There is bound to be surging interest in Strongman competitions now they’ve been recognised as an official army sport.
But those who aspire to reach the top of the tree will have to overcome the imposing figure of Cpl Rhys Calland (REME) – the reigning armed forces champion and dominant service competitor since first daubing his hands in chalk and wrapping his 20-inch biceps around a 120kg stone ball three years ago.
The 6ft 2in vehicle mechanic, who’s currently attached to 1 Regiment, Army Air Corps at RNAS Yeovilton, can lift an Oshkosh wheel with tyre “for a light workout”. And back at home in Torquay he sometimes lugs his VW people carrier down the road to keep his hand in at pulling trucks – a famous staple of Strongman events.
Moving a car isn’t exactly superhuman, we hear you say? Well, try it Cpl Calland’s way – with the handbrake on.
He joined up in 2016 after working at Halfords in Torquay as a push bike mechanic left him feeling decidedly unfulfilled. A gym rat since the age of 15, Cpl Calland came to realise, through social media, the army had its own Strongman community and decided to commit as much time as he could to the sport.
Despite being a relative novice, the 29-year-old has won four of the five forces tournaments he’s entered so far (he finished runner-up in the other), and in the space of four days in April claimed the Devon’s Strongest Man crown and the blue riband ‘open’ category of the first ever Armed Forces Strongest Man and Woman Championship, held at Catterick. The NCO came first or joint first in all five events to claim the title. Now he’s training hard for England’s Strongest Man in York next month.
We asked him what advice he would offer to anyone interested in the sport…
"It’s a great sport to combine with a military career. That applies even more so now that it’s an official army sport and can be integrated into our weekly routines. We’ll be able to source funding for better equipment, organise training camps in advance and travel to major events.
"The hard training develops mental resilience and that corresponds to our job roles. Most Strongman disciplines are similar to role fitness training. Deadlifts feature in both, as do sandbag lifts, and the RFT’s power bag onto a platform is very like Strongman’s lifting the stone.
"It really helps to have a sympathetic partner. I have a two-and-a-half-year-old daughter and another child on the way but my partner doesn’t mind my hours in the gym and taking the odd weekend away to compete. She comes along to support me, loves the whole scene and watches it on TV. The only exception is when I annoy our neighbours at home by accidentally dropping a stone during training sessions in my garage. It makes a serious thud and sometimes they’ll come round thinking we’ve had a major incident.
"Don’t neglect cardio. People often think this sport is just about ultimate strength. It’s not – the first time I did the sandbag event I realised that. We had to run 20 metres with a 100kg bag, then drop it, sprint back and pick up a 120kg version, then repeat with a 140kg bag. While I could lift the bags I was knackered after just one run, so now I work on my cardio all the time, mainly by doing practice sandbag shuttle runs. Also, Strongman contests last all day so you need endurance to be competitive.
"When I don’t eat enough my training really suffers. I went camping recently and ate mainly breakfast cereal over the weekend. I felt weak for days afterwards and it compromised my schedule a bit. I eat about 6,000 calories a day but I’m not overly scientific about it. I eat good food, with protein and carbs in every meal. I can tune my diet and training to an upcoming event. If the disciplines are mainly power drills such a deadlifts I might pack on some extra weight and grow to 150kg. If they are more biased towards runs and endurance, I’ll eat and train to stay around 140kg.
"Stay focused in competitions. One time I carelessly put dry chalk powder on my hands instead of liquid chalk, which is far grippier and better for events that employ a smooth bar. During the farmer’s carry, which involves carrying weights while walking a set distance or duration, I had 120kg in each hand, which isn’t heavy for me, but I ended up dropping them twice.
"Keep training while deployed if you can. I usually take 100kg of weights and a bench with me if possible and train as best I can. Keeping moving and doing some weights is better than nothing. I was in Estonia for two months last year and luckily they had a gym. It wasn’t optimised for someone like me so I went back to basics and trained quite light again, doing more reps at less weight to keep my strength up. My body actually enjoyed the contrast.
"I’ve learned through bitter experience to stop training immediately if I feel any kind of muscle niggle of suspect an injury is coming. If you try and train through it you’ll end up prolonging or worsening the injury. Missing one or two sessions isn’t going to make you lose strength."
Cpl Calland’s PBs
Deadlift – 325kg
Farmer’s carry (each hand) – 150kg
Shoulder press – 160kg
Back squat x 3 reps – 270kg
Atlas stone (over a platform) – 150kg
