Some athletes are strong. Eddie Hall redefined what the word means. In 2016 he became the first human being to deadlift half a tonne, 500 kilograms, a feat so extreme it left him bleeding from the face and, by his own account, nearly killed him. A year later he was crowned the World’s Strongest Man. Then, having conquered his sport, he walked away from it and reinvented himself entirely, transforming his body and stepping into the boxing ring and the MMA cage.
Few figures in strength sport have a story as dramatic, or as varied, as Edward “The Beast” Hall. This is the full picture: his journey from national-level swimmer to strongman legend, the record-breaking lifts, the training that built him, and the remarkable second act that followed.
This article is a biographical profile compiled from public reporting and interviews.
Quick Facts
| Full name | Edward Stephen Hall |
| Nickname | The Beast |
| Born | 15 January 1988, Newcastle-under-Lyme, England |
| Height | Around 6 ft 2 in to 6 ft 3 in (188-190 cm) |
| Strongman weight | Around 30 stone (190 kg / 420 lb) at peak |
| Known for | The first 500 kg deadlift and 2017 World’s Strongest Man |
| Career highlight | World’s Strongest Man champion, 2017 |
| Signature record | 500 kg (1,102 lb) deadlift, 2016 |
Early Life: From the Pool to the Iron
Eddie Hall was born on 15 January 1988 in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, England. Long before the barbell, his talent was in the water. As a junior swimmer he was genuinely exceptional, breaking numerous records in his age group and competing at a national level. That early athletic career ended in difficult circumstances, though, when he fell out with his coach after being pushed too hard, and walked away from the sport.
What followed was a dark period. Between being expelled from school, quitting swimming, and the death of his grandmother, a teenage Hall struggled with depression. He found his way out through the gym. The discipline and physical outlet of lifting gave him direction, and he channelled the same obsessive drive that had made him a champion swimmer into building strength. He worked as a mechanic, trained relentlessly, and within a few short years had set his sights on the strongman stage.
The Rise of a Strongman
Hall’s ascent through strongman was rapid and relentless. He claimed the England’s Strongest Man title in 2010, his first major honour, and from there became a fixture at the top of the sport. He would go on to dominate British strongman, winning Britain’s Strongest Man multiple times, along with UK’s Strongest Man and Europe’s Strongest Man titles, building a record that made him the most decorated British strongman of his era with over a dozen major titles to his name.
His combination of raw power, competitive ferocity, and a genuine flair for showmanship made him one of the sport’s biggest draws. The 2015 documentary Eddie: Strongman followed his single-minded quest to become the best in the world, capturing both the physical brutality and the personal cost of that pursuit
The 500 kg Deadlift: A Feat for the Ages
If Eddie Hall is remembered for one thing above all others, it is the deadlift. He had already broken the world record in 2015 with a 462 kg pull, but he wanted history. At the 2016 World Deadlift Championships in Leeds, he attempted a weight no human had ever lifted: 500 kilograms, or 1,102 pounds.
He got it. The lift was so extreme that he blacked out at the top, burst blood vessels in his head, and passed out shortly after. He has spoken openly about how he genuinely believed the attempt could kill him, and about the extraordinary mental preparation it required. Working with a hypnotist, he trained his mind to block out pain, fear, and doubt entirely, visualising the lift obsessively and entering a near-blackout state of pure aggression on the day. He has said he barely remembers the lift itself.
That 500 kg deadlift stood as the world record until 2020, when his great rival Hafþór Björnsson surpassed it. Björnsson has since pushed the all-time record to 510 kg as of 2025. But Hall will forever hold a unique place in history as the first person ever to pull half a tonne. To understand why the deadlift is such a revered test of total-body power, our guide on the benefits of the deadlift breaks down exactly what it develops.
World’s Strongest Man 2017
The deadlift made Hall famous, but the title he wanted most was World’s Strongest Man. In 2017, he finally claimed it, edging out Björnsson by a single point in one of the closest and most fiercely contested finals in the competition’s history. It was the crowning achievement of his career and the realisation of a goal he had pursued with total obsession for years.
Having reached the summit, Hall made a decision that surprised many: he stepped away from full-time strongman competition. The toll of the extreme training, and genuine health concerns following the 500 kg deadlift, convinced him to prioritise his long-term wellbeing and his family. He made one final British title defence in 2018 before closing that chapter for good.
Eddie Hall’s Notable Lifts and Records
The numbers behind The Beast remain staggering:
| Lift | Best |
|---|---|
| Deadlift | 500 kg (1,102 lb) |
| Squat | 405 kg (893 lb) |
| Bench press | 300 kg (661 lb) |
| Axle press | 216 kg (476 lb) |
| Log lift | 213 kg (470 lb) |
He also set a record for the heaviest CrossFit-style workout ever completed, underlining that his strength extended well beyond a single lift.
Eddie Hall’s Workout Routine
Building a body capable of a 500 kg deadlift required a training approach as extreme as the man himself. During his World’s Strongest Man peak, Hall combined bodybuilding-style hypertrophy work with dedicated strongman event training, typically training five days a week with two days for recovery. His own philosophy leaned on heavy, explosive movement: he has said he favoured moving big weights fast, on the logic that faster movement recruits and develops more fast-twitch muscle fibre, while stressing that technique matters as much as raw strength.
The Weekly Split
A representative week from his strongman era looked roughly like this, hitting each major muscle group hard about once per week:
| Day | Focus |
|---|---|
| Monday | Chest |
| Tuesday | Back and abs |
| Wednesday | Active recovery (cardio, stretching, physio) |
| Thursday | Arms |
| Friday | Shoulders and traps |
| Saturday and Sunday | Rest and recovery |
Legs and heavy deadlift work were woven through the week, with his back and leg training built directly around developing the posterior chain that powered his record pulls. On a typical deadlift-focused session, he would work up through sets of around 15, 12, 10, and 8 reps to a heavy top set, then add assistance work like rows and lat pulldowns.
