Matjaz Belsak Explained

Medaltemplates:
Matjaz Belsak
Native Name:Matjaž Belšak
Birth Date:23 September 1992
Birth Place:Slovenia
Height:6ft 1.5in
Weight:335 lbs
Sport:Strongman

Matjaz Belsak (in Slovenian Matjaž Belšak; born 23 September 1992)[1] is a Slovenian professional strongman[2] and powerlifter. Having competed in 64 International strongman competitions and winning 11 of them, Belsak is among the 20 most decorated strongmen of all time.[3]

Biography

Early life

Matjaž Belšak was born in a village Seničica, near Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia on 23 September 1992.[4] He grew up in a family of cooks; his parents own a restaurant "Gostilna Belšak"[5] where he still occasionally works as an apprentice chef. He graduated in Tourist Studies.[6]

Powerlifting career

Matjaž started working out in 2008, when he was 15, with a goal to become stronger. As his strength was increasing really fast, it soon became clear that he might be able to show some really decent results in couple of years. He decided to compete on his first powerlifting meet in 2010, when he was 17 years old.[7] During his early years of strength related sports he set quite a few Slovenian national records in powerlifting and he even won the overall gold in GPC Slovenian Powerlifting nationals in 2010. In 2012 he won his first and only international powerlifting meet (GPC), totaling 875 kg / 1929 lbs (360 kg / 793,5 lbs in squat, 190 kg / 419 lbs in bench press and 325 kg / 716,5 in deadlift).[8] [9] After that competition he only focused on the sport of strongman.

Strongman career

Beginnings

A former Slovenian strongman and Slovenia's strongest man at that time Gregor Stegnar[10] [11] saw the potential in the young powerlifter and inspired him to try strongman for the first time in 2012, offering him his mentorship. Matjaž quickly fell in love with the sport. He started competing in competitions in Slovenia and surrounding countries.

Becoming a professional strongman

Matjaž became a professional strongman after winning the Savickas classic competition in 2015, which enabled him to compete in the Strongman Champions League in the next season at just 20 years old, where he was among the youngest competing athletes.

Slovenia's Strongest Man

Almost immediately after starting to compete in strongman, Matjaž won the title of Slovenia's strongest man in 2014[12] and did it again in 2015 He kept that title until 2017. In 2018,[13] 2019[14] [15] and 2022[16] [17] he, besides competing and winning, also took over the organisation of this very competition. There were no Slovenia's Strongest man competitions in the years of 2016, 2017, 2020 and 2021.

Strongman Champions League

World's Strongest Man

After a few successful years of competing on the international level, Matjaž was invited to compete in the World's Strongest Man.

World's Strongest Team

Europe's Strongest Man

Matjaž competed on three different Europe's Strongest Man competitions, always finishing in the top 10:

Arnold Strongman Classic

Matjaž competed on Arnold Strongman Classic events all over the world. His most important placings were:

Hip replacement and rehabilitation

Matjaž had a complete right hip replacement on 24 June 2021[37] because of an old injury. The injury made him unable to compete for some time. His first strongman competition after the hip replacement was Slovenia's Strongest man 2022, which he also won, just about a year after the surgery. During the rehabilitation he also competed at Slovenia's Arm Wrestling Championship 2022.

Physical characteristics

Matjaž is 187 cm tall (6 ft 2 in) and weighs around 150 kg (330 lbs) during the competitive strongman season.

Daily life

Matjaž trains most of the time in his home gym. He usually trains for 3–4 hours a day, besides his regular stretching and mobility routines. He usually has 5 meals per day and consumes between 5000 and 7000 calories daily. He tries to sleep for at least 8 hours every night.

Personal records

Media appearances

Despite being one of the strongest people on earth, Matjaž does not get that much media attention in Slovenia. However, he made a few appearances in Slovenian's most important media:

