Eddie Hall has revealed the extraordinary gamble he took before making strength sport history, admitting he enlisted a friend to place a bet on him ahead of his iconic 500kg deadlift.
The former World’s Strongest Man opened up about the financial pressures behind his pursuit of the record, explaining that the decision wasn’t driven by greed but by the huge cost of competing at the very highest level.
Speaking about the sacrifices required to become the strongest man on the planet, Hall revealed just how expensive his lifestyle had become during the peak of his career.
“I think in total, if you work it all out, I actually sat down with the wife once and worked it out. I was spending £300 a week on food just for myself,” he said.
He then broke down the rest of the staggering weekly costs.
“£250 a week on physiotherapy, probably another £250 a week on supplementation, recovery methods, doctor’s fees, whatever else,” he said.
Those expenses quickly added up.
“I was spending £800 a week on my body to become the World’s Strongest Man. That’s not paying the mortgage. That’s not fueling the cars and paying the bills and feeding the wife and kids. That is on me. That’s £800 a week on me to become the World’s Strongest Man,” he said.
Hall explained that those costs meant he needed to secure his financial future if he was going to dedicate himself fully to becoming the best in the world.
“So, I needed to put myself in a financial position to spend that money going forward. So, I was able to train to become the World’s Strongest Man full-time and have everything I needed around me and be the best I could be,” he said.
That search for financial security led directly to one of the most famous lifts in strength sport history.
After successfully pulling what was then a world-record deadlift, Hall immediately approached the event promoters with an idea.
“So after I pulled the deadlift, I walked up to the promoters straight away and I, dead serious, looked them in the eyes and I said, ‘How would you feel about putting a big lump sum of prize money up if someone were to pull 500 kilos next year?'” he said.
According to Hall, the response came almost instantly.
“They both looked at each other and like, ‘Yeah, how much do you want?’ So, we agreed on a figure,” he said.
With the prize money secured, Hall then made another bold decision.
“I went away Monday morning. I got a friend to put… I can’t say too much, but I got a friend to put a bet on myself, and it was enough to, you know, it was enough to set me up to win the World’s Strongest Man,” he said.
The combination of the agreed prize money and the wager gave Hall even greater motivation as he set his sights on the seemingly impossible milestone.
“So off I went, placed a bet, agreed the prize money and obviously knew on the back of it I could make a lot of money as well,” he said.
Despite the financial incentive, Hall insisted the motivation wasn’t about becoming wealthy.
“And off I went. I chased the 500 kilo deadlift because I needed money, but not in a greedy way. I needed money to be able to win and train and become the World’s Strongest Man,” he said.
Hall then had an entire year to prepare for the attempt, but admitted the magnitude of the challenge hit him almost immediately.
“So, I had a year, a full 12 months to train for the 500 kilo deadlift. I think straight away it dawned on me how ridiculous it was. And I did think it was near impossible in my own head, but I think in my heart I knew it could be done,” he said.
He made no secret of his intentions, announcing his goal publicly across social media long before stepping onto the platform.
“I put it onto social media. I was very vocal about it. You know, I’m going to pull 500 kilos next year at Strongest Man,” he said.
The reaction, however, was overwhelmingly negative.
“Honestly, 99.9% of the feedback was, ‘No, can’t be done. Impossible.’ Impossible was the word I kept seeing pop up,” he said.
Rather than knocking his confidence, the constant criticism became one of his biggest sources of motivation.
“It just boiled me up. I don’t know why. It just absolutely boiled me up. There’s nothing worse than people telling you that you can’t do something. There’s nothing worse than that. That’s the worst,” he said.
Hall explained that proving people wrong was never about rubbing success in anyone’s face, but about showing what could be achieved through commitment.
“Especially for me, it just makes me want to go out and prove people wrong. Not in a horrible, ‘Haha, I told you so,’ but in a way of proving to those people that you can achieve amazing things in life if you dedicate yourself to it. You know, be consistent, be committed and achieve the impossible,” he said.
Looking back, Hall says silencing the doubters became one of the most rewarding parts of the journey.
“It was a genuinely nice thing to prove all those people wrong,” he said.
Featured image credit: Rob Moore / YouTube / Eddie Hall / YouTube
