Shane Hammock is not an ordinary human being. At the age of 23, he was already one of the strongest powerlifters in the sport’s history. He was recently ranked the No. 2 lifter in the United States in the 308-pound class. Shane has squatted 1,115 pounds, benched-pressed 910 pounds, and deadlifted 795 pounds. If you were to ask him what his mission in life is, it’s not to to be the strongest powerlifter in the world. He wants to be the world’s strongest powerlifter in the historyof powerlifting.
He was fortunate to meet Joe Deverville, who took Shane under his wing and taught him that powerlifting is not just about brute strength, but muscle technique. Shane found out that muscle can take you only so far, but if you want to break records you need to have technique as well.
Shane was on top of the world, and he seemed to be unstoppable, but the wear and tear on his body started to catch up with him and he started plateauing. Shane is a lifetime drug-free athlete, and the stress of the training was wearing on his nervous system. Guys in his gym starting surpassing him because his body could not recuperate; in short, he was grossly overtrained. It normally takes Shane three full weeks of rest and recovery, but it was taking him nearly six weeks to recover and he was still exhausted. You can imagine the enormous recovery it takes to recuperate from squatting more than 1,000 pounds. Amazingly, Shane was eating only whole foods and not using supplements of any sort, not even whey protein shakes. He was fortune enough to meet with Jared Wheat, president and CEO of Hi-Tech Pharmaceuticals, and started using the product line and was able to bounce back. A combination of good genetics, smart training, and a superior supplement program put Shane back in the game. In less than a month, his body weight climbed from 280 to 290 and Shane’s strength shot through the roof. At the March 2011 SPF Ironman Powerlifting Classic, 22-year-old Shane Hammock rocked the powerlifting world with a 1,085-pound squat, 800-pound bench, and 775-pound deadlift. Shane’s 2,660 total was among the highest ever recorded in powerlifting history!
In late 2011, Joe Deverville, Shane’s longtime powerlifting mentor, retired from coaching. Though this was a devastating blow to Shane, he recognized that it meant God had a new direction for him. Now some might call it chance, but at nearly exactly the same time, two individuals (longtime friends) who had recently come into Shane’s life to help him further his powerlifting career, approached him with a question that Shane will never forget: “What’s the chance that we would happen to be friends with arguably the only man in the world who has the knowledge and talent to take you to the next level?” All three individuals knew that this reality had nothing to do with chance, but rather was part of God’s plan for Shane. That next person that God arranged to cross Shane’s path was powerlifting legend Louie Simmons.
The iconic Simmons is universally recognized as the greatest strength coach in the world; and his private gym, Westside Barbell, is where some of the world’s strongest lifters train. Louie personally invited Shane to lift under his tutelage at the Westside Barbell Club in Columbus, OH. In the nearly six months that Shane has been training with Louie and the unbelievably strong and dedicated Westside lifters, while continuing his steadfast supplement program, Shane has gained at least 15 pounds of muscle and his lifting totals have climbed rapidly. His bench press, especially, has skyrocketed from 800 pounds to 910 pounds (not to mention a 1,000-pound two-board press)! Shane’s squat crossed the 1,100-pound mark from 1,085 pounds to about 1,150 pounds, and his deadlift is about to pass the 800-pound barrier.
While all of this seems remarkable to Shane, Louie believes that Shane is only just now starting to tap in to his true potential. So it clearly looks like the future holds no boundaries for Shane Hammock. He is unquestionably the strongest drug-free man who has ever lived—but this isn’t good enough for the remarkable young man from the Macon, GA, ghetto. He is already one of the strongest powerlifters in the world and will undoubtedly go down in history as being one of the greatest—but this, too, falls short of Shane’s ultimate objective. He is on a quest to become the world’s strongest powerlifter of all time while remaining 100% natural!
