When Robert Oberst entered a strongman-oriented gym for the first time, he realized what he has to do and what is his target. His height is 6 feet and 8 inches and with more than 350 muscular pounds, Robert Oberst complied to realize his ability what others must be known before him. "A buddy of mine was an amateur strongman who was just obsessed with the sport," Oberst recollects that ruinous day in the year 2012. "He kept begging me to come to try it. So finally I did, and the first time I ever touched the log, I broke the amateur world record for the log press," he continues.

The Ground league football player was very well aware of the weights and their strength. His attention is diverted when he simply broke the world record for the first time, he raised a stick. He got the sense of his first strongman contest to be focussed. "I got my ass handed to me, but I had so much fun," Oberst giggles. "I was hooked."He didn't show his interest in losing the contest. "The competitor in me is just not willing to suck at something," he stated. "As soon as I left that first contest, I started training hard and turned pro less than six months later."

Big, Strong Plans For Upcoming Years

Oberst has hardened himself for top athletes in the pro strongman series after five years. Strongman is a different kind of game that requires not only intense power, but inculcates patience as contestants lift, carry, throw, and drag about in all ways of cumbersome, huge things for reps, time, and distance. Robert Oberst has struggled hard in the World's Strongest Man contest henceforth 2013, achieving as high as the ninth position. He won two pro shows and settling in the top six, which also include being runner-up in America's Strongest Man contest in the years 2013 and 2014.Besides this, this article would cover all about the workout routine and diet plan of Robert Oberst and whatever he does to keep himself fit and strong during his off-season training.

Robert Oberst Statistics

• Height: 6’8″ (201cm)
• Weight: 375-395 (170 kg-179 kg)
• Age: 36 years

Robert Oberst Awards and Achievements

• First Place, San Jose Fit Expo, 2012
• First Place, Dallas Europa, 2012
• Third Place, America’s Strongest Man, 2012
• First Place, Giants Live Las Vegas, 2013
• First Place, Odd Haugen’s US Open MAS Wrestling Championship, 2013
• Third Place, All-American Strongman Challenge, 2013
• Sixth Place, Giants Live British Open, 2013
• Third Place, China’s Strongest Man, 2013
• Ninth Place, World’s Strongest Man, 2013
• Second Place, America’s Strongest Man, 2013
• Fifth Place, MAS-Wrestling World Cup, 2013
• Eighth Place, Arnold Strongman Classic, 2014
• Second Place, America’s Strongest Man, 2014
• Third Place, Arnold Strongman Classic Australia, 2015
• Sixth Place, Giants Live North American Open, 2016
• Sixth Place, Giants Live World Tour Finals, 2017
• Eighth Place, World’s Strongest Man, 2018

Best lifts/Personal records

• log lift – 465 lbs (211kg)
• Deadlift – 750 lbs (340kg) for 4 reps

Robert Oberst Workout Routine

Robert Oberst's journey into wrestling started with his and his sibling's passion for WWF, which is the world Wrestling Federation which they watched when they were kids. His parents were too rich and they didn't have much electricity either. But WWF was something that would never miss. In school too, Robert Oberst was rather a tall gentleman with a larger physique. He was 6 ft 1 (1.85m) and weighed 220 lbs (99.8 kg) at age 12. As a result, he was often made fun of and he even thought of dropping out te school because of it.

However, he had immense support from his family and especially his mother who played a huge role in raising the kids and barely saw his dad who was working 16 hours to make the ends meet. She believed that Robert Oberst was rather a special kid and he was super determinant and so whatever he would put his mind to he can achieve it. It is exactly what got him to where he is today.Oberst attended Aptos High School in Aptos California where he participated in many sports like football and track and files. He was always in the gym and made a lot of friends who were in the same field as him. It gave him a lot of conference and courage. After high school, he played football at Western Oregon University where he also majored in history.

Then after he finished his university in 2008, Oberst, like a vast preponderance of football athletes, had his eyes fixed on playing in the NFL however, it didn’t really move out and from there, he considered having jobs as a club bouncer before being offered to Strongman by a friend who helped him to try it out. By this time, Oberst was at a height of 6’8″ with a large frame, and just by glancing at him, it was obvious that he was delegated for strength sports.

