Superstar Larry Wheels opens up to Telegraf about his records, difficult upbringing, Serbia

Just 13 years ago, on the tiny Caribbean island of Saint Martin, there was a skinny boy living with his mom in a beach house. He didn't speak French, so he couldn't go to public school. He had no money, so he could not attend an expensive English language private school where the children of rich parents went. He didn't even have friends, because of the language barrier. One day, he took a broomstick, and fixed two cider blocks to its two ends. He lifted the weights made like this once, twice, three times...

Today, 13 years later, that boy is one of the strongest men in the world. His name is respected in all the gyms around the world, uttered with admiration. There is no athlete like Larry Wheels anywhere in the world. The 27-year-old, while still young by any standard, is already a powerlifting legend, and has been a more than successful bodybuilder (which, to anyone who knows anything about these things, is an unprecedented feat). Not only that, Larry is now building a career in a completely new sport - the strongman competition, while the fourth sport where he ranks at the world's very top is arm wrestling.

In addition to being a top athlete, Larry is also a "good spirit" representing strength sports: on Instagram (3.6 million followers) and YouTube (2.3 million followers), his training sessions, as well as socializing with other strength athletes, are followed breathlessly by young people and old gym fans around the world. In addition to his training sessions and thoughts about his sports, Larry often records videos of him hanging out with other legends, such as Hafthor Bjornsson, once a strongman and now a boxer, world-famous for his role as "The Mountain" in the Game of Thrones, Eddie Hall, another legend of the strongman competition, Devon Larratt, one of the best arm wrestlers in the history of this sport, and Levan Saginashvili, the "monster" from Georgia, the undisputed arm wrestling champion.

We were lucky enough to talk about all this with Larry, who stayed in Serbia for a while. For this we have his girlfriend, Sejla Djakovac, to thank - a beautiful Novi Pazar woman who won the heart of a guy whom, rest assured, we will soon see in Hollywood blockbusters. Sejla put us in touch with Larry, who very kindly agreed to speak for Telegraf about his sports, life, motivations, role models...

But first, some background information about Larry Wheels. He was born in the Bronx, New York, in 1994. Life, as they say, was not kind to him: as a boy, he was taken from his mother, and placed in a foster home in New York City. Then he got sent to another. Then another. As he says, he bounced from family to family, and at the age of 12, Larry decided that he had had enough of this, and looked for his mother, who lived on the island of Saint Martin in the Caribbean. He lived there for the next three years.

He started with a broom and cider blocks, because he couldn't join a gym, since the age limit was 16. He "worked" with these "weights" for a year, and at 15 he decided to return to the US, to the Bronx, together with his mother. As soon as he arrived, he joined a real gym and from that moment never left. He worked out like crazy, got stronger and stronger, and discovered that he was most interested in powerlifting.

Soon, in his early 20s, he broke the world record in this sport: lifting 395 kilograms in squat, 282 in bench and 387 in deadlift - a total of 1,054 kilograms. Three months after this record, he "dropped" about 15 kilograms and entered a bodybuilding competition - NPC Gold Coast Muscle Classic in California. He finished first - which no powerlifter before or since has done.

At one event, he "fell in love" with arm wrestling, and since then we often see him testing his strength with the greats of this sport. Lately he has devoted himself fanatically to the strongman competition, in which he will make his debut later this year, as a beginner, but a beginner who will immediately upset the apple cart.

By the way, Wheels showed what a great man he is when meeting with a Serbian, the young Ivan Cuk, whose unusual feat of strength he observed with a lot of admiration and not a bit of envy, showing true passion for the sport and brotherly support for anyone who needs it.

• Larry it's really an honor to have you here, welcome to Serbia, welcome to Telegraf. How long have you been in Serbia, and why did you come here?

- First of all thank you for having me, especially since this is my last day in Serbia, I'm flying back to Dubai tomorrow. I came here because of my lovely partner, Seijla. There's a couple of weddings that we had to attend here this month, one of them being her sister, the other being a very close friend. My pronunciation of the Serbian language is not too great, so, I think it's De-spo-to-vak where I was?

