- David to Goliath by Nigel Thomas
- Posts
- One Man and His Impossible Dream
One Man and His Impossible Dream
The Extraordinary Life Story of Eddie Hall
Nigel Thomas & Daniel Bell
August 25, 2024
One Man and His Impossible Dream
The Extraordinary Life Story of Eddie Hall
“The pain you feel today will be the strength you feel tomorrow. Embrace the struggle and own it.”
Eddie Hall.
A man who defied the odds, shattered records, and redefined the meaning of strength.
In 2016, he did what 99.9% thought impossible.
Eddie lifted half a tonne off the ground - a jaw-dropping 500kg deadlift.
In that spine-chilling moment, as blood poured from his nose, ears, and tear ducts, Eddie stood on the precipice of human limits.
Staring death in the face.
But the world’s strongest man isn’t just known for this monumental feat.
His chapters are still being written, as he transcends the world of extreme sports to become a global icon.
Now, he’s not just a man who did the impossible – he’s a storyteller, a business owner, and a motivator, fuelling the fire of inspiration in millions along the way.
His path to greatness wasn’t a straight line – it was a series of pivots, recalculations and relentless forward momentum.
And believe me, The Beast is FAR from being tamed.
In fact, he’s just getting started.
This newsletter is but a glimpse into his ridiculous journey so far.
So hold on to your seats and do not scratch your eyes.
This is the relentless rise of The Beast Eddie Hall.
An epic story of courage, conviction, and conquest.
Today on David to Goliath:
The Fight to Stay Afloat
In the British town of Stoke-on-Trent, Eddie was born into a family where competition was the heartbeat of life.
Three brothers, each vying to be the best.
Eddie was the youngest of the trio, the one who had to fight the hardest just to keep up.
The other two, James and Alex, were competitive swimmers. And like any little brother who wanted to be part of the action, Eddie refused to be left out.
"Everything is competition with your brothers — who can eat the fastest, who's the best fighter. As in most families, the youngest had to go everywhere their siblings went and, as they were competitive swimmers, I didn’t want to miss out. So, I started competing at the age of five.”
From the age of five, he was competing, yet as he swam lap after lap, a burning realization seared into his soul: he wasn’t where he wanted to be. He wasn’t with the best.
And to be the best, he knew he had to work harder, push further, and sacrifice more than anyone else.
So by 13, Eddie was out at 5am, cycling to the pool with his brothers, ready to grind through 90 minutes of intense training.
He stormed the UK youth Nationals, snatching up four gold medals and a silver, setting two British records along the way.
At an age when most kids were just figuring out what they liked, Eddie was already standing on the podium, drenched in the glory of victory.
But life, as it often does, had a way of throwing curveballs.
His grandmother, a woman who had been a pillar of strength and love in his life, was diagnosed with cancer, plunging Eddie into serious bouts of anxiety and depression.
The world that once seemed full of potential and opportunities now felt like a dark, suffocating place.
Eddie turned to substances to numb the pain – drugs, alcohol – it didn’t matter what it was, as long as it helped him forget.
But the more he tried to escape, the deeper he sank.
His behavior spiraled out of control, leading to his expulsion from school and getting kicked off the swimming squad.
The golden boy of British swimming was now locked in his room, consumed by thoughts of ending it all.
“18 years ago I was locked in my room, thinking about and trying to kill myself.”
However, on one afternoon, while trying to crawl out of the trenches of depression, he came across a billboard that changed his life.
That billboard featured an iconic image of Arnold Schwarzenegger.
An image radiating unstoppable power and relentless determination.
Like a thunderbolt, it awaked in Eddie a deep, primal hunger to conquer his own destiny.
The feeling was electric.
It was time to rise from the shadows.
Molding Mind and Muscle
As if a bucket of cold water was poured on him, Eddie was reminded, through Arnold, of the dreams and aspirations of a 13 year old Eddie.
Then came an epiphany.
Bodybuilding. A sanctuary where he could rebuild himself, not just physically but mentally and emotionally.
Eddie didn’t just admire Arnold – he modeled himself after him, turning the impossible dreams of a lost teenager into the concrete goals of a future champion.
"I told my family I was going to have the body of Schwarzenegger, and my mind was focused on the task. I had a gym membership and nothing was going to stop me."
By the time Eddie was 16, his transformation was well underway.
His time in the gym had sculpted his body into a powerful presence which commanded attention wherever he went.
But building a physique like his wasn’t cheap.