He has called his practice with Strongman “being a fish in water.” Oberst has a multipronged strategy of intervention for these situations, including training, nutrition, and supplementation regimen that has, he states, supported him to re-engineer his physique and given him more power and energy than ever before."About three years ago, I made strongman competition my full-time job," he says. "It's a big difference. Now that I have my nutrition figured out, I've dropped close to 80 pounds. I was about 440 but came down to 360, and now I feel so much better. I've done two shows since getting to that new weight, and both were the best performances of my life."His goal has changed over time and he feels that now his only goal is to put on muscle instead of where there was fat in his body. "I don't want any excess weight," Oberst says. "People involved in strongman try to tell you that the heavier you are, the more competitive you'll be. I bought into that for a little while, but when I got so heavy that I couldn't take four steps without breathing hard, I knew it was the wrong approach. It's not about being as heavy as possible. It's about being as strong as possible. There's a big difference."

Robert Oberst has a huge routine of diet that is proper and which provides him with ample fuel for his body for a four-day training program which is quite tiresome. It includes three days of intense traditional weight lifting which includes one upper body day and a focus on the deadlift. The other focused area is the squat-focused day. He does 12 reps or higher for days like this or even bodybuilding movements like preacher curls or triceps push-downs.For him, it is not about hitting just the bigger muscles but all the small muscles too. This includes all the slow-twitch and fast-twitch fibers making up all those muscles. A well-rounded program including some simple hypertrophy work is required. But there is still a difference in what Robert Oberst does in the gym and how a normal man would do it. He goes through an intense 6-hour long strongman practice."Unlike most strongmen, I do lots of reps," he says. "I work up to a good weight over several sets for my main lift. Once I get up to about 80 percent of my one-rep max, I'll do 2-3 sets there, then I'll come back down for a few back-off sets. I do a disgusting number of reps." Of course, that's very far away from the standard power approach of near-max sets of singles, doubles, and triples. "My football coaches taught me to do lots of reps to gets the blood flowing," he says. "Plus, the pump tightens the muscle and makes it bigger, more stable, and stronger."He doesn't bother about following a particular kind of training experience. It is the results that matter for him and he gets great results by being more muscular, stronger, and with improved endurance. "Everything has come together so quickly for me because of the way I train. At first, people were like, 'Man, it's ridiculous to do all those reps.' Then a year or two into it, everyone was like, 'Oh wow, tell me more about what you're doing,'" he tells.Here is a sample workout routine of what Robert Oberst is most likely to do for preparing himself up for the event:Week 1Day 1

• Push Press up to a heavy 8. Strip off 10-15% and do as many reps as possible (or 25-45lbs depending on your strength)
• Strict Press Take around 65% of your max and do 4 sets of 8
• Lat Pulldowns 4×8 increase weight every set until you can barely complete the 8th rep
• Rear Delt Raises use a weight you can do 12-15 clean reps with, and do as many reps as possible. Once you reach failure, do rear delt swings to failure. Do this for 2 sets
• Cable Front Raises and Cable Lateral Raise Superset 3×8-12 each (use dumbbells if you have no access to cable machine)
• Snatch Grip Barbell Shrugs use a lightweight, and do full controlled reps here for 2 sets aim for 15-20 reps
• Hammer Curls 3×8
• Tricep press downs 3×8

Day 2

• Single-Leg Deadlift 3×8 (each leg) Grab a dumbbell or kettlebell with the same hand as the foot that will remain on the ground. Perform these slow and controlled focusing on balancing through your planted foot, pushing your opposite leg back, focusing on only going as low as you can while maintaining a flat back. If the balance is a problem, try holding onto the squat rack or other solid stable object with your opposite hand.
• Glute Bridges 3×8
• X band Walks 3x50ft each side
• Deadlift 65% of your max 8×4. Take no more than 60-90 seconds rest here. Perform every rep as if it is a new max focusing on proper form and being explosive. Remember this is PRACTICE
• Romanian Deadlift 3×8 keep your back flat and neutral while pushing your hips back slowly lowering the weight, feeling a big stretch in your hamstrings. Only go as low as you can while keeping a flat back. Start with around 40% of your max. For example, if you can deadlift 500lbs, then 225lbs is probably a good starting weight for you.
• Barbell Hip Thrusts 5×5 you want these pretty heavy but not crazy. Use a weight you could do for sets of 8. Pause at the top really squeezing the cheeks.
• Barbell Row 3×8
• Farmers Walk EMOM 60% 6x50ft (use dumbbells if no farmers walk)

Day 3 *Optional*

• Hill Sprint: Give yourself 10 minutes and sprint a hill that is about 50ft in length staying around 60-70% effort. By the last few sprints, up the intensity a little and make sure to fully recover between each sprint. If you have no access to a hill, do incline treadmill sprints or even just push a prowler or sled.
• Ab circuit picks 3 movements and does 8 reps on each for 3 sets without stopping.

