Back in 2018, I was lucky enough to travel to the Philippines to watch the World’s Strongest Man competition. Whilst hanging out near the athletes, I saw a normal looking guy testing some of the weights, but I couldn’t work out who he was. It was a mystery until I was told that it was Paul Smith who was a reserve athlete from England, but I just didn’t think he could be that strong to compete.
However this isn’t the first time I’ve been wrong before in judging talent.
As a kid, I watched a young football player make his debut for Manchester United,and I turned to my dad and said, “that player won’t make it, he’s too slow“. Well I think we can all say that David Beckham turned out to be a BIG success in the world of football.
A few weeks ago, I was looking at social media, and saw the aforementioned Paul Smith, doing a “Pick Me, Pick Me” rendition of what as kids we would do to get picked in the best team for whatever sport we were playing that day at school.
This particular case of “Pick Me, Pick Me” was Paul letting the organisers of the Giant’s Live event in Manchester know, that he was available and lived just ‘down the road‘ in Manchester and would happily step in, as a couple of athletes had withdrawn. Alas he wasn’t called up and Evan Singleton, eventually won that Giant’s Live event.
Putting aside my initial incorrect assessment of Paul Smith Strongman, I looked into his competition history and realised that he had actually been/and is a very successful strongman, so I got in touch and here’s our chat….
PHIL BURGESS: “In 2017 you were described by another online publication as a young strength sensation who was causing quite a stir in the world of strongman, You won the 2017 Under 23 World Championship and England’s Strongest Man in 2016 and 2021 with Ultimate Strongman, what victory is most important and why? and secondly what has been your biggest challenge?”
PAUL SMITH: “The most important one in the sense of where it got me to, was probably winning England’s Strongest Man in 2016. It really got my name out there, being in a big line up in a competition where some big names had won before.
The most important one to me personally was the Junior Under 23 World Championship title, just being the best in the world of everyone in that category was really amazing and a big goal of mine. Winning this comp as amazing as winning England’s, this was my favourite as it was especially great as I had come second the year before, in such a stacked line up, so it was great to finally get the title.”
PHIL BURGESS: You are not the tallest of strongmen 5ft 11 nor the heaviest at 135kg, do you think this may be why sometimes you have been overlooked for some of the big competitions on the strongman scene? I noticed that you were putting your hand up online to be called into a recent Giants Live event when a listed competitor had to withdraw? As you live close to Manchester where it was held, why do you think you weren’t taken up on your offer?
PAUL SMITH: “My size is definitely a possibility, it’s a gimmick for some guys to be huge, 200kg, 6ft 6 or 6ft 8, or whatever they are. To see a guy who looks like a biggish guy but not out of the ordinary, probably doesn’t sell as much as some of these other guys.
I am that size there is nothing that I can do, and I’m the optimal weight to be the best athlete that I can be. I can’t get taller, but I can get heavier, but that could be at the detriment of my performance, so it’s just something I’ve got to live with, so I have to try and perform a bit better than some of the other guys who have that circus freak attraction.
Strongman is a spectacle but it is a sport and a spectacle at the same time, so its an interesting mix, so for me I have to do as well as I can do, I can’t play a gimmick I haven’t got.”
PHIL BURGESS: You seem to have competed at the highest level mostly through Glenn Ross’s Ultimate Strongman competitions. What do you like the most about the events that Glenn runs?
PAUL SMITH: “My favourite thing about Ultimate Strongman competitions is that’s it’s a big variety of events.
That format doesn’t necessarily suit me as much as some of the heavier one day shows, but it’s interesting to try all the different pieces of kit and challenges.
Strongman obviously has got roots going along way back and some of the challenges were hands-on real life stuff. It’s always fun to do visually appealing spectacular stuff like lifting cars, anchor drags and some of the really big contraptions that Glenn has which just look larger than life, and you get to see it on TV and it looks really spectacular.”
PHIL BURGESS: “What events have you struggled with, and how have you worked on improvements on each one, and how would you rate yourself as competitive in these now?”
PAUL SMITH: “Initially when I started strongman my biggest weakness was Yoke, I was absolutely terrible at it, and that was because back then we didn’t have much access to kit. So I bought a yoke and got a lot of practice on it, and it has now built up to one of my best events now.
