After representing Thailand in Rugby Union and Rugby League, this gentle giant from the UK is heading off to Budapest to compete for the Kingdom in the World’s Natural Strongest Man competition
Name & nickname
Rob Milsom. Beast from The East.
Age: 36
Born and brought up
Born in Bath, UK. Grown up in Bangkok, Thailand.
Best friend in Thailand
During my time here I’ve made a couple of really good friends that I think of more as brothers, the first is Morcar McConnell, who I first met playing rugby at the British Club back in 2002, the second is Neil Walker (a ginger) who came to join a startup I was working with in 2013. We worked at two companies together and are now the co-founders of a business together.
Your profession
CEO & co-founder of Medvine.com, a B2B e-commerce & supply chain solution for the medical device industry in ASEAN.
Tell us more about your business
I first came up with the idea for Medvine with my friend and co-founder Neil back in 2016. I’d worked for over 10 years in the Medical Device manufacture and distribution industry, and that experience coupled with our time together working in tech start-ups allowed us to find a tech solution to disrupt and bring efficiencies to the old style distribution systems that plague the ASEAN medical industry.
How long have you been here?
Moved here in March 2001, so that means I’m currently in my 19th year here – amazing to think that I’ve now been here for more than half my life.
How good is your Thai?
Fluent!
What brought you to Thailand?
The sole reason I came to Thailand is because of my older brother (18 years older) Neill. He had been here managing Nokia Networks since ‘96 and had just started his own management training and consulting business in Thailand in 2000. I was unsure what I wanted to do back home and he offered me the chance to come to Thailand and help build his business with him. Everything I have done and accomplished has been a result of my brother bringing me here and I owe it all to him. Unfortunately my brother passed away back in June 2010, and it was his passing that kick started me to get in the gym, get back into rugby and then eventually make my way into Strongman.
Rob Milsom. Beast from The East.
Age: 36
Born and brought up
Born in Bath, UK. Grown up in Bangkok, Thailand.
Best friend in Thailand
During my time here I’ve made a couple of really good friends that I think of more as brothers, the first is Morcar McConnell, who I first met playing rugby at the British Club back in 2002, the second is Neil Walker (a ginger) who came to join a startup I was working with in 2013. We worked at two companies together and are now the co-founders of a business together.
Your profession
CEO & co-founder of Medvine.com, a B2B e-commerce & supply chain solution for the medical device industry in ASEAN.
Tell us more about your business
I first came up with the idea for Medvine with my friend and co-founder Neil back in 2016. I’d worked for over 10 years in the Medical Device manufacture and distribution industry, and that experience coupled with our time together working in tech start-ups allowed us to find a tech solution to disrupt and bring efficiencies to the old style distribution systems that plague the ASEAN medical industry.
How long have you been here?
Moved here in March 2001, so that means I’m currently in my 19th year here – amazing to think that I’ve now been here for more than half my life.
How good is your Thai?
Fluent!
What brought you to Thailand?
The sole reason I came to Thailand is because of my older brother (18 years older) Neill. He had been here managing Nokia Networks since ‘96 and had just started his own management training and consulting business in Thailand in 2000. I was unsure what I wanted to do back home and he offered me the chance to come to Thailand and help build his business with him. Everything I have done and accomplished has been a result of my brother bringing me here and I owe it all to him. Unfortunately my brother passed away back in June 2010, and it was his passing that kick started me to get in the gym, get back into rugby and then eventually make my way into Strongman.
When and why did you take up Strongman?
Ask anyone from the UK and they will tell you that the World’s Strongest Man is a Christmas TV tradition, and as a child I watched it every year in awe of the feats of strength the participants were accomplishing and always wanted to try.
I first started training the sport of strongman towards the end of 2016. I’d always been fascinated by the sport and wanted to try but as you can imagine, there wasn’t anywhere to train it in Bangkok until I found the Muscle Factory.
