In most clubs the front row lads will probably be bench-pressing and squatting bigger weights than their coaches, but that’s not going to be the case at Harlequins, where the senior strength and conditioning coach is Adam Bishop who recently became Britain’s Strongest Man.
However much iron the likes of Joe Marler and Kyle Sinckler are pumping, the likelihood is that Adam could lift one of them and their weights! Sinckler can deadlift 270kg, whereas his coach has done 440kg!
Bishop, 6ft 3ins and 22 stone, started out in the Saracens academy, initially as a back row before converting to the wing.
“I was told that I wasn’t big enough to play in the back row! Since I took up Strongman competitions my body shape has changed massively – I was around 102kg when I was playing at my best, and I’m now around 148kg,” Bishop told The Rugby Paper.
“I got started in Strongman by accident when I had a week off rugby and was at Loughborough University where I was studying to become an S&C coach. I’d always watched the World’s Strongest Man on television and someone suggested I have a go – I did and just took to it.
“There are lots more candidates for S&C roles than there are available jobs, and I was lucky to get a slot as a volunteer with Harlequins. After that one of the guys had to move on so I applied for his job, and got it – that was during the 2011-12 season.
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