Day 4

• Seated Overhead Press 4×8 put the bar at almost vertical. Just a little lean back (about 80* angle) use a weight you could do for sets of 12.
• Close Grip Bench Press 5×5 shoulder-width grip. Really control the weight on the way down. Use a weight you could do for sets of 8-10.
• SLIGHT Incline Dumbbell Bench Press (30 degrees) 3×8
• Skull Crushers 3×8
• Standing Dumbbell Curls 3×8

Day 5 *Optional*

• Hill Sprint: Give yourself 12 minutes and sprint a hill that is about 50ft in length staying around 60-70% effort. By the last few sprints, up the intensity a little and make sure to fully recover between each sprint. If you have no access to a hill, do incline treadmill sprints or even just push a prowler or sled.
• Ab Circuit picks 3 movements and does 8 reps on each for 4 sets without stopping.

Day 6

• Front Squat 4×6 use a weight you could do for sets of 8-10.
• Barbell Walking Lunges 3×8 (each leg) start light and take very purposeful steps. The main goal here is to even out the strength in each leg, as most people have an imbalance.
• Leg Press 2×20 BURNOUT use a lightweight and just get those quads pumped with blood.
• Snatch Grip Barbell Shrugs take a wide grip on the barbell using about 30% of your max deadlift (use no less than 95lbs) go to failure without stopping for 2 sets. This is how I built my traps!
• Loading Over Bar Strongman Event (atlas stones, kegs, sandbags, etc) 5×1 EMOM *OPTIONAL*

Day 7 *Optional*

• Hike Pick a trail that will take 20-30 minutes that isn’t too strenuous for you, you can also pick a different sport or activity you enjoy this day.

He has had some of his best pics which he explains in his own words, saying, "I have deadlifted 880 pounds, squatted 905, and bench-pressed 715. The 715 on the bench is 50 pounds away from a world record, and I only do it as an auxiliary lift. And I recently hit 485 with the log press in training. The world record is 500 pounds."Robert Oberst has been a professional player of football but things changed to being a strongman. How did that transition happen? He tells in his own words, saying, "I was working security at a bar-slash-concert venue and one of the guys who worked there with me — I played with him in junior college — was really into strongman. It was all he could talk about. So one day, I went in with him. On that first day, I pressed 340 pounds overhead the first time I ever touched a log. I said, “Is that good?” He said it was 30 pounds heavier than the amateur record at the time. I was hooked!"

Sunday Is Crazy-Weight Fun-Day

On Sundays, all the forces of the past week climax in precisely the kind of routine you'd imagine. Robert Oberst on this day is surrounded by the tools of his brute-force trade, completing one event after another for hours on end. This includes everything from the iconic atlas stones to the log press, farmer's walk, and every other kind of bone-cracking push, pull, and in-between, he does them all.

This kind of workout is a great practice for him. He says, "Doing this workout once a week makes the actual contests seem easy in comparison," he says. "I'll run through a whole show's worth of events: the set-up, the warm-ups, the events. I'll also allow myself ample rest times between sets so I can feel fresh when I finally touch the weights."Unlike other people, he does not shy away from cardio throughout the week. He does it at least three times a week which is quite a lot for a person who is into bodybuilding. He'll do wind sprints or hike a couple of miles, do sprints up a hill, stretch for up to 40 minutes, then walk back home again.

Lucky Number Eight

Robert Oberst was the 8th of the 10 children that his mother and father had and had been short and chubby. But between 10th and 11th grade, when he started working in a summer camp, he suddenly increased 7 includes in height. "I remember sitting up at night in my tent just rubbing my legs because they hurt so bad from the growing pains," he recalls. "When I came home at the end of the summer, my mom just started crying, 'Oh God, what happened to my baby?'"It took him about a year to get used to the height that he had newly got, Oberst shed his embarrassment and became an impending two-way football player. He was named All-State as center and nose tackle, no small achievement in the aggressive environments of California high school football.

