Natural strongman narrowly misses out on podium at Nationals

Vegan natural strongman Tom Butts finishes fourth at England’s Strongest

Two-times World’s Strongest Natural Man, Tom Butts recently competed in the Official Strongman England’s Strongest under 90 kilogram category.

Whereas Tom, a member of the Vegan Strong Plantbuilt team, is a natural strongman, meaning he doesn’t use steroids, this event was untested so he would have been competing against other men who probably were using steroids to improve their performance. This may seem shocking to many, but steroid use is commonplace among bodybuilders and strongmen who don’t compete in natural-specific competitions. In fact, steroid use is so widespread that many would consider it impossible to win or even be competitive in one of these competitions without their use.

Despite this, Tom wanted to show that as a natural vegan strongman he was still competitive.

The competition consisted of five events where the strongmen could rack up points. Tom won the Stone Run competition by lifting five stones between the weights of 100 kilograms and 160 kilograms in just 30 seconds.

Tom finished the event in a respectable fourth place, narrowly missing out on a podium finish. On Instagram he reflected:

“Looking back on my performance this weekend I feel there were more negatives than positives. I don’t feel like I did a particularly great job on any event. I’ve done more reps on the static events in training and all three final events faster. Stumbling with/dropping the Husafell bag cost me the event win and a podium place, which is obviously disappointing. Still, to come 4th out of a large group of very good athletes is a success.

Still, there were plenty of positives and highlights. I left the comp feeling happy and motivated. Highlights were definitely the people on the day and getting an event win. One day I’ll need to actually take a Stone record.”

Content sourced and adapted, with permission, from Great Vegan Athletes.