Carry that weight: England's strongest man on pulling trucks, flipping cars and turning his life around
England’s strongest man will be coming to Telford to defend his crown next week, and gives an insight into what it takes to maintain his colossal strength.
If you passed Sean Logan in the street, it would be difficult not to notice him.
Weighing in at 145 kilos – almost 23 stones – he is a mass of muscle capable of lifting more than three times his own body weight.
And he uses his powerful physique to great effect. He pulls trucks, flips cars using his bare hands, and lugs huge atlas stones between plinths, all in the name of being named England’s Strongest Man.
Next week, he will be heading to the West Midlands in an effort to defend his title at an event in Telford Town Park.
But while he is recognisable for his strongman capabilities now, it has taken a great deal of dedication to transform Sean from an average Joe into a muscle-bound machine.
“It took me a couple of years to get here,” says the 31-year -old, who hails from Burnley in Lancashire. “Originally I started going to the gym for fitness as I was a bit of a chunk.
“I was heavily overweight but had just got into downhill mountain biking and wanted to lose weight to make that easier.
“I had a bad diet and wasn’t doing anything, I was lazy.”
It was while he was visiting the gym that he started to become interested in taking part in strongman competitions.
“The owner of he gym I was at was into strongman so I entered a gym competition to begin with,” he continues.
“I had always enjoyed watching Ultimate Strongman, but hadn’t ever really thought about competing it or anything.”
Strongman competitions really entered the public consciousness when they began to be televised several years ago, but it takes a lot of dedication to transform a passing interest into a dedicated competitor.
It took a few years of hard training for Sean, and he is still in the gym five days a week on top of his day job as a wood machinist.
“I do two days upper body, two days lower body and one day training in strongman events,” he says. “It’s a lot of hard work and sticking to a strict regime of training and eating right.”
Sean takes on between 5,000 and 6,000 calories a day with carbs being a staple of his diet.
“Yeah, it’s a lot,” he says.
Sean’s favourite event is the Deadlift, where a weight is lifted from the ground to the hip area.
“I’m great at it,” he laughs. “My biggest lift is 450 kilos, but I plan to beat that.”
That huge mass equates to more than 70 stone, and means that theoretically Sean could lift 65 bowling balls, a grand piano, five kangaroos or 15 dalmatian dogs – you get the picture.
“I must admit I do also enjoy things like that truck pulls and car lifting,” adds Sean.
“They are great for the spectators because it looks impressive and they can visualise the weight of what you are pulling or lifting a bit more.”
While being the best is what Sean strives for, he admits there are times when he has to accept he can go no further.
“When you get to the limit you can hear a voice in your head saying go for it, but you have to be careful not to injure yourself,” he says. “Sometimes it is better to fight another day than to be out for months.”
Ultimate Strongman is coming to Telford as part of the Balloon Fiesta event in the town, and strongmen from across England and Wales will compete head to head to battle for the honour of becoming their country’s national champion.
Each strongman will face five disciplines that test pure strength, grip strength, technical ability and pain tolerance to the limit, overseen by five times UK’s Strongest Man, Glenn Ross.
“I don’t think Telford will have seen anything like Ultimate Strongman before,” he adds.
Favourites for glory in the England’s Strongest Man event will be Sheffield duo Paul Smith and Phil Roberts, who will be aiming to topple Sean.
“When I won England’s Strongest Man last year it was quite surreal to be honest to think I’m the strongest man in the country,” says Sean.
“But I am confident coming into this competition and in fact the aim is to go for the UK title this year as well.”
Wales’s Strongest Man Final kicks off at 1pm on Saturday, May 11 with England’s Strongest Man Final the following day again at 1pm.
Both events take place at the QEII Arena in Telford Town Park.