He moved on to perform in the football teams in college, became pro with the now-defunct San Jose SaberCats of the Arena Football League, then shifted his attentions to strongman competition. Before any strongman competition, he is usually found in his own world before an event with earphones in and him lifting weights and prepping. His eyes are focused at the distance as his heart pumps with adrenaline. "It doesn't take much for me to get jacked up," he admits. "For me, it's more about trying to keep myself calm. I do meditation exercises beforehand, then come breathing fire."

The Workout

Here are some of the workouts that Robert Oberst likes to do in his daily routine and have become stape in his plan:

Incline Bench Press

Instances of bench pressing at an incline will build muscular strength and power in the upper body. Strengthening the chest and developing a better range of motion can be achieved through training with heavy loads and isolating the upper pecs. Strengthening the pressing and overhead muscles can also be achieved with this exercise.Oberst must remain focused on control and not be reckless while lifting weights. Strength comes from control, which is most effectively accomplished with a slow, controlled motion down, followed by a slight touch at your chest, and then an explosive push up. It is not advisable to bounce the weight off your chest or bend your hips while lifting it. A pyramid will be used to work with maximum effort but not maximum weight for around 4-10 sets. As you progress in your workout, doing a lot of repetitions will improve blood flow for better muscle growth and recovery.The incline should be set between 30-45 degrees. You should adjust your grip so that your scaps are together and shoulder-width apart. Unrack the bar and lower it toward your chest while standing firmly on the ground and with your core engaged. Exit the bottom and explode your arms again till you are locked out.

Standing Shoulder Press

The standing shoulder press is an excellent exercise to prevent injuries because it strengthens and builds up these smaller stabilizer muscles of the shoulder. This exercise promotes balance and overall functional strength by working your back and core at the same time.When he performs his competitive lifts, he engages his full-body, which he accomplishes while standing rather than sitting. Once later sets kick in, you can lift more weight with more engaged legs. Initially, he tries not to use his legs, but once they start to kick in, he begins to use those legs more. The Oberst pyramid training method incorporates reps and weight as a pyramid to the maximum effort and the last rep will be higher, similar to incline bench pressing, to maximize growth. Even though this is an excellent exercise to strengthen your shoulders, staying supported and stable is crucial to avoiding injury.Grab the bar slightly wider than shoulder-width apart, as shown here. As you push the bar overhead, engage your core and glutes. Your low back will not be subjected to as much pressure with really engaged core and glutes. As you return to the starting position, slowly lower the weight back down.

Trap Bar Deadlifts

To perform the trap bar deadlift properly, you will need good coordination, balance, and technique. It ensures that gains are not compromised without sacrificing stability (3). It's a great lower bodybuilder and promotes explosive strength to increase your overall output.Similarly, Oberst finds trap bar deadlifts to be extremely effective as an exercise that mimics competition-style events such as farmer's carries and frame walks. Compared to the traditional deadlift, it allows for better quad development and ankle flexibility, as well as less low back strain and more ankle flexibility. Most of the time, he lifts 80% max weight for 2-3 sets.

How to: By stepping along the trap bar, keep your spine neutral. You should extend through your hips and knees while driving through your quadriceps. Keep that same form as you lower your back down.

Shoulder routine

A shoulder routine differs from most by training heavy for a few sets of 2-4 reps, reducing the weight, doing as many repetitions as possible, then reducing the weight again. Using this method helps build density, which in turn leads to enhancing strength over time, according to Oberst.Incline barbell press: 4 x 2-4Drop the weight by half and do as many reps as possible.Drop the weight again and continue to rep out as much as possible.

• Cable lateral raise: 3-4 x 12-15

Oberst does a set in front of the body and one set behind the body per each set.

• Face pulls
• Bench press superset w/ military press: 3-4 x 12-15+ reps

Robert Oberst utilizes a closer grip on the bench press than what is usually used to build the chest because he needs to also include the triceps more. For this superset, he’ll do one set of the bench press and then jump quickly into the military press.

• Fixed barbell single- routine with the set barbell lateral raises superset with the chest-supported lateral raise. Adopting a fixed barbell attends to amplify and promote stabilization.

Upper body Strongman/Bodybuilder hybrid workout

Robert Oberst does a powerlifter and bodybuilder training routine that enables him to profit from the best of both worlds. This method puts a large stress on the shoulders and a little on the chest too. He also aims at his upper body two three times per week.Routine

• Incline press

Oberst manages very heavyweight for this training, pressing 495 lbs for reps with ease.

