Meet the Stoltmans a.k.a. the World’s Strongest Brothers
With two World’s Strongest Man titles and a European Strongest Man triumph between them, it’s fair to say the Stoltman brothers know their way around a weights room.
From Invergordon in the Scottish Highlands, the pair have, in their own words, “pulled trucks, lifted over 200 kilo log presses and 300 kilo atlas stones” to rightfully earn the accolade of world’s strongest brothers.
I recently got the chance to train with the Stoltmans at St. Mary’s Gym in London, which, like their home gym, has just been kitted out with brand-spanking new equipment by Primal Strength. With the boys hailing from the land of caber tossing while weighing in at 410 and 360 pounds respectively, I knew I had my work cut out trying to keep up with them.
I’m a recreational gym-goer who lifts weights three times a week but my training is fairly basic. I bench press and deadlift and used to squat until I ruptured ankle ligaments last summer (I’m just leg pressing until it fully heals).
The rest of my training is comprised of fixed-motion resistance machines, a world away from any of the events you’ll see at World’s Strongest Man.
I was f**ked from the beginning, essentially.
Farmer’s Walk
The name of this lift makes it sound like a leisurely stroll, something you’d fit into a spring Sunday afternoon after a wholesome roast dinner with the family. I can assure you this could not be further from the truth.
The farmer’s walk is a relatively simple exercise, which belies its actual difficulty. Weight plates are added either side of a trap bar or set of handles and you have to carry them for a set distance or time without dropping.
The boys added two 20 kilogram plates to a 20 kilogram trap bar and I treated this 60 kilo effort as a warm-up before then moving quickly onto 100 kilograms – which probably cost me in the long term.
Luke Stoltman branded these efforts “easy”, which saw the ante upped to 150 kilograms. I asked Tom Stoltman, reigning World’s Strongest Man, how he managed to remain focused when performing this lift.
“All I think about is the finish line,” Tom said.
“Voices and stuff? I don’t hear anything like that, really.”
I blocked out what few spectators we did have, squeezed my lats, braced my core and picked up the loaded bar. This was close to my max effort as it felt like my forearm muscle was about to rip off the bone.
The adrenaline (plus a bowl of high-protein cereal, banana and an entire flask of coffee) was coursing through my veins at this point, but I managed to make it across the turf and back successfully.
I was promptly brought back down to Earth, however, when Luke Stoltman informed me they’d hit a 400 kilo farmer’s walk at the most recent Arnold Classic event in Columbus, Ohio.
My best lift came in at around a third of what the Stoltmans can lift. Luke generously referred to me as a “monster”, but I dread to think what that makes them. They enter the 2023 competition season in buoyant mood; Tom Stoltman aiming to become World’s Strongest Man for the third consecutive year with brother Luke also qualifying.
Circus Dumbbell
Circus dumbbells are the enormous, spherical-ended death traps that get thrown up into the air at World’s Strongest Man. Luke Stoltman can press one weighing between 100-150 kilos above his head; footage of which makes me shudder.
Thankfully, the dumbbells provided by Primal Strength only went up to 50 kilos.
We began with a 20 kilogram press that went up with ease, but the boys had a few technique adjustments for me.
Success with the dumbbell press isn’t as simple as throwing it above your head. You need to position the dumbbell between your legs as if you’re setting up for a deadlift, pick the dumbbell up with two hands, swing into position like a kettlebell and then rack it on your shoulder.
With the shoulder girdle acting like a ledge, you then dip slightly at the knees and perform a jerk movement with your legs, giving you momentum to press the dumbbell upwards.
At least that’s the intention. I forgot to use the leg jerk and saw 30kg come tumbling down around me. Schoolboy error.
Wanting to get me back on track, the Stoltman brothers laid the gauntlet down with a circus dumbbell medley. I had to press four dumbbells over my head with a single arm and they ranged from 20 kilos up to 35.
