I now use my expertise to coach beginners and established athletes in Strongman, Powerlifting and Armwrestling.

The sport of Strongman began as a television show in 1977, as a way to discover who the strongest athlete on the planet was, picking from sports like Powerlifting, Highland games, Armwrestling, American Football, Weightlifting and more. Athletes faced multiple tests of strength with the inaugural title going to Bruce Wilhelm.

It has since gone on to become a fan favourite at Christmas and New year, featuring events like the Atlas stones, Truck pull and Farmers walk. 

In the UK, the sport is now growing so rapidly, that commercial gym spaces are bringing in variations of the equipment we use, and the growing number of people wanting to get involved has led to a huge calendar of competitions, with 100’s of events going on all across the country for people of all shapes and sizes.

For my part, as mentioned above, I have had great success, and that extends to my clients, with 4 world titles, national records and multiple podium places being shared between them.

Don’t worry, you don’t have to be actively competing to benefit from my coaching, a number of clients who started working with me for other reasons have dipped their toes into the world of Strongman, after deciding to enter our annual gym event, the Commando Temple’s strongest.

If you’ve seen the show on TV, and wanted to try it for yourself, get in touch using the contact button below and we can set up a call, to get you on the road to pulling your first double decker London bus. And if you are already competing, but want to move up a level, send me a message and we can get started on working towards that national title. 

• Strongman

• Powerlifting

Powerlifting is the sport that consists of 3 lifts, the Squat, the Bench press and the Deadlift. Your score is the combined total of the heaviest successful attempts for each of the 3 lifts.

It is also a sport that has a strict set of judging criteria, and success requires a majority of 3 judges to give a white light upon completion of the lift.

There are multiple federations in the sport, with the main one in the country being British Powerlifting. In each federation there are gender, age and weight categories, as well a s disabled classes, so literally anyone can enter.

As a sport, the bar for entry is relatively low as you get to choose the weights you lift. So if you are a complete beginner, you could start with a 40kg squat, 30kg bench and a 40kg deadlift, and still score a total.

I really enjoy coaching lifters in this sport, and so far, I have had two men, in the masters category, both scoring totals that qualified them for national level competition.

I would love to work with more powerlifters as the technical aspect of the 3 lifts, to maximise the weight lifted, really appeals to my inner nerd, so if you’re thinking about getting involved in the sport, or want a better structured plan to help improve your total, please get in touch using the button below and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible.

• Armwrestling

Armwrestling is pretty much the oldest sport there is, it was allegedly used by the Romans to find the strongest soldiers and has been used as a test of strength ever since, with seated and standing variations. It has gained in popularity so much, that there are now competitions happening globally, with governing bodies in over 50 countries and tens of thousands of dollars in prize money for the very best.

In its simplest terms, it is 2 people gripping each others’ hand and attempting to pin the other person’s wrist to the table, or pad as you see on modern tables.

There are 2 main techniques, the top roll and the hook. With a top roll, we are aiming to target the weakest part of the opponents hand, in order to bend their wrist back and weaken their leverage.

In the hook, we want to pull our opponents in, by flexing the wrist and shortening the distance between our hand and elbow, then using a pulling motion, we are attempting to open their arm up and pin them to the table.

To do this is easier said than done, and requires a mix of skill, technique, strength, speed and awareness.

I retired from the sport in 2013, to switch to Strongman, but my interest has been ignited recently due to the popularity of the sport soaring, so I am now taking on clients who want to get involved, if only just so they can beat their friends.

If you are looking to learn the difference between a hook and a top roll, click the button below and we can get started.