Protein supplements and the sheer volume of food he needed to fuel his intense workouts were stretching the limits of his wallet.
Opportunity knocked in the form of an advertisement in the local paper, spotted by his ever-supportive mum.
It was for an apprentice technician role at Lex Commercials, the local DAF Trucks site in Cobridge, Stoke-on-Trent.
Before he knew it, he was on his way to Bristol, packed off to the dedicated apprentice training facility.
“There was a lot of banter in workshop life and I really enjoyed my time as a technician, it gave me very valuable life skills and definitely helped make me the man I am today.”
Here, Eddie learned the value of discipline, the importance of mastering a craft, and the necessity of hard work, while any spare time he had was spent in the gym, chiseling away at his physique.
As he completed his apprenticeship, he took a job at Muller Wiseman as a technician, where he stayed for eight years.
The work wasn’t glamorous, but it was necessary, and Eddie embraced it with the same vigor he brought to everything in his life.
Meanwhile his passion for bodybuilding was about to morph into something truly spectacular.
Finding His True Strength
Like many with a passion for bodybuilding, Eddie originally had his sights set on the prestigious Mr. Olympia title.
But his height and build, the very things that made him unique, also made him less suited for the stage.
Rather than letting this realization derail his dreams, Eddie did what champions do: he adapted.
He turned his focus to strength sports – a realm where raw power, determination, and grit are the ultimate currency.
“Training is a battle between you and your mind, and your body is just the vessel to execute it.”
It wasn’t long before he got his first taste of the strongman world. In 2007, with a little push from his brother, he entered his first competition, featuring challenges like truck pulls, log lifts, tire flips, and deadlifts.
Despite his inexperience, Eddie finished fifth out of 15 competitors. The strongman bug had bitten, and it had bitten hard.
“From then, I entered competition after competition.”
Starting locally, he quickly progressed to qualifying events for England’s Strongest Man, driven by the rush of competition and the hunger to prove himself.
In many of these early contests, Eddie found himself beating some of the elite athletes who were regulars on the World’s Strongest Man circuit.
His first major breakthrough came in 2011 when he won England’s Strongest Man on his first attempt – a victory that came almost by accident.
“It's not about being the strongest person in the room, it's about being the person that never gives up.”
The following year, 2012, marked his debut at the World’s Strongest Man – arguably the most prestigious event in the world of strength sports.
In both 2012 and 2013, he was unable to progress beyond the heats, but 2014 was a turning point.
In LA, Eddie reached the final of World’s Strongest Man for the first time, finishing in 6th place.
It wasn’t the victory he craved, but it was a clear signal to the world – and to himself – that he had tremendous potential.
The following year, in Putrajaya, Malaysia, Eddie improved again, finishing 4th in the final.
The podium was in sight, tantalizingly close.
There was one event though, in which he dominated.
Leaving no doubt that this was his arena.
Where he was the undisputed king.
The Deadlift.
And he was about to re-write history.
A 500kg Obsession
Part of Eddie’s training to realise his goal involved deadlifting - just one element of Strongman.
In 2015, Eddie made history by breaking the deadlift record with a staggering 465 kilograms.
The moment the barbell hit the floor, his sights were set on an even more audacious goal: 500 kilograms (the equivalent of a polar bear).
To many, the very idea was laughable, absurd.
He was mocked. Hailed as arrogant.
Lifting half a tonne was, in the eyes of all the experts, outright impossible.
But if there’s one thing Eddie Hall thrives on, it’s proving the doubters wrong.
“All this did was fuel my ambition to prove them wrong and demonstrate that the impossible was actually possible.”
To leap from 465 kilograms to 500 kilograms required more than just brute strength; it required an exploration of the darkest corners of the human psyche.
Eddie knew that his body alone couldn’t do it – he needed to dig deep, to tap into a primal, animalistic force within himself.
The theory of “fight or flight” is built on the idea that the body can summon a massive surge of adrenaline in moments of extreme danger or stress.
Eddie knew he needed to harness this power, to trick his mind into believing that lifting 500 kilograms was a matter of life and death.
“Don't wait for an opportunity to come knocking on your door. Create your own opportunities and chase after them.”
Working with a team of sport psychologists, Eddie created a mental scenario so dark, so intense, that it would trigger the adrenaline rush necessary to achieve what had never been done before.
He was hypnotized to believe that he wasn’t lifting a barbell. He was lifting a car off his kids.
But the mental preparation came at a cost.
