Why Don’t Strongman Have Abs?

Strongman are known for their huge physiques, often with a huge power belly with no clear sign of abs. Most would assume that a strong person must have a chiselled 6 or even 8 pack. Though this cannot be more wrong, best described by JF Caron; ‘abs is not a sign of power, it is a sign you don’t eat enough!‘

Lets dive into this further, why don’t strongman have abs? Many have massive guts and look obese to some, but there may be a reason for it.

Strongman Have Abs!

Strongman, like everyone, have abs! You may be looking down at your stomach right now, and thinking to yourself, what? I have abs, you have abs, strongman have abs, we all have abs! Though some of us may not have any visible abs because of the layer of fat that is covering it.

The abdominal muscles make up the core muscles, keeping the body stable and balanced. For strongman, abdominal muscles are key for protecting their spine when doing large lifts. A strong abdominal allows movement and holds their organs in place when regulating internal pressure. They are located between the ribs and pelvis on the front of the body.

Strongman have strong abs, it may not be visible but do not doubt their core power. To best describe the abdominal muscles, it is the core that has is the link between the upper body and lower body. For example, deadlifting requires a strong core, as you are essentially using both the upper and lower body for the lift. It is the foundation for many of the lifts that are performed in strongman.

Now there are many reasons why you can’t see any visible abs on a strongman, and maybe even yourself!

• High body fat. To see visible abs, you need to be at 10% body fat or lower. For women, it is 18%!
• Nutrition plan is not effective. Visible abs are made in the kitchen! Strongman consume over 10,000 calories and like to indulge. Can’t get visible abs unless you eat cleanly!
• Stress. This is an interesting factor as when you are stressed, your body releases cortisol which can hinder fat loss. Strongman stress their bodies out regularly.
• Routine. For visible defined abs, you need to stick to a well structured routine that scalps them. Strongman like to focus on their key lifts for events rather than ab focused workouts!

Strongman are healthy athletes who take great care in their program. They eat well for gains and have a structured fitness plan to help them achieve the best lifting results. So why don’t they have abs?

Why Don’t Strongman Have Visible Abs?

Strongman aren’t build to be physically aesthetic unlike bodybuilders. Their high calorie dense diet is to achieve the best possible strength results. You need to eat to grow, and that is exactly what strongman do to retain their physique for optimal lifting. They eat well over 10,000 calories per day, so their body fat percentage won’t be at the below 10% to see any form of visible abs.

To get a better idea of why strongman don’t have their visible abs, you need to read up on what they eat in a day. Think about it, if you have a cheesecake everyday, do you think you will have a defined six pack? We wrote an article on the matter, which you can view here.

If a strongman does decide to have visible abs, it may hinder their performances in certain events like the log press and atlas stones. Žydrūnas Savickas was known for having an impressive ‘power belly’ which helped him in many events such as the axle press and atlas stones. He is considered one of the greatest strength athletes of all time and having a great longevity in the sport. Big Z managed to win World’s Strongest Man 4 times while coming runner up 6 times.

What Strongman Have Abs?

Now despite all that we have gone through, this is not to say that some strongman do not have any insane visible abs! There are many examples, but we will go for three of the most recognisable strongman as examples, Eddie Hall, Hafthor Bjornsson and Tom Stoltman.

During his time with strongman, Eddie weighed in at a whopping 197kg to win his single 2017 World’s Strongest Man title. If you look at his physique, he was massive with a huge ‘power belly’. When he retired after his win, he got in shape and everyone noticed his leaner physique. He managed to obtain a humongous six pack, losing massive amounts of weight. When he boxed Hafthor in 2022, he weighed in at 142.2kg.

Hafthor is another legend in the game who was known for his gigantic build. Standing at 205cm and weighing in at a top weight of 205kg, he was a monster of a man. Again, in his peak, he had no visible abs until he retired in 2019. For his boxing match with Eddie, he weighed in at 152kg, looking lean and having a clear six pack.

So strongman can have visible abs, but these two examples were from retirement. Despite this, their massive weight goes to show that you can be heavy and still have visible abs. Imagine the amount of muscle mass they have when their body percentage is lower than 10%, insane!

Tom Stoltman is still currently active and most notably the winner of the 2021 and 2022 World’s Strongest Man titles. In the same video with the infamous JF Caron abs quote, he shows us that strongman can have huge visible abs! Tom Stoltman is a strongman that had a defined set of abs. But this is not the case all the time, as he does like to eat and can put out an impressive gut! Nowadays, he is a bigger boy so you won’t see his abs as much.

Final Thoughts

So there we have it, strongman do have abs but they are clearly not visible! This is due to their diet and the physique for peak performances in many strongman events such as the axle press and log press. They can get defined visible abs like you see with bodybuilders, but for them there is no practical use. They don’t sculpture their bodies to be works of art, they go for strength rather than aesthetics.

Just remember, abs is not a sign of power, it is a sign you don’t eat enough! Want to lift heavy? Eat some more!