Eddie Hall’s retirement from strongman competition wasn’t just about hanging up his lifting straps. It was about survival.
The 2017 World’s Strongest Man champion has opened up about the terrifying reality behind his decision to step away from the sport in a recent interview. He revealed that his body was on the brink of catastrophic failure.
Just five weeks before winning his world title, Hall visited a doctor for routine blood work. What he discovered was alarming. His kidney and liver markers were off the charts. But the biggest concern was his hemoglobin levels, the thickness of his blood had reached dangerous extremes.
The doctor placed Hall on a chart comparing heart attack and stroke risk across different body weights. While a 220-pound person would be in the danger zone, Hall weighed 440 pounds (200 kg). He was literally off the chart.
“He said if I lined 80 million people up or 70 million people up, the whole population of the UK, and asked who’s most likely to have a heart attack or stroke, you’d be at the top of that list,” Hall recalled. The reality hit hard.
At just 6’2″, Hall was carrying the same weight as giants like Hafthor Bjornsson, who stands 6’10”, but on a much smaller frame. “Everything was working overtime to keep my body from having a heart attack or a stroke,” he explained.
The final five weeks of training became what Hall describes as almost a suicide mission. Every night before sleep, he’d have a conversation with himself: “If you don’t wake up tomorrow, are you going to be sorry?” His answer was always the same, winning the title was worth the risk. “I honestly thought I’d go to bed every night thinking I wasn’t going to wake up the next day,” he said.
The pressure extended beyond physical danger. Hall’s famous 500-kilogram (1,102 lb) deadlift in 2016, which broke the world record by 37 kilograms (81 lbs), nearly ended him. The lift left him unconscious, blood vessels burst in his head. But for Hall’s size and build, the weight was something he simply wasn’t designed to lift.
“I’m not meant to be able to lift 500 kilos (1,102 pounds) off the floor. I haven’t got the height, the levers, the muscle mass,” he admitted. It was pure belief that made it possible.
After winning his world title in 2017, Hall immediately retired and began the process of saving his own life. Getting his body weight down became the priority, along with lowering those dangerous health markers.
Today, Hall has transitioned to MMA fighting and maintains a carnivore diet that has transformed his health. His sleep has improved, inflammation has decreased, and his cardiovascular fitness has dramatically increased.
