When Eddie Hall walked onto the scales for his 2017 World’s Strongest Man win, he weighed a staggering 433 pounds. He was a mountain of a man. A literal giant. But he certainly didn't have a visible abdominal ripple. Fast forward a few years, and the internet nearly melted when a photo surfaced of an Eddie Hall 6 pack looking sharp, defined, and—honestly—a bit terrifying. It wasn't just weight loss. It was a complete structural overhaul of one of the strongest human beings to ever live.
Seeing a man who once deadlifted 500kg sporting a lean midsection feels like a glitch in the matrix. Most people who carry that much mass never see their abs. Not ever. But Eddie did it. How? It wasn't some magic pill or a "secret 10-minute ab circuit" you see on late-night infomercials. It was a grueling, calculated transition from "Strongman" to "Striker" ahead of his boxing match against Hafthor Björnsson.
The Massive Caloric Drop
To get that Eddie Hall 6 pack, the first thing to go was the food. Not all of it, obviously—the man is still huge—but the sheer volume had to change. During his peak Strongman days, Eddie was famously consuming roughly 12,000 calories a day. Think about that. That is five or six times what a normal man eats. His wife, Alexandra, often spoke about the sheer labor of just prepping that much fuel. It was a full-time job for both of them.
He dropped that number down to around 7,000 calories, and then eventually closer to 5,000 during the height of his boxing camp. For you or me, 5,000 calories is a bulk. For Eddie? That’s a massive deficit.
The weight started falling off. But here's the kicker: he didn't just want to be thin. He wanted to be "The Beast" with a core that could take a punch. He swapped out the massive amounts of pasta and cheesecake for high-protein, nutrient-dense meals. We’re talking steaks, chicken, heaps of vegetables, and enough carbs to fuel high-intensity cardio without spilling over into fat storage. He leaned heavily on his nutritionist, Nathan Payton, to ensure he wasn't losing the muscle that made him famous while chasing those abdominal lines.
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The Cardio Shift
Strongmen don't usually do "cardio" in the traditional sense. Their cardio is moving a 400kg yoke or pulling a plane. It’s anaerobic, explosive, and devastatingly heavy. To reveal the Eddie Hall 6 pack, he had to embrace the steady-state and HIIT world he’d previously avoided.
He started swimming. A lot. Swimming is unique for a guy Eddie’s size because it’s easy on the joints. When you weigh over 300 pounds, running on pavement is a death sentence for your knees and lower back. But in the pool? He could push his heart rate into the stratosphere without the impact. He also added boxing drills, which are notoriously core-heavy. Every time you throw a hook or a cross, your obliques and rectus abdominis are screaming. That’s how you get the "functional" look he has now, rather than just a skinny guy with abs.
Why His Abs Look Different
If you look closely at Eddie’s midsection, it doesn't look like a fitness model’s six-pack. It’s thick. It’s dense. It looks like it was carved out of granite. This is because underneath the fat loss, he has the muscle maturity of two decades of heavy lifting.
When you perform a 500kg deadlift, your core is under more pressure than any "crunch" could ever provide. His abdominal muscles are literally thicker than most people's biceps. This means that even at a slightly higher body fat percentage than a pro bodybuilder, his abs pop because they are so physically large.
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The Role of Recovery and Health
People often forget that Eddie retired from Strongman because he was worried about dying. His blood pressure was through the roof. He had sleep apnea. He was carrying so much weight that his heart was constantly under duress. Getting the Eddie Hall 6 pack was as much a health intervention as it was a cosmetic goal.
He utilized daily physiotherapy and hyperbaric oxygen therapy. He used cold water immersion to manage inflammation. This allowed him to train twice a day, every day, which is how the transformation happened so fast. Without that professional-level recovery, a 34-year-old man of his size would have simply snapped.
The Mental Game of the Transformation
Honestly, the hardest part for Eddie wasn't the training. It was the ego. He had to get used to being "small." In his world, being 350 pounds felt small. He had to watch his strength numbers in the gym dip slightly as his body fat dropped. For a guy whose entire identity was built on being the strongest man on earth, that’s a hard pill to swallow.
But he replaced that obsession with a new one: mobility and speed. He realized that a lean Eddie Hall is actually more dangerous in many ways than the 433-pound version. He could move. He could breathe. He could actually tie his own shoes without getting winded.
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What Most People Get Wrong
People think he just "did a lot of sit-ups." That’s nonsense. You could do a thousand sit-ups a day and never see your abs if they are buried under a layer of visceral fat. The Eddie Hall 6 pack is a byproduct of a massive caloric shift and a change in the type of stimulus he gave his muscles.
It’s also important to realize that Eddie is genetically gifted for muscle mass. Most people will never have abs that look that "blocky" because they simply don't have the skeletal frame or the muscle belly thickness that he has. He’s a freak of nature. But the principles he used—high-protein deficits, low-impact cardio, and compound movements—are universal.
Actionable Steps for Your Own Core Transformation
If you're looking at Eddie and thinking you want to see your own abs, you don't need to lift 500kg. But you do need his discipline.
- Prioritize the Deficit: You cannot out-train a bad diet. Use a TDEE calculator to find your maintenance calories and drop them by 15-20%.
- High Protein is Non-Negotiable: To keep your muscle while losing fat, aim for at least 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight.
- Compound Movements Over Crunches: Build the "thickness" of your abs with squats, deadlifts, and overhead presses. These force the core to stabilize under load.
- Find Low-Impact Cardio: If you are heavy, follow Eddie's lead and get in the pool or on a bike. Protect your joints so you can stay consistent.
- Focus on Consistency, Not Intensity: Eddie didn't get shredded in a weekend. It took years of transitioning his lifestyle.
The Eddie Hall 6 pack is a testament to the fact that the human body is incredibly adaptable. Whether you're a world-record powerlifter or just someone trying to lose the dad bod, the math remains the same. Control the kitchen, move with intent, and give your body a reason to keep its muscle while it burns through the fat. It’s not easy. It’s definitely not fun most of the time. But as Eddie proved, it is entirely possible to rewrite your physical identity at any age.