Strongman Event Training
Alongside the gym work, Hall trained the specific implements of his sport. This is where a strongman is truly made, and his event training included:
- Heavy deadlifts and partial deadlifts
- Log press and axle press for overhead strength
- Atlas stones and stone lifting
- Yoke walks and farmer’s walks
- Tire flips, sled drags, and sledgehammer work
- Explosive and conditioning work including medicine ball slams and burpees
This blend of maximal strength, event-specific skill, and conditioning is what separates strongman from pure powerlifting. The foundational barbell lifts still underpinned everything, though, which is why the squat, bench press, and deadlift, the same lifts compared in our squat vs deadlift guide, formed the core of his strength base. His overhead and explosive work also drew on Olympic-style movements, which share DNA with the power clean.
Recovery and Nutrition
Hall was obsessive about recovery, and it’s a genuinely instructive part of his routine. Even his mid-week “rest” day was active, filled with cardio, stretching, pool work, sauna and ice-bath contrast therapy, and near-daily physiotherapy. Recovery on this scale isn’t optional when training loads are this extreme, since that’s when the body actually adapts.
Fuelling a 190 kg frame required eating on an almost unimaginable scale. Hall has described eating for three people, consuming enormous quantities of food and supplementing with protein throughout the day and even during the night to support his size and recovery.
A Note for Everyday Lifters
It should go without saying, but Hall’s routine was engineered for an elite professional chasing world records at over 400 pounds of bodyweight. The principles are worth learning from, prioritise the big compound lifts, train with intent, take recovery seriously, and progress over time. The sheer volume, weight, and eating are not something to imitate. A sensible, structured approach based on proven fundamentals and appropriate volume, as covered in our guide on how many exercises per muscle group, is what serves the rest of us.
Retirement, Transformation, and Reinvention
One of the most remarkable parts of Hall’s story is what he did after strongman. The extreme size that made him a champion was never meant to be permanent, and after retiring he undertook a dramatic body transformation, shedding a huge amount of weight and reshaping himself from a 30-stone strongman into a leaner, more athletic frame. It was a deliberate choice for his long-term health, and it set the stage for an unexpected second career.
The Pivot to Combat Sports
Hall channelled his competitive fire into fighting. The centrepiece was a long-brewing grudge with Hafþór Björnsson, sparked when the Icelander broke Hall’s cherished deadlift record. In March 2022, the two met in Dubai in a bout billed as the heaviest boxing match in history. Björnsson won by unanimous decision over six rounds, but the spectacle drew enormous global attention.
Hall didn’t stop there. He won a two-on-one MMA exhibition against the Neffati twins, tested himself in arm wrestling with a notable 2025 win over Robert Oberst, and then took the boldest step of all. In April 2025, at the age of 37, he made his professional MMA debut at KSW 105 in Poland against another strongman legend, five-time World’s Strongest Man Mariusz Pudzianowski. Hall knocked him out in around 30 seconds, breaking his own hand in the process but improving to 1-0 as a professional fighter. Alongside the fighting, he has built a large YouTube following and taken on ventures from timbersports to acting, proving as restless and driven in his second career as he was in his first.
Personal Life
Away from the spectacle, Hall is a devoted family man, and the desire to be present for his family was a major factor in his decision to retire from strongman at his peak. He has been candid throughout his career about his mental health struggles, from his difficult teenage years to the psychological demands of elite competition, and that openness has made him a relatable figure well beyond the strength-sport world.
What Lifters Can Learn From Eddie Hall
Beyond the freakish numbers, there’s real substance in Hall’s approach:
- The mind is a lever. His hypnosis and visualisation work for the 500 kg deadlift is an extreme example of how much psychology contributes to physical performance.
- Recovery is training. His obsessive attention to physio, sleep, and contrast therapy is a lesson most lifters underrate.
- Master the fundamentals. For all the tyres and stones, his strength was built on heavy, technically sound compound lifting.
- Reinvention is possible. Walking away from a sport he had conquered to rebuild his body and career took as much courage as any lift.
What is Eddie Hall famous for?
He is the first person ever to deadlift 500 kg (1,102 lb), which he did in 2016, and he won the World’s Strongest Man title in 2017. He is widely regarded as one of Britain’s greatest ever strongmen.
How much did Eddie Hall deadlift?
His record deadlift was 500 kg (1,102 lb), the first half-tonne deadlift in history. It stood as the world record until Hafþór Björnsson surpassed it in 2020.
What does Eddie Hall do now?
He has pivoted to combat sports, making his professional MMA debut in 2025 with a rapid knockout win, alongside boxing, arm wrestling, a large YouTube presence, and other ventures.
How did Eddie Hall train for the 500 kg deadlift?
Through years of extreme strength and strongman training built around the deadlift, combined with obsessive recovery and remarkable mental preparation, including hypnosis and visualisation to block out pain and fear.
How much did Eddie Hall weigh?
At his strongman peak he weighed around 30 stone (roughly 190 kg or 420 lb). He later lost a significant amount of weight after retiring to improve his health and move into combat sports.
The Bottom Line
Eddie Hall is one of the most compelling figures strength sport has ever produced. He pushed the human body to a place it had never been with his 500 kg deadlift, reached the summit of his sport as World’s Strongest Man, and then had the rare courage to walk away and completely reinvent himself.
Whether hauling half a tonne off the floor or stepping into a cage, The Beast has always been driven by the same relentless will to test his limits. Records may fall, as his deadlift eventually did, but Eddie Hall’s place in history as the first man to lift 500 kg is permanent.