The main thing I like about strongman is that it takes many different skills to be good at it – static strength, mental toughness, speed, and to be honest a touch of crazy lol. It’s also one hell of a good spectacle when you compete or train events, you can see the look on people’s faces when you pick up 150kg rocks to your shoulder or lift cars from the ground. It’s just something people don’t see every day but can relate to in a very real way.
Previously, what were your favourite sports – and did you excel in any of them?
Rugby has always been my sport and I’ve played it since I was five years old. I’m proud and honoured to say that I’ve played international rugby for Thailand eight times, four times in Rugby Union and four times in Rugby League.
In fact, I am Thailand’s first-ever dual code international having made my League debut in 2012 vs the Philippines and my Union debut in our 2013 win over Kazakhstan.
What Strongman competitions have you already participated in and others in the future?
Most of the competing I’ve done has been outside of Thailand as there aren’t many chances to compete here. I’ve competed in Malaysia’s Strongest Man, South East England’s Strongest Man, Victoria’s Strongest Man, and a quite few other competitions down in Australia. The best Strongman competition we have here in Thailand is the Siam Strongman Classic which was held in February in Bangkok and is next due to be held at the end of October in Pattaya. My biggest competition, however, is coming up on the 15th June, where I’ve been invited to represent Thailand at the World’s Natural Strongest Man competition in Budapest, Hungary, alongside athletes from more than 30 countries around the world. This is a huge honour and I’ll do Thailand and everyone who has helped me along my way proud!
What tests do the competitions normally involve?
There are many different events in Strongman which can be broken down into five categories: Moving Events, Overhead Pressing Events, Pulling Events, Grip/Mental Toughness Events and Events where you simply pick things up and put them down again.
The World’s Natural Strongest Man contest, which I will be competing in, will have five events:
1.Lifting a 160kg Atlas Stones over 1.1m bar as many times as you can in 90 secs.
2. Pulling a 26-ton truck for 30m in a harness.
3. Lifting a 130kg log + three other 100kg objects overhead.
4.Walking 20m in one direction with 130kg in each hand (Farmers Walk) & 20m back carrying a 450kg Super Yoke.
5. Lifting 240kg, 250kg, 270kg and 280kg implements to the top of three steps (Power Stairs).
Ask anyone from the UK and they will tell you that the World’s Strongest Man is a Christmas TV tradition, and as a child I watched it every year in awe of the feats of strength the participants were accomplishing and always wanted to try.
I first started training the sport of strongman towards the end of 2016. I’d always been fascinated by the sport and wanted to try but as you can imagine, there wasn’t anywhere to train it in Bangkok until I found the Muscle Factory.
The main thing I like about strongman is that it takes many different skills to be good at it – static strength, mental toughness, speed, and to be honest a touch of crazy lol. It’s also one hell of a good spectacle when you compete or train events, you can see the look on people’s faces when you pick up 150kg rocks to your shoulder or lift cars from the ground. It’s just something people don’t see every day but can relate to in a very real way.
Previously, what were your favourite sports – and did you excel in any of them?
Rugby has always been my sport and I’ve played it since I was five years old. I’m proud and honoured to say that I’ve played international rugby for Thailand eight times, four times in Rugby Union and four times in Rugby League.
In fact, I am Thailand’s first-ever dual code international having made my League debut in 2012 vs the Philippines and my Union debut in our 2013 win over Kazakhstan.
What Strongman competitions have you already participated in and others in the future?
Most of the competing I’ve done has been outside of Thailand as there aren’t many chances to compete here. I’ve competed in Malaysia’s Strongest Man, South East England’s Strongest Man, Victoria’s Strongest Man, and a quite few other competitions down in Australia. The best Strongman competition we have here in Thailand is the Siam Strongman Classic which was held in February in Bangkok and is next due to be held at the end of October in Pattaya. My biggest competition, however, is coming up on the 15th June, where I’ve been invited to represent Thailand at the World’s Natural Strongest Man competition in Budapest, Hungary, alongside athletes from more than 30 countries around the world. This is a huge honour and I’ll do Thailand and everyone who has helped me along my way proud!
What tests do the competitions normally involve?
