Former overweight schoolboy from Milton Keynes wins title of strongest teenager in the UK

A former overweight schoolboy who took up weightlifting to fight the flab has won the tile to Strongest Teen UK.

Freddie Willis, 17, from Giffard Park, has now set his sights on becoming the youngest ever World’s Strongest Man.

The former Stantonbury schoolboy, who can be watched in action on our video, can deadlift 230kg – more than the weight of a piano – and carry a massive 300kg farmers’ yoke on his shoulders.

He competed against 18 and 19-year-olds this month to scoop the teen title plus an added bonus – sponsorship from popular strength sports apparel brand Xplosive Ape.

The company also sponsored the former World’s Strongest Man Eddie ‘The Beast’ Hall, before he set up his own brand.

Athlete Liaison for Xplosive Ape, current World’s Strongest Woman record holder Rhiannon Lovelace, said: “We’ve watched Freddie improve over the last couple of years and he’s clearly committed to training and competing. He has a big future ahead of him and he’s exactly the kind of aspiring young athlete we want to support in the early stages of their career.”

Freddie’s talent was spotted three years ago by local personal trainer and fitness coach Danny Williams (CoachDW) and he become his mentor.

Danny said: “Freddie was very strong for his age - he was only 14 at the time and already deadlifting 150 kilograms. But I was worried about him hurting his back as his technique was understandably poor and very dangerous so I invited him to my gym for some free coaching, initially just to stop him hurting himself.

"He wanted to continue so I made it conditional on him getting good school reports! When he started showing some real talent I introduced him to a friend, local Strongman Competitor Phil Moss, who gave him some invaluable guidance and support early on and with Phil’s guidance, Freddie really started to excel at Strongman events.”

Danny is passionate about getting young people involved in weightlifting and fitness.

"I often say introducing a barbell to kids playing heads, shoulders, knees and toes would wipe out the childhood obesity epidemic within a generation,” he said.

Freddie’s goal for this year is to win the Strongest U18 outright and then start competing against grown men to become the youngest ever holder of the World’s Strongest Man title.

"He is naturally very, very strong and Eddie Hall is his hero,” said Danny. “I’ve been a personal trainer for 30 plus years and worked with many elite athletes including Olympians and world class sports stars, but this young man has real potential.”

To fund his dream, Freddie has set up his own business making bespoke training equipment using scrap metal and offcuts from his father’s Milton Keynes-based steel works business RCW Steel. These include yokes, racks and farmers’ carry handles.

He is supported by Spartans Gym in Stacey Bushes with free membership and nutrition supplements.

Freddie is now thrilled to have won the strongest teen title. He said: “Getting the messages of congratulations after the competition was awesome but when I was asked if I’d like to become an Xplosive Ape sponsored athlete I thought it was a wind up and I had to ask Danny if it was serious!”