• Face pulls
• Triceps pushdown
• Dumbbell lateral raises
• Dumbbell front raises
• Smith machine shrugs

Robert Oberst has on multiple occasions talked about how if he knew more about training and methods when he started, he would have done things differently from the very beginning. In his own words, he says, “I wish I knew the importance of a healthy core and stretching your hips in the right way. There’s a lot of maintenance stuff that I just didn’t pay attention to that caught me after a couple of years I was beating myself up.”

H knew that he needed to do things a certain way and with discipline to get the max out of his training and performance but he was super hard-headed. He does not neglect the importance of quality training and does not compromise on health either. He also spoke about how there is not much money for strongmen for most athletes. However, he was able to achieve the success that he has now by not just being a strongman but also a showman.

He says, “I’ve been very blessed and I know how to present himself in such a manner. I’ve done just as good at the show business part as I have with the weight lifting part and that’s important. There’s just stuff you can’t teach.”

Robert Oberst also knew that he wanted to do strongman as his full-time job when he first got into it. All the credit goes to his confidence and belief in himself. However, he does not discourage anyone who wants to follow his path. Due to the pandemic, Robert Oberst had faced many issues because the gyms and training centers were closed. However, he did not lose sight of his goals and he kept entraining at home even though he had to make changes to his training routines. He loaded himself with reasonable weight. In his words,

“In strongman, it’s really easy to go too much too often. If we get too heavy in our squats and our deadlifts for too long of a period, then all of our movement stiffens up. You’ll see a guy who’s deadlift when up 20lb but his yoke speed when down 3 seconds.” He came out to the conclusion that the happy medium to maintain his strength and health is near to 70 percent of his maximal loads which goes up to 3 to 5 sets with 4 to 8 reps. He has also been using his quarantine time to losing some extra fat which means that a lot of cardio and a tighter diet plan. He could lose 18 pounds of weight off himself.

World Strongest Man

Preparations will start 16 weeks before Robert Oberst competes at the WSM. As a result, the workout routine will gradually shift to a focus on specific events, up until two weeks before the event, when he rests. The finals of the World Snooker Masters have been taking place in warm climates where "it's 99% humidity and very hot." He seemed to have mixed feelings about that.The unique feature of strongman competition, as opposed to other strength sports such as powerlifting and Olympic weightlifting, is the fact that athletes who can lift the most weight are not always rewarded. Every event has a predetermined weight that influences training requirements. This is how Oberst breaks it down:“Almost everything we prep for, my maximal load is above what we run within the competition. Say squat for example squat for the last two years has been 735lb for reps. So 735lb for reps is the biggest I plan on going for at least the near future. It’s very different from a powerlifter. Their competition is ‘how much can you max?’ In strongman, it’s not that. It’s how fast can you do this, how fast can you recover from running back and forth, and then go deadlift for reps? It’s almost counterintuitive to maximal strength.“

Strength and Weakness

Robert Oberst is very competent when it comes to knowing his goals and where to work more to achieve victory in any competition. The log lift has always been his forte. His American log lift record of 211kg/465lb, which he set at the 2015 Arnold Classic Australia, held for 4 years until Robert Kearney broke it with 214kg/471lb. On the other hand, he’s not as good at deadlifts as he’d like. He explains, “When I got into strongman, it was straight from football. We did hang cleans and power cleans. We never did front bar deadlifts. My deadlift was that same week I hit that big log press. I pulled 450lb and my back cracked like five times. That’s been my Achilles heel all the way up until last year when I went to Worlds and didn’t zero the deadlift.”That was all about the workout routine that Robert Oberst does in his whole week. Moving on to some of the tips and tricks which help him ace his workout routine. Stay tuned.

Robert Oberst Workout Tips and Tricks

Robert Oberst likes to do his workouts with some precision and some method behind it. For that, he follows some tips and tricks which help him to lead towards a better performance. He shares some of his tips and tricks with his fans and people who follow him so that he could ace up their routines too.

Determination

Recalling the crucial day in 2012, Robert Oberst commemorates, “a friend of mine was an amateur strongman who was just fascinated with the sport.” “He kept pleading with me to try it. So, I eventually did, and the first time I hit the log, I broke the amateur log press world record.”

