
ring and getting beaten.
You know what I mean.
It's like people want to seepeople remember saturday night,
right, um, but so I I thinkgraham isn't like that.
I think you're quite cleverlike that.
You hold back a lot massively.

Speaker 6 (33:34):
Yeah, you know I'm not.
I don't do a lift for theinstagram ever.

Speaker 9 (33:39):
Really it's like I might I might, I might set that
at his knee for a laugh I've gota question like this is like
I've had this with loads ofpeople, especially with bibby,
so obviously you were talkingabout like everyone said.
I'll just break it by a kilo.
But do you not think like ifit's in you, you should do it
Because you don't know what'sgoing to happen next week?
Do you know what I mean?
I don't know.

Speaker 7 (34:02):
There's two philosophies really on that.
When you get towards there's,yeah, you let it fly because you
never know when you're going toget back when you're early in
your career.
Cedruna showed up and beat therecord nearly every time he went
to do a log.
Yeah, I mean like every singletime he probably broke the log
record.
What 30, 40 times.

Speaker 9 (34:18):
He had it for like 10 years, I think yeah, but he
probably never maxed out, did he?

Speaker 4 (34:22):
no, he was probably capable of.
He never used his legs eitherno, yeah no.

Speaker 9 (34:27):
But it's like Bibby's now saying to me what's Bibby?
I think he's like 33, 34, andhe's like he's had a couple of
times of training where it'slike I don't feel quite as good
as I used to.
So he's saying now his next loghe wants to really because I
don't think his world record logwas his max.

Speaker 4 (34:41):
No.

Speaker 9 (34:44):
No, it wasn't, because I don't want to go over
the edge and if you have aserious injury when everything's
tuned like that, and I thinkit's the same.
How old are you now, graham?

Speaker 6 (34:55):
39 this year.

Speaker 9 (34:56):
Yeah, so it's your time to do this, isn't it?
You know what I mean.
You've got to get it out of youhaven't you, because there's
going to be a time where, likeme and Terry, where you start
falling apart.

Speaker 4 (35:04):
That is exactly, exactly what happens and you
don't even see it coming.
Literally one minute you'relike you're good, you have a
little injury and then it nevercomes back again, like I had a
bit of time off when my son wasborn and I came back and felt
like I was good and I wastraining well, and I was never
quite the same again, ever.
It never fully came back and itwasn't like I saw it coming, it
wasn't like anything bighappened.
I literally, just one minute, Iwas one of the top guys in the

(35:27):
and then the next minute I was aguy that was just making up the
numbers at World's Strongestman.
It literally was like that andyeah, it can happen.
It can happen.
Mine was sort of probablyaround your sort of point in
life, you know, in Korea,although I probably started a
bit earlier than you did.
Yeah, you had more mileage onMore miles on the clock, but it
does happen, it does, but itdoes happen, it does happen.
So, yeah, sometimes you justgotta lay it out there.

(35:49):
I wish I had there was.
A few times I look back andthink I probably could have
deadlifted more than I did.
Yeah, but I never put it outthere because just didn't get
the opportunity to.

Speaker 1 (35:58):
Terry as one of the legends in the sport.
Everybody knows what you'vedone.
You know the OG I mean.

Speaker 4 (36:03):
I not to you make you sound old.
I'm old, just not as old asNick watch you on.

Speaker 1 (36:13):
Christmas time is such a staple for World's
Strongest man in the UK so weused to watch yourself just put
the work in, reach the podiums.
Now you're kind of in theposition you're in now.
You're doing a lot more mediaand hosting.
Do you kind of put your armaround some of the up and coming
guys and be like hey, listen,I've done it this way.
I kind of paved the way.
I don't feel you should bedoing that, like there's maybe a

(36:35):
little bit.

