It’s something of a misnomer to call strongmen overweight. There is an obvious difference in stature and build between a strongman and a more ‘typical’ athlete. We’re used to associating fitness with lean muscles. So it seems strange to see the very strongest men in the world looking so different. You might even say they seem unhealthy, or unfit.
Classing someone as overweight doesn’t necessarily give the correct overview of their health levels. Being heavy doesn’t mean you don’t have muscle, strength, or stamina. Strongmen are overweight if we view them via BMI and other similar tests. However, strongmen aren’t ‘over’ weight when you consider their weight as a proportion of fat to muscle, and as it’s needed in their career.
Much like with other forms of weightlifting, strongmen need a lot of calories to power their lifting. Even a single lift can expend a huge amount of energy. To support this, they need to eat regularly. Compensating for the energy lost requires high-calorie food. The easiest way to get those calories is through rich, generally less healthy, food. Think about it - it would be almost impossible to pull an airplane on an all salad diet. This regular consumption, combined with the types of exercise strongmen do, means that weight builds up and sticks.
Strongmen and other types of lifters won’t do the same kind of repetitions as, for example, bodybuilders. Instead, they work towards lifting incredibly high weights for a limited number of reps. This causes muscles to develop differently. They also don’t need to do things like cardio, and other fat burning activities. The training instead will focus almost entirely on building muscle.
Because there is a lot of muscle involved, we just can’t see it, a strongman may be in a category classed as ‘overweight’. This wouldn’t be taking into account where that weight comes from. Muscle is heavier than fat, because of the density. So for a strongman, with so much heavy and dense muscle, an ‘overweight’ classification is inevitable.
Another factor to consider is the competition element. The typical image we have of a bodybuilder is someone intending to display their muscles. In strongman competitions, appearance is of no importance at all. One way bodybuilders emphasize muscles is through a restricted diet and low water levels. This will stop fat from building up and covering the muscles. For a strongman, this isn’t necessary. It would actually be incredibly harmful to cut down on food and water before competing - and it isn’t a good idea in most cases anyway.
In other sports, weight needs to be balanced for speed. This is why runners are generally lean. Speed isn’t necessary for a strongman, certainly not compared to the bulk required for stable lifting.
Strongmen are a high weight, but the weight is necessary for performance. Calories need to be consumed regularly for strength, the focus is building muscle, and the muscles don’t require visible prominence for competition.