Planning

In the pro strongman positions, Oberst proved himself as a top-class athlete after the gap of five years. This spot of strongman is such in which an athlete has to prove himself by lifting, holding, throwing, and dragging various types of inconvenient, massive articles for reps, time, and range. He secured the seventh rank while competing for the World’s Strongest Man competition since 2013. In the process, Oberst secured the position in two acknowledged shows and concluded in the top six out of 12 others. It also entails becoming runner-up in the 2013 and 2014 America’s Strongest Man competitions.

Priorities

With various policies for many multiple exercises including fitness, nutrition, and supplementation routine, Robert Oberst got his body rejuvenated and gained a lot of muscle and power more than before. As stated by Robert Oberst, in his words, “I made strongman rivalry my full-time job about three years ago.” He again declared, “It’s an important differentiation. I’ve lost up to 80 pounds now that I’ve worked out my diet. I used to be about 440 pounds, but now I’m down to 360 and feeling fantastic. Since getting to that new weight, I’ve done two shows, both of which were the best performances of my life.”

Counting Calories

As per Robert Oberst, “I work out with incredible heavyweights and have higher stamina, but I diet like a bodybuilder at the same time,” he states, “When I first started cutting calories, my body craved pizza and other high-calorie foods. However, once my body adjusted, the clean diet gave me more strength and energy than I’d ever had before.”

Building Strength

The whole-food and supplementation schedule and method of Robert Oberst stoke his four-day-a-week workout agenda. This comprises three days of conservative in-gym lifting, which also includes an upper-body day, a deadlift-focused day, and a squat-focused day. He does not hesitate to practice bodybuilding rep scales of 12 or higher, as well as bodybuilding workouts like preacher curls and triceps push-downs, at present.

Special Training Day

Every Sunday, all the prior efforts of the week finish in the specific situation you may require. For hours on end, Robert Oberst is in the backstage area, girded by his devices of the trade, picking off event after event. Every bone-cracking push, pull, and movement he can imagine, which also includes the popular Atlas Stones, the log press, and farmer's walk, he does it all.

Diet

Robert Oberst stopped taking all the delicious diets and started an intermittent fasting diet so that he can achieve 6000 calories every day whereas his regular intake is 8000-9000 calories each day. The nearer the market becomes, the more difficult it will be for him to achieve the goals. The man declared that if he could do it without getting impaired, he would like to consume 20,000 calories every day.That was all about some great workout and fitness tips from Robert Oberst who believe in the strength of both, mind and body. He also follows a great and well-structured diet plan too which helps him fuel up for his training sessions and workout events. Take a read ahead to know all about Robert Oberst's diet plan.

Robert Oberst Diet Plan

To enhance his transformation, Robert Oberst completely transformed his diet, cutting back from a height of 20,000 calories per day—seriously—to "just" 5,000-6,000. "I count carbs exactly," he says. "I work with a nutritionist who has given me a very rigorous six-meals-per-day meal plan. Three of the meals are whey protein shakes with a banana. My big meal of the day is 10 ounces of chicken with a cup of rice in the afternoon. I can also have 12 ounces of lean meat with some carbs for dinner. It's not flashy, but it works."His diet looks a lot like what the usual athletes would consume. It is quite healthy too. "I work out with extremely heavy weights and higher endurance, but at the same time I eat like a bodybuilder," he says. "When I first cut down my calories, my body was screaming for pizza and all that high-calorie stuff. But once my system adjusted, the clean diet gave me more power and energy than I've ever felt."Robert Oberst also takes the support of many supplements other than just whey protein, including L-glutamine, BCAAs, a liver-cleansing supplement, and a pre-workout. “I have six meals a day. If I don’t eat enough, I get shaky, I get headaches,” Oberst told the Munchies website. “My body is running on a level now where it’s used to having good fuel. If I cut that supply off, my body just revolts,” he adds.Those 6 to 7 meals that he consumes include 15,000 to 20,000 calories — at least five times the suggested daily intake for Australian males.

