Pull trucks forward, lift a tree trunk over your head and lift a stone ball over 100 pounds. These are just some assignments that you have to complete as a ‘strongest man athlete’. Jeffrey Laterveer from Roosendaal, is such a strong man. “I like the idea that you are stronger than the average person.”
In addition to hanging on the weights for hours a day, good and plenty of food is very important to Jeffrey. “I eat about 4,500 calories a day. That’s actually the amount two adult men eat together in one day,” he says with some pride.
Transformation
Because Jeffrey is proud of how he has been transformed into one of the strongest men in the Netherlands. “When I started this sport a few years ago, I only weighed 75 kilos. By training a lot and eating a lot, I grew to about 105 kilos.”
Be stronger
Where some people struggle with their weight and prefer to lose a few pounds, Jeffrey works hard to stay above 100 pounds. “I feel good about being strong. It doesn’t make me feel powerful, but I like the idea that you are stronger than the average person.”
He sometimes trains for four hours a day and is busy with his sport all the time, but it is not the case that Jeffrey can make ends meet from his sport. In addition to hanging on the weights for hours, he also works full-time as a fitness instructor. “That also makes it easier to combine,” he says. “Of course it would be nice if you have sponsors and can do this for a living. In the past, the top players could make ends meet, but the attention for this sport has unfortunately declined in recent years.”
WK
Jeffrey is the only Dutchman to go to Ukraine at the end of July to participate in the World Cup of the strongest man athlete to compete with the strongest men in the world. The question is whether it can continue, because the rules in Ukraine still require that someone entering the country be quarantined for two weeks because of the corona virus. “And that’s just not possible for a top athlete,” says Jeffrey. “They are in talks to adjust that rule for top athletes. So for now I just assume that it will continue and so I will continue to train.”
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