• Despotovac.

 

 

 

 

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- Yeah, exactly. That's where the wedding was. A very close friend.

• How did you two meet? You and Seijla?

- Well, I slid into the DMs. And I was lucky that she saw it and responded...

• So it does work?

- It actually does work, yes. You miss all the shots you don't take.

• If you are 150 kilos of muscle, you've got a shot at everybody. You were at a traditional Balkan wedding, here is Serbia? How did you like it, how did you feel there? Like a stranger or did you get the atmosphere?

- Actually, at the first wedding we attended a couple of weeks ago, there was a tragedy that befell before the wedding, so there was no music and no drinking. As you can imagine, because of that the atmosphere was mellow, and not what I was expecting. This wedding, however - totally different, everyone was drinking, everyone was dancing, I saw the traditional dances. I was gonna participate, but I was worried that I'd get injured, because I'm so stiff right now from all the trauma and training, so I just watched from a distance and it was lots of fun.

• As everyone knows, you're a unique athlete. Probably the only man who at the same time is world class at powerlifting, at the strongman competition, at bodybuilding, and at arm wrestling. How hard is it to maintain yourself at the top in all four disciplines? No powerlifters are built like you - obviously. They're huge, always and, a few bodybuilders can hold their own in arm wrestling with people like Devon Larratt and Levan Saginashvili. So how do you do it? Is it difficult to be at the top in all four disciplines?

- Absolutely. And, really, the credit goes off to my mom and dad. A lot of being lean, all year round, having a fast metabolism, is due to my genetics, which is my unfair advantage. Not everyone will have the genetic ability to have a bodybuilder's physique and also do strength training, without their physique being impacted or changed in any way dramatically. So, I don't have to focus as much as someone else, for example, your stereotypical powerlifter or strongman athlete on my diet, and I can still maintain a fairly lean aesthetic physique. Again, that's my unfair advantage, but at a very early age I knew I had a gift.

I almost certainly think it's a gift and I wanted to exploit that, I wanted to use that to its utmost potential, which is why I try and test myself in every aspect of fitness, strength, bodybuilding. Personally, my preference is any feat of strength, anything strength-related. Bodybuilding - once I was 17, 18 years old I was really happy with my physique, and to go to the extremes of bodybuilding, I never felt comfortable, or that motivated, but I've always been extremely passionate about strength training in any aspect of it.

• When you see people people like Ronnie Colman commenting on your workout and saying that you're better than him. You did 50 repetitions with 100 kilos, and he said, "I couldn't do that in my prime." How does that feel? Because, Ronnie Coleman is everything in bodybuilding.

- For the longest time, Ronnie has always been my biggest inspiration, because he had the best balance of strength and physique. I always wanted to be something like him, or another idol of mine is Stan Efferding, who I think is a brilliant man, very well educated, he became a pro bodybuilder, he achieved world records. And with Ronnie Coleman, when he says that he wasn't as strong as me in these particular lifts, that's only because be was a body builder, he never attempted to be a full time a powerlifter, so the power thing to him was always his second priority. It wasn't a priority, bodybuilding was.

So, if he decided to drop bodybuilding altogether and dedicate his life to powerlifting like he did bodybuilding, imagine what he would have been capable of. In my case, my priority is always strength training, with bodybuilding being a second priority. So, if I were to dedicated my life to bodybuilding and not worry about where my strength is at, or any aspect of strength training, I'd have a very different physique to what I have now.

• And as far as bodybuilding goes, who's the icon? Ronnie or Arnold?

- Ronnie Coleman, for sure. A 100 percent. He was incredibly strong, I think he was just the pinnacle of men's open bodybuilding of all time.

• I have some of your records written down here, is it still in 870 pounds in squat, 645 in bench, and 855 in deadlift?

- Yeah. Aha.

• So, are you anywhere close to these weights now, or how much does your strongman training interfere with these kinds of weights?

