Eddie The Beast Hall - Strongman my story

Meet the Beast that beat the Mountain.

Eddie The Beast Hall is the biggest name and talent in one of the fastest growing sports. In 2017 he was the first Brit in 24 years to win the Worlds Strongest Man competition, beating The Mountain from Game of Thrones. He is the biggest superstar you havent heard of.

Everything about Eddie is huge. Standing at 63 he weighs almost 30 stone, and to make it through his hellish four-hour gym sessions he needs to eat a minimum of 10,000 calories a day. He eats a raw steak during weight sessions. His right eyeball once burst out of its socket under the strain. He put it back in.

The size of Eddies fan base now matches his immense frame, with over 1 million followers on social media. He is the subject of a major Netflix documentary, Eddie: Strongman, and he draws crowds of thousands at the strongman arena tour Giants Live.

In his remarkable autobiography, Eddie takes you inside the world of the professional strongman the nutrition, the training and competitions themselves. This is a visceral story of sporting achievement, an athlete pushing himself to the limits, and the personal journey of a man on the path to becoming being the best of the best.

Eddie Hall was born in Stoke-on-Trent in 1988. His athletic career started as a National Championship swimmer and then he turned his attention to the gym at 15. On leaving school, he worked as a truck mechanic until he was 26, when he became a professional Strongman. Eddie has since dedicated his life to becoming the worlds strongest man.

For Nan and Alex

9 July 2016, 7.45 p.m.

World Deadlift Championship, First Direct Arena, Leeds

Fifteen minutes to go, Eddie.

Yeah, all right. Fuck off, will you?

Is there anything you need?

Yeah, there is: for you to fuck off. Dont worry, dickhead. Ill be ready.

This is one of the few occasions when swearing doesnt get me into a shit load of trouble. They know what Im like backstage at a competition and so its water off a ducks back. Ill still apologise later. Its at the end of the night when the fines start being dished out and its usually because somebodys been daft enough to stick a microphone in front of me.

So, Eddie. How do you feel about winning Britains Strongest Man?

Fucking excellent, brother.

CUT!

Ive already been in trouble once tonight. A few minutes ago I pulled 465kg (1,025 lb), which, although just a stepping stone to the main event, is still a new world record. After the lift the presenter, Colin Bryce, asked me what I was going to do next. Unleash the beast, was what I meant to say, but when I opened my mouth and started speaking, a word beginning with F found its way into the sentence. The crowd also know what Im like and they thought it was hilarious.

I dont do it to impress anybody or to piss anybody off. I do it because, rightly or wrongly, its part of who I am and its almost impossible for me to deviate from that. There is no Eddie Zero, Im afraid. No low-calorie alternative. Im full fat, mate, and much to my mums regret and embarrassment another word beginning with F.

In fifteen minutes time, at precisely 8 p.m., I will pull 500kg (1,102 lb) in front of 10,000 people and in doing so become the first human being in the history of the world to lift half a tonne. Let me say that again, boys and girls: half a tonne. Thats about the same weight as an overfed racehorse.

Notice Ive left out the words attempt to, by the way. The definition of the word attempt is to make an effort to achieve, which means there is always a possibility of failure. Not tonight. Not here. This, my friend, is history in the making and ensuring such occurrences take place is the reason I have been put on this earth. Some people are here to build houses and work in banks, and some people are here to change the world.

Being a foul-mouthed history-making cheeky behemoth does come at a cost, however. Ever since agreeing to do the lift I have had to virtually ignore my wife and kids and over the last six months I have spent no more than a few hours in their company. That in itself has obviously been a massive sacrifice for all of us, but in truth its just the tip of the iceberg. My daily routine has been to eat, sleep, train, recover and repeat, and in addition to a couple of short but extremely severe bouts of depression, which I think were triggered by stress and isolation, I have gradually become less mobile. This is because, in order to lift such a massive weight, I have had to put on an extra 15kg (33 lb) in weight and right now I am just over thirty-one stone. My God, its been hard though. I have suffered all kinds of pain over the years but preparing for this has been a different kind of hell and even now I am in a very, very dark place.

As I sit quietly in the dressing room I suddenly belch, and am reminded of what I had for my dinner or lunch, if youre posh. Whilst everyone else will have been tucking into sandwiches or burgers, I was in a restaurant ordering a mouth-watering lump of fat taken straight from a massive joint of gammon. In terms of taste it was probably one of the most disgusting meals Ive ever eaten, but in terms of calories, it was the dogs. About 4,000, all told.

You see, to me, when it comes to milestones, the half-tonne deadlift is right up there with the four-minute mile and if anybody ever manages to break the record once Ive smashed it and they will it will be my record theyre breaking. Lets face it, nobody gives a damn who holds the current record for running a mile, and why would they? Whoever holds the record is simply clinging to the coattails of greatness. The only name that matters when it comes to running the mile is Roger Bannister, and why? Because he proved the naysayers wrong and did what everyone said was impossible. He became and remains the benchmark and regardless of the fact that the record he set is now slow in comparison to todays athletes, it is the only one we really care about. He walks (or runs) on a higher plane to the rest and in a few minutes time hell have to make some room quite a bit of room, actually for me.

The reason this is relevant now is because the only person in this entire arena who thinks Im going to pull this lift is me. Some of my mates probably think I have a chance, but the bookies are offering odds of 25/1 and so have me down as a complete no-hoper. Thats fine though. Other peoples doubt is my biggest motivation and the fact that the nos are unanimous makes it a forgone conclusion as far as Im concerned.

OK, were ready for you, Eddie.

Come on then, fucker, lead the way.

After a quick detour to a disabled toilet, which Ill explain later, my three-man entourage and I make our way to the stage. As we pass the other athletes one or two of them shout, Good luck, Ed, but I know not one of them thinks I can do it. Seeing them all staring at me is like a last-minute shot of adrenalin.

One man not staring at me from the pool of athletes, but whose words echo through my mind, is four-time Worlds Strongest Man, Brian Shaw. Brian should be here, but he pulled out of the event announcing that 500kg was ridiculous. In fact, the current Worlds Strongest Man had publicly proclaimed that 480kg (1,058 lb) was the absolute max he thought was doable by anyone.

As we walk on I over ydrnas Savickas arguably the strongest men in history voicing his concerns about the feat Im about to attempt. What happens to the human body at such a weight, he says. I am not sure we are designed to handle that amount. It is a little dangerous but we shall see.