To stay in the right headspace, Eddie had to isolate himself from the people he loved the most.
“I was only seeing my wife and children for an hour, once a week, on a Sunday afternoon”.
The pursuit became an obsession, consuming every waking moment, every thought, every ounce of energy.
The Day He Made History
The day of the record attempt, 9 July 2016, at the European Strongest Man Competition in Leeds, was unlike any other.
The day before, Eddie consumed 20 liters of Lucozade, all of which was absorbed into his body without a single trip to the toilet.
“The only competition you have is the person staring back at you in the mirror. Be better than you were yesterday.”
On the day of the lift, his routine was a study in controlled excess.
After waking up, he downed a protein shake, followed by a full English breakfast – seven sausages, five rashers of bacon, four eggs, four hash browns, mushrooms, tomatoes, beans, and loads of fried bread.
A nap followed, then lunch at an all-you-can-eat buffet where Eddie asked for and consumed fried fat, putting away another 4,000 calories.
Another nap, more food, and finally, a load of flapjacks before heading to the arena.
This was the ritual of a man preparing to defy the laws of nature.
Conviction through INSATIABLE preparation.
In the competition, Eddie faced two formidable opponents: Icelandic strongman Benni Magnusson and Jerry Pritchett from Arizona, USA.
The event began with each man taking three lifts, starting at 420 kilograms and working up to 440 kilograms and then 465 kilograms, equalling the current world record.
But the main event, the reason everyone had gathered, was the attempt at 500 kilograms.
When the time came, Eddie knew what he had to do.
He skipped the 440-kilogram lift and went straight for 465 kilograms, matching the current record, which both he and Magnusson successfully lifted.
But the 500-kilogram lift was something else entirely.
“When you feel like quitting, think about why you started. Let that motivation push you through the toughest times.”
As he stepped up to the bar, Eddie gave himself a pinch to feel the pain, to trigger the adrenaline.
He walked out onto the stage, locked onto the bar, and closed his eyes.
This was the moment.
He rocked the bar back, now loaded with half a tonne, and pulled it off the ground.
“It's that great feeling, like the first man on the moon, the first man to run a mile in under four minutes. And now, I'm the first to deadlift half a ton. It's history, and I'm very proud to be a part of it.”
As the bar rose, Eddie opened his eyes, savoring the moment, and mouthed “F*** you!” – a message to all the doubters, to everyone who said it couldn’t be done.
When the bar hit the floor, he collapsed, as blood poured from his nose and ears, his heart racing at over 160 beats per minute for more than 20 minutes, and his blood pressure was 300 over 180.
“The doctor told me afterwards that if the blood hadn’t come out from my eyes or nose, my heart would’ve exploded. I was lucky to be alive.”
The cost was immense, the risks were great, but the reward?
A place in the annals of history.
A feat that would inspire generations to come.
But that wasn’t enough.
A Champion’s Promise
A mere month after accomplishing the seemingly impossible and redefining what the human body is capable of, Eddie found himself on a plane bound for Botswana, ready to take on the world once more.
This time, it was the 2016 World’s Strongest Man competition.
He knew he had what it took to win, to finally claim the title that had eluded him for so long.
During the competition, Eddie dislocated two fingers, and even with the injury, he fought tooth and nail, pushing through the pain and the intense competition.
In the end, he finished in third place. A bitter pill to swallow.
“Fall down seven times, get up eight. Perseverance is the key to overcoming any obstacle.”
The following year, in 2017, he returned to Botswana to win what was rightfully his.
This time, there would be no mistakes, no injuries to hold him back.
It was all or nothing.
In Gaborone, Botswana, Eddie claimed the title of World’s Strongest Man, ending a 24-year drought for Britain, and edging out Iceland’s Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson by a single, hard-fought point.
He won three of the six events: the squat lift for maximum repetitions, the Viking press for repetitions, and the max deadlift.
When the dust settled, Eddie Hall stood victorious.
For Britain, it was a moment of national pride – the end of a 24-year wait for a champion.
For Eddie, it wasn’t the realization of a dream.
But also a promise he made to his Grandma when she was taking her final breath.
After his victory, Eddie made a bold decision – he announced his retirement from major competitions.
At first glance, it might seem surprising; after all, he was still in his early 30s, with so much more potential left in the tank.
But for Eddie, the journey was always about more than just titles.
It was about proving to himself and the world what he was capable of.
He had reached the pinnacle of his sport, and now it was time for a new challenge.
