Gregor Edmunds: The Athleat Interview

We wanted to find out a few things about our physically biggest "Athleat", and what drives him on to more and more success behind the scenes...

Gregor Edmunds (born 1977) is a Scottish Highland Games competitor and Strongman. He has been the World Highland Games Champion and has also been Scotland's Strongest Man, and finished 2nd on two occasions at Britain's Strongest Man as well as competing successfully on the World's Strongest Man circuit. He was born on the South Side of Glasgow and comes from a long line of male strength athlete's...

Athleat: Gregor, who is your favourite athlete of all time?

Gregor: Michael Johnson is an inspiration to a generation of athlete's.

Athleat: Your father, Dr Douglas Edmunds invented the format of Strongman in the 70's. You were Scotland's Strongest Man in 2002 and also made the final in World's Strongest Man, any plans to go back to WSM is the future?

Gregor: Highland Games is my true sport, it combines many of the disciplines of World's Strongest Man; power, explosiveness and shear determination, but never say never!

Athleat: What is your favourite Strongman event?

Gregor: The log and deadlift for maximum repetitions are my favourite events, these are power events that truly show who is the strongest person!

Athleat: What is your favourite Highland Games event?

Gregor: The Shott, it combines athleticism with natural co-ordination.

Athleat: You obviously look after your diet meticulously, and receive Athleat products to help,but what single piece of dietary advice would you give to any young strength athlete?

Gregor: I stick to the rule of "Eat Clean and Eat Regularly", if you are training hard you need quality fuels to help to establish the maximum benefits.

Athleat: What was the best piece of advice ever given to you?

Gregor: Every day you must take a step forward in everything you do.

Athleat: Athleat supply elite level Rugby Union players, have you ever played Rugby? Do you follow any teams?

Gregor: I played at junior level during my school days but found it difficult as a kid having to practice my tackling on Jon Pall Sigmarsson (5 times World's Strongest Man) and Bill Kazmaier (3 times World's Strongest Man)!. I don't follow any teams regularly but I am impressed with the discipline and focus a rugby player needs to compete week in week out.

Athleat: Do you have a structured season as the team sports do, with a pre-season as well as an off-season?

Gregor: My season starts in April and ends in September. So I break my annual programme down into 3 sections; 1. Off-season, 2. Pre-season and 3. Competitions.

Athleat: What do you like to do to relax?

Gregor: Spending time with my family and friends as my programme structure limits me to be able to spend huge amounts of time at home.

Athleat: Injuries can be a big part of any professional sportsman's career. How do you deal with the prospect of injury? What medical facilities/experts do you make use of?

Gregor: I do a lot of injury prevention training during the season, the disciplines of the Highland Games are vigorous, so I have a fantastic Osteopath, Vadim Kolganov, to take care of any major repairs I require.

Athleat: You have recently lost some body-weight with the aim of becoming more athletic for this season of competitions. How did you manage this without losing your explosive power and overall conditioning?

Gregor: More activity in my base and polymeric training. Changing my off-season diet to a pre-season focus of eating at regular intervals during the day and tapering off in the evening. This stopped me from binge eating and channelling my required explosiveness.

Athleat: You personally hand-make Highland Games equipment for use in the tournaments you compete in, does this give you an unfair advantage?!

Gregor: All the equipment I produce is to the standard regulation required for the games. So you cannot make a 56lbs weight only 54lbs, or a Hammer 2 inches longer because all the athlete's use identical implements. So there is no real advantage to make the equipment. The only advantage you can gain in the Highland Games is to train harder than your competition!

Athleat: What are your personal bests in the main lifts (Squat, Deadlift and Bench Press)

Gregor: Under IPF rules- Squat - 275 kg's; Deadlift - 320 kg's and Bench Press - 205 kg's.

Athleat: I read that you are one of the best horse massager's around because of your strong hands...Is that something you might consider when you have thrown your last caber?

Gregor: It is something that might come up in my future, but I am a long way off throwing my last caber!!!!!!!

Athleat would like to thanks Gregor for his typically straight-forward answers. We hope that Gregor gives inspiration to all our Athleat's, weekend warriors and loyal customers to..

TRAIN HARDER, EAT BETTER AND WIN MORE....