About Steve Shaw

Steve Shaw is a strength, muscle building, and fat loss coach with over a decade of experience as a top writer and editor in the fitness and nutrition industry. He also runs a successful YouTube channel called Massive Iron that features a library of over 2,300 videos.

Powerlifting

As a competitive powerlifter, Steve Shaw put up the following totals: 

 Age 44, Weight 318 Pounds Age 48, Weight 260 Pounds
Squat - 600.5 Squat - 562
Bench Press - 380 Bench Press - 383.5
Deadlift - 672.5 Deadlift - 661.5
TOTAL = 1,653 pounds TOTAL = 1,607 pounds

 

As he approached the age of 50, Steve Shaw had his eyes set on an all-time over-50 world powerlifting record in the 242 class. His totals were equivalent to the current world record holder at the time, but unfortunately a meet wasn't in the cards as Steve Shaw incurred the first major injury of his lifting career: a hamstring tear. 

Other noteworthy strength accomplishments:

  • Romanian Deadlift - 635 pounds (VIDEO)
  • Dumbbell Rows - 265 pounds x 8 reps (VIDEO)
  • Bench Press - 500-pound lockout w/chains (VIDEO)

 

Transformation

In 2013 I was one of the strongest over-40 lifters on the planet. My squat was near 700, deadlift close to 800, and I had pushed my bench press to a whopping 440. I felt like nothing could stop me.

Then I had a brush with death.

A week before the biggest powerlifting meet of my life I was riding high. It was time to eat and relax. I took my daughters out for pizza. That's when disaster struck.

After gorging myself with wings and a stuffed crust meat pizza I stood up to pay the bill and my body rebelled. Every muscle from head to toe cramped. Literally. Every small movement resulted in a major charlie horse.

Chest. Calves, Abs. Upper back. Everything. Each slight movement crippled me. I could not move. It took me 10 minute to slowly make it to the door.

This was a wake-up call.

I was 346 pounds and in trouble. Fatty liver disease was preventing any substantial amount of minerals to enter my muscles. Realizing the heart was a muscle, I knew a change was required. Either lose weight or have a heart attack.

I decided to lose weight.

Since that week in 2013 I've managed to lose 100 pounds. My body weight went from 346 pounds down to 236. I believe I've also added 10 pounds of muscle during these years.

I'm often asked how I did it. Here are a few articles that discuss my story in greater detail:

Remember that it took me 3.5 years to make this change. If you are looking to transform my best advice is to remain patient. It likely took you many years to add weight. It will take some time to lose it - the right way.

Focus on adopting a new lifestyle rather than making temporary changes. Lifestyles last, and allow for the occasional bad day. "10 week transformation plans" may help in the short run, but they don't properly equip you for life after the weight loss.



Ultrarunning

In 2018, at the age of 50, Steve Shaw decided to attempt a trail marathon with only one month of preparation. On July 7th, 2018, at Cacapon State Park in West Virginia he achieved the seemingly impossible.

Not yet ready to invest the extra time into improving his conditioning, Steve Shaw set aside running until March of 2019. At that point daily 30-minute runs became the norm. On a random trail run in Indiana, he decided to attempt 1 10-kilometer effort. It seemed unusually easy, and from this run Steve decide to undertake a year-long challenge:

Let's see if I can run 10 kilometers, five days a week for a year. That's 2,500 kilometers in a year.

He achieved this goal, and along the way ran over six additional trail marathons, several 50 kilometer runs, and a 100 kilometer run for his 52nd birthday.

In November, 2020, at the age of 53 Steve Shaw will attempt his first 100-mile run.