- At that time, when I prepared for those three lifts, I was only focused on squat, bench, and deadlift. And I think with any discipline, to really make it to the top and to see your full potential, you have to be very specific with your training. I wasn't doing any other kind of training beside that. No bodybuilding training, no strongman straining, no arm wrestling training, so I saw the biggest results.

Now, because I've been focusing only on the strongman, my deadlift has gone up, my deadlift is definitely much higher than it was at that time, but my bench and squat has gone down, because I've been doing zero bench press, I've been doing zero squats. I feel a little bit guilty about skipping leg day, but I have been doing leg workout such as yoke, farmer's, leg press, vertical jumps, but I have not been doing any squats at all. So, for sure, those two lifts have dropped.

• So, anyone that follows you, and there are millions of people around the world, knows that you are really, really dedicated. If you dedicate yourself to the strong commenting, could you challenge people like Tom Stoltman, and all of these giants? Because you are lighter than them and you come from a different background. Do you see yourself beating them?

- Absolutely, I don't see why at this moment I can't at least be a serious competitor to them. Only time will tell, I'm still early in my strongman career, and they are very accomplished. They've been in it for much longer than I have. So I need to be realistic, and I think it's just a matter of time. I'd say within the next couple of years, I'll really have have a good idea of where I'm at in strongman, provided I can master the movements, and not master them in a couple of years, of course.

It won't happen that quickly but at least get comfortable enough with them where I'm not getting injured every training cycle, because right now they're very unfamiliar to me. And every couple of months I'm getting a snag here, a small tear there. So once I can familiarize myself with these movements, then I'll have a better gauge of, okay, now that I feel comfortable doing these things, I can see where my trajectory is going to be over the next few years. Because they're still very young, they're very strong, and they really are at the top. But if I can get to that level in strongman I'd be very, very happy.

• Tom Stoltman is younger than you?

- Yes, I think he's a year or two younger. And a lot bigger.

• Yes, he's a giant.

- He's a giant.

• He's a nice guy.

- He's so nice. And his brother as well, they're both so nice.

• You spend a lot of time training with people like Eddie Hall and Thor Bjornsson, "The Mountain" from the Game of Thrones, also with people like Devon Larratt and Levan Saginashvili, those people at the very top of their game. How much have you been able to learn from each one of them, and combine their knowledge in what you are doing? How much of their knowledge has passed on to you? Are you using their experience in any way? The way they set up, the way they devote themselves, what have you learned from them?

- One thing I can take away from all of them, is that they are obsessed with their passion, passion drives them. And I can relate to that, when I was in my early stages of powerlifting, my first few years I got into it, 17 to 22, when all I could think about was powerlifting. I wake up, I go to sleep, and powerlifting is always on my mind. And all of them have that in common, that is what they love the most in life, from what I can see. And no doubt, with Thor, with strongmen, with arm wrestling, there's so many things I learn from them, that I apply today in my training. And how disciplined they are.

They're really hard on themselves, and they have, from what I saw, especially with Thor, an amazing support system, family and friends who are there at all their events, at least most of them. And, I won't go too much off topic, but Thor and his support system, when I was in Iceland, it was incredible. Every workout, he had his dad there, his sister, his mom, his closest friend that he grew up with, and they always cheer him on, and maybe give him some food every now and then, at it was just really cool to see. So I think your support system is really important, even though it may seem like it's a one-man sport, strongman, it's like, you versus you, I think the people behind you, supporting you in your journey to the competition is really important as well.

• Just like you Thor and Eddie also decided to try another sport, it was boxing. We all saw what happened in Dubai, you called it well, for me it was obvious Thor was going to win it, ten out of ten times. What do you think about that fight? Was it a legit boxing fight? Some people try to call it "a freak show" but to me it was a legit boxing fight. I don't think any heavyweight would have an easy time with either of those two in the ring. And did you get that $10,000 from Eddie?

- Well, before I talk about that 10,000... I think a lot of us were expecting to see two strongmen in the ring, but what we saw was two boxers. So both took it very seriously, I'd argue Thor took it even more seriously, because it seems as though Eddie might be doing it as a one-off, whereas Thor wants to make a career out of it. And, the 10K, I have not seen them yet, unfortunately.