There are many different events in Strongman which can be broken down into five categories: Moving Events, Overhead Pressing Events, Pulling Events, Grip/Mental Toughness Events and Events where you simply pick things up and put them down again.
The World’s Natural Strongest Man contest, which I will be competing in, will have five events:
1.Lifting a 160kg Atlas Stones over 1.1m bar as many times as you can in 90 secs.
2. Pulling a 26-ton truck for 30m in a harness.
3. Lifting a 130kg log + three other 100kg objects overhead.
4.Walking 20m in one direction with 130kg in each hand (Farmers Walk) & 20m back carrying a 450kg Super Yoke.
5. Lifting 240kg, 250kg, 270kg and 280kg implements to the top of three steps (Power Stairs).
What does it take to compete in these competitions? A few things really. First off and most importantly you need to be strong, but you also need to be smart and willing to learn. Every time you train or compete you are learning from the people around you and similarly they are learning from you. Usually you will train for four sessions a week for 8-12 weeks specifically for a competition and for those events. Is it an expensive sport to compete in? Yes, it can be, to be able to compete at a decent level you need quite a bit of equipment. For example, for the events I mentioned above, I would need three different weightlifting belts, three different pairs of shoes (weightlifting shoes, shoes for the moving events and rock climbing shoes for the truck pull), knee sleeves, elbow sleeves, wrist wraps, stone sleeves and tacky for the Atlas Stones, plus lots of optional things like chalk for grip, ammonia salts to sniff before you lift, etc. Additionally, if your gym doesn’t have the equipment you need then you may need to buy some specialist things yourself, which are not cheap. I’m very lucky to have a couple of great sponsors behind me when it comes to the equipment I need in Cerberus Thailand & Bench Fitness Equipment who support me 100% with what I need to train and compete. The guy behind both of those companies, Jonathon Sheaffe, has really helped me a lot and is shaking up the gym/strength equipment business in Thailand and beyond. |
What is the difference (if any) between strongman, powerlifting and bodybuilding?
Let’s start with bodybuilding, which is all about how your body looks. These guys and girls have hyper disciplined diets and work to grow their muscle size but not necessarily the strength of the muscle.
Strongman and powerlifting are 100% about what your body can do. We often look like the type of people who would wrestle a bear in a cave more than stand on a stage in sparkly pants. Powerlifting is about static strength – three different lifts that you see people doing in every gym all over the world, squat, bench press and deadlift, but strongman is much more varied in events and the competitors often come from different sporting backgrounds to compete in strongman. Powerlifters make very good strongmen but so do rugby players, wresters and Olympic weightlifters.
Where do you train and how often?
My home from home is the Muscle Factory Bangkok at Sukhumvit 56. The owners are fantastic and have supported me on my journey, investing in lots of new equipment so that I can train effectively for any events I have. It’s a huge gym for all types of strength sports and must be the best and most well equipped gym in Asia. People are often shocked that I only train four sessions a week, but those sessions usually last from 3-5 hours each depending on what my coach has planned.
Please describe your normal training regime.
As I mentioned, I train 4 sessions a week, these are divided into:
Tuesday – lower body explosive.
Thursday – upper body explosive. Saturday – lower body max effort.
Sunday – upper body max effort.
My coach uses a training methodology called conjugate which allows for hitting max weights each week on different and has worked great with me.
Do you have a coach?
I have a fantastic coach from Melbourne, Australia, Michael Smits. He is one of the world’s strongest lightweight (under 80kg) Strongman and a genius when it comes to programming my training and getting the results I need at competitions. As a heavyweight it’s been great having such a talented lightweight athlete as my coach, he teaches me more about technique and how to be more explosive, as the lightweight guys can’t rely on just brute strength and size like the big guys can.
Let’s start with bodybuilding, which is all about how your body looks. These guys and girls have hyper disciplined diets and work to grow their muscle size but not necessarily the strength of the muscle.