Speaker 4 (36:36):
I mean I don't like to get too involved because a
lot of the guys it has changed abit, a lot of them have got
like coaches and people advisingthem and I certainly wouldn't
want to on anyone's toes becauseI think it's that's important,
it's, you know, the same withbodybuilding, if you're, if
you've got a coach, you've gotto listen to your coach and not
get other people's opinions,because the coach has got a
direction for you to go in andyou know yeah and you don't want

(36:59):
too many people trying toinfluence that.
But I do every now and then orsort of try and just drop a
little little hint or a littlesort of bit of information in
there to try and sort of guideguys.
And just you know, I mean I'veprobably been through most of
the things that they're goingthrough at some point in my
career.
So if I can help any of them inany way, you know of course I
would.
It's just you know whetherthey'll be receptive to that or

(37:22):
not.
I don't know, like some would,some wouldn't, and I think it's
like I said.
It's like I said I justwouldn't want to tread on
anyone's toes if they've gotcoaches and people around them.
But if they came to me andasked for sure, I'd like to try
and help them.

Speaker 7 (37:33):
Yeah, but half these guys coaching have no idea how
to compete and that's a massiveproblem with the coaches that
are in this.

Speaker 4 (37:39):
I actually remember chatting with you even, nick,
like when I was sort of gettingto that point where I was
starting to get a bit older andperhaps my body was starting to
suffer a bit, and like coming toyou for advice about, like, how
I should do things in terms ofwhat can I do at this age where
my body is starting to fallapart to still, like just cling
on that bit longer, and you gaveme some good advice.
I took it away and went with it.
So I think it's, um, it'simportant for you know to get

(38:02):
those bits of information, but Icertainly wouldn't want to just
was that advice going tobodybuilding?
yeah, just Just give up.

Speaker 1 (38:10):
You've passed it, you've had enough, just give up
One thing I'll say abouteverybody on the table you and I
have shared a stage notliterally the same stage but I
take my hat off to you in beingat the top of Strongman and then
just saying you know what I'mgoing to just start at the peg
one and go into a whole newsport and peg one and go into a

(38:31):
whole new sport, and it's acompletely different sport.
It's not based on strength,it's based on aesthetics and
visual uh judging.
So that was probably a hardthing for you to to go from one
you know lifting style to thengoing into rap sets, drop sets
and stuff it took a long time ofum, actually, even though I
knew that I needed to change theway I was doing things.

Speaker 4 (38:48):
It's hard to like get out of that, that habit when
you're in the gym of like alwaystrying to lift heavy, you know,
and then sort of try and thentake that away and go right.
Yes, I need to lift heavy, butI need to do everything properly
and really like feel it'sworking the right areas and
doing doing the right things,rather than just using
everything you can to lift asmuch weight as you can.
I mean, obviously, a lot ofpeople that have sort of not

(39:09):
done either sport or have doneone perhaps don't understand how
different they are, but theyare very, very different,
although they're both liftingweights.
The only thing I would say andthis is the the big similarity
is to be very good at strongmanor to be as good as you can be
at bodybuilding, I think evenlow level.
You've got to still be in it.
But it's that mindset of likeeverything you get during a

(39:32):
prepper for a competition withstrongman.
You're in pain all the time,you're suffering, you don't want
to get up and train.
Some days You're just like Ijust want to sit on my bum, do
nothing and just chill out.
But you have to force yourselfto get up and do it.
And with a bodybuilder,obviously you're starving, tired
, hungry.
You've got to force yourself toget up and do it, even when you
don't want to.
And I think that's the bigsimilarity, that mindset to sort

(39:55):
of say, right, I might not wantto do this, but I have to do
this.
And that's the big similarity.
And I think anyone that's sortof got that mindset could
probably do either Discipline,you know it's discipline yeah.

Speaker 2 (40:06):
This is just discipline and consistency, and
even though the worlds aredifferent, it's like there's
still this connection right.
It's like you know, everysingle person at this table, and
I assume that you guys probablywork out with other
bodybuilders right In the gymand those sorts of things.
I'm sure they're trying to, youknow, come around you guys and
do a few.
So I mean, is that a thingwhere it's like a lot of

(40:27):
bodybuilders are still kind ofin your world or they're looking
to maybe transfer over?

Speaker 4 (40:32):
I think a lot of the strongmen I mean certainly not
all of them, but a lot of themcame from bodybuilding.
They started off asbodybuilders and were like you
know what I'm probably better atthe strength stuff and they
moved down that direction.
That's the exact path that Idid.

Speaker 1 (40:44):
I left.
I apologize, evan.
I said there's only two on thetable.
I meant two in front of me.
You have also shared the stageas a bodybuilder before you got
into Strongman, and I'll leavethe floor with that.

