There must be something in the water in Iceland. Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson, better known as ‘The Mountain’ from Game of Thrones is renowned for his freakish frame which sees him standing at 2.06m tall and weighing 205kg. He has held the title as the ‘World’s Strongest Man’ thanks to this insane 473kg deadlift.
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Hold up your jaw for a second though because you’d be hard pressed to believe that Björnsson wasn’t born this way. Before he became ‘The Mountain’, he played for the Icelandic basketball team in the U17 and U18 divisions. As with most basketballers pursuing a professional career, injury would eventually end his career at the age of just 20 after an ankle surgery. “I was very sad,” he told ESPN. “I wasn’t sure what the next step was.”
The next step was in the gym and it was here that Björnsson began his love affair with lifting heavy. “I’ve always enjoyed lifting heavy. I saw extremely good results. I just got hooked, seeing how strong I got and how much my body changed,” he said.
Safety Bar Squats
- 242kg
- 3 sets
- 8 reps
From there the 30-year-old began entering strong man contests and continued to move up the ranks. The rest they would say is history. These days Björnsson consumes up to 10,000 calories a day to maintain his build and strength. Based on his training program, there’s also endless bouts of lifting involved. It’s an exercise which Björnsson had to employ in order to score the role as ‘The Mountain’ in Game of Thrones.
Stone To Shoulder Lifts
- 194kg using natural stone
Björnsson explains that the audition process was bizarre. “They asked me to pick one guy up to see if I was strong enough. I picked the man up over my head easily. They were very surprised: ‘Woah, OK you’re strong.'”
Bench Press
- 190kg
- 3 sets
- 5 reps
Whilst the exercises have helped forge this physique, Björnsson has admitted to using steroids in the past. “When you want to be the best, you do whatever it takes,” he told ESPN. He wasn’t keen to elaborate on his steroid use though. When queried on how often he takes steroids and whether he still does, the actor replied: “Can we just skip those questions?”
A Mountain’s Diet
Needless to say, reaching this level of physical stature takes an insane amount of food intake. In an older post listed his World’s Strongest Man diet complete with the disclaimer: “Yes this is a lot & I don’t recommend YOU to try this!!”
- 6:50 Morning workout! Cardio + CORE for 30min BCAA Hardcore from Chained Nutrition, Glutamine from Star Nutrition + handful of almonds
- 7:30 8 eggs + 200gr Oats + blueberries & strawberries + avocado
- 9:30 400gr Beef, 400gr Sweet potatoes, handful of spinach & greens
- 11:50 BCAA Hardcore from Chained Nutrition, glutamine from Star Nutrition,
- 12:00 400gr Chicken + 400gr potatoes, greens + some fruits
- 14:00 Blender = 150gr oats or sweet potatoes, 2 bananas150gr kelloggs rice krispies, frozen berries, handful almonds, peanut butter and glutamine from Star Nutrition
- 14:30 Training strongman, BCAA Hardcore from Chained Nutrition, glutamine from Star Nutrition, Vitargo
- 17:30 60gr protein + 2 bananas
- 18:00 500gr beef + potatoes, greens
- 20:30 500gr salmon + 500gr sweet potatoes
- 22:30 50gr casein protein from Star Nutrition or 6 eggs + avacado + 30gr almonds + 50gr peanut butter
- Drink a lot of water throughout the day + Juices to get more calories!! middle of the night 50gr casaine protein or raw eggs
On an average diet Björnsson eats 6 – 8 meals a day and has to eat every 2 hours to maintain his body mass. During filming he takes breaks to consume food