Strongman Shane Flowers injured his right pec while training for the 2025 Strongest Man on Earth (SMOE) contest, set for Aug. 16-17 in Loveland, CO. Flowers was working on the flat barbell bench press with 180 kilograms on the bar. He suffered the injury when performing the fourth rep of his set.
I just felt a massive crack.
—Shane Flowers
The injury can be seen below:
Flowers credited the safety arms of his rack for preventing further damage when ending the set. During his commentary, he said he had competed in powerlifting and dealt with various pec issues, but nothing serious.
Strongmen typically don’t work on the flat bench, but the SMOE contest features a standing chest press event. Flowers included flat bench pressing in his prep for that reason.
Flowers felt strong during the set and even considered jumping his rate of perceived exertion (RPE) to nine as programmed at that stage of his training block. He tried to go to the hospital but did not receive much help following an ultrasound scheduled to confirm the severity of his injury.
“I’m hoping that the ultrasound on Sunday will confirm that the tendon is intact,” Flowers expressed. “If that is the case, then I wouldn’t say it’s relatively straightforward, but we should be okay for the Strongest Man on Earth. I will sit out the chest press machine.”
Defending SMOE champion Mitchell Hooper and 2025 World’s Strongest Man Rayno Nel have already withdrawn from the 2025 SMOE. Flowers intends to compete but did not rule out the possibility of bowing out if the injury worsens. The roster at the time of this article’s publication is:
2025 Strongest Man on Earth Roster
- Austin Andrade
- Maxime Boudreault
- Wesley Derwinski
- Thomas Evans
- Shane Flowers
- Ondra Fojtu
- Nick Guardione
- Lucas Hatton
- Tristain Hoath
- Bryce Johnson
- Trey Mitchell
- Evan Singleton
- Josh Spurgeon
- Tom Stoltman
- Bobby Thompson
- Eddie Williams
More Strongman Content
Featured Image: @_shaneflowers on Instagram
