Mitchell Hooper stunned the world with his strength and power at the recent Arnold Strongman Classic competitions. Despite being on the lower side of weight, he outshone some of the veterans in the Strongman world because of his techniques and skills. But the strength sport hasn’t been his only athletic venture. Hooper has dipped his toes in many other sports, thus going through a roller coaster of health changes. In a YouTube video, he walks his fans through his health journey since graduation.
Hooper studied human kinetics and is a certified Kinesiologist, practicing in Canada. He participated in various sports before finally starting strongman training. Throughout these careers, his goal was to relate to the people he helped.
He began by recalling how he worked as a strength and conditioning coach for a sports team for a year before deciding he wanted more. His goal was to make the health space open to exercises in such a way that they acted as medicine. While the concept wasn’t unheard of, it was rare to come across establishments that dedicated themselves to the cause.
“I realized that, I need something more to my life, something more meaningful than just trying to get an extra 1% out of athletes. This meant that I went to the health space and using exercise as medicine.”
This triggered Hooper’s ultimate calling towards his purpose. He wanted to understand the various situations of athletes and their backgrounds. Therefore, he tried out physique shows, where he drastically reduced his weight; marathons, where he attempted aerobic exercises; and ultimately, strength sports, where he increased his weight up to 300+ lbs.
But beyond his history of athletic careers, Hooper considered himself a Kinesiologist over the rest of his roles. Therefore, his main advice was to prioritize health over performance. Practicing what he preached, he claimed that even a successful Strongman career wouldn’t stop him from choosing health over anything else.
“Your health is more important than your performance… But if I ever felt that Strongman was impacting my health to a degree that I was going to substantially shorten my lifespan, that I was having adverse health consequences in an active sense, from being this heavy and competing in Strongman, I would retire tomorrow.”
To keep the health of extreme athletes in check, Hooper advises inculcating activities outside of their routine. Particularly, exercises that do not make it to the daily plan should be practiced in various forms outside the gym. He usually gets his dose of cardio and HIIT exercises by walking or biking outside. Hooper’s rise in the Strongman community has shown an unbelievable trajectory.
Mitchell Hooper reflects on his relative anonymity a few years ago
Hooper won the Arnold Strongman Classic UK in a dramatic turn of events amidst loud cheers and claps. This event was his second title win within a span of a few weeks, thus presenting an impressive portfolio. However, the Canadian did not start this popular, and he wistfully reminisced about it in a post-championship interview.
Noting how nobody knew his name two years ago, Hooper’s strength and skill pushed him to the top of the roster, making him a household name. With several trophies sitting on his shelf, the World’s Strongest Man title to his name, and many more achievements to come, he’s one of the potential GOATs of the sport.