Speaker 5 (40:56):
Please.
Well, this was around the timewhere I got hurt and I had left
WWE as a pro wrestler and Iballooned up to almost 180, 185
kilograms 180 is four, four ortwo, wow yeah, 180, 185
kilograms, 180s, 4.

Speaker 8 (41:12):
4.2, wow.

Speaker 5 (41:13):
Yeah, and that was all bad weight.
That was no exercise, that wasno clean eating, nothing like
that.
And I made the decision that,once I got the green light from
my doctor to go back andexercise again, I wanted to try
bodybuilding because I hatedwhat I saw in the mirror every
day, I hated what I did tomyself.
So I lost like 140, 150 pounds,shed that all off and then I

(41:38):
ended up getting on stage.
I only did one show, but it wasthe Bev Francis in New York
Great show.

Speaker 1 (41:42):
Yep.
Shout out to Steve.

Speaker 5 (41:44):
Yeah, that was really cool.
It was an awesome experienceFor me.
Mentally it was a win because Iproved to myself that I could
do it.
And it was absolute hell, but Idid it.
How?
So?
I'm a fat kid, so the diet wasterrible.
You like to eat.
Well, sucks to be you.
But yeah, after I got done withthat, I wanted to try out

(42:10):
strength sports likepowerlifting and strongman, and
I ended up finding strongmanfirst, and after about a week
and a half to two weeks oftraining, I just completely fell
in love with it and I said I'mgoing to pursue this until I'm
world's strongest man.

Speaker 1 (42:22):
And I've been doing it ever since.
How long ago was that?

Speaker 5 (42:25):
Oh God, that was seven, eight years ago now.
That was a long time ago.
It's not that long really, whenyou think about it.

Speaker 1 (42:33):
It was long for me not for you.

Speaker 6 (42:34):
You've been around for 300 years.

Speaker 5 (42:38):
Eddie.

Speaker 1 (42:39):
I see you in the corner there.
You're not a quiet man andwe're making our way down to you
.
The singing strong man the guythat I've really spent some time
with our world's strongest manhad some great laughs.

Speaker 8 (43:00):
A you know, spend some time with our world's
strongest man had some greatlaughs and a few a few sing
songs to it.

Speaker 6 (43:05):
This guy's got some pipes, yeah, a little little
sample them what you're going tosing on the show.

Speaker 9 (43:11):
Is it not a secret?
It's a secret, it's a secret.

Speaker 8 (43:15):
And by the time you see this, don't worry.

Speaker 1 (43:17):
But we've all got to see including myself, incredibly
talented man over there.
You sent me the link to this atRoyal Albert Hall and having to
see this iconic I mean everyoneknows Royal Albert Hall in the
UK, right, the best of best havesung there, orchestras have
been there and then for you tohave that chance to get in there
and pull out the guitar andsing and everybody was singing

(43:40):
with you, man, that must havebeen incredible.

Speaker 8 (43:43):
Oh man, just like never thought I'd be singing at
a venue like that, let alonelifting weight.
So I get to do both of myfavorite things and uh, yeah,
it's, it's unreal, and everyshow, um, I'm improving.
So it's like, um, I'm gettingstronger as an athlete, but but

(44:07):
then I'm also showing peopleanother side to us.
We've all got talents.
I'm just one that gets to useit.

Speaker 6 (44:17):
It's part of your personality, though, isn't it?
You like to sing, so you getinto it I mean the audience that
night.

Speaker 9 (44:22):
I mean even me as a promoter.
Honestly, everyone thinks I'mmasterminded, that I didn't
expect us to be in Royal AlbertHall.
If I'm totally honest, likewhat, not many years before
we're in car parks and thenwe're in there and what it was.
The absolute truth of it isthere was a guy who worked there
was a big strongman fan andeugene sandow uh, did the first
ever.
It was called this it wasn'tcalled world strongest man, but

(44:45):
so much similar to that and didit there and it was like
bodybuilding and there was somecardio, there was bar bending
and he did it with, uh, sirarthur conan doyle, and that was
the first ever one.
And they asked us to go in 150years later to sort of like
reenact it.
So that was, that was what wetried to do try to have

(45:07):
traditional events, everythinglike that.
And then the first meeting Iwent to, I got a really bad feel
like these guys don't actuallywant us here.

