8 Fierce Facts About Game of Throne’s Star Hafthór ’Thor’ Björnsson

With the Season 5 premiere of Game of Thrones set to air on HBO this Sunday night, fans of the medieval fantasy epic anxiously await the return of their favorite characters including Hafthór Júlíus Björnsson’s role of Ser Gregor “The Mountain” Clegane – a one man, carnage machine.

However, when he’s not skull-pulping the good people of Westeros, Björnsson has been putting his size and strength to use in other less menacing ways. Here are 8 things you may not have known the most intimidating man on Thrones.

Just because someone is 6’9” doesn’t mean they’ve got the skills to be a success on the basketball court. In Hafthór’s case, however, he had both the physique and the talent to go pro in his home country from 2006 to 2008.

Apparently, Thor was a serious baller whose game was good enough to play for the D2 Icelandic National Basketball Team. Could he have made it to the NBA? We’ll never know since he blew out his knee at the age of 20, thus putting an end to his pro hoops career.

Looking at him, it’s no shocker that Björnsson is one strong dude but did you know he has already racked up 14 professional strongman titles, and has been a perennial frontrunner in the World’s Strongest Man competition over the past 3 years. Last year, he was just a 1/2-point shy of winning his first World’s Strongest Man event – getting nudged out by Žydrūnas Savickas for the top spot.

First he shattered a 1,000-year-old strength record by carrying a 32-foot, 1,433 lb. log for five steps at the 2015 World’s Strongest Viking competition in Norway.

One month later at the Arnold Sports Festival in Columbus, the Icelandic strongman crushed it again with a world-record kettlebell throw. Using just one arm, Björnsson hurled a 56-pound kettlebell 19 feet and three inches.

It was just a matter of time before the NFL came knocking on the strongman’s door. The Indianapolis Colts were the first to arrive, reaching out to Bjornsson for his interest in bashing some skulls in real life. No doubt the big man would have left his mark on the field, and on opposing players. Sadly for Colt fans, the Icelander declined the offer, choosing to keep the focus on his strongman training.

In a recent interview with Sports Illustrated, Bjornsson shared some lofty lifting goals. “My best in the bench now is 507 pounds but my goal is to explode over 660 pounds off of my chest,” said Bjornsson. “I’ve lifted 793 pounds in the squat but will break the 1,000 lb. barrier. In the deadlift I have hoisted 925 lbs. – all these weights are with a conventional bar but I have done heavier lifts in strongman events. My deadlift goal is to surpass the half-ton mark of 1,102 pounds.”

Check out Thor’s incredible 994 lb. hummer-tire deadlift.

To fuel his hardcore training program Bjornsson consumes about 10,000 calories per day spaced out over six or seven meals. “It varies a lot, though, depending on whether I am working as an actor or to compete in the Worlds Strongest Man,” says Bjornsson.

So what kind of foods does he need to shovel down to fill that 10,000 calorie quota? Nutrient dense foods such as fruit and oatmeal play a big part in his diet, as do high-protein foods like eggs, chicken, fish and other lean meats. His favorite meal? A medium rare filet mignon with a baked potato and broccoli. Thor also supplements his diet with glutamine, creatine and whey protein.

Iceland’s strongman extraordinaire recently joined Team MHP. “I’ve never been as strong as I am now and so hungry to compete,” said Hafthor. “I’ve always liked MHP supplements and it’s a dream come true to be part of the MHP team and work with such a good company!” Hafthor will compete in the upcoming World’s Strongest Man (which is reportedly scheduled in April in Malaysia), as well as the MHP Strongman Champions League contest series in Europe throughout 2015.

So what’s it like now that Bjornsson has achieved celebrity status in both the acting and strongman world? Lots of attention from the opposite sex, and he’s not complaining. “Girls ask me to pick them up all of the time and I have to admit sometimes it’s hard to put them down again,” said the affable Icelander.