Veteran strongman Terry Hollands may take his newly sculpted physique out for a foray into the bodybuilding world.
“…if I can get the dates to fall right next year, I think I’ll get on stage at some point. Me and @kateerringtonbikini were talking today about doing a sport swap… she’d be doing an under-63kg strongwoman comp and I’d do a bodybuilding show. Could be fun.”
Hollands is an elite-level strength athlete, having participated in the World’s Strongest Man eleven times, making the podium twice with two 3rd-place finishes. Today, he is ranked the Third Strongest Man in Europe. If he indeed takes the stage, he could safely call himself the strongest athlete in bodybuilding!
The two sports, though they both involve lifting weights, working out and dieting, quite obviously facilitate the development of completely different physiques. Take for instance the two present champions of each sport: there is little similarity between the bodies of current World’s Strongest Man Eddie Hall and current Mr. Olympia Phil Heath.
Eddie Hall’s athletic success comes in spite of his high bodyfat content, but the present trend in strongman is to keep trim. It seems to harken back to the previous decade, when the chiseled abdominal muscles of 5-time World’s Strongest Man Mariusz Pudzianowski were often on display.
Today, up-and-comers like Mateusz Kieliszkowski and Martin Licis keep a much tighter frame than most of their predecessors and contemporaries. And, famously, Zydrunas Savickas shredded away his massive belly in a single off-season.
Big Z’s muscles were so massive, however, he started appearing cut at – what was for him – the low weight of 342lbs.
Now, in another stunning transformation, Terry Hollands has whittled his frame down past Big Z’s mark.
In a recent Instagram post, Hollands revealed himself to be lean at 6’6”, 340lbs.
At his height, he won’t exactly be going for the top prizes in bodybuilding, where the current king of the sport stands at 5’9” and the most massive man at his heels, (Big Ramy) Mamdouh Elssbiay, is 5’10”, ~295lbs. These men are beyond wide.
Still, who can say they are not curious to see what sort of musculature a lifetime of strongman training has generated?
“Everybody want to be a bodybuilder… but don’t nobody want to lift no heavy ass weight.”
Ronnie Coleman, the 8-time Mr. Olympia winner, already proved that powerlifting strength could fortify bodybuilding goals.
A former powerlifter, Coleman once told FLEX magazine, “on the basis of [a powerlifting] foundation, we can more quickly reach our ultimate goal, which is to add more muscle mass and sculpt our physiques by bodybuilding.” There is no reason to suggest the logic wouldn’t follow for someone with a well-rounded strongman foundation.
Of course, Hollands only seems interested in a one-off. His focus is the upcoming Giants Live strongman competition in England, January 2018. For now, fans will have to keep fingers crossed and settle for a single show.
Featured image: @terryhollands79 on Instagram