Speaker 3 (45:13):
They're used to Adele and Adele and John and all this
Robbie Williams, yeah, and Ithink they just thought I don't
know, they didn't really look.

Speaker 9 (45:20):
The guy one of the guys that worked there was a big
fan, so I thought I don't know,it didn't seem like we were
getting any sort of respect.
Then we did the show andobviously Eddie sang and just
such a fantastic night.
It was a great show overall.
Bibby, Bibby did the worldrecord axle and then the manager
came down afterwards and justwent I get it.

(45:40):
We broke the record for themost noise ever made in there.
It's huge Decibels.
I mean everybody's played thereEverybody, and that's the low
disc and then afterwards themanager came down and he went, I
get it, he goes, let's just goto a contract for three years
and that says we have a reallygood you know like it's.
It's like our sort of flagshipshow now and I don't think no

(46:03):
disrespect to me, they didn't, Idon't know, I don't think they
thought we're going to be therefor as long as we have been and
now it's like that is our thing.
Now you know we go there andfor me, as a promoter, I'm so
proud to be there.
But these guys absolutely lovecompeting there.

Speaker 4 (46:17):
It's quite an interesting tie, isn't it?
With the bodybuilding and thestrongman.
What were you just talking?

Speaker 3 (46:21):
about.

Speaker 4 (46:21):
Because the Sando is the trophy for winning the
Olympia but.

Speaker 1 (46:30):
But he was actually like a bodybuilder and strongman
at the time in the Royal AlbertHall.
So, yeah, that's why you weretrying to get me to come out
right, so I can put a fig leafover my.

Speaker 4 (46:35):
Colin actually tried to convince me to do that one
year when I was like I think Iwas getting ready for a show or
I'd just done one, and he waslike will you do like this
posing like Really Like in someleopard print.

Speaker 9 (46:47):
Yeah, we got an idea.
You know we'll just cherry upas Eugene Sandow and I was like
that sounds terrible.

Speaker 4 (46:56):
Yeah, I mean, it was awkward enough getting on stage.
I don't want to do it there.
No, Jesus.

Speaker 1 (47:01):
Well, we got a lot of different events.
I know we just spoke about two.
We spoke about the deadlift andthe log lift.
But what are you excited aboutfrom this weekend, with certain
athletes pulling?

Speaker 9 (47:10):
um, obviously I'm excited if someone gets to 505.
Um lucy, I've got a lot ofconfidence in it to break that
record.
I don't want to jinx it, but Ijust think that she's on her own
level and and and I'm sure I'llbe proved right on saturday
night we've got a great range ofevents.
We've got a traditionaldumbbell, got some really cool

(47:30):
bespoke dumbbells, made 100kilos for reps.
We've got a car walk, which isa great event because it sort of
puts in perspective how heavythe yoke is.
We've got the wrecking ballhold, which is a fairly new
event in Strongman.
We've had it in for a year orso and it's really like become a
a fan favorite, so we'veshipped those across the uk.

Speaker 1 (47:52):
Can you explain the the car walk and explain the
wrecking ball?
So for the fans that have neverseen this before, so car walk.

Speaker 9 (47:57):
Basically it's a it's a 500 kilo car with a bar in
the middle.
The guy gets in it and thefunny thing is these are like
old bws and these guys look aswide as the actual car when
they're in there.
You know, it looks like it's afake car because the guys are so
big, like the.

Speaker 1 (48:12):
Flintstones.
Yeah, basically.
Yeah, eddie, you're lookingforward to that event.
Can't wait, I know, can't waitGetting on the road.

Speaker 9 (48:19):
And then Wrecking Ball Hold.
Basically, the guys are up on aplatform with this huge steel
ball, weighs nearly 300 kilosand it's on a chain.
They lift it between their legsand hold it as long as they can
.
And it's one of those eventswhen the first lift is it's like
not a lot going on, but it'swhen the pain sets in, it's like
a torture item, you know.

Speaker 3 (48:37):
Yep, yeah it is, and your hands hurt for about like
two weeks afterwards.
Yeah, well, that's the thingwith the wrecking ball holders.

Speaker 5 (48:45):
At first glance it's like, okay, it's testing your
grip to see how strong you canhold on to that.
That's not what it is at all.