My big weakness currently and what has been for the last few years, is my Deadlift. It’s something I’ve worked a lot on and it is now starting to improve, but it’s something I’ve had to put more frequency into, more time into and more focus into. My lower back and hamstrings aren’t as strong as some of my other muscle groups, and it just happens that Deadlift is the most common lift.
I’m pulling a 380kg Deadlift now, and I’m feeling good for 400kg soon, so it is getting there with the work, which is great when you see the progress. It’s never going to be a really strong event for me, but it will be one I can pick up decent points in, and not be held back by.
I have actually won a couple of competition deadlift events this year, which I haven’t done for absolutely years, even beating a couple of 400kg plus deadlifters, so it does show that it’s going in the right direction. Everyone has such a massive standard of deadlift now, you really need to be a very strong puller. It is getting there and I have to keep working away at it as a number 1 priority in my program, and it will be until it is at least up to 410kg or 420kg.“
PHIL BURGESS. “I read that in the past you did Parkour, how do you think you’d go at that now? And if you had to do a deadly jump from one building to another with another strongman who would it be and why?”
PAUL SMITH: “Yes I trained Parkour fairly seriously for a couple of years from 14 to 15 yrs, and I really really enjoyed it, and it was a massive help to my strongman career, in terms of athleticism and mobility, and also in terms of being brave and being able to judge things.
It can be a quite an adrenalin packed sport, and although I haven’t trained for over 10 years, I do still do the odd jump or vault when I’m out and about, and I actually fair quite well.
If you gave me a couple of weeks to get my eye back in, I’ll probably be better than I ever was. I’ve learned to do backflips and frontflips inside strongman weirdly which I never did before when I did Parkour. I could probably throw some good lines together now if I had a few sessions to get my confidence back on the more technical stuff. It’s really fun.
If I had to do a deadly roof gap with anyone it would probably be Oleksii Novikov, as he would be athletic enough to pull it off, without tearing all his muscles off. It would be interesting to see some of the bigger guys try it.“
PHIL BURGESS: “What frustrates you about strongman?”
PAUL SMITH: “It could do with a little more transparency, on how to get to certain comps, I think that’s the main thing, although it does seem to work itself out in the end.
The other area is when people play down strongman as a daft, random, sideshow type of sport, I find it funny that something like badminton where you are trying to hit a feather over a net, that’s seen as an accepted Olympic sport. Whilst a sport such as strongman which is a test of pure physical characteristics to see who is the strongest, like you test speed in running or endurance in a marathon. It seems silly that people have a weird perception of what sports are accepted as normal versus what is seen as daft or stupid.“
PHIL BURGESS: “What are your strongman goals? For the next few years, and what are your max lifts at the moment, log/standard deadlift, and where do you believe you can take these too?”
PAUL SMITH: “My main goals in strongman are to win Britain’s Strongest Man, and then to win World’s Strongest Man.
My max log is 181kg, which isn’t something I like to max-out in the gym, I prefer to do it in a competition, and I hope I get a max log event soon.
My max deadlift is 380kg, which I pulled last year which was a 20kg PB, and pushing to get 400kg. It would be good to get max deadlift in a comp, with a nice peak and really go for a 400kg in front of a crowd.“
PHIL BURGESS: “Are you a professional strongman or do you have a job? What is it, and how does it affect your competing or training?”
PAUL SMITH: “I coach online and in person a little bit too. The good thing is that this is so convenient for me, and doesn’t take up too much time and I can do it from home, without being fatigued and tired as I would be from a proper job.
I get to train full time with the coaching on the side, so I can do as much training as I need to do without being held down by a structured job.“
PHIL BURGESS: “Do you have any interests/habits that others may find strange or odd other than Strongman?”
PAUL SMITH: “Well I have cats, which is not what people expect from a strongman and I’m a pretty keen Salsa dancer.“
PHIL BURGESS: “Lastly what’s the funniest thing you’ve seen at a competition?”
PAUL SMITH: “There’s been a few funny moments at competitions, but the most surreal one has to be seeing Glenn Ross, Martin Cee and Hunter from Gladiators dressed up in full regalia doing the YMCA to about 4000 people in Southampton.
The crowd didn’t have a clue what was going on, it was a pretty good moment and got a good reaction but it wasn’t something I ever thought I’d see.
Many Thanks to Paul Smith for his time,
Photo’s provided by Paul
