Viking Of The Suburbs: Life At 6’8, 400LBS

For Brian Shaw, winner of the World’s Strongest Man competition four times over, size is more than his physical frame. Which, by the way, is massive. Shaw stands 6’8” and weighs 400 pounds. But for Shaw, size is also the presence of personality he brings to the world. He can deadlift, squat, bench press, flip tires, toss kegs, pull trucks, push sleds and do just about anything else that requires peak physical condition and absurd levels of raw strength—better than anyone else in the world. But Shaw’s just a regular guy who loves his wife, his dog and the life he lives, same as the rest of us. It’s in the details of his daily life that Shaw’s size reflects his larger-than-life life. “I have to own my size,” Shaw says. Owning his size means Shaw has to make some concessions the rest of us don’t. Like eating. We all like eating, right? Shaw has to eat at a rate that would make a sumo squeamish, clearing out grocery store stocks and buying up to 10 pounds of items like ground beef at a time. Traveling? Shaw’s strength team made a video that went viral on YouTube showcasing his struggle to even fit on an airplane. In fact, so many things we take for granted just barely let Shaw pass, from door frames to store aisles to computer keyboards, where his massive hands simply swallow the keys. However, Shaw takes it all with a grain of salt and a DIY-approach that showcases his size-owning zen. Take chairs, for example. Shaw prefers classic WWE wrestling-style folders, but not for their cage-match potential. It’s because they don’t have arms, so he can comfortably fit in a chair most folks would hardly see as the most comfortable choice. Little things like that show how Shaw’s daily life takes a little more brains to work with all the brawn. “I like being big. I’ve kinda embraced it,” he says. For Shaw, owning and embracing his size has meant a career and a lifestyle based on his massive size and strength, but it’s in his daily life that he can really teach us all. His ShawStrength products and YouTube channel showcase the strongman side of his life, but beyond the incredible deadlift montages and pro training tips, Shaw’s conqueror mentality extends to making a world work that rarely has giants like him in mind for its ever-evolving design. Shaw takes it all in, pushes through and comes out all the stronger anyway. That’s truly living in a big, big way.