He eats right before he hits the gym because it provides him with the energy to work out for a much longer period of time. “When you go to the gym and your body’s fuelled up with good nutrients and protein, when you get to the point when you’re working hard and you’re hitting your last reps, you’re burned out, there’s something else in there driving you,” Oberst explains.He talks of the importance of good quality food saying, “Instead of reaching down and there’s nothing there, you have some power left.”Oberst’s diet consists largely of eggs, meat, pasta, and rice. Lots and lots of it. For breakfast, he'll eat eight to ten eggs, followed by whole boiled eggs throughout the day. His lunch will often consist of two large steaks. A pasta meal, as well as a meat dish, is served for dinner. There's also more meat and eggs in between, plus six cups of rice. Oberst consumes 1.6 kilograms of meat per day, which can come from different sources.“Basically, I clean out the meat section,” he says of trips to the supermarket, where he packs his trolley with beef, turkey, and pork. “It’s got to taste good and it has to have a high protein content,” he says. He eats no cheese and no dairy. “It’s very strict,” Robert Oberst says. “I get one day off every four weeks where I can eat what I want.” The 29-year-old is currently the second strongest man in America but “I am working my arse off-take first place”.A retired American football player, Oberst served as a bouncer at a bar before a partner inspired him to participate in strongman. He explains his job as “traveling around the world and lifting heavy weird objects”. “I get paid to be the freak show. I’m fine with that,” he adds.He also says that many men who do not understand the whole concept of being a strongman see them as guys who are relaxing on the beach and eating whatever the hell they want. It might look like fun and games but hardly anyone knows the reality behind what goes into being one. In fact, even some strongmen themselves had the same mentality when they joined these competitions. They would eat pizzas, burgers, cheesecakes, etc to get bigger and heavier.But after, they change their mindset. Robert Oberst eats what will him a better athlete, “not just a bigger one”, having become cognizant of what maintains his body. The meals of eating strongman are divided into groups and each group or meal has the macros which include sufficient protein, fats, carbs, etc.

Protein

Strongmen must consume protein in their diet. Amino acids are necessary for the muscle regeneration and maintenance of strongmen, as well as all athletes. Because of this, they need an excellent protein source. Many of the competition's sources are meat and eggs, as well as milk and whey.Thor crushes six eggs while Robert Oberst will eat eight for breakfast. Moreover, meat and eggs also contain a high level of creatine. For power-based, explosive exercises, your muscles regenerate ATP by using this. He claims that he consumes 705 g of protein every day in Brian Shaw's infamous video breakdown of his diet. Beef that has been grass-fed directly from the farmer makes him feel "easier to digest". Digestibility appears to be extremely important to the strongmanGood sources of strongman protein include:

• Grass-fed steak (better CLA content)
• Ground beef
• Lean ground turkey
• Chicken
• Sausage
• Bacon
• Pasture-raised hen eggs (higher in vitamin D)
• Salmon (packed with healthy fatty acids)
• Tuna (canned in spring water)
• Whole milk
• Whey protein shake
• Casein (taken before bed for slow release)
• Greek yogurt

Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates make up a major part of the strongman diet. Upon eating them, their huge muscles are provided with glucose and glycogen, allowing them to burn more fuel. The right carb will, of course, not be any old carb. Mixing sources helps strongmen get a mix of simple and complex carbs. Again, digestibility can be a factor, for instance, Thor prefers white rice because it is more easily digestible.Adding carbs to your diet can help you recover from strongman training, too. Depending on the source, carbohydrates may facilitate protein synthesis or promote sleep. According to another interesting study, athletes who are under intense training can boost their immune systems by eating carbs. Competition, in general, means less chance of competitors getting sick.“…it’s not the Mark Bell no-carb diet.” – Brian ShawShaw got the message across simply when he said; “This diet is to make me as strong as I possibly can, so it’s not the Mark Bell no-carb diet”. The top contender will eat Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal for breakfast and angel hair pasta for lunch. For the regular gym-goer, all this carb love can be confusing. But these guys aren’t trying to cut up for six-pack abs, so sugars and starches are strictly on the menu. If they work for performance, you can bet your last dime they’re eating ‘em. In the words of former World’s Strongest Man, Eddie Hall, “If the average person eats a bowl of porridge… I will eat a bucket.”But there's more to it than that. Although almost all strongmen admit it gets tough to dive into a dish of carbs, most of us enjoy them. A lot of bulk can become overwhelming after a while. According to our three athletes, these carbohydrates were most frequently consumed:

• Oatmeal
• Cereal
• Pasta
• White potatoes
• Sweet potatoes
• Jasmine, basmati, and white rice
• Blueberries
• Bananas
• Frozen berries
• Granola bars

Fats

For years, the mainstream media advised men to avoid fats. However, we are here to tell you that they are important for your health. A diet low in fats will severely limit your potential for strength. Moreover, your hormonal health will suffer under this scenario. As a strongman, eating calories from high-quality fat gives you energy and protection. Joints that are heavily used in training benefit from healthy fatty acids. It is, for this reason, the most popular supplement with fish oil or omega-3.Testosterone is also something to consider. Tossing kegs over a keg wall would be impossible without fats. They do so because they need to maximize their levels of the hormone male sex hormone. Cholesterol, found in certain fats, is one of the precursors to testosterone. Thus, a diet low in fat can cause your hormones to become unbalanced. Chole-sterol, Testo-ster-one. What did you notice about the 'story'? When you look at it this way, everything makes sense, right?

