When he saw the Big Mac jeff lewis, no one could hide his surprise, even the top strongman like mike miller. Lewis, 35, is 6 feet 3 inches (1.90m) tall and weighs 539 pounds (244 kilograms), which is bigger than an adult black bear! His thigh circumference exceeds many people's hip circumference and chest circumference. His calf circumference, arm circumference and chest circumference also reached 29 inches (73 cm), 25 inches (63 cm) and 65 inches (165 cm) respectively. So far, among all the athletes in all events, only Ya Broby, the world champion of volleyball, is bigger.

The most powerful man in the world.

However, don't think that Lewis is an overweight person with fat accumulation. His strength is more surprising than his size. He is the most powerful man in the world today. He can squat with a standard barbell 1202 lbs (545 kg), squat with a bench of 2.8 1 ton, and lift the bench of 37. 15 ton. When performing squats or bench lifts, buses full of people, trucks full of goods, fire engines and even train locomotives have become his performance tools. In 2003, when he lifted a heavy truck weighing 37. 15 tons in front of thousands of spectators in Dallas Stadium, Magnus Wall Magnason, a famous strong man and four-time champion of "the strongest man in the world", lamented: "Lewis is simply from another planet, and his strength can easily overwhelm all of us."

"heavy tanks" on the football field

Despite his amazing weight, Lewis didn't feel clumsy. His athletic ability is better than many men who weigh only him14. His 100-meter score is 12.26, and the standing long jump is 3.22 meters. Besides strength events, he also likes rugby, sprint and long jump. When he ran wildly on the football field, he was like a rampaging tank. Although most football players are strong, few people dare to stop him. Unfortunately, Lewis lacks endurance and tactical awareness, otherwise the NFL will have another "King Kong" superstar. Lewis is still eager to take part in the bicycle race, but this dream has basically been dashed, because there is no bicycle that can bear his weight.

Hercules home

If you look up Lewis's genealogy, you will sigh: With such a good genetic advantage, it is difficult to become a Hercules. Lewis's father won several national weightlifting championships and professional leg lifts, and his grandfather was also a famous strongman. Lewis's mother was also born in the "Hercules' House", which is like-minded with Lewis's father. Squatting on the power platform and lifting the car with legs is unfamiliar to ordinary people and extremely difficult. For Lewis men, it is both cordial and simple.

Lewis believes that family has played at least three roles in shaping his strong physique. The first point is of course genetic factors, but the latter two points are more important. Lewis said: "My home is full of strength training books and videos. The TV programs we watch at home are always related to strength, and the chat topics are also squats and leg lifts. My father never asked me for strength training, but he showed me all the beauty of the strength world. I have worshipped paul anderson since I was a child and vowed to be the most powerful person in the world. I don't want to do this, not because I am eager to succeed or want to be famous, but because the power world is too attractive to me. "

Lewis believes that the greatest help from his family is to let him use the most efficient strength training method since he was a child, and he has hardly taken any detours. Lewis said: "I can get very authoritative guidance at home. When I was 10 years old, I knew more about strength training than many so-called strength coaches. " Lewis's family are almost all strength training experts. They taught Lewis to use various strength training equipment, showed him the correct movements, and told him which training methods were correct and which were wrong. Lewis said: "I feel lucky whenever I see some people spend more time on strength training than me, but because of the wrong method, they get little or nothing." Half my strength comes from my family. "

Training principle

Lewis has a famous training principle: you must train happily. His father told him from an early age that whatever he did, as long as he was happy, he would get twice the result with half the effort. If it becomes a burden, the result is the opposite. Because of this, Lewis has always opposed the "ascetic" training. But this does not mean that you can gain great strength without hard work. Lewis said; "You should get happiness from high-intensity strength training. If you can't do this, it is better to give up strength training. "

Another training principle of Lewis is: choose training programs. People who are not familiar with him are often surprised that he can do many things at the same time in life. The secret that Lewis can do this is that he only pays attention to the key links in everything he does. The key link of strength training is the core strength project. Lewis thinks that many people practice hard, but in the end they get nothing. The crux is that they spend too much time on non-core strength projects, such as bench press and bending over. Lewis said, "Have you ever heard of a bench press champion who has become a strongman, or a strongman whose bench press weighs more than 660 pounds?" According to this principle, he concentrated on several most effective core strength projects, such as leg lifts, squats, leg flexion and extension, and used many big guys like power platforms and trucks. Carrying so many things all day. Can he not improve his strength quickly?

Lewis's third training principle is: take the ultimate strength as the goal. Lewis believes that ultimate strength and strength endurance are two completely different goals and cannot be achieved at the same time. For example, a person who squats 65,438+0,200 Jin can hardly win a contest of squatting 65,438+0,000 Jin, and vice versa. Weightlifting and Olympic weightlifting are both extreme strength sports, while strong man sports are strength endurance sports, while professional squats, professional leg lifts and table weightlifting have both extreme strength events and strength endurance events. Although Lewis has a keen interest in all power sports, he clearly sets his goal as: to gain the greatest ultimate strength. Lewis said: "I often take part in the extreme weight events of weightlifting and professional leg lifts, but I never take part in the competition of' the strongest man in the world' or squat for a fixed number of times, because strength and endurance are not my strength or my goal. "

Friends and opponents in the world of power

The competition between Hercules is fierce. Two years ago, Brent Maxwell was the king of Hercules. But now mike miller, vladislav Al-Katsov, Paul Child Rees, Andy Bolton and Louis have all surpassed messer and entered the threshold of "barbell squat 1.200 lbs". Although Lewis is currently ranked first among the Hercules, there is not much difference between him and his main rivals in squat performance. And he weighs almost twice as much as his opponent and is often attacked. For example, some people say that Lewis's barbell squat weighs less than three times, and it is only an amateur level in relative strength (barbell squat weight). Lewis retorted that barbell squat was limited by the bearing capacity and balance ability of the waist and could not accurately reflect the absolute strength. Only table leg lifts and table squats are the yardsticks of absolute strength. Lewis said: "I hope everyone will compete on the stage of power, not in the media."

"The dispute between barbell squat and desktop" has a long history. Bench leg lifts and bench squats (collectively referred to as "bench events") are the oldest strength events. They use various weights such as trucks, which have a wide range of weights, but they are inconvenient to use. Before the 20th century, "Biathlon" was always the most important strength event. But since the 20th century, barbell squats have gradually taken their place. In barbell squat, the barbell bar replaces the strength table, and the barbell piece replaces all kinds of table weights, which is convenient to use and can improve the whole body strength, but the weight range is greatly limited by the waist bearing capacity, balance ability and barbell bar itself. Barbells are used for squats in strength weightlifting competitions, while strength platforms are used for professional squats, professional leg lifts and bench weightlifting. In recent years, Lewis has been monopolizing the throne of table squat and table leg lift, and has long been the "king of classical powerlifting". Now he is marching into weightlifting in order to become the undisputed king of the whole power circle. But at present, the advantage of barbell squatting only a few pounds is obviously not enough to convince opponents.

Like Lewis, Vladislav Al Katsov, Paul Child Rees, Brent Maxwell, Steve Goggins, Chuck Walker, Kirk kawas and Shane Hamman also participated in the barbell squat and table tennis competitions. In Lewis's view, they are the real opponents. Lewis said: "I will meet several of them in the final of any power movement." Although we compete with each other and don't give in to each other, I regard them as friends. "In Lewis's view, they are like a group of mountaineers climbing to the top of the mountain. Although everyone wants to be the first person to climb the top of the mountain, it is impossible without the support of peers.