Strongman and powerlifting are 100% about what your body can do. We often look like the type of people who would wrestle a bear in a cave more than stand on a stage in sparkly pants. Powerlifting is about static strength – three different lifts that you see people doing in every gym all over the world, squat, bench press and deadlift, but strongman is much more varied in events and the competitors often come from different sporting backgrounds to compete in strongman. Powerlifters make very good strongmen but so do rugby players, wresters and Olympic weightlifters.
Where do you train and how often?
My home from home is the Muscle Factory Bangkok at Sukhumvit 56. The owners are fantastic and have supported me on my journey, investing in lots of new equipment so that I can train effectively for any events I have. It’s a huge gym for all types of strength sports and must be the best and most well equipped gym in Asia. People are often shocked that I only train four sessions a week, but those sessions usually last from 3-5 hours each depending on what my coach has planned.
Please describe your normal training regime.
As I mentioned, I train 4 sessions a week, these are divided into:
Tuesday – lower body explosive.
Thursday – upper body explosive. Saturday – lower body max effort.
Sunday – upper body max effort.
My coach uses a training methodology called conjugate which allows for hitting max weights each week on different and has worked great with me.
Do you have a coach?
I have a fantastic coach from Melbourne, Australia, Michael Smits. He is one of the world’s strongest lightweight (under 80kg) Strongman and a genius when it comes to programming my training and getting the results I need at competitions. As a heavyweight it’s been great having such a talented lightweight athlete as my coach, he teaches me more about technique and how to be more explosive, as the lightweight guys can’t rely on just brute strength and size like the big guys can.
How much of what you do (in Strongman) is about strength vs technique? I’d say it’s 60/40 to strength right now for me, but that is going to be different for everyone. When I started two years ago it would have been 95/5. I guess the ideal ratio would be 50/50. Are you the strongest man in Thailand? As I don’t currently hold that title, I’m not going to claim it, I’m the best in Thailand and hold the records for many events (Log Press, Yoke, Atlas Stones) but have many other events to work on. But I would say that at a pure strongman competition without weight classes, 100% I’d come out on top. What are the greatest feats of strength you have done so far? I’d say that pulling a 28,000kg petrol tanker truck for 30m is one of them, also my 520kg Yoke I recently did in training at the Muscle Factory would be another. We hear you’re rubbish at arm wrestling – why is that? It’s a mystery?!?!? How tall are you, and how much do you weigh? I’m 192cm tall and currently weighing in at a skinny 160kg. |
How does your weight now compare to when you first started the sport?
When I was playing international rugby for Thailand my weight was always between 115kg to 125kg. As you can see, since then I’ve gained a lot of mass but also a lot more power. Pure weight helps a lot with many events, a common saying in Strongman is that “mass moves mass”, but you have to make sure you are gaining muscle as well as fat. Something that’s difficult to get people to understand outside of strength sports is that you need a certain amount of fat in order to be this strong, it supports your muscles and helps with recovery.
How much stronger do you think you can be?
I can feel I have a lot more potential to grow my strength. The last year has seen my strength rocket up and I expect the same to happen over the next few years.
Will you ever be as strong as current world’s strongest man, Hafthor Bjornson, aka “The Mountain” from Game Of Thrones?
There is a simple answer for this... No, he’s a monster, 206cm tall and well over 200kg. The guys at the very top of the sport dedicate their lives to getting there. They eat, sleep and train as any other professional athlete and make huge sacrifices very few people understand to do things the rest of us can only dream of.
Have you suffered any injuries as a result of training or competing?
So far I’ve been relatively injury free. Compared to rugby, Strongman is actually a very safe sport as you don’t have so many unknown factors that could cause you an injury. This doesn’t stop my mum telling me to take it easy and go careful every time I call her though.
When I was playing international rugby for Thailand my weight was always between 115kg to 125kg. As you can see, since then I’ve gained a lot of mass but also a lot more power. Pure weight helps a lot with many events, a common saying in Strongman is that “mass moves mass”, but you have to make sure you are gaining muscle as well as fat. Something that’s difficult to get people to understand outside of strength sports is that you need a certain amount of fat in order to be this strong, it supports your muscles and helps with recovery.
