Mitchell Hooper has announced a major change to the remainder of his Strongman career after admitting his body can no longer cope with the relentless competition schedule that helped make him one of the sport’s biggest stars.
The World’s Strongest Man winner revealed the decision after being forced to withdraw from competition through injury for the first time in his professional career, describing it as a wake-up call that had been building for some time.
Opening up about the setback, Hooper admitted he had pushed himself too far over the past two seasons.
“I sucked. For the first time in my career, I had to pull out of a show because of injury. And honestly, I should have seen it coming,” he said.
The Canadian explained that an intense run of major competitions had gradually taken its toll.
“I had the Arnolds in March. I had Worlds in April. I had Enhanced Games in May. And back to back to back, those three just had me trending downhill for a little while.”
He also pointed to his appearances at the Royal Albert Hall as another sign that changes were needed.
“This is the second year in a row I’ve done Royal Albert Hall and my body has just been a wreck afterwards,” he said.
Rather than stepping away from strongman altogether, Hooper revealed he is retiring from competing as often as possible.
“That means that some changes have to be made. And it means that I’m retiring now. Not from everything and not from Strongman, but I’m retiring from participating in everything that I can.”
For Hooper, the decision has been far from easy.
“I have this part of my personality that I hate not doing shows that I’m eligible for and that I enjoy doing because you guys want to see me compete. I want to compete. I love getting out there.”
However, he believes his age and the accumulated punishment of elite-level strongman means his current approach is no longer sustainable.
“I crossed over 30 this year,” he said. “And as much as that doesn’t feel like an old person, I think in strongman it makes you feel like you’re maybe 50.”
He added: “I say every year in Strongman is like five years of everyday life.”
Hooper also gave an honest assessment of the injuries he is currently managing.
“Right now I have injuries. But the problem and the good thing is the injuries aren’t really real.”
He continued: “I’ve got pain in my back. I’ve got multiple bulged discs. But most of you guys have multiple bulged discs as well. Every pro strongman would. They’re not always symptomatic and they don’t always need any sort of treatment.”
His knees have also become an ongoing issue.
“I’ve got bad knees, particularly my left. I got it scanned and the scan came back. It’s just general degeneration, arthritis, and inflammation.”
According to Hooper, the solution isn’t surgery but better management.
“The way that you treat that is managing how much load, volume, intensity you’re doing.”
He also acknowledged the physical demands placed on athletes competing at the very top of the sport: “There’s also the enhancement side where so long as you’re competing amongst the top level strength athletes in the world, I can’t go do that without some sort of help.”
He explained that while those enhancements aid recovery and performance, they also contribute to the overall strain on the body.
“You combine these things and you just push everything in your system too hard.”
The decision has prompted Hooper to put together what he called an “end of career plan” for the first time.
“I’m going to stick to this for my health in terms of staying alive.”
He added: “There’s only so long that I want to be on enhancements to be super physiologically strong and for the health of my body because I want to be able to play with my kids when I’m old.”
Instead of chasing every available contest, Hooper has drastically reduced his schedule.
Moving forward, he will only compete at the World’s Strongest Man, Arnold Strongman Classic and Rogue Invitational, while appearances at Enhanced Games events will only happen if they replace one of those competitions.
The new structure gives him lengthy periods away from competition.
“This is going to give me a competition in March and April and October, meaning I have five months off between April and October. Four months off between October and March.”
Mitchell has even mapped out exactly how the remainder of his career will look.
“Right now, I’m saying I have five years left,” he said.
That means only 15 competitions remain if everything goes to plan.
Despite announcing an eventual exit strategy, Hooper stressed he still believes his best performances could be ahead of him.
Featured image credit: Mitchell Hooper / Instagram