Speaker 8 (48:52):
That's not what it is at all.
It's your pain threshold.

Speaker 5 (48:54):
Yeah.

Speaker 9 (48:55):
That's a mental event .
You think literally all myhands are going to hurt and
that's it, but it's everything.

Speaker 5 (48:59):
It's also your whole body.

Speaker 3 (49:00):
It's the weirdest thing, yeah.

Speaker 9 (49:02):
It's actually not nice to be fair.
No, it's not, I've never hadlike forearm like pump and stuff
like that.

Speaker 3 (49:07):
I don't really do the bodybuilding stuff, but the
forearm pump afterwards as wellwas like unreal.
I the next day, yeah, I mean.

Speaker 2 (49:17):
I imagine the grip strength has just got to be just
something on another level foryou guys.
You know it's like I wassurprised.

Speaker 7 (49:23):
I was surprised because I started training a
couple of months ago.
It's different, isn't?

Speaker 9 (49:28):
it.
Yeah, it's a real good test ofstrength.

Speaker 7 (49:29):
I was like holy cow, I wasn't even going that heavy.

Speaker 2 (49:41):
I 225 and it's not fun.

Speaker 1 (49:42):
I've seen that, samson one is that World's
Strongest man.

Speaker 2 (49:43):
Let's try it.

Speaker 8 (49:47):
No, that's not in this one.

Speaker 9 (49:48):
I mean, that's a great event as well.

Speaker 8 (49:50):
That would be great here in.

Speaker 7 (49:50):
Vegas.
That's probably my greatestdisappointment.
I never got to do.

Speaker 9 (49:57):
Well, it's still there.
You never know.
We have to ship a lot of stuffacross.
It's a huge piece of apparatusbut maybe next year, I think,
we'll bring it across.

Speaker 1 (50:03):
I want to talk about that, but first I want to speak
to Evan.
Evan, first of all,congratulations on making the
podium.
You and I spoke prior to theWorld Strongest man.
You said that is the goal, yep,and now coming into Giants, see
, you Got a lot of incrediblefan following.
Let's not beat around the bushthere.
A lot of people from my gymthat you've got to meet that are

(50:23):
going to be watching you thisweek.
What can people expect fromevery single time?

Speaker 5 (50:30):
I think that a lot of people that show up knowing me
or even not knowing me, justbecause I'm an athlete that
wears their heart on theirsleeve.
So you'd be able to tell howmuch I really care about this.
This is a really importantcompetition to me for a lot of
reasons.
On surface level, I'm anathlete that just I want to win
everything that I do.
I don't go to a competition ifI don't believe that I can win,

(50:51):
and I compete a lot, so thatshould say something.
So that's surface level.
Um, there's also a level deeperwhere I want to continue to
accumulate as many giants livefirst place wins as possible,
and if I win Vegas, when I winVegas, that will be number seven
for me.
That puts me two away from theall time world record.
But then there's a levelunderneath that too, where one

(51:13):
of my biggest goals with mycareer is I.
I love the sport of strong manwith everything that I have, and
I want to be able to help itgrow in the United States to the
point that it gets to competewith the UK.
I mean, everybody at this tablehas competed in giant shows or
strongman shows in the UK andthey're selling out arenas of 6,
8, 10, 12,000 people.

(51:36):
Sold out, sold out Like threelayers of stadium seats, and I
really want americans tounderstand that.
I want them to embrace it.
I want to make that somethingthat happens here, and I feel
like this show giants live vegascould be the very first step we
take towards making that areality evan actually won the

(52:00):
last ever giants live.
We did, yeah, america yeah, thegiants live north american
champions in 2019.

Speaker 7 (52:06):
this is the title first time.

Speaker 9 (52:08):
Yeah, kind of defending my title, yeah I mean,
it's just getting back to whatI said.
Obviously, like you set thesethings up, but it's all about
the athletes and the characterspeople want to see.
You know, evan's a bigcharacter in the sport.
He wears his hat on his sleeveand people like that, people
like to connect, even with thesinging and everything like that
.
Everyone's got their own thingand I think it's putting that

(52:31):
personality forward, which theseguys are doing that now, and I
just think we just need to getthe foot in the door over here
and I think the athletes and theproduction will do the rest.
It's there, it's ready, it'sboxed up, it just needs
presenting in the right way forpeople to take it on board and
then the sky's the limit.

