It may be unimaginable to have familiarity with strongman as a sport and never know the exploits of the Stoltman brothers. Amongst their individual achievements, Tom Stoltman is the two-time defending World’s Strongest Man (WSM) champion (2021-2022), while his older brother Luke won the 2021 Europe’s Strongest Man (ESM). In a shift from their usual task of lifting hefty objects, the 2 brothers decided to coach in a special form of athleticism.
On Oct. 5, 2022, the Stoltmans uploaded a video to their joint YouTube channel where Tom and Luke take cues about tips on how to swim from extreme adventurer and ultra-marathon swimmer Ross Edgley. Edgley is notably the primary known person in history to swim around Great Britain’s length of 1,780 miles (2,864 kilometers). The trio decided to conduct the swimming lesson in an undisclosed portion of the North Sea somewhere in the UK.
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On condition that temperatures within the North Sea are a “little chilly” for swimming in early October — roughly 54 degrees Fahrenheit (12 degrees Celsius) — it may need been protected to assume the group would outfit themselves in heating gear.
As an alternative, the Stoltmans elect to leap into the water while wearing just swim trunks with swim goggles for his or her vision. Once they’re within the water, Edgley relays his personal process for swimming, especially when he’s in the course of an ultra-marathon.
Edgley details something he calls the “catch-up stroke,” where one arm doesn’t make its own individual stroke through the water until it “catches up” with the opposite arm. The target behind the technique appears to be about efficiency and saving energy while within the water, given the apparent shorter strokes.
For the Stoltmans, two elite strongmen who each weigh 350-plus kilos, this system is a method of “slowing down” their strong arms to focus their power and channel it into a high quality swim.
The group seemingly puts Edgley’s technique into successful practice because the camera pans over them swimming through a current within the North Sea. To shut their day, the Stoltmans and Edgley spend a while relaxing within the sauna and a small cold pool.
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After their short foray into autumn swimming lessons within the North Sea, the Stoltmans have a stocked strongman slate ahead of them.
The brothers will compete on the 2022 Giants Live World Tour Finals on Oct. 8, 2022, in Glasgow, Scotland. Luke is the competition’s defending champion, while Tom was last 12 months’s runner-up. Each Stoltmans will then team up as members of Team United Kingdom on the 2022 Giants Live World’s Strongest Nation on Nov. 26, 2022, in Liverpool, England. Strongman legend and 2017 WSM champ Eddie Hall shall be their team captain.
Even after swimming with an extreme adventurer, the grinding strongman mentality seemingly never stops for these two elite competitors.
Featured image: Stoltman Brothers on YouTube