Crushing those calories

As for the fat, one needs to check out the caloric density. At nine kilo-calories per single gram of weight, they’re the most impenetrable of all macros. Carbs for instance come in at just four per gram and the equivalent for protein. When you are trying to hike up your calorie intake so that you can support your muscle mass, fats come in really handy. It is rather hard to build up strength and stay strong without these kinds of macros. Thus it makes fat quite an integral part of any strongman or athlete.These are the most popular fats we saw in our three competitors diet plans:

• Peanut butter
• Avocado
• Almonds
• Brazil nuts
• Fish oil supplements
• Greek yogurt (full-fat of course)
• Egg yolk
• Salmon
• Omega 3 and 6 supplements

The best of the rest

However, there must be a balance that makes a great strongman. Robert Oberst focuses just on that. Thus, you must support the body with a bunch of other micronutrients too which includes more than just stuffing yourself up with brown rice, chicken, broccoli. For example, when you look up at the diet of these strongmen, you would notice that they do not skip on their vegetables. They focus on the quality and how to give a super performance is all that is there in their mind. Bodybuilders might not eat so many greens but strongmen need them.Vitamins are necessary if athletes are going to move well. A correct alphabetic combination of micronutrients supports cellular and biological processes. When taken in combination with other vitamins, such as vitamin D, vitamins C and B boost the immune system, for example, while vitamins E and C help in the production of testosterone. We should also not overlook minerals. Magnesium plays a crucial role in providing high-performance muscles, while zinc is another powerful testosterone booster. Essential minerals include both of these. Others also exist, but I'll save those for another article.Any self-respecting strongman must use these add-ons to rotate in their diet:

• Berries (full of antioxidants)
• Fruit – pears, apple, dates, etc. (rich in vitamins)
• Leafy greens – spinach, kale, cabbage, etc. (rich in iron)
• Fibrous vegetables – broccoli, asparagus, green beans, beetroot, bok choy, sprouts, carrots, red pepper, etc. (aid in digestion)
• Zinc supplement
• Magnesium supplement
• Vitamin D supplement
• Essential amino acids (EAA)
• Multi-vitamin
• D-aspartic acid (a known testosterone booster)
• Sea salt (replenish sodium)

Robert Oberst focuses on having quality protein. It can be said to be one of the biggest approaches to consuming meals. He also makes sure that his meals are well balanced so that he does not lack any single nutrient best macros or micros. In his words,

My basic goal is to get as much clean protein as I can. As I get close to a show, I add in more carbs and fats to lube my joints and to have that extra energy. I’m to a point where my body can burn fat for fuel better than carbs. I load carbs like white rice toward the end of the day. It gets boring. But salsa fixes everything. It’s the best thing ever. I don’t have to try to be big. My body just wants to be that way.

He uses some products which are called the GAT products that are included in his diet to make him work out more efficiently. He feels it is a great addition to his diet. In his words, "Every single day, I do three to four Supertein shakes. It’s a high protein, low sugar, mixes great, tastes great, goes down so easy, digests well. And I’m really picky about my supplements. My friends called me a prima donna with supplements. But I’m gonna go all the way with this, so I might as well take something that works well. The Nitra-flex pre-workout is really great. I take it before every single workout."That was all about what Robert Oberst consumes in a day to function properly and hold muscles in his body. Besides this, there are some other supplements and nutrients that he does not forget to add to his diet. Take a look ahead!

Robert Oberst Suppelemnts and Nutrition

Besides following a hardcore strict and healthy diet, sometimes athletes like Robert Oberst lack some important nutrients because of their hectic daily schedule and workout routine. Thus, Robert Oberst takes some supplements to help him cover up his nutrient intake. Here is a list of supplements that he adds to his meal plan:

• Whey Protein
• L-glutamine
• BCAAs
• Liver-cleansing supplement
• Pre-workout