Mitchell Hooper hit the Australian Strongman scene like a “Bat out of Hell (well he’s actually from Canada)”, and his strongman feats have been hugely impressive, and he’s even managed to unintentionally create a controversy in the Australian Strongman community.
I wanted to find out more about this young guy who pulled a 435kg conventional strongman deadlift, and who bizarrely enough has a long distance running background like the previous Australian record holder and great guy Eben Le Roux.
Phil Burgess: Tell us about your sports background, and how you got involved in strongman?
Mitchell Hooper: From 4 years old, finding the sports channel on the TV and waking up daily to catch the
highlights, I have always surrounded myself with sport.
I began playing organized ice hockey in Canada from ages 5 through 14, while playing organized baseball, golf swimming, basketball, volleyball, rugby, track and field etc in the off-season.
During that period of my life, if you can name it, I played it.
In high school, I took quickly to American football and played competitively from 14 years old up into Uni. During this time, I became enthralled with the gym and looked forward to hitting the weights 6 times per week.
Training became more enjoyable than practicing and playing football, which ultimately led to my premature exit from the sport.
The year after finishing American football, I decided to do a physique competition and cut from 140kg to 90kg in 12 months. I came 11th out of 12 competitors, but that journey is one of my proudest accomplishments to this day.
After the competition, I took my intense love for food (after restricting myself for so long) and knew I had to exert the energy somehow. I followed in my moms footsteps and took up marathon running. That lasted around 18 months, finishing 3 marathons with a PB of 3:24 (top 15% of all finishers).
My ceiling for running was far too low and although I will return some day, I had to pivot to another endeavour.
I moved to Australia in 2018 and had no real sporting direction. I always enjoyed lifting heavy and I knew I loved training in an industrial park. I found Adonis Granville online, went to the gym and fell in love with the environment.
Since the guys there competing in powerlifting, I figured I’d give it a crack and ended up winning the national championship in the u120kg class in 2019. For me, 3 lifts get old fast, so after years of pestering from my best friend in Canada and weeks of harassment from Troy Conley to join the Granville strongman crew, I decided to see what it was all about. The rest is history.
In addition to strongman I continue to play golf, when I can find the time. This has been my favourite sport since 7 years old and I don’t see anything overtaking that any time soon.
Phil Burgess: This is contentious to some, but I believe you have the Australian deadlift record? How much is it? And what do you say to those people who say as you are Canadian and not planning on living here it shouldn’t count as
an Australian record?
Mitchell Hooper: The record stands at 435kg, but I have an event on November 6 that I can guarantee that number will be blown out of the water. My training numbers are already higher, but I’ll keep that quiet and hopefully turn some heads internationally with the result.
When it comes to the record counting or not counting, it doesn’t matter to me much as an accolade to hold. Despite my reputation in the strongman community, I really don’t talk much about my records because I truly do this as a form of exercise I really enjoy and compete because I have always had a strong competitive nature.
In the end, I see the purpose of having records is to give people numbers to strive towards. To see who has come before them and what they can accomplish. I think too many people are using this as a metric to stroke their ego and that is where the quibbles around who gets what begin.
Since I have been a part of the Australian scene, lived here for 4 years, training with Australians in Australian gyms with Australian coaches I don’t see why I shouldn’t qualify. To the contrary, I would be very uncomfortable with reaching out to the Canadian strongman federation asking them to recognize my records because, as it stands, I have given nothing to that community.
The opponents to me holding the records said they’d be happy with a consistent rule. The rule is now that you must live and compete in Australia for 2 years. They got what they asked for and it appears they still aren’t happy.
If the records are set at a higher level because of me, I only see that as good for the sport. If I can make a name for myself internationally and that popularizes the sport in Australia, even to a small extent, I will be extraordinarily proud of that accomplishment.
That would mean much more to me than the records themselves.
Phil Burgess: What is your biggest strongman event achievement?
Mitchell Hooper: In Victoria at the Stone, Log and Deadlift Championship I broke the deadlift record (435kg) and the stone record (now 232kg) in one day. I beat out Rongo, albeit not at 100%, in the process.
Going against a pro and realizing I can succeed in that environment was extremely encouraging to me.
Phil Burgess: You are going back to Canada soon, but what do you think needs to improve in Australia to make strongman competitions more popular?
Mitchell Hooper: I think the loud negative minority need to shut their mouth. The reason I love strongman is the community. The people you build connections with and the positive mental health outcomes that come from physically improving yourself pale in comparison to lifting “x” weight or having “x” title.
Australia has tall poppy syndrome. What is there to strive towards for a new-coming strongman if they see someone doing well getting cut down by other people in the sport? The dynamic in Australian strongman is to have a lot of extremely kind people in the novice divisions and in the “pro” or “sub-pro” category, with a small handful of dickheads in the middle.
Australian strongman need to celebrate each other, cut out the divisiveness to build the grassroots, and the grassroots will ultimately have tall poppies come. When they do, water them. Get them to Worlds. Get an Australian World’s Strongest Man. Watch the trickle down happen from there.
Phil Burgess: What are your goals in strongman? And who was your idol?
Mitchell Hooper: My real long term goal has been shaped by my work as an accredited exercise physiologist. I want to use the audience I gain to bring strength training to the masses to fight aging, injury, illness or chronic conditions. Our medical system has worked primarily to keep people alive longer without keeping them healthy and independent.
The sad reality is many elderly people would rather not be living, rather than living dependant on others for their basic needs. This can be prevented in your 20’s and 30’s or treated in your 60’s, 70’s, 80’s and 90’s.
I am knee deep in the planning to open my own facility in Barrie, Ontario to cater to not only competitive strength athletes, but exercise physiology (kinesiology) clients in Canada as well.
Win World’s Strongest Man, hold the strongman deadlift record and win the Arnold’s Ohio would be the top 3 goals for me.
My idols are Mateusz Kieliszkowski and Mariusz Pudzianowski. Stories around their work ethic are legendary, and I look up to people who keep their body fat in check while competing in strongman.
Phil Burgess: How often do you train, and can you give an idea of an average training week?
Mitchell Hooper: I train 5 times per week, and obviously things change throughout the year, but in competing for statics and a max deadlift event:
Monday – deadlifts from the floor, heavy squats
Tuesday – strict log, bench, arm accessories
Wednesday – rest
Thursday– log, pressing accessories
Friday – 18 inch deadlift, light squats
Saturday– back, tricep accessories
Sunday – rest
Phil Burgess: What will you miss the most about Australia?
Mitchell Hooper: The people. I came to Australia and stepped off the plan with no friends. No family. No
connections. I wanted the experience of coming over and having to make it on my own from day 1.
I am a completely different person to when I came here and the people have shaped me along the way. In Canada I wasn’t the least bit interested in friends, socializing, going out for a drink or hanging out with people. I was a complete introvert.
Today, I look forward to the picnics, beach days and dinners with friends. That has become the
most cherished time of my week and I have found so many people who have enriched my life
and made me a better person.
Thanks for your time Mitchell and all the best for your return to Canada.
