Retired Strongman athlete Brian Shaw recently teamed up with legendary bodybuilder Ronnie Coleman for a workout. Shaw is among the most accomplished Strongman athletes in history and he is onto a new chapter of life after calling it a career this past August.
During his storied Strongman career, Brian Shaw won the World’s Strongest Man competition in 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2016. He became the first athlete in history to win the Arnold Strongman Classic and World’s Strongest Man competition in the same calendar year when he achieved the feat in 2011 and then went on to repeat it in 2015.
Overall, Brian Shaw has 27 international competition victories to his name. The only athletes to win more titles are Zydrunas Savickas (84), Mariusz Pudzianowski (43) and Hafthor Bjornsson (30).
Although the 41-year-old has been in the top echelons of the sport, repeated instances of injuries and health issues have nagged him in recent times. Brian Shaw had to spend the better part of 2021-2022 recovering from a hamstring injury suffered at the inaugural Strongman competition at the 2021 Rogue Invitational.
He was also hospitalized before the 2023 WSM due to leg cellulitis but recovered in time to compete, finishing seventh at the show. The decorated athlete returned to competition for the last time at the 2023 Shaw Classic and walked away with a win. As promised earlier, Shaw retired from the sport with the win. He is now focusing his energies on extending his legacy beyond Strongman sports.
Brian Shaw recently announced that he will compete in an MMA fight in early 2024 and started taking BJJ lessons from Gordan Ryan. However, Shaw is not entirely new to MMA training as he was spotted working with former interim UFC lightweight champion Dustin Poirier back in 2021.
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Brian Shaw continues to incorporate strength training in his routine and recently partnered with 8-time Mr. Olympia Ronnie Coleman for a biceps workout. Coleman is one of the greatest competitors in the history of bodybuilding and has contributed significantly in expanding the sport’s global footprint.
Brian Shaw Joins Ronnie Coleman for an arms workout
Shaw and Coleman represent the absolute best of their respective sports. Both men have achieved the rarest of the rare accomplishments during their storied careers. Shaw was humbled to be training with Ronnie and said:
“This is a special treat, a really, really special treat! I watched this guy for so long and being in here and getting to do some training is going to be a heck of a lot of fun!”
With that, the duo jumped right into the workout and trained biceps.
Cable Curls
The Titans enthusiastically kicked off the training session with cable curls and performed a few sets. Brian Shaw and Ronnie Coleman a few high-rep sets of the exercise and jumped into the next one.
Dumbbell Preacher Curls
The duo next performed arguably the most effective bicep isolation exercise – preacher curls. But instead of using a machine, the duo opted for using dumbbells and cranked out a few good sets.
Dumbbell Hammer Curls
The workout concluded after Ronnie Coleman and Brian Shaw worked the brachialis and brachioradialis muscles with a few sets of dumbbell hammer curls. The gentle giants took their turns at executing perfect sets of the exercise and wrapped up the training session.
Overall, the workout included:
- Cable Curls – 3 sets of 18 to 20 reps
- Dumbbell Preacher Curls – 3 sets of – 3 sets of 15 to 20 reps
- Dumbbell Hammer Curls – 3 sets of 15 to 20 reps
Shaw elaborates on the decision to retire from competition
Ronnie Coleman and Brian Shaw are similar in the fact that they both scored the last victories of their careers at 41 years of age. However, Ronnie Coleman continued with his career for a couple of years after that and retired at the age of 43. Meanwhile, Shaw decided to step away after scoring a big win.
Ronnie opined that Shaw is still competitive and could have delayed the retirement. Brian Shaw explained the thought process behind retiring on the back of a win and said:
“I feel really good. Honestly, I feel really good. This year I felt really really good. I just wanted to walk out on top. That’s what I wanted to do, right? I didn’t want to be one of those guys that hung on long and you’re just like, ‘yah, I should have stopped a couple of years ago. This year, I won the Strongest Man on Earth this year. So I was like, ‘you know what? I get to walk out holding that trophy on top, you know. So that was a good moment.”
Competitive sports is a young man’s business. Many top athletes across all sports have severely tarnished their legacies by staying active after losing their mental and physical edge over the younger generation. Brian Shaw has set an amazing example for younger athletes by walking away from the sport while being at the top.
Watch the workout video below, courtesy of the ShawStrength YouTube channel:
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