Brian Shaw’s transformation is gathering pace — and if his latest training session is anything to go by, the four-time World’s Strongest Man could be heading into uncharted territory.
Shaw linked up with fitness entertainer and bodybuilder Jujimufu for a brutal chest and shoulder workout, but what started as a training session quickly turned into something far more interesting: a crash course in bodybuilding posing.
For a man whose career has been built around moving unimaginable weight, the focus now is different.
Leaner. Sharper. More refined.
And even Shaw admits the process feels strange.
The pair met up in Jujimufu’s gym, where Shaw was finally able to get a proper chest session in after spending time travelling.
“You’re on the road. You’re traveling a lot. You haven’t been able to hit a good chest workout since you left. We could do that here for sure,” Jujimufu said.
The session opened with flat pressing, with Jujimufu jokingly loading up what he called Shaw’s “warm-up weight” — five plates per side.
Shaw laughed it off.
“I haven’t done any warming up at all,” he replied.
That quickly set the tone for a session built around high volume, something Shaw openly admitted is still an adjustment compared to his strongman background.
Throughout most of his career, his training revolved around maximal output, not endless reps chasing a pump.
Jujimufu pushed him hard.
After knocking out 21 reps on one set, Shaw was already questioning how realistic the rest of the workout looked.
“We’ll do three sets of 20,” Jujimufu told him.
Shaw’s response was simple: “I don’t know if I can do 20 again.”
But he kept going.
That theme carried through cable flies, ring-assisted crossovers, rear delt work, and shoulder pressing — all with a bodybuilding-style emphasis on tension, control, and squeezing every rep.
And that’s where the philosophy shift became clear.
“It depends on what your goals are,” Jujimufu explained. “Right now we’re trying to activate muscle tissue. It’s not a one rep max. We’re not even close to it. It’s just let’s make it work.”
For Shaw, that’s the current mission.
Not lifting the heaviest weight possible.
Building. Refining. Peeling back layers.
The visual difference is already becoming obvious.
Midway through the workout, Jujimufu looked at Shaw’s physique and couldn’t hide his reaction.
“Dude, your pumps are nuts. Before you got on that machine, you’re like 10% bigger now,” he said.
Then came the moment that caught everyone’s attention.
After the workout, Jujimufu moved Shaw under better lighting and started teaching him how to pose.
Side chest. Lat spread. Back poses. Transitions.
For Shaw, it was unfamiliar territory.
When asked if he’d ever done a back lat spread properly before, his answer was blunt: “No, not correctly.”
That’s when Jujimufu stepped in.
What followed was a detailed breakdown of how to open up Shaw’s back and present his physique — and it revealed something huge.
Literally.
As Shaw hit the poses, Jujimufu immediately noticed his conditioning beginning to show.
“Yo, dude. I just saw some abs big time,” he said.
Shaw knows exactly where he is right now in the process.
“It’s this weird transition period where it’s like, okay, I still have stuff to lose and dropping down and things will get a little bit tighter,” Shaw said. “But yeah, it’s fun. It’s fun to see.”
That might be the most telling part.
Shaw has spent decades chasing strength. Now he’s chasing something else entirely.
And judging by Jujimufu’s reaction, there’s plenty to be excited about.
“This all right here in the front — when you lose weight, that’s going to be really exciting because that is like, oh wow, you got all this feathering and stuff coming in,” Jujimufu said.
But it was Shaw’s back that drew the biggest praise.
“Your back is world class. Your forearms are top of the top. We need to show those,” Jujimufu said.
For Shaw, it all comes back to one thing.
Commitment.
Featured image credit: SHAWSTRENGTH / YouTube
