When it comes to building muscle and strength, it’s safe to say that four-time World’s Strongest Man (WSM) champion Brian Shaw reigned supreme for a solid 15-year stretch in the late noughties through the 2010s. Seeing off other titans of the field like Ε½ydrΕ«nas Savickas to achieve his run of titles, Shaw’s diet during this time was predictably gargantuan.
However, we were nevertheless shocked to read that his diet consisted of over 12,000 daily calories and weekly grocery shops with almost 120,000 calories worth of food. From cheesecakes to bottomless bowls of spaghetti, nothing was out of bounds for the big man.
At the elite level, force-feeding becomes a necessary evil for competitors like Shaw, essential for building and maintaining a massive body weight that helps to offset the equally massive loads lifted during competitions. As Phil Blechman over at Barbend so pithily puts it: “Mass moves mass”. As a result, Shaw would regularly surpass the 400-pound mark when arriving at competitions
Liking up for a video with Eddie Hall on the latter’s YouTube channel back in 2022, Shaw revisited his glory days by embarking on a 7-day grocery shop with Hall, showing his mountainous counterpart just what he was putting in his body.
Kicking off at Costco’s frozen food section, each man threw a family-size cheesecake into their trolley, coming in at a whopping 5,800 calories each. With sweet tooths still unsatisfied, they then opt for a box of Honeycrisp apples, bringing the cumulative total to 12,300 calories. Bunches of bananas and blueberries followed, taking the calorie count to 21,500.
Next came starches β a real weakness for this particular writer β with Shaw and Hall grabbing sacks of regular and sweet potatoes, bringing the grand total past the 20,000 mark to approximately 21,300 calories. Bags of carrots, spinach, and salad further increased the tally to 22,550 calories… though I’d personally suggest never counting the calories of these kinds of veg during your day-to-day life; they’re so good for you and so low calorie that you’re better off just getting them down you.
Next came protein, every athlete’s nutritional sweetheart. Shaw opts for ground bison, a staple and apparent favourite, with 28 packages amounting to a whopping 34,750 calories. Naturally, however, Shaw’s protein intake was far from finished; he would devour 10 to 12 whole eggs every day and, as such, threw a staggering 72 eggs into the trolley. The calorie total now stands at 40,300.
And yet, we’re only a third of the way to the grand calorie total… Fatty meats come next, with things like bacon being essential for Shaw, allowing him to add a massive amount of calories and therefore energy into his diet without significantly increasing the volume of food he was eating. All in all, over 5,000 calories of smoked pork found its way into the cart.
Rice Krispies treats, peanut butter, and honey sandwiches served as quick glucose spikers during training and competitions. These, alongside fifty-pound bags of rice, propelled the cart’s calorie count to nearly 80,000. Mountains of pasta pushed the total to over 90,000 calories, and a colossal box of waffles took them well past the 100,000-calorie milestone.
Cookies β a personal favourite of mine β and bread rounded out Shaw’s supplies, bringing the grand total of the trip to 117,720 calories, which amounts to an equally staggering US$629 (c. A$940). You may think that eating this much sounds like a good time, but I’ve got a funny feeling that the daily volume of food alongside the weekly spend is enough ti push any man to his limit…props to Shaw, Hall, and all the other man-mountains with the dedication to do it.