Feeling Hungry? Think You Could You Stomach The 20,000 Calories A Day Strongman Diet?
Strangely enough going on a strongman diet isn't that much different to going on a healthy diet, the only difference being that you might need to eat just a little bit more. OK, a lot more. A heck of a lot more. 'Don’t eat carbs, eat more protein, eat low fat food', we’ve heard it all before, everyone seems to have an opinion on how you should eat to get the body you want, especially since the arrival of a growing breed of "fit foodies."
It's good to stay eat healthy and stay in shape, the same thought process applies to anyone wanting to undertake a strongman diet. Kind of. It's the same principle, but it's not quite the same food volume intake or body goal outcome that these kind of people are looking for. Not even close.
Because i doubt you have ever heard of a trainer telling someone to eat 20,000 calories every day? Yes, I said 20,000 calories. That’s over 10 days’ worth of food for a normal person. This sounds like a diet I could stick to.
Robert Oberst, a professional strongman, weighs 400lbs and is 6"8. He can flip tyres that should only ever belong on industrial tractors and he can toss kegs up into the air like they’re made of foam.
Robert Oberst & The Strongman Diet
Strongman diet image via Youtube.
This kind of raw strength has to come from somewhere and so Robert Oberst eats an insane amount of food on his strongman diet every day, largely protein, just to keep going. Apparently he gets dizzy if he doesn’t eat often enough, which just goes to show, you can train your body to get used to anything.
I wonder if the same principle works with ice cream?
Obie eats just before going to the gym because, "When you go to the gym and your body’s fueled up with good nutrients and protein, instead of reaching down and there’s nothing there, you have some power left."
A typical strongman diet breakfast will contain 8-10 eggs with several more boiled for snacks throughout the day and he aims to eat around 1.6kg of meat every day.
Seeing as everything Robert Oberst eats is "clean," meaning unprocessed and as close to its natural form as possible (there’s another fit foodie term for you), his weekly grocery shop total is around $450. Ouch.
Does The Strongman Diet Make You Obese?
Strongman diet image via Youtube.
As someone who exists on around 1,500 calories each day to maintain muscle and lose the last stubborn bits of body fat, my main question is: how the hell is he not obese?!
Robert Oberst's BMI is 44 which is of course in the morbidly obese range, but I bet if you worked out his body fat percentage it would be right in the normal range, because he’s taking all of this food and turning it straight into muscle. He might not have the chiseled abs and drool-inducing back that we (OK, I) lust after but make no mistakes, this man is mostly muscle.
As muscle burns way more calories than fat, even when you're sleeping, it all needs to be fuelled from somewhere and that’s where the monster-sized meals come in. Let’s just hope he never stops working out otherwise that muscle is going to disappear pretty quickly.
Looks like being a strongman is the right career path if you love steak and want to lift heavy stuff (where do I sign up?). I mean, do you even lift bro?
Strongman diet image via Munchies