Mark Bell's Power Project - 10 Minute Walk Talk with Hafþór "The Mountain" Björnsson

Starting point is 00:00:00 All right, we're here at Body Power 2018 with the current World's Strongest Man, Papdor Bjornsson, aka The Mountain. Congratulations on your victory. I know it's been a long time coming and the competition just always gets stiffer and stiffer in World's Strongest Man and you were able to come out on top in this one. What did it mean for you to finally secure the World's Strongest Man title? Thank you so much. It means a lot to me. Like you said, it's been a long journey.

Starting point is 00:00:30 I played before that six times on the podium, three times third and three times second. So to come this year finally on the top, it means a lot to me. It's been a hell of a work, hell of a... to me it's been it's been a hell of a work hell of a you know it's it finally came through finally first place yeah it's a personal question right here did you cry when you won I cried a lot through the competition to be honest with you because it was very emotional for me it's it's been a It's been a long journey and I put everything out there to try to become the best. When I finally won the title, I didn't cry, but I cried. It's funny, I cried, it's funny, I cried throughout the competition a little bit because it was just very emotional for me. And, yeah.

Starting point is 00:01:30 I understand. You put everything you have into it, and then you end up with, sometimes you end up with some of the results you want, sometimes you end up with some of the results you don't want. Your diet has been a huge part of all this. Obviously, the training plays into it. We'll get to that in a minute. How has it been working with Stan the Rhino Efforting? It's been fantastic.

Starting point is 00:01:50 He's great. I went and started to work with him two years ago, and it's been going great. The vertical diet is just fantastic. You know, steak and rice, I like it. You know, a lot of people will have, there'll be a lot of doubters sometimes, right? You have guys like Brian Shaw and the big man over here, Cedrino Savickas. You've got a lot of great competition, guys like Eddie Hall. How did it feel for you personally to come out on top and to kind of almost silence some of the critics?

Starting point is 00:02:24 It felt great, especially because, you know, I didn't only just win the World Series, man. and to kind of almost silence some of the critics. It felt great, especially because, you know, I didn't only just win the World Series, man, I won the Ardennalds and EuroSports, man. I'm actually, I think, I think I'm the only one, obviously, but I'm sure I can't win the EuroSports because he's not from there, but I'm the only one who can, who's done that before. So I'm very happy that I also just,

Starting point is 00:02:44 I won the three biggest competition this year. And also with, you know, it wasn't like I won with one point or two points. You know, I won all with five plus points. So that meant a lot to me. Is the goal now to, you know, work on continuing to rack up these victories? You're on a really good roll.

Starting point is 00:03:07 Is it a desire of yours to not only be considered the world's strongest man, but maybe to be considered the strongest man to ever walk the face of the earth? Definitely. I mean, as long as I have the passion for it, as long as I still enjoy it, I'll on going you know I'm I'm I'm I'm not sure to take part I want to I want to dominate this sport and as long as I enjoy it obviously you know I'm still enjoying it and I believe I'm just starting to get at you know now my progress is starting you know I'm I'm i'm 29 years old and there's a lot more to

Starting point is 00:03:47 come it doesn't seem like there's any limits it seems like at 1100 pound deadlift is in your future uh it seems like maybe even a thousand pound squat what's you know a lot of times with taller athletes like yourself it's uh really difficult for them them to have a big squat how have you been able to increase your squat and deadlift so much? Squat a lot, I guess. I started to work with Sebastian Oreb, Australian strength coach, a few years back, and it has helped me a lot. He's a great coach, and we've been working a lot on my techniques

Starting point is 00:04:26 in the squats and deadlift and it has showed a lot that I've been improving a lot in those lifts. Your deadlift improved by how much? Like over 200 pounds or so? Over 100 kilos in the last two years or so? It's definitely like 50 kilograms in the last two years or so. Yeah I'm very happy with my status right now and you know I feel it in myself that you know I have I still even though I won the World's Strongest Man I still have the same fire I still I still want to become better. It's not like the fire is just gone.

Starting point is 00:05:09 If anything, I'm even hungrier now to become even better because I want to show the world that I am the strongest man in the world, no matter what. I want to actually... There's one thing that I want to do as well. I might sometime in my career try out the powerlifting meet and Hopefully break the all-time world records. Wow, that would be that would be amazing to have it. How's your how's your bench press? We know about your deadlift and your squat. I don't bench press that a lot, but I believe you know, I could

Starting point is 00:05:43 Bench press 270 280 probably if I would train it properly. But with my squats, you know, I think if I would prepare myself for a meet, you know, I'm close to beating the record. At least I believe in you. And that's why I want to try it someday. You have an enormous line out there for you. There's even people peeping through this little window that we have right here, checking you out.

Starting point is 00:06:18 I just see people so excited, jumping up and down. What does it mean for you to have this know this level of uh of stardom this level of fame uh being in uh being in one of the biggest tv shows in the history of television and also being a world's strongest man gaining this this stardom basically his fame i enjoy the journey i i um i i sincerely do you know i i like i like working with Game of Thrones and I like lifting heavy weights. As long as I enjoy the journey, I think you have to enjoy the journey.

Starting point is 00:06:51 If you enjoy the journey, then you'll become successful. A lot of people in today's day and age have a lot of anxiety and depression. They look at what other people are doing on social media and they sometimes feel bad about themselves. Were you ever in a spot in your life where you doubted yourself were you ever in a spot in your life where you had some anxiety depression those kinds of things yeah 100 percent uh 100 percent

Starting point is 00:07:15 uh last year wasn't the best year for me i had a lot of anxiety i was probably depressed and you know but i used it as a motivation, you know Sometimes when when when life doesn't go as you want sometimes life hits your heart And you just have to use it as a motivation and that's what I did. I want to I want to You know Just become better and And I use it as motivation. Why is Iceland so strong? And why are they, you know, a lot of Icelandic CrossFit athletes as well,

Starting point is 00:07:55 a lot of Icelandic females have won the CrossFit Games. And a lot of Icelandic athletes have dominated World's Strongest Man competition. What do you think it is about that country that makes it special and makes it maybe geared towards some of these strength sports and a sport like CrossFit? It's always a difficult question, but I think, you know, we are only 350,000 people isolated away from everything in this small island, you know, in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

Starting point is 00:08:24 I think we as a nation, we want to prove to the world away from everything in this small island you know in the middle of the atlantic ocean i think we as a nation we we want to prove to the world that we we are not just nobodies we we actually are somebodies and um yeah and um i don't know and all um it's the the way we live there you know we the way we live there, you know, we all the wintertime is not much to do, you know, we just train, eat and sleep and that's it. At least a lot of people, not everyone

Starting point is 00:08:55 obviously. What's a message that you want to leave for, you know, you got all these fans here today, what's something that you like to share with people to keep them motivated, keep them excited about what they're doing in their daily routine? Always believe in yourself, never have doubts, set yourself goals and go for it, kill it. Guys, that's the world's strongest man. We're here at the SBD booth here in England, here in the UK, and having a great time at Body Power.

Starting point is 00:09:26 Thank you so much. The world's strongest man, Hafthor Bjornsson. I've got to give you credit where credit is due. Fantastic victory. Great job. Thank you. I appreciate it. Thank you, guys. Thanks again. Thank you.

Mark Bell's Power Project - 10 Minute Walk Talk with Hafþór "The Mountain" Björnsson

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