Speaker 2 (52:50):
I'm sure it is.
And is that like a big kind ofpressure on you guys now, social
media, filming that kind ofstuff to build your audience and
know and those sort of thingsis obviously we're in this, you
know, social media period oftime.
I don't think it's lost on anyof us really is it?

Speaker 4 (53:05):
no, it's not like what's happening with the sport
and has done over the last sortof 10 years.
It's not lost on any of us.
We've all been part of thatjourney from where it was to
where it is now, in differentways and, um, I think we all
sort of feel like we've got someobligation almost to help try
and push it to that next level,especially even for Lucy, with
the women's side she's like thetrailblazer at the moment and

(53:26):
guys like Evan you know,obviously he's American, this is
in America.
You know it's an importantthing for him to go out there
and put on a show and I'm surehe will because he always does,
does, um.
But yeah, I don't think thatthat side of it's lost on any of
us.
We all know that we've we'replaying our part in making
something that's big.

Speaker 1 (53:43):
Yeah because, for probably like us three here, we
come from the og world of.
You know hoodies and you knowsweatshirts and no filming.
Right now, the the world hasevolved to tripods and filming
literally everything, but that'spart of the brand, that's part
of the business, and every oneof you guys on and girls, have
youtube pages and it's the.

(54:03):
That's the connection to thefans, because they know
everything.
I'm, you know, going to myfirst ever world's strongest man
.
I was given gifts that I waslike, how do you even know that?
I mean like this, and then Iwas got to watch a lot of the
fans coming up and stand in linefor you guys and they had all
your favorite candies, all yourfavorite whatever else.
And the fans in Strongman,they're, they're second to none,

(54:26):
they're such an incrediblethey're really amazing.

Speaker 5 (54:29):
I've lost.
I've lost count of how manytimes I do a meet and greet
after a show and a fan is givingme like a stuffed T-Rex that
they knitted and made themselves.
I've lost count.
I have an entire drawer in myhouse full of them.
I really do.
Where was it?

Speaker 6 (54:44):
where that kid was dressed up as you yeah.

Speaker 5 (54:46):
It was Cardiff, wales , the Deadlift Championships
last year.
There was a kid that showed upwith my T-shirt on.
He had one of my T-Rex hatsturned backwards just like this,
and then he drew with markerT-Rex claws up his fingers.

Speaker 6 (55:03):
All right, that's fair, this is a kid from Wales
and he was a mega, mega T-Rexfan.
Just a little kid from Wales.

Speaker 9 (55:11):
I just think back and again.
Nobody said it, but me andTerry were in car parks a very
short time ago.
It wasn't that long ago.

Speaker 7 (55:17):
Something to bring up .
Where was the first live streamfor a strongman contest done?

Speaker 9 (55:24):
I think it was probably in Doncaster, was it?
No, you're going to tell me.
So you, las Vegas, was it right?

Speaker 7 (55:30):
Okay, 2010.
Wow, the Sin City, the Giants,live qualifier.
Yeah, yeah, the one I put onhere was the first one to live
stream Straw man on the internet.

Speaker 9 (55:39):
It's not that long ago, is it 2010.
?

Speaker 1 (55:42):
It must be crazy for you guys to be doing
competitions in ritual car parks.

Speaker 4 (55:46):
World's Strongest man used to be in car parks all the
time To now selling out arenasSteiners.

Speaker 7 (55:53):
We were doing them at Steiners on this trip.
Wow, steiners the bar, steinersthe bar, what?

Speaker 1 (56:00):
Now they're selling out arenas.
We didn't put in any Lesseffort.
Late night spot no, of coursewe didn't put in any less effort
and that was still.

Speaker 9 (56:05):
Those titles are still very important and, jerry
Pritchett, you know you don'tfeel like you didn't get
anything out of it.
I got a lot of competing.
You know I don't want to makeit sound like we're 100 years
old, but we're next close, we'renot.

Speaker 4 (56:19):
Yeah, and I just think that now it's getting what
it deserves yeah because if youthink about it, what is the
like?

