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The sport of strongman has four major titles. The two most famous are the World’s Strongest Man and the Arnold Strongman Classic. In recent years, Brian Shaw has promoted the Strongest Man on Earth, and the Rogue Invitational has become a title that every athlete wants to win as well.
Mitchell Hooper’s Strongman Legacy: A Look at His Championship Wins
Mitchell Hooper is one of the most decorated strongmen in history. He has won the last two Arnold Strongman Classics, the 2024 Rogue Invitational, the 2024 Strongest Man on Earth, and the 2023 World’s Strongest Man, the only man to win all four championships. An open cut on his hand may have been the only thing keeping him from winning the 2024 title as well. Hooper is revered throughout his sport and is considered one of the most accomplished athletes to ever compete.
He is only 29 years old.
Clearly, the Canadian known as “Moose” is one of the strongest men on the planet. Fans that are new to the sport may think that all those competitions and victories mean that Hooper is the strongest of them all. He explained that a misnomer of his sport is that the contests are to determine who is “the strongest.” They’re actually trying to determine who is the best strongman.
From Golf to Strongman: Mitchell Hooper’s Surprising Athletic Background
As of early 2025, Hooper is clearly the number one man in his sport, and he is not looking to let go of that spot anytime soon. One reason why Hooper is considered the best strongman is that he has a long athletic background, having played golf, football, and even running marathons.
“In high school, I was on the track team. I ran the 4 x 100 relay and threw the shot put. I was on the swim team, I was the captain of the basketball team for three years, played baseball,” he recalled. “If there is a North American spot that can be named, it’s highly unlikely that I haven’t competed in it.”
Hooper picked up strongman after a trip to Australia for powerlifting. He took up the suggestion to compete in strongman from competitors that trained in the gym he was at. After learning more about the sport, he started trying it and took to it like a fish to water. As he continued training and started competing, he developed a bond with the community of athletes and fans that support the sport.
Within a few years of him entering his first event, he found himself succeeding on big stages. He was invited to the World’s Strongest Man in 2022 as a reserve and found himself in the competition. He finished that event in eighth place and never looked back. By 2023, he had won both the Arnold and World’s Strongest Man titles, becoming the fourth man to win both in the same year.
Mitchell Hooper’s Impact on the Strongman Community and Fans
He has been a very active member of the community as well with his focus on providing knowledge and encouragement. He is the owner of “Lift Heavy, Be Kind,” his apparel company, and a portion of the revenue is donated to gyms. He also has a prolific YouTube channel that allows him to reach fans new and old so he can contribute to their own journeys or simply provide some entertainment.
“I fell in love with the community, I fell in love with the sport, the camaraderie. It wasn’t like the other sports I’ve been in where the culture is to rip the other person’s head off,” he explained. “At the pro level, the mentality is to respectfully rip each other’s heads off, but what fans and people get from it is so special.”
He advises future potential fans and athletes to not assume anything. Despite the large stature and strength of the elites, there are levels and divisions that provide many opportunities to enter the sport, including men, women, and adaptive categories.
“They may see the freakiest of the freaks at the top level, but the sport is welcoming to all. That is what makes strongman special and different from anything I have ever done.”
Mitchell Hooper’s Diet and Supplements for Strongman Performance
Fans see strongmen as the larger-than-life athletes they really are but may believe that they only see nutrition as a see-food diet. If they see it, they eat it. Many of the best in the sport work with nutritionists and pay much more attention to what they eat because of how it fuels performance. As with everything else he does, Hooper is strategic about his diet.
“I work with Stan Efferding on that, and it’s not really rocket science,” said Hooper. “If you don’t have the building blocks to repair the tissue, there is no chance to recover from a musculoskeletal perspective. If I’m not eating high-quality food 80 percent of the time, I’m making a pretty grave mistake.”
Like bodybuilding, powerlifting, or almost any other strength discipline, strongmen and strongwomen use supplements as well. Hooper works with MUTANT and has a solid supplement strategy as part of his process to prepare for competitions and overall health.
Hooper shared, “It’s invaluable to have supplements you trust. I need 330 grams of protein a day, and that would be impossible to get without Iso-Surge. Creatine also for me is a non-negotiable, regardless of male, female, young, old, you should have it.”
Other MUTANT products that are stocked in his cabinet include MINDF*K and Madness, the brand’s top preworkouts. He also relies on collagen and magnesium.
Can Mitchell Hooper Make History at the 2025 Arnold Strongman Classic?
The 2025 ASC in Columbus, OH on Feb. 28 – Mar. 1 marks Hooper’s first event of the year, and he is considered the early favorite to win the title. A lot of attention has been placed on the opening event, the Elephant Bar Deadlift, because of Bjornsson’s intention to lift 501 kilograms (1,104 pounds) and claim the world record for the event.
Hooper’s focus will be on consistently placing high in all the events. That has been the formula that has worked for him so far. He hopes that aside from his personal success, he can help motivate people to do more for themselves in training and perhaps enter his sport themselves.
“If I’m inspiring people to go lift heavier deadlifts, to go work harder in the gym, and feel comfortable in the gym with the Lift Heavy, Be Kind brand, which is all things I see as massive wins and massive positives.”
By the end of the competition on Mar. 1st, we will know whether Hooper managed to three-peat in Columbus. Muscle Insider will share results of the 2025 Arnold Strongman Classic as part of coverage, with support from MUTANT.
You can follow Hooper on Instagram and subscribe to his YouTube channel to learn more about him and the sport of strongman.
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