Retirement from competition didn’t mean stepping away from the spotlight.
Far from it.
Shifting Gears
Retirement, for Eddie, wasn’t about slowing down – it was about shifting gears, finding new mountains to climb.
“For the people that keep asking why I don't compete at the World's Strongest Man anymore, simple: I choose to live a healthier life now and enjoy the fruits of my labour.”
The intense training, the grueling hours in the gym, and the extreme dietary regimen required to sustain such a massive physique were not something he could continue indefinitely, especially with the concerns that had arisen following his record-breaking 500-kilogram deadlift.
Family, too, played a major role in his decision to step back. The life of a professional strongman is one of relentless dedication, with every waking moment geared towards becoming the best.
Eddie would go on to defend his British title one last time in 2018 at Sheffield’s Utilita Arena, marking a fitting end to his illustrious strongman career.
He had already begun eyeing new horizons.
“Trust the process. Every step, every setback, and every success is part of your journey.”
In 2021, Eddie announced that he would be stepping into the boxing ring to face off against none other than his strongman rival, Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson, famously known for his role as “The Mountain” in Game of Thrones.
The rivalry between Eddie and Hafþór had been brewing for years.
This was billed as “The Heaviest Boxing Match in History,” pitting two of the world’s strongest men against each other in a contest that generated massive buzz.
But stepping into the boxing ring required Eddie to undergo a dramatic transformation.
And the results were nothing short of astonishing.
This was a new Eddie Hall – one who had traded the sheer mass of his strongman days for speed, precision, and a fighter’s mentality.
From Lifting Weights to Lifting Others
Beyond the boxing ring, Eddie has become a prominent figure in the fitness world, using his platform to share the wisdom he’s gained from years of training, competing, and pushing the limits of human potential.
Through social media and his YouTube channel, he connects with millions of fans who appreciate his straightforward, no-nonsense approach to fitness and life.
His content, which includes training routines, diet plans, and motivational talks, resonates deeply with those who look up to him – not just for his physical achievements, but for his relentless drive and unfiltered honesty.
His ability to break down complex training principles into actionable advice has made him a go-to source for fitness enthusiasts of all levels.
“You are the author of your own story. Write it with passion, determination, and resilience.”
Eddie’s larger-than-life personality and charismatic presence have also made him a natural fit for television, taking on unique series like ‘Celebs in Solitary’, ‘Eddie Eats America’, and ‘The Strongest Man in History’.
His strongman journey has been immortalized in two major documentaries: “Eddie: Strongman” in 2015, which offered an intimate look at his life and the grueling preparation required to compete at the highest level, and “Born Strong” in 2017, which followed Eddie and other elite athletes as they competed for the title of World’s Strongest Man.
And he’s bound all of this together into his new brand.
(Turns out he's also a savvy businessman!).
Recognizing the power of his personal brand, Eddie has launched various business ventures that capitalize on his fame and expertise.
Under the “Beast” brand, he has developed and endorsed a range of fitness-related products, including supplements, training gear, and apparel.
Eddie’s entrepreneurial efforts have allowed him to build a sustainable business that ensures his legacy will endure long after his days are behind him.
By diversifying his ventures, he has shown that his success isn’t confined to the gym or the competition stage.
He’s created a brand that is synonymous with strength, resilience, and perseverance – qualities that resonate with anyone who has ever faced a challenge and overcome it.
An Insatiable Hunger For More
Eddie Hall isn’t just defying expectations – he’s hungry for more.
“Success is not about the accolades or the recognition. It's about the person you become along the way.”
Whether it’s diving headfirst into new sports, launching bold business ventures, or setting personal goals that would crush most people, Eddie is still out here, pushing the envelope, breaking boundaries, and proving that there’s no cage big enough to hold The Beast.
The fire that drove him to deadlift 500 kilograms, that pushed him to become the World’s Strongest Man, is burning hotter than ever.
The Beast is far from being tamed.
He’s more dangerous, more driven, and more defiant than ever.
And as long as there are new mountains to climb, new challenges to conquer, Eddie Hall will be there.
Standing at the top.
Roaring for more.
Yours truly,
-Nigel Thomas
Whenever you are ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:
#1: Work with me 1-1 to Scale Your Marketing Agency Here
#2:Prefer listening instead of reading? Listen to the Exclusive David to Goliath Podcast Here
#3:Follow me on LinkedIn. Everyday I post stories, frameworks and mindset tips on our charge to 100,000 subscribers