• I hope Eddie is listening...

- I'm sure when I get back, eventually...

• When did you start to get serious with arm wrestling? When was your first contact with that sport and why did you like that so much?

- It was at an expo with Travis Bagent in the US. And, me, having quite a bit of confidence in my strength, I hadn't arm-wrestled anyone really but my workout partners, and I always beat them, no problem, so when I saw Travis Bagent, I had no idea who he was. He was up there on the stage, and he was challenging people to beat him, "If anyone can beat me I'll give you..." something like 10,000, something like that. And I thought, okay, easy 10K for me. And then when I gripped up with him, I'm like, okay, something's not right here. This just doesn't feel like what I felt in the past, you know, arm-wrestling for fun with my friends.

As you can imagine, I just got flash pinned, and he was playing around with me as if I never touched a gym a day in my life. So, that was very humbling. And ever since, I continued to get humbled, by more and more different arm wrestlers, some half the size, some very small. My most most humbling loss was from Rahul Panicker, who's maybe 5ft 3, maybe 70 kilos, and he beat me at one point, a couple of years ago. All these humbling experiences made really not like losing any more. "Okay, it's time I start winning."

And I found out, the deeper and deeper I got, how complicated the sport is, I actually really like that guys half my size can beat me. So that made me wonder, okay, if I get good as they are, imagine what I would be capable of in this sport. I also like the idea that guys like John Brzenk who are well into their 50s as well as Devon, who is in his 40s, are still at the top of the game. They're still beating guys half their age, fresh into the sport. Maybe they can't strain arm anymore, but they're really still very competitive. I like that there's not shelf life from this sport, like in strongman for example, you have maybe until your mid-30s until your body starts fighting back. But in arm wrestling, it seems as though you can be in it for 20, 30 years, and still be really competitive. So I see it like a marathon. Okay, I'm not good right now, but it's only a matter of time, provided I stick to this sport, that it will be.

• Is it a strength sport, or a combat sport?

- It's definitely at fifty-fifty. Because if someone is dramatically stronger than you, you can be an arm-wrestling veteran, and you will be helpless against them...

• Like Devon and Levan?

- Yes, exactly.

• You arm-wrestled both of them? So can you compare, what it's like arm-wrestling Devon versus Levan?

- Well, Levan's hand is dramatically bigger than Devon's. It's thicker, his fingers are longer, and when you grip his hand, especially like I did with all those bands around me... I don't know how many people saw it, four bands... I still couldn't move him, I was like, okay, we're dealing with a mutant here, this is, someone who's "left humanity behind."

"He's no longer a human being anymore." And when you grip Devon's hand, it feels thicker than an average hand, and he's tall, and he has that leverage, but it's nowhere near as engulfing as Levan's hand, Levan is not just sheer power, he's been arm wrestling for so many years, so he has an amazing combination of technique and strength. He's as technical as he is powerful. So Levan, really, I can't imagine anyone beating him, even one round, ever.

• Ever? Like prime Brzenk, or prime Vojevoda, not even those guys?

- I think not even those guys. I think we're dealing with someone who will be undefeated for a very long time.

• Another thing you're really, really good is social media, social marketing. You're always filming. Whenever I see you, you're filming. How much time does it take away from you? Do you have a team of people doing this for you or you are the boss in there, also?

- I have a small team. I have a couple of guys in Dubai, one I pay for full-time for YouTube content, and the other for Instagram, TikTok, maybe Snapchat in the future. It doesn't take as much time as maybe one would think. So I only film my workouts and when I travel. This particular time I didn't bring my prime videographer as I usually would with my travels in the past, because I wanted it to be more a couple's trip, with me and my partner. And I had her film just here and there, a couple of things, like with Ivan and the grip. You've seen that one.

• We're going to talk about it, later.

- Okay. And, it's really just when I work out, will I be filming and create several different points of content from that one workout video. And I work out four times a week.

