GQ: How did you initially take an interest in powerlifting?<\/p>\n
Mitchell Hooper: The interesting part of that story is that I did my undergraduate in human kinetics. I worked as the head strength and conditioning coach with a professional basketball team. Then, I found that relatively meaningless in terms of sport results. So, I applied and got into a master\u2019s of clinical exercise physiology at the University of Sydney. When I got into that, since I\u2019d always been active, I thought there\u2019s three things you ask people to do when you\u2019re exercising them: that\u2019s to lose weight, to get fit, and to get strong. Those are really three things that, if you can do that, you\u2019re going to be reasonably healthy long-term.<\/p>\n
I started by losing weight. I lost 100 pounds, stepped on a bodybuilding stage, then I ran three marathons. Just in the process of getting strong, I found guys who did powerlifting. That took me towards powerlifting contests, which eventually evolved into Strongman. And I had no idea how good I was going to be. It just went bananas and took me, ironically, back into the sports world.<\/p>\n
Psychologically, where do you think this desire to be the World\u2019s Strongest Man came from?<\/p>\n
I think if any man truly doesn\u2019t want to be the World\u2019s Strongest Man, they\u2019re lying to themselves.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a small fraction of people who are in contention to be able to do that. Look, I didn\u2019t set out to become the World\u2019s Strongest Man. I set out to become as strong as I could be, and that happened to turn into being the strongest man in the world. I\u2019ve just been really fortunate in that way.<\/p>\n
Are you competitive in your general life?<\/p>\n
Yeah, very much so, to a fault. It\u2019s probably cost me some friendships over the years. But yeah, everything for me is a contest, and why would you ever want to lose?<\/p>\n
At what age\u2014or what part of your life\u2014did you go from, let\u2019s say, a more standard physique to the physique you have now? When was the initial bulk, if you will?<\/p>\n