Former World’s Strongest Man Eddie Hall made a life-altering decision in 2017 when he walked away from strongman competition after receiving a stark warning from his doctor about his cardiovascular health.
At his peak, Hall weighed 196 kilograms (32 stone or 433 pounds) and consumed an extraordinary 12,000 calories daily to fuel his strongman training. His massive frame and extreme training regimen pushed his body to dangerous limits, with regular blood tests revealing concerning markers across multiple health indicators.
“My kidney markers were always through the roof. My liver markers always through the roof. My hemoglobins, you know, my blood was just super thick and of course my body weight was super high,” Hall explained during a recent podcast appearance on Men’s Health UK.
The turning point came when his doctor delivered an assessment of his health risks. “The doctor said to me in the end, ‘If you lined the whole of the UK up, like all 70 million people, lined him in a row, I would pick you out as the most likely person to have a heart attack and a stroke right now,'” Hall recalled.
This brutal honesty forced Hall to confront the reality of his situation. Despite his fierce “do or die” mentality that had driven him to strongman glory, he realized the sport was becoming potentially fatal. “I was going to bed at night and I’m seriously worried if I’m going to wake up or not. And that was a serious concern being 430 lbs – every night was a lottery.”
Having achieved his ultimate goals – winning World’s Strongest Man and setting the deadlift world record – Hall made the difficult decision to retire from competitive strongman. Rather than completely abandoning athletics, he transitioned into combat sports, dramatically transforming his training approach and physique.
Now weighing around 160 kilograms (25-26 stone), Hall has shed approximately 36 kilograms while maintaining his athletic pursuits through boxing and mixed martial arts. His training shifted from pure strength to cardio-oriented sessions featuring high-repetition, explosive movements designed to build fight-specific fitness.
This transition culminated in several high-profile bouts, including his stunning 28-second knockout victory over former World’s Strongest Man Marius Pudzianowski in his MMA debut. The match required tremendous courage given Pudzianowski’s 17 years of martial arts experience and nearly 30 professional match.
Today, Hall continues training multiple times daily across various disciplines while maintaining his involvement in strongman as a commentator, proving that stepping back from competition doesn’t mean abandoning the sport entirely.
