At age 41, James Phillips considers himself the strongest man in Guyana and now he wants to compete in the well-recognized event in strength athletics, the American Strongman Competition and ultimately to become the World’s Strongest Man.
Speaking exclusively with Stabroek Sport yesterday, Phillips says that he dead lifts 1,000 lbs, squats 1,115 lbs and bench presses 730 lbs.
“I have not taken part in any power lifting in Guyana because I really don’t like the politics with sports in this country but I have always wanted to do the world strongman competition be-cause I know that I’m just as good or even better than some of the guys who compete there.”
The Mocha Arcadia resident said that he has even contacted the American Strongman Association and has received a response from one of the trainers, Brad Dunn.
This newspaper was privy to e-mails shared between the two regarding Phillips becoming a competitor in the series.
Dunn said that they were impressed with what they had seen from the videos of Phillips working out at home and he said he would like Phillips to train with them for two to three weeks to see how he would fit into their training regime.
Phillips recently returned home from Trinidad and Tobago to begin preparing for the American Strongman series.
He told this newspaper that he would need to do so for the next two to three months since he did not have the equipment to do bulky training while in the Twin Island.
In his time, Phillips has done some quite unique things like doing press ups with a 55 gallon drum filled with wet sand and weighing over 1,000 lbs.
He now works out with 600 lbs of iron strapped to his body.
“I started really realizing my strength when I was at age 13 since I was always lifting stuff that guys much bigger than me couldn’t…at age 15 I was already doing over 150 press ups with stuff on my back and so on and then I just kept working out and started to use heavy iron, like train lines and so on,” said Phillips.
Very costly
To become the world’s strongest man would be very costly, and it is estimated that Phillips would need well over $200,000 a month for the next three months to do so and so he is calling on corporate Guyana for assistance.
“My build is natural, I was born like this and developed naturally without any steroids and I just use lots of local stuff and I believe in my porridge but to make this competition I would have to start eating the right way. I have asked Mr. Dunn who is trainer for the American strongman series to send me their diet and eating outline you know, so I can start getting in tune,” the well-built Phillips said.
For over three decades the World’s Strongest Man has tested the limits of human strength, power, and endurance.
The best strongmen on the planet and the most demanding challenges like the Atlas Stones, the Fingal Fingers, and the Keg Toss make the World’s Strongest Man the premier event in strength athletics.