Speaker 9 (56:27):
like you've got strength, you've got speed,
you've got skill, and I don'tthink strength is made a big
enough deal.
You know, it's such a big thingand to me I've always thought
to be the strongest man in world.
I sort of think everyone shouldknow who you are.

Speaker 2 (56:42):
Yeah, and we were even saying this.
I'm like why is this not anOlympic sport?
Because it seems like it islike an Olympic sport, right,
Like this makes sense that itwould be.

Speaker 9 (56:51):
It's the oldest sport , it's a fact, it was done in
Scotland like the man of theStones.
They're all still up there.
They're, you know, like 1,000years ago, lifting these stones,
and it's like.

Speaker 1 (57:02):
Well, it might not be in the Olympics, but there is
the enhanced games coming as thenew.
I think that's going to bemassive, personally the new
Olympics that's being pushed andpromoted with all these
different sports and it's justblowing up.
They've got a lot of biginfrastructure.
A lot of previous corporateexecutives are getting involved

(57:22):
with this.
Let's be honest people want tosee fucking.
You know somebody runningfucking eight seconds and
hundred meters, you know theywant to just see what that looks
like.

Speaker 3 (57:28):
I think, at the end of the day, people just want to
see people do things as like.
They want to see the personthat can lift the heaviest
amount of weight.

Speaker 8 (57:35):
They want to see the fast they want to see the
evolution person ever.

Speaker 5 (57:36):
They want to see peak evolution.

Speaker 8 (57:38):
They were like they want to see that People do want
to see that there's a freakingthing in the Olympics.

Speaker 2 (57:42):
This is what we want to see.

Speaker 5 (57:42):
You're going to say that, knowing that we all
watched the memes of the breakdancing?

Speaker 2 (57:48):
Where were they from?
Yeah, where were they from,eddie?
Well, listen.

Speaker 1 (57:58):
I know we're trying to get to a meet and greet
shortly, so we can, we can kindof tail this off and, you know,
talk about Giants Live and howpeople can watch the live
streams, how they can buy thelast minute tickets.
So down on the floor is yours,and then we can go around and
see if anybody else wants tothrow anything else in yeah, so
I mean there's still ticketsleft.

Speaker 9 (58:17):
It's a massive arena, the Orleans Arena,
giantslivecom, it's onTicketmaster as well, or at the
Orleans website, and then we'vealways got the live stream at
OfficialStrongmancom, and I knowI would say it because it's my
company, but our live stream,these guys will tell you, is top
quality.

Speaker 1 (58:32):
Oh, it's incredible.
I will say that Very good.

Speaker 6 (58:35):
Except for the commentary worth mentioning the
price, because it's notexpensive.

Speaker 9 (58:39):
Yeah it's in pounds, it's like 8 pounds.

Speaker 6 (58:42):
It's like $9.99, that's like 12 bucks maybe no,
it's like it's $9.99 dollars,yeah, so it's like a very, very
cheap live stream and we put weput a lot of effort into it.

Speaker 9 (58:53):
it's really cool.
We've gone for about threehours.
You get to see all these guys.
Officialstrongmancom Starts at5 pm.
It'll be great to see everybodythere.
Awesome, perfect.

Speaker 1 (59:05):
Anybody else?
Guys, you want to throwsomething in before the show?
Any predictions on anything?

Speaker 2 (59:10):
Anybody want to flip the table or anything?

Speaker 3 (59:14):
I'll take it.

Speaker 5 (59:15):
Go on.
Sorry, I was going to be superquick.
Lucy's going to pull a newworld record, graham's going to
pull a new world record and I'mgoing to get my seventh title.
Let's go.

Speaker 9 (59:30):
And Eddie's going to sing a song.

Speaker 1 (59:34):
There we go back up by Terry right.

Speaker 4 (59:36):
Yeah, I'll stick to the press up competition.

Speaker 1 (59:40):
Before we sign off it's been obviously a busy day
for the media with the World'sStrongest man.
You guys were on Fox Newsearlier today.
I know there's who's waiting atthe gym right now CBS, cbs are
going to be waiting to interviewthe rest of the team.
And then I took Terry and theStoughton brothers to the local
school today.
Actually, my daughter's schoolbrothers to the local schools

(01:00:02):
today.
Uh, my actual, my daughter'sschool, I'll leave the name off,
but incredible.
Well, welcome, uh, on that,terry it was crazy.