How much stronger do you think you can be?
I can feel I have a lot more potential to grow my strength. The last year has seen my strength rocket up and I expect the same to happen over the next few years.
Will you ever be as strong as current world’s strongest man, Hafthor Bjornson, aka “The Mountain” from Game Of Thrones?
There is a simple answer for this... No, he’s a monster, 206cm tall and well over 200kg. The guys at the very top of the sport dedicate their lives to getting there. They eat, sleep and train as any other professional athlete and make huge sacrifices very few people understand to do things the rest of us can only dream of.
Have you suffered any injuries as a result of training or competing?
So far I’ve been relatively injury free. Compared to rugby, Strongman is actually a very safe sport as you don’t have so many unknown factors that could cause you an injury. This doesn’t stop my mum telling me to take it easy and go careful every time I call her though.
Tell us about your diet, and what is comprises of.
My diet usually consists of five to six meals throughout the day, trying to consume between 5,500 and 6,500 calories. In the morning I have 1.5 litre shake with full fat milk, mass gainer powder, protein powder, oats, frozen spinach, frozen berries and my secret ingredient – six or seven Mcvities digestive biscuits just to add extra calories.
I eat a lot of beef, turkey, chicken, sweet potatoes and white rice as well as pizza, burgers and other junk... remember, it’s Strongman not bodybuilding.
How do the food costs stack up?
It’s expensive!!! I spend most of my spare cash on food and supplements.
Do you drink alcohol?
As a general rule I don’t drink and haven’t really drank much my whole life. On special occasions or after winning a competition I might have a cider or 10 though.
Can you buy all the best foods for your sport in Thailand?
The food, yes that’s one great thing here, food in general is cheap and it’s easy to find everything you need. The part where it becomes a challenge is supplements. There isn’t a huge choice of the things I need and I often have to buy in bulk overseas when I travel.
Have any restaurants banned you from their buffets?
There may well be a picture of my on the wall of a couple of well-known hotel buffets saying not to let me in.
Have you ever come across drug-taking, and what are your thoughts on this subject.
It’s an open secret that steroids and other PED’s (performance enhancing drugs) are used in the main stream in Strongman, powerlifting and bodybuilding. Personally I am a natural strongman, hence my invitation to compete in the World’s Natural Strongest Man Competition which is tested. Having said that, I don’t have a problem with people doing what they need to do to achieve the results they want. What I do believe though is that people should be open about it, talk about it and do it in an educated way. Unfortunately, there are far too few reliable resources out there to help people and it’s treated as an underground and taboo subject.
My diet usually consists of five to six meals throughout the day, trying to consume between 5,500 and 6,500 calories. In the morning I have 1.5 litre shake with full fat milk, mass gainer powder, protein powder, oats, frozen spinach, frozen berries and my secret ingredient – six or seven Mcvities digestive biscuits just to add extra calories.
I eat a lot of beef, turkey, chicken, sweet potatoes and white rice as well as pizza, burgers and other junk... remember, it’s Strongman not bodybuilding.
How do the food costs stack up?
It’s expensive!!! I spend most of my spare cash on food and supplements.
Do you drink alcohol?
As a general rule I don’t drink and haven’t really drank much my whole life. On special occasions or after winning a competition I might have a cider or 10 though.
Can you buy all the best foods for your sport in Thailand?
The food, yes that’s one great thing here, food in general is cheap and it’s easy to find everything you need. The part where it becomes a challenge is supplements. There isn’t a huge choice of the things I need and I often have to buy in bulk overseas when I travel.
Have any restaurants banned you from their buffets?
There may well be a picture of my on the wall of a couple of well-known hotel buffets saying not to let me in.
Have you ever come across drug-taking, and what are your thoughts on this subject.