• I saw that you didn't particularly like Kradjordje steak, you said that in one of your videos here in Serbia. I think Sejla said that you tried that dish right here in Belgrade. You didn't like it, but how did you like kebabs down in Novi Pazar? Because it's the best place for kebabs in Serbia, anywhere in the world. Did you try them?

- I did. I actually did like it. It's kind of, spiced meat. And I did like it.

• Let's get serious for a bit, I read you bio, and it's really inspirational. Because you were that kid who spent his youth in foster homes, you said that you bounced from one foster home to another, you lived in the Bronx, then you moved to Saint Martin, and you didn't have any especially good time there, because you didn't speak any French, and probably that's what lead you to powerlifting, bodybuilding and all this stuff, because many people know this, but many don't, you began working with a broomstick and two cider blocks.

- That's right.

• It's a really inspirational story. Could you share a little bit, when did you realize this was going to be your life? Was it in Saint Martin or later when you got back to the US, to the gyms? When did you realize, "powerlifting is my stuff, I'm gonna be doing this for a living?

- In Saint Martin, I did lift with a broom and cinder blocks for probably about a good six months to a year. And I would have joined a real gym but I was two young, there to join a gym you had to be 16. And at the time, I as 13, 14. I left when I was going on 15.

• And you were a skinny guy?

- I was very skinny. You could see every bone in my ribs, my Adam's apple was poking out about a foot from my throat, so I was very, very skinny. I didn't realize I had a lot of potential in powerlifting until I was 17. And that is when I met a veteran who was doing powerlifting during service, and he told me, "Yeah, you do one rep, and you test your max," it's very different from bodybuilding. He didn't personally like it. But I said that sounds great to me, because at the time I was already happy with my physique and at the time I thought, training for strength was something that could be calculated fair in competition rather than bodybuilding, which seems to be based on the opinion of the judges.

So if you lift the weight, it's whether you get the weight or not. But in bodybuilding stage, how do you know if somebody's really better than the other one? Everyone looks great on stage. So that's always put be off from bodybuilding in the beginning. It was 17-18 when I started comparing my lifts in the gym to others who were a little bit older than me, to juniors, who were 20, 23, what they were capable of in squat, bench, and deadlift.

I looked at my lifts, and said, "Wait, I'm doing better than some of these guys, I'm so much younger, and, I'm not as, fluffy, as some of them are." So I said to myself, okay, if I dedicate myself to this, which I have the time and patience to do, then I think I can achieve something significant in this sport.

• When you were growing up, doing all those weights with broomsticks and later dumbbells, did you have any heroes, people, "I wanna be like him"?

- For sure. At the time there were three guys who I watched obsessively. Pete Rubish, Chris Hickson, who passed away recently, RIP to him, and Eric Lilliebridge. At the time - Pete Rubish and Eric Lilliebridge do powerligting here and there, but not as serious as when I was watching them - but these guys were just a few years older than me, who were all the buzz in powerlifting, everyone would be talking about, because they were very young and they're achieving incredible things in the sport. And Pete Rubish, for one, and Eric, they both had extreme intensity in common, when they were lifting.

They'd scream, they'd throw the weight down, they'd get hyped up. Their crew they'd be training with would be so energetic and so excited about the training, and it seemed like so much fun. I would always watch them before I go to the gym. And always watched their biggest lifts and said, "okay, one they I'm going to do more than that," you know, just as a competition to myself.

• What would you say was your biggest inspiration, motive, for becoming one of the strongest people in history? I read that you were bullied as a kid, a lot? Would you say that was one of the biggest motives - not to get bullied ever again?

- When I first picked up a weight, that was the biggest motivation. And then it evolved into something a bit more positive, such as just realizing this gift I had, and not wanting it to go to waste. Because I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if I know what I can accomplish in this sport and I know what I can make of myself, but I didn't do anything about it. In the beginning it was from bullying and I had very low self-esteem, not being happy in my own skin, that led me to pick up a weight.

• If you had to a message to all the little kids out there, or those not living in ideal conditions who maybe feel like they don't have a chance to make it, what would it be? What would you say to them? From someone who went to, really nowhere, to the top of the world?

