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Home » Strongman News » Scientists Astonished by Eddie Hall's Extra-Large "Guy Ropes"

Scientists Astonished by Eddie Hall’s Extra-Large “Guy Ropes”

Researchers out of Loughborough University in England put strongman Eddie Hall under the microscope.

Written by Jake Dickson, NASM-CPT, USAW-L2
Last updated on April 3rd, 2025

Relax, it’s not what you think. Researchers out of Loughborough University in the United Kingdom conducted a study on strongman Eddie Hall โ€” and were shocked by what they found.

  • The scientific paper hit the ‘net on Aug. 15, 2024 and is titled, “Muscle and tendon morphology of a world strongman and deadlift champion,” by Balshaw et al. (1)

In their discussion of the research, the academics were astonished by what they observed in the thousand-pound puller. Particularly, his uncommonly large “guy rope” muscles.

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A post shared by ๐„๐๐๐ข๐ž ๐‡๐š๐ฅ๐ฅ – ๐“๐ก๐ž ๐๐ž๐š๐ฌ๐ญโ„ข๏ธ (@eddiehallwsm)

[Related: Best Pre-Workout Supplements]

Eddie Hall’s Extra-Large Guy Ropes

Let’s go over some anatomy. Guy rope muscles refer to three muscles that wrap around the pelvis and groin area; the sartorius, gracilis and semitendinosus.

  • “[The guy rope muscles] had the largest differences (+120 to +202%) relative to a group of untrained men,” said the university in a report on their case study.

The researchers examined how Hall, who set a 500-kilogram (1,102-pound) deadlift world record in 2016 and won the 2017 World’s Strongest Man contest, differs from an average man physiologically.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGaN66dcZEs

The authors noted that Hall’s lower-body muscularity โ€” built through years of high-intensity strength training and strongman competition โ€” approach “the upper limit of human variation.”

In plain English, Hall is a peak human as far as strength and muscle are concerned, boasting quadriceps at double the size of an average adult male.

Eddie Hall: History Maker

Regarding the world’s best deadlifters, Hall broke the 500-kilogram barrier in ’16; a landmark in strength sports history.

  • Strongmen are permitted to use just about anything short of an actual forklift to haul weights. For the 500-kilogram pull, Hall donned a deadlift suit and used figure-eight straps. The barbell was of standard length and loaded with regulation-size weight plates.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3RutarA50Y

Study author professor Jonathan Folland concluded the conversation by remarking on the hypertrophy of Hall’s guy ropes: “This indicates that these stabilizing muscles may be more important for heavy lifting and carrying than we previously thought.โ€

If you want to out-deadlift Hall, we wish you luck. If you want to improve your deadlift, this case study indicates you’ll should beef up more than just your lower back. For a big pull, mind the small details.

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References

  1. Balshaw, T. G., Massey, G. J., Miller, R., McDermott, E. J., Maden-Wilkinson, T. M., & Folland, J. P. (2024). Muscle and tendon morphology of a world strongman and deadlift champion. Journal of applied physiology (Bethesda, Md. : 1985), 10.1152/japplphysiol.00342.2024. Advance online publication.

Featured Image: @eddiehallwsm / Instagram

About Jake Dickson, NASM-CPT, USAW-L2

Jake is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Wilmington with a B.S. in Exercise Science. He began his career as a weightlifting coach before transitioning into sports media to pursue his interest in journalism.

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