This time, I remembered to pause at the top and integrate the leg drive and managed to press all four dumbbells. Luke Stoltman again referred to my efforts as “easy”, but with both shoulders feeling as if they were going to pop out of the socket, I couldn’t agree with him on this occasion.
Push Press
The only thing worse than one max effort shoulder press? Two.
The Stoltman brothers had a 20 kilo barbell awaiting our next exercise sat atop a power rack.
I joked that this was my one rep max, to which Luke said I should leave the gym “immediately” if it was.
We went through a few technique drills using the empty bar, with Luke adding that “your chest should be facing the roof when performing a push press”. For most people, you’d think standing upright with your chest facing forwards would be sufficient, but this would lead to the barbell falling too far forwards. You’d lose control, this way, and be unable to press properly.
We began with 60 kilos on the bar. For many gym-goers, a 60 kilo overhead push press is somewhat of a milestone. It might not sound like much, but most recreational lifters (myself included) spend too long bench pressing while not overhead pressing enough.
This means you’ll likely have strong chest, triceps and shoulders, but success with a push press takes much more.
You have to use every muscle in your body to generate force – from having to drive your heels into the ground and squeezing your glutes to bracing your core.
“Someone’s feeling spicy!” remarked the Stoltmans as I managed to squeeze out a couple of reps with the 60kg bar.
A wry smile swept across my face as the brothers loaded the bar with an extra 20-25 kilos. I was being asked to press my bodyweight, something I’d only ever done before on a Smith machine. There, I was sat down and benefitting from the machine taking some of the resistance out of the movement. It doesn’t compare to a push press using free weights.
I tried with all my might to get that 80 kilo bar above my head, but I couldn’t quite manage to fully extend my arms.
My shoulders felt ridiculously sore after this lift, so I can only imagine what Luke’s must be like when he presses logs over 200 kilograms in weight.
Treadmill Truck Pulls
Perhaps the most impressive event at World’s Strongest Man is the truck pull. Athletes are tied by rope to a lorry weighing anywhere between 7.5 and 18 tonnes. They then have to pull the trucks so far that it takes them over a finish line.
Such is the recent advancement in sport science that the brothers have even found a way to condition themselves in the gym for such a feat.
Primal Strength have designed a new sloped treadmill with a handbrake that allows you to mimic strides taken on the truck pull. The Stoltman brothers use it in intervals.
“We do it for a minute like with the truck pull,” said Tom.
“It will burn and the lactic acid will just build up. You’ll jump off, have 20 seconds rest and then go again.”
My lactic acid was building up just watching the Stoltman brothers demonstrate how to use the treadmill.
Technique was also important on this exercise – you have to adopt a slight bend in your torso while holding on to the front of the treadmill. You then have to run (or attempt to run) on your toes as opposed to the ball or sole of your foot.
The boys ramped up the resistance to the highest level and to make matters worse, even stepped on the belt themselves. This applied hundreds of kilos of pressure, roughly replicating the forces you’d experience performing a truck pull at World’s Strongest Man.
Due to this resistance, your strides become longer and slower but you still want to reach your target distance as quickly as possible. My calves, glutes and hamstrings were all on fire – not to mention my lungs.
When I’d finished what felt like my five hundredth set, Tom Stoltman interjected.
“One more left,” he said.
Exasperated, I almost fell off the treadmill.
Cardio for strongman
I finished the final set and once I got my breath back, asked the world’s strongest brothers how they integrate cardio into their routine. I was blown away how fit you had to be to compete at World’s Strongest Man, so felt it was worth digging a little deeper.
“We class the events we do as cardio,” said Tom.
“We have a day each week where we do active recovery, a lot of the 30 seconds off, 30 seconds on kind of thing.”
He has a point – rest periods between events in competition are kept to a minimum, which makes the World’s Strongest Man a disgustingly-brutal form of high-intensity interval training.
“We don’t do running or anything like that, though” added Tom, and for the first time training with the Stoltman brothers, I felt like we had something in common.
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