- It may sound a bit cliche, but follow your passion. Find out what makes you happy. The way to identify what that is, I think is a challenge with everyone. I was fortunate enough to identify that very early in life, which is why I'm at where I'm at today. At a very young age, as a teenager, I knew, okay, this is my talent, this is my God-given gift, and I became obsessed with it very quickly. But with these other disciplines that I experiment with, for example strongman, bodybuilding, arm wrestling, I haven't developed that obsession, like I had with powerlifting in the past. Yet. It could come, but I haven't found that fire like I did with powerlifting. And that fire, that passion is what led me to obsession, which is what got me to achieving world records in the sport. Because it was all I could think about. I wake up, I think about powerlifting, I go to sleep, I think about powerlifting, and I would do anything, at any cost, to achieve what I wanted to achieve in this sport.

And it's not so easy to identify what that is for everyone. It can be very different, individual to individual, but I think if you can work hard and identify what that is - you will find out what that is when you find yourself obsessed with something. Because it can lead from lifting with a broomstick and cinder blocks, to where I'm at today. That talent, that you may not know is there yet, can only be found by experimenting and living life, you know. Because if I never picked up a weight that day, who knows how my life would have ended up. It might be a bit of a long answer but I must also say that at one point in my life I wasn't sure if I could ever make a living lifting eights.

And trolls on my social media if they ever had anything to say was, he just trains to get better at training. But I made training a career. I made ego-lifting a career. And it wasn't obvious in the beginning, but you a way when you're really passionate about something to make a living with it.

It's 2022, and with the internet there's just so many ways to make a living. Making a living is really important, as finding happiness and being happy and content with your life. So, of course, I couldn't just be happy with lifting and breaking records, I needed to also make a living for myself. So, I had to get crafty about that. But I can't think of anything else I'd rather do than what I'm doing today. This is my dream life, where I'm at at this moment, everything's where I wanted it to be, it didn't come overnight, it took years to get here, but... don't want to get too much off topic. Once you can identify your passion and your talent, just go full throttle about it. Take it all the way.

• I hope the kids are listening to this. Who is Ivan Cuk? Can you tell us something about him? He was a really big surprise for you?

- He absolutely was. He looks so unsuspecting when you see him, he's a 19-year-old grip god, from Belgrade - I actually met him in Barcelona. By coincidence. But Adam, my videographer, said he spoke to him prior to that. He wanted to do a video with me, but it was just by coincidence that I was in Barcelona. When I saw him, he said what he's capable of, but I was very suspicious. "You can close the number four (Captains of Crush grip)? You?" Cos he's a slim guy. He's 90 kilograms, he's 6-foot tall, he's not a giant like Thor or Levan. He looks like a normal, fit man. So I didn't think if he was close the number four it was gonna be a real one, maybe it was a fake one, there was something tricky going on... so I was very suspicious, but I had to see it. I wanted to be proved wrong, and I was. He closed the Captians of Crush grip number four, something that I think less than a dozen people ever have closed, and he's only 19 years old, so image with that kind of strength what he can achieve in the next few years, on top of that. I was really blown away.

• If you were his adviser, what would you advise him to do in the future, going to arm wrestling, or what?

- Like I was saying before, identifying your passion, your talents, working hard to find out what that is. He has an idea what that is. He has a gift with grip.

And now, how can he apply that to other sports, like strongman? For sure it will make a difference, but not too big of a difference. Because in strongman you can do straps and all kinds of equipment to help you with grip. I think in arm wrestling, he could potentially have a really big potential there.

• Did you pull with him?

- I haven't pulled with him yet. But he's gonna come to Dubai this year. He may have a big potential in arm wrestling. Cos a lot of the time, a really strong grip is associated with a strong wrist.

• Larry, it was an honor to have you here at Telegraf, we hope to see you soon again in Belgrade, we're all big fans of yours and we wish you no injuries, and great success in the strongman competition. Thank you, Larry.

- Thank you very much for having me. And I hope to see you soon next time I'm in Serbia.

(Telegraf.rs)