At 31 years old, Tom Stoltman stands tall at 6ft 8in and weighs a staggering 180kg – the same as a large lion. But the road to this muscular physique was not an easy one for the British strongman.
As a young boy, Stoltman was diagnosed with autism and faced relentless bullying at school for being “different.” He struggled with his body image, preferring to hide away in baggy hoodies. By 16, he had reached a “crashing point,” abandoning his football dreams to play Xbox and indulge in sugary snacks.
It was Stoltman’s older brother, Luke, a bodybuilder at the time, who helped pull him out of this rut. Luke introduced Tom to the gym, teaching him the art of weightlifting. “At the start, I was just doing the 20kg bar and the next day I’d be so sore,” Stoltman recalls. But after a week, he began to enjoy the challenge.
Inspired by watching Luke compete in Scotland’s Strongest Man, Tom decided to follow in his sibling’s footsteps. He joined a strongman gym, training relentlessly and focusing on a protein-rich diet to fuel his growth. “Autism became my cheat code,” he says. “I could lock into a routine and block out distractions.”
Over the next decade, Stoltman’s dedication paid off as he doubled his weight to 180kg. Now a full-time strongman, he runs a gym with his brother and spends his downtime using an array of biohacking techniques, from oxygen chambers to red-light therapy, to maintain his superhuman strength.
In 2021, at the age of 27, Stoltman achieved his ultimate goal, becoming the World’s Strongest Man for the first time. He has since defended his title twice more, proving that his once-perceived “difference” is now his greatest superpower.
“I can look in the mirror and smile,” Stoltman says proudly. “Not because of the inches on my biceps, but because of the mental toughness my body represents and the superhuman strength it gives me.”
Tom Stoltman’s journey from a shy, bullied teenager to the World’s Strongest Man is a testament to the power of determination, resilience, and the ability to transform one’s perceived weaknesses into unimaginable strength.