It’s an open secret that steroids and other PED’s (performance enhancing drugs) are used in the main stream in Strongman, powerlifting and bodybuilding. Personally I am a natural strongman, hence my invitation to compete in the World’s Natural Strongest Man Competition which is tested. Having said that, I don’t have a problem with people doing what they need to do to achieve the results they want. What I do believe though is that people should be open about it, talk about it and do it in an educated way. Unfortunately, there are far too few reliable resources out there to help people and it’s treated as an underground and taboo subject.
How old is too young or too old in this sport?
There is no age limit for Strongman, the younger you start, the better you are going to become. The Masters category starts at 40 for strongman and we have people competing at the top level of the sport way into their 50s like Nick Best of the USA or Mark Felix of Great Britain.
Can a vegan become a top Strongman?
No, that’s what CrossFit is for!
Do women compete in Strongman too?
In actual fact the women’s categories of the sport can be even more competitive and interesting to watch than the men’s, as there are some truly world class female athletes out there lifting some unbelievable weights. And I’m lucky enough to have one as my partner.
Will Strongman ever become an Olympic sport?
That’s the plan, the World Natural Strongman Federation is working together with Sport Accord and the International Olympic Committee to have Strongman included as a potential Olympic sport in the future. Obviously this has to be the drug free version of the sport which I am competing in, so who knows –one day I may get to represent Thailand at the Olympics.
Where do you buy your clothes?
This is one of many issues you get when taking your strongman training to the next level, all your clothes appear to shrink. I’ve given up trying to find anything to wear here in Thailand and usually buy things when I travel to Australia or Europe.
Do you get comments from bystanders, on the Skytain or MRT?
It’s become a normal thing to be stared at by people, but once people hear me speak Thai they are genuinely interested in why I’m so big and what do I do.
The best reactions are from little children though.
I often hear kids shouting to their mums in the supermarket: “Mum! Look at that giant farang wrestler.”
There is no age limit for Strongman, the younger you start, the better you are going to become. The Masters category starts at 40 for strongman and we have people competing at the top level of the sport way into their 50s like Nick Best of the USA or Mark Felix of Great Britain.
Can a vegan become a top Strongman?
No, that’s what CrossFit is for!
Do women compete in Strongman too?
In actual fact the women’s categories of the sport can be even more competitive and interesting to watch than the men’s, as there are some truly world class female athletes out there lifting some unbelievable weights. And I’m lucky enough to have one as my partner.
Will Strongman ever become an Olympic sport?
That’s the plan, the World Natural Strongman Federation is working together with Sport Accord and the International Olympic Committee to have Strongman included as a potential Olympic sport in the future. Obviously this has to be the drug free version of the sport which I am competing in, so who knows –one day I may get to represent Thailand at the Olympics.
Where do you buy your clothes?
This is one of many issues you get when taking your strongman training to the next level, all your clothes appear to shrink. I’ve given up trying to find anything to wear here in Thailand and usually buy things when I travel to Australia or Europe.
Do you get comments from bystanders, on the Skytain or MRT?
It’s become a normal thing to be stared at by people, but once people hear me speak Thai they are genuinely interested in why I’m so big and what do I do.
The best reactions are from little children though.
I often hear kids shouting to their mums in the supermarket: “Mum! Look at that giant farang wrestler.”
How old is too young or too old in this sport?
There is no age limit for Strongman, the younger you start, the better you are going to become. The Masters category starts at 40 for strongman and we have people competing at the top level of the sport way into their 50s like Nick Best of the USA or Mark Felix of Great Britain.
Can a vegan become a top Strongman?
No, that’s what CrossFit is for!
Do women compete in Strongman too?
In actual fact the women’s categories of the sport can be even more competitive and interesting to watch than the men’s, as there are some truly world class female athletes out there lifting some unbelievable weights. And I’m lucky enough to have one as my partner.
Will Strongman ever become an Olympic sport?
That’s the plan, the World Natural Strongman Federation is working together with Sport Accord and the International Olympic Committee to have Strongman included as a potential Olympic sport in the future. Obviously this has to be the drug free version of the sport which I am competing in, so who knows –one day I may get to represent Thailand at the Olympics.
Where do you buy your clothes?