References


  1. Web site: Matjaž Belšak. Kingsbox. en-US. 2020-01-10.
  2. Web site: Gorenjski glas Prvič Lampičeva in Belšek. 23 March 2018 . gorenjskiglas.si. 2020-01-10.
  3. Web site: Athletes, Men. 6 July 2023. Strongman Archives. 1 July 2023.
  4. Web site: Matjaž Belšak. World's Strongest Man. en-US. 2020-01-10.
  5. Web site: Športna prehrana Flexshop, Proteini Flexshop.com. flexshop.com. 2020-01-10.
  6. Web site: The new faces of the 2015 World's Strongest Man. Pratt. Rob. 2015-11-18. World's Strongest Man. en-US. 2020-01-10.
  7. Web site: Behind the Scenes with Slovenian Strongman Matjaz Belsak. 2017-01-26. BarBend. en-US. 2020-01-10.
  8. Web site: Matjaž Belšak. openpowerlifting.org. 2020-01-10.
  9. Web site: Matjaž Belšak. Tomáš. Poles. Powerlifter.cz. cs-CZ. 2020-01-10.
  10. Web site: Najmočnejši Slovenec: s pomočjo čokolina lahko premakne tudi 40-tonsko letalo. RTVSLO.si. sl. 2020-01-10.
  11. Web site: FOTO: Piknik na Brniku: vrnil se je najmočnejši Slovenec Matjaž Belšak. Times.si. sl. 2020-01-10.
  12. Web site: Giants Live. giants-live.com. 2020-01-10.
  13. Web site: Svet24.si - Prihaja spektakularni boj za laskavi naziv NAJMOČNEJŠEGA Slovenca!. Svet24.si - Vsa resnica na enem mestu. sl. 2020-01-10.
  14. Web site: Večer - (FOTO in VIDEO) Matjaž Belšak je najmočnejši moški v Sloveniji. 2019-10-31. vecer.com. sl-si. 2020-01-10.
  15. Web site:
    1. video V Ljubljani okronali najmočnejšega Slovenca
    . Dnevnik. 2020-01-10.
  16. Web site: Matjaž Belšak najmočnejši Slovenec premakne za več kot 20 metrov tudi 16-tonski tovornjak (FOTO) . 2022-09-09 . slovenskenovice.si . sl-si.
  17. Web site: https://www.gorenjskiglas.si/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20220608/C/220609817/1025/vlekli-sestnajsttonski-tovornjak&template=printart . 2022-09-09 . gorenjskiglas.si.
  18. Web site: Results and Rankings 2016. Strongman Champions League. en-US. 2020-01-10.
  19. Web site: The Strongest Man Alive – After A Perfect Season, Matjaz Belsak Is The New World Champion Of The Mlo Strongman Champions League 2017. 2017-12-01. Strongman Champions League. en-US. 2020-01-10.
  20. Web site: Results and Rankings 2017. Strongman Champions League. en-US. 2020-01-10.
  21. Web site: World's Strongest Man 2015 - Malaysia. 2015-04-20. Strongman.org. en-GB. 2020-01-11.
  22. Web site: World's Strongest Man 2015 Finalists. Pratt. Rob. 2015-12-28. World's Strongest Man. en-US. 2020-01-10.
  23. Web site: See the results for the Commerce World's Strongest Man 2016 elite fitness event on FloElite.com. floelite.com. en. 2020-01-11.
  24. Web site: Svet24.si - Slovenec sedmi najmočnejši Zemljan. Svet24.si - Vsa resnica na enem mestu. sl. 2020-01-10.
  25. Web site: World's Strongest Man 2018 Final (Results). 2018-05-06. Strongman.org. en-GB. 2020-01-11.
  26. Web site: Huge Weekend For Strongman: World Records Fall and One Team Rises. Triana. Andrew. elitefts. 4 June 2015 . en. 2020-01-10.
  27. Web site: Ultimate Strongman » Team World Championship 2019 Results. en-GB. 2020-01-10.
  28. Web site: See the results for the Europe's Strongest Man + World Deadlift Championships 2015 elite fitness event on FloElite.com. floelite.com. en. 2020-01-11.
  29. Web site: Europe's Strongest Man 2017 Recap. floelite.com. en. 2020-01-11.
  30. Web site: Giants Live. giants-live.com. 8 June 2018 . 2020-01-11.
  31. Web site: Giants Live. giants-live.com. 25 June 2018 . 2020-01-11.
  32. Web site: 2018 Arnold Strongman Classic. Rogue Fitness. en. 2020-01-11.
  33. Web site: Arnold Pro Strongman Arnold Sports Festival. arnoldsportsfestival.com. 2020-01-11.
  34. Web site: Matjaž Belšak odličen peti na tekmovanju najmočnejših zemljanov. 2019-03-03. Gorenjski Utrip. sl-SI. 2020-01-14.
  35. Web site: Matjaž Belšak - Arnold Classic Europe and SCL 2018 Winner. Matjaž Belšak Strongman. en-US. 2020-01-11.
  36. Web site: 2018 Arnold Strongman Europe Results. 2018-10-03. Starting Strongman. en-US. 2020-01-11.
  37. Web site: Matjaž Belšak on Instagram: "The operation went great without complications. A complete hip replacement is finally behind me after 2 years of pain and quite a few limitations. 1 day after the surgery I have already taken a couple of steps, I am ok the pain is not terrible but very tired all the time. I look forward to what the future holds for me. Stay strong my friends! @sbd.slovenija @sbdapparel @belsakpowercoaching" . 2022-09-09 . Instagram . en.
  38. Web site: Eden premika letala, drugi meri moči kot gasilec. 24ur.com. sl. 2020-01-10.

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