Speaker 2 (01:00:05):
You want to talk about it was crazy sound record
in that gym.

Speaker 4 (01:00:09):
Honestly, these kids were so excited it was, I mean I
commentate on the on the showsand I'm sometimes out on the
arena floor.
I was more nervous doing thatthan I think I have been doing
anything in my life I'm like I'mjust stood back there.
I don't even want to know whatto say I didn't want to walk out
.
Yeah, I could I could hear himlike announcing me out.
I'm just like, please don't saymy name.

(01:00:29):
I don't want to go first, but no, the kids were amazing and they
they made so much noise, soenthusiastic, great kids, all of
them.
It was um, it was brilliant,and one doing all the backflips
as well.
Yeah, it was unbelievable.

Speaker 1 (01:00:40):
Here's the thing the whole school came and we
randomly picked random kids overthe audience like you and we
were like who's mostenthusiastic?
Everybody hands up, yeah, pickme, pick me, girls, guys.
So we kind of like you with thewhite, you, you and we had we
picked two that done a fullbackflip, yeah, kind of showing
off.
But um, I will say terry gotbeat by the kids in the press I

(01:01:01):
was just gonna say the one kid,oh he got.
There was three kids, actually,a couple that were really good,
you know so you know,unfortunately, them injuries are
starting to take their playthere, terry, unfortunately but
all those muscles, for no reasonI did have a word?

Speaker 6 (01:01:13):
I did have a word terry can you, can you, can you
lose?
Well, I would like to put inthere.
He's kind of a bodybuilder nowand you guys aren't very strong
oh.

Speaker 5 (01:01:25):
I have my excuses.

Speaker 1 (01:01:26):
I have my excuses.

Speaker 5 (01:01:26):
How does that saying go All show no go.

Speaker 1 (01:01:28):
That's the one yeah.

Speaker 5 (01:01:31):
All right, this is not airing okay.

Speaker 1 (01:01:32):
Can I ask off with that?

Speaker 3 (01:01:34):
No, but it was a good time.

Speaker 1 (01:01:36):
Obviously, tom and Luke, you know it was a good
time.
Obviously, tom and Luke, youknow they were fantastic with
Terry as well.
Everybody kind of was I thinkeverybody was shocked, including
myself, because you know, whenyou go into schools the kids are
kind of like a little coy andshy.
But we walked out there theywere ballistic and I went in
with oh come on, you can shoutlouder than that.
But the first attempt was wild.

(01:01:58):
The second time was like oh, myears blew.
And then I brought terry out.
They were low there, you know,etc.

Speaker 2 (01:02:01):
Luke and tom, I thought they were going to rip
your hands off on the way, likethey were just drawing back and
that stuff but no fair play toterry.

Speaker 1 (01:02:11):
I asked terry like hey, um, can you do a couple of
press ups of these kids?
And he's like I am not losing Idon't even let my son lose.

Speaker 4 (01:02:18):
I don't even let my son lose.
I don't even let my son beat me, and he's like eight years old,
terry, you're not going to lose, but he held in there.

Speaker 1 (01:02:25):
It was fun.
So we've got another packed day.
We've got a meet and greet atthe Dragon's Lair in 30 minutes,
so we've got to get on overthere.
And then tomorrow you guys aredoing some stuff in and around
the town, and then the big dayon Saturday.

Speaker 9 (01:02:38):
Yeah, well, these guys need to rest a bit tomorrow
.
I think we've had them quitebusy, but I think it'd be good.
You know, we've got to gothrough the rules and everything
like that and they'll probablyneed to eat quite a bit to get
ready for these world records.
But yeah, it's all good,everything seems to be going
really smoothly so lookingforward to a good show.

Speaker 1 (01:02:55):
I would ask about the food, but I think we'd be here
for another 15 minutes listingmeal one alone.
But we all know you, guys andgirls, eat big to pull big and
it's a pleasure to have each andevery one of you on the show
and I'm excited to encourage,shout and go wild on Saturday at
the first ever Giants Live LasVegas.
So from me, rock, and all theseguys and girls, straight out of

(01:03:20):
the straight away, we are out.