Pa O'Dwyer. Photo / Facebook
What does it take to be the UK's strongest man?
For current crown holder Pa O'Dwyer, raw eggs for breakfast, a five-hour workout pulling trucks followed by plenty of horse steak apparently does the trick.
But with a raft of fresh talent competing in Europe's Strongest Man competition this weekend O'Dwyer will have to ramp things up to the next level.
The 33-year-old told The Sun how he learned to lift heavy weights as soon as he was out of diapers but didn't embark on competing until 2007 when he jokingly entered a local Strongman competition.
Lifting jeeps today up in @galwaystrengthandperformance 💪🏼💪🏼 here’s some of it me lifting a Jeep with a heifer in the back for sets of 10😁 thanks to @matty_costello_gsp @ayshea540kg for having me 💪🏼
Posted by Pa O Dwyer - Ireland’s Strongest Man on Thursday, 4 April 2019
After finishing third, O'Dwyer fell in love with the sport and hasn't looked back since.
Weighing in at a huge 146kg, O'Dwyer said although physical training was important, his success often came from the right diet.
"Before competition I can devour 10,000 calories a day," he said. "That's seven or eight meals a day and snacks in between. I've forgotten what it feels like to be hungry."
"I eat horse meat regularly which has less fat and more protein, and I drink raw eggs for breakfast.
Playing with my stones- 120kg, 150kg and 170kg stone to shoulder
Posted by Pa O Dwyer - Ireland’s Strongest Man on Friday, 29 March 2019
"I do four heavy-lifting training sessions a week, each for around five hours.It's mainly in the gym, even when I practice truck pulling. I use big tyres for that instead — mostly because I don't have my own truck!"
Keen to stand in the way of what could become O'Dwyer's second consecutive title, is 165kg Gavin 'The Bull' Bilton.
The former Premiership Rugby player became the Welsh Strongman titleholder thanks to a personal best lift of 370kg.
Bilton, who eats up to 8,000 calories a day, trains six days a week pulling trucks at a local hire station and tipping cars lent to him by friends.
1 year difference between the competitions and a massive difference and improvement in performance and strength. ...
Posted by Gavin “The Bull” Bilton on Sunday, 31 March 2019
"The gym I go to is totally on board with all the strongman stuff, so they have equipment for lifting all the cars," he said. "In fact, even the people who work there are sometimes willing to let me push, pull and lift their cars.
"And the events where you're dragging a car or carrying a dumbbell are my favourite as it reminds me of rugby — and I've had fewer injuries doing this than in the Premiership."
Paul Benton, who will also compete at Europe's Strongest, is widely known as the 'bad boy' and for his trick of the trade 'pre-competition sex ban.'
"Up until last year I did the whole no sex thing before competing — but now I just try and keep my life steady throughout the year so I'm not stressed come competition season," he said.
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Paul Benton (@paul_benton_strongman) on
Much like his competitors, Benton trains by pulling trucks and flipping cars, however, said horse meat just wasn't for him.
"I got addicted to the training," he said. "And now I'm 20 (127kg) stone and can deadlift 385kg of weights. I'm looking to hit the 400 mark this year — roughly the weight of a grand piano.
"Horse meat isn't the one for me — I much prefer grass-fed Buffalo and instead of cow's milk I'll have sheep's."
Europe's Strongest Man will see 16 men compete for the title in Leeds, which is part of the World's Strongest Man Qualifying Tour.