Brawn Strowman, whose real name is Adam Scherr, is a popular WWE wrestler, feared by many. For a man as huge as Strowman, an average wrestler’s diet isn’t enough, which is why he consumes as much as 12,000 - 13,000 calories in a day. But Braun grinds in the gym as much as he eats, that’s why he keeps himself strong and in such great shape.
Strowman's Evolving Diet
In the last couple of years, Strowman has moved away from throwing down as many calories as possible and now implements cutting phases and a calorie deficit in order to get the ripped physique that he has today. “I always tell people it’s not a diet, it’s just that I’ve changed the way I look at life,” he says. “I don’t really count calories, but I do carb cycling, so I do high-carb days, moderate days, and low days,” says Strowman. “I weigh everything out. One thing to keep in mind is the fact that Strowman is 6’8 and nearly 350 lbs. He also funnily says how he sometimes grazes like a cow, “You know, I don’t keep track of the stuff I eat. If I’m hungry, I eat. A lot of guys that I work with get so worried about like, ‘Oh, I’ve got to eat here or there or this and that.’ I just eat, man. I don’t care. I eat three entrées usually. I binge eat Chipotle during the week and snack in between meals, and yeah, I’m kind of like a cow. When he’s not eating Chipotle, Braun likes to go out and eat Mexican food a lot.
The Importance of Mental Preparation and Kitchen Habits
The coolest part? “I try to tell people with getting in shape and working out that only 15 percent of it is done in the gym and on the treadmill,” he said. “It’s 85 percent mentally and preparation in the kitchen. I’ve always known how to eat, but at the end of the day, let’s be real, healthy eating isn’t always the most tasty stuff. I like cheeseburgers and pizza and cake and all those other things.
Challenges of Diet on TV Days
“On TV days it’s hard to eat because you can’t wrestle with all that food in you, then there’s anxiety and everything else”, says Strowman. But unlike many athletes, WWE Superstars have no off season, and that presents challenges to maintaining a solid routine. “So, if I forget to eat, my weight can fluctuate by 25 pounds on a Monday depending on my food and water intake.”
Carb Cycling and Intermittent Fasting
Two months after his release from WWE, he dropped to 343 pounds while eating just 50 carbs per day. In the short-term, carb cycling, when combined with an exercise program, “may be an effective way to promote weight loss” without compromising the number of calories the body burns at rest.According to captions on a few of Scherr’s Instagram posts, he’s been hovering around the mid-300-pounds for bodyweight. His recent post teasing a cut shows he weighs 351 pounds and is noticeably leaner than his WWE days. Although his terminology of “reset” may not be entirely accurate, intermittent fasting has shown to be an effective way to drop weight. The science is there to back up the actual visual differences in Scherr’s physique. According to the Annual Review of Nutrition, “modified fasting regimens appear to promote weight loss and may improve metabolic health.” Additionally, it can influence circadian biology, the gut microbiome, and sleep.
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Strowman's Strongman-Inspired Workout Regimen
Have you ever wondered what it would feel like to flip a massive truck tire or deadlift a car in a Strongman competition? WWE superstar Braun Strowman can help give you that feeling - at least on a smaller scale. Strowman competed in the Amateur National Championship in 2011 and the Arnold Amateur Strongman World Championship in 2012. (In fact, it was competing as a strongman that first put Strowman on the WWE’s radar back in 2010, when WWE superstar and former Olympic weightlifter Mark Henry spotted him hamming it up with the crowd at the 2010 Arnold Classic.) Now a fan favorite, Strowman has managed to inject his beast-like Strongman roots into WWE storylines, pulling stunts like "flipping" an ambulance, demolishing a WWE production truck, and pulling apart the TV set of Monday Night Raw amidst his reign as “The New Face of Destruction.” That's why, a few weeks before WrestleMania 34 on Apr. 8, MensHealth.com tabbed the 6-8, 385-pound “Monster Among Men” to recommend five exercises that simulate a Strongman workout regimen, so us average Joes can at least feel like we’re pulling off freakish feats of strength, too. Use Pyramid Sets for ALL unless otherwise specified.
1) Simulate a Car Deadlift with a Squat Rack
No, you’re not just going to walk up to a car and deadlift it. (Well, maybe you could try with a smart car someday, but that’s going to take some practice.) Strowman suggests simulating a car deadlift by setting up a squat rack with two bars, starting with as little as 50 pounds or even only the weight of the bars alone. “Load weight on the front ends of the bar,” Strowman advises. “So you would set up the racks where you have the support safety bars set down low and then you would lean the bars over the rack. You could use a 25-pound weight to keep them from sliding off that bar. Set the two bars out, stand in between them both of them, grab a hold of each bar with each hand and deadlift them.” Go for reps, building your tolerance and eventually working your way up.
