In the world of strongman one Cumbrian teenager is raising the bar.
Keenan Pearson, 16, of Maryport, only started training in the sport seven months ago, but he’s already bagged the title of Britain’s strongest man under the age of 17.
Standing at six foot two inches tall and weighing in at 22-and-a-half stone, the teenager can already deadlift up to 280kg – the same weight as that of a fully grown grizzly bear.
He’s taken such a shine to the sport, that his coach Adam Rumney said he has never met someone with such instant potential to be one of the world’s best strongman athletes.
But before August last year, Keenan didn’t know anything about strongman. It was a chance meeting on a West Cumbrian rugby pitch that changed everything.
Keenan had previously been hugely into rugby and would watch the Flimby Vikings rugby league matches with his friends.
He said: “They started recognising me because I’m quite big for my size and age, and Ben Harrison, who plays for them came over and said to me ‘you know what you’d be really good at?’ and I said ‘Rugby?’ and he said ‘no, something even better, strongman.’
“I didn’t really know what it was, but he told me it was big people lifting heavy weights and he said ‘I’ll tell you what, I’ve got a gym full of strongman gear and I’ll give you a few sessions so you can see if you want to do it.”
Keenan now trains six days a week and splits his time with Ben Harrison and his coach Adam Rumney of Cumberland Strongman Academy.
His training sees him spend each day practising the different strongman disciplines with only one or two rest days sprinkled in, depending on how he feels each week.
From Monday to Saturday, Keenan practices everything from the log press, bench press, sandbag fitness, squats, yoke and the shield carry.
On Wednesdays, his favourite days, he does deadlifts and his sessions last from an hour to an hour-and-a-half.
He said: “I started last August with Ben and I was just messing around to see if I liked the sport or not, so I did the basics like bench press, squats and deadlifts.
“My first ever deadlift before I ever started lifting weights was 150kg. I was unsure at the start if I should keep going, but I just started going back more and more.
“I kept seeing changes in my body and my strength and that gave me the willpower to keep going. I started out going three days a week and now I go five or six times.
“Now I’m lifting crazy weights and I look at them and think they don’t even look like they’re going to even move!
“Last year my personal best deadlift was 254kg and then I had a charity competition in Workington and I got 270kg there and in January I just pulled another personal best of 280kg.
“My favourites are the deadlift and the farmers carry and yoke, because I’m quite good at moving events.
“I got a recent personal best on the yoke where you put the weight on your back and do a fast paced walk with it, I did 340kg and got it in five seconds over 10 metres.”
The youngster also works two jobs, one in plastering with one of his dad’s friends and a paper round he’s kept up since he was 12 years old.
He’s currently working towards his GCSEs and is planning to take up an apprenticeship in groundworks at Lakes College in September.
He added: “When I’m off school I do a plastering job with one of my dad’s mates who offered me it. But normally every morning I wake up at around half four or five o’clock to do a paper round that I’ve been doing since I was 12, which I do every morning except for Christmas Day.
“It did take a couple of month to get used to, but now I just wake up and I’m alright!”
To fuel his efforts, Keenan also eats a total of six meals a day – which his family helps him to squash in around his school and training schedule.
The youngster has protein shakes during his school breaktime and eats regular snacks throughout the day.
He said: “I have around five or six meals a day and it’s a lot of meat like steak, chicken and mince and all that kind of thing. I also have protein shakes and a lot of milk as well.”
But above all, the 16-year-old said he felt his family’s support has been essential to his success so far.
He added: “They’ve given me massive support. My mam and dad have sorted it all out for me and pretty much travel all over the country with me.
“If it wasn’t for them I don’t think I’d have been crowned Britain’s Strongest Man Under 17.
“My dad is always by my side in the competitions until the last second and my mam is brilliant support by cheering me on and I just want to work hard and not let her down.”
Keenan said he is aiming to go pro in the sport and is inspired by some of the world’s top athletes who appear on World’s Strongest Man and Giants Live.
He said: “I’m so glad I’ve found the sport because it’s brilliant, I really love it. I love Eddie Hall and the Stoltman brothers from Scotland, they’re icons.
“After Eddie pulled the 500kg deadlift, I thought hopefully I might be able to do that in my future too.”
Keenan has already taken part in three competitions in the short time he’s been competing in the sport and he’s planning to attend even more across the country this year.
He said: “I have a Cumbrian competition on March 22 as a warm up conference to get ready for the big ones, so I’m currently prepping for that one.
“Then I’ve got the big Cumbrian one later this year alongside Cumbria’s strongest men like Karl Gorman and Daniel McNicholas and I’ll up my challenges and come against them.
“Then I’m going to one at Sheffield and I’m planning to go up to Scotland’s Strongest Man and I might be going to Ireland, but that’s still to be confirmed. Then after that it’s Yorkshire’s Strongest Man. So I’m really looking forward to this year.”
Keenan’s mum Emma said his family were incredibly proud of his journey in the sport so far and were excited to see where he takes his talent in the future.