This is one of many issues you get when taking your strongman training to the next level, all your clothes appear to shrink. I’ve given up trying to find anything to wear here in Thailand and usually buy things when I travel to Australia or Europe.
Do you get comments from bystanders, on the Skytain or MRT?
It’s become a normal thing to be stared at by people, but once people hear me speak Thai they are genuinely interested in why I’m so big and what do I do.
The best reactions are from little children though.
I often hear kids shouting to their mums in the supermarket: “Mum! Look at that giant farang wrestler.”
Can you fit into an economy seat on a flight?
This is becoming more of a struggle as I get bigger. The most difficult part is the width of my shoulders, but usually people are very understanding and nice. When checking in, the staff take pity on me I can usually get a spare seat next to me if one is available.
Clearly, no one bullies you – or tries to get you in a fight – right?
You would be surprised… I’m a gentle giant and very rarely react to things, but once in a while, if you push me far enough, the beast might come out to play lol.
What’s next for you?
After the World’s Natural Strongest Man competition on 15th June, my next goal is to qualify for the Arnold Australia Sports Festival Strongman competition in Melbourne next year.
Any final thoughts?
Strength sports in Thailand are growing fast, strongman, powerlifting, Olympic weightlifting and bodybuilding are all more popular than ever and it’s great to see new faces making their way to gyms across the country to give these sports a try. Anyone can try, you don’t have to be a giant or even strong to start training for Strongman. It’s great fun! Anyone who is interested in giving it a go can contact me via my Instagram @rob_beastfromtheeast and they are welcome to come join one of my training sessions!
There is no age limit for Strongman, the younger you start, the better you are going to become. The Masters category starts at 40 for strongman and we have people competing at the top level of the sport way into their 50s like Nick Best of the USA or Mark Felix of Great Britain.
Can a vegan become a top Strongman?
No, that’s what CrossFit is for!
Do women compete in Strongman too?
In actual fact the women’s categories of the sport can be even more competitive and interesting to watch than the men’s, as there are some truly world class female athletes out there lifting some unbelievable weights. And I’m lucky enough to have one as my partner.
Will Strongman ever become an Olympic sport?
That’s the plan, the World Natural Strongman Federation is working together with Sport Accord and the International Olympic Committee to have Strongman included as a potential Olympic sport in the future. Obviously this has to be the drug free version of the sport which I am competing in, so who knows –one day I may get to represent Thailand at the Olympics.
Where do you buy your clothes?
This is one of many issues you get when taking your strongman training to the next level, all your clothes appear to shrink. I’ve given up trying to find anything to wear here in Thailand and usually buy things when I travel to Australia or Europe.
Do you get comments from bystanders, on the Skytain or MRT?
It’s become a normal thing to be stared at by people, but once people hear me speak Thai they are genuinely interested in why I’m so big and what do I do.
The best reactions are from little children though.
I often hear kids shouting to their mums in the supermarket: “Mum! Look at that giant farang wrestler.”
Can you fit into an economy seat on a flight?
This is becoming more of a struggle as I get bigger. The most difficult part is the width of my shoulders, but usually people are very understanding and nice. When checking in, the staff take pity on me I can usually get a spare seat next to me if one is available.
Clearly, no one bullies you – or tries to get you in a fight – right?
You would be surprised… I’m a gentle giant and very rarely react to things, but once in a while, if you push me far enough, the beast might come out to play lol.
What’s next for you?
After the World’s Natural Strongest Man competition on 15th June, my next goal is to qualify for the Arnold Australia Sports Festival Strongman competition in Melbourne next year.
Any final thoughts?
Strength sports in Thailand are growing fast, strongman, powerlifting, Olympic weightlifting and bodybuilding are all more popular than ever and it’s great to see new faces making their way to gyms across the country to give these sports a try. Anyone can try, you don’t have to be a giant or even strong to start training for Strongman. It’s great fun! Anyone who is interested in giving it a go can contact me via my Instagram @rob_beastfromtheeast and they are welcome to come join one of my training sessions!