2) Military Press for the Log Clean and Press
If you’re unfamiliar with a Strongman training log, it looks like a mini-battering ram. But Strowman says he’s seeing the apparatus in more gyms, and he says it's incredibly useful for “functional training." If your gym has a training log, try it out using standard clean and press mechanics, working your way up in weight over time. Don't have a training log handy? Strowman has just the exercise to simulate the Strongman log clean and overhead press, which he calls his “worst event.” Opt for a seated military press on a flat bench, without any back support. “Your core has to stabilize and keep you from falling off the bench and then, you’re working your deltoids to get the lockout on the weights,” he says. Try it using dumbbells to start, then graduate up to a weighted barbell.
3) Truck Tire Flip (Scaled Down)
Always wanted to flip a truck tire just like a Strongman, but don't have any monster truck spares handy? Just find a smaller tire, Strowman advises. During his Strongman career, Strowman had six different weight tires from 300 pounds up to 1,700 pounds stored at his local gym. Strowman says your local tire shop might just give you their massive worn-out tires if you ask, so that they don’t have to pay to toss them. The average weight of a new passenger car tire is 25 pounds and 20 pounds for a worn-out tire. Start out with that and work your way up. If the tire weight is light for you, Braun says to flip it for “60 seconds at a time and a distance of 100 feet.” If it’s heavy for you, he says to flip it two to three times. “Tire flips are a total body workout,” Strowman vows. “It’s unbelievable, the conditioning that you get from doing tire flips along with the strength benefits. That’s something that will really test your cardiovascular system.”
4) Squat Rack Bar Holds for the Yoke Race
The Strongman yoke race challenges competitors to carry an entire squat rack loaded with up to 1,500-plus pounds through a race course as fast as they can. Strowman says there’s no real way to replace the yoke other than doing it, but here's a way to get your body acclimated to supporting your max weight: “Load the bar up where you have to lift it four to five inches out of the rack and then just stand there, holding it 30 seconds or a minute,” he recommends. “It’s crazy how much your muscles are firing just to support weight.” Strowman adds that having a strong core to be able to support all that weight on your back is key. Strowman has witnessed the yoke race end badly, so be careful. “I’ve seen guys getting pretty much mouse trapped, not being able to support the weight and their core gives out.” Don’t let that happen to you. Start off small with a weight you can handle and work your way up to your max.
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5) Farmer's Walk with a Bucket of Sand
Grip strength is a crucial component for any Strongman competitor. Although some gyms incorporate weighted farmers walk handles (you can find them on Amazon for $139.99), Strowman has a few crafty methods to get your grip strength up to par, so you can walk or even race while carrying heavy weights in your hands like a Strongman champ. Braun suggests loading up two bars on a squat rack with as much weight as you can muster. Stand between them, lift the bars, and hold them for a minute at a time. For an extra grip strength exercise, grip 10-pound plates between your fingers and thumb. Add plates to see how many you can hold at once. If you’re at home and can’t get to a gym, Braun has you covered. “Take a five-gallon bucket filled with sand [or rice] and stick your hand down the side of it,” he says.
Additional Training Insights
In addition to changing up his nutrition, Braun Strowman’s Instagram account, shows that he is also passionate about improving lifting technique. “That’s something that I have learned in the last few years,” he says. “Whereas before it was all about how much weight I could move, now it’s more about how I move it. The mind and muscle connection is a real thing. In order to make sure that his opponents suffer at his hands for many years to come, now at 37 years of age, this monster is taking good care of himself, including taking ice baths for recovery. “Especially after big crazy matches, or hard gym sessions, I’m a big ice bath guy”, says Strowman. “It just flushes all that lactic acid out that wants to build up in your muscles. It helps with inflammation. I run hot, so it cools me down. I find it helps my body to recover a lot faster. I’m big fan of on any natural type of healing.
Cardio and Conditioning
He conditions himself with 30- to 40-minute bike rides every morning for fasted cardio. “I try to keep the tempo up,” says Strowman. “It’s about bursts, being able to go 100% for a couple of minutes, and then breathing for 30 seconds to get your heart rate down. But nothing mimics the cardio of actually getting in the ring.
Strowman's Motivations and Aspirations
Outside of the ring, Strowman still has one more ambition to fulfil. “I’m going to do a bodybuilding show,” he says. “That’s always been something that I’ve wanted to do. I always joke around about doing a men’s physique show. Strowman may be a scary giant between the ropes, but the 385-pound gargantuan indeed has a gentler side. “Fans have appreciated the work I have put in to make myself look better, but it’s been really awesome seeing all the people that I’ve inspired to help change their lives,” he says. “That, even more to me, is the reason why I continue to train and be better, bigger, stronger, leaner. The money is awesome, don’t get me wrong, the fame I could live without, but being in WWE isn’t about having a 15-minute wrestling match every Monday on TV. It’s bigger than that.
From Strongman to WWE Superstar: A Journey of Transformation
The eating was probably the hardest part of the job when I was doing strong man,” he says. “Between 15,000 and 17,000 calories per day. In the Arnold Classic, in 2013, I weighed 418 pounds. I drank almost an entire kilo of protein powder each day, I’d stop on the way to training and eat five double cheeseburgers. We would monitor it, and during a two- to three-hour deadlift session, I would burn 5,000 or 6,000 calories.
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