'See how strong you can become': 'World's Strongest Man' is Canadian for first time ever

28-year-old Canadian is world's 'strongest man' Mitchell Cooper is the first Canadian to win the title of 'World's Strongest Man' and he showed off his skills on Your Morning.

He can pull trucks. He can deadlift the equivalent weight of a fully grown male moose. He can hoist fully grown men over his shoulders in the middle of an interview on national television.

Mitchell Hooper is the first Canadian ever to win the title of World’s Strongest Man.

“It’s been crazy,” Hooper told CTV’s Your Morning on Friday. “It’s been such a whirlwind. It’s happened so quickly that it’s hard to digest.”

Hooper only began lifting professionally eleven months ago, and can now lift more than 220 kg over his shoulder.

“I’ve played every sport imaginable growing up. I was always stronger than average.”

As an owner of a kinesiology clinic in Barrie, Ont., Hooper encourages people to reach for their fitness goals, and that includes leading by example.

“I just wanted to experience everything I’ve asked other people to do,” he said. “I run marathons to experience aerobically what that felt like, and then tried strength sports and I really had no idea where it was going to go.”

Hooper admits to having a competitive nature. “That turned into power lifting, national championship, and Strong Man.”

Nicknamed “The Moose,” Hooper beat international competitors in April to lift the Canadian flag on top of the podium in Myrtle Beach, S.C.

The 27-year-old has won five of his last six competitions, also clutching first place in the Arnold Strongman Classic in March.

He has no plans of slowing down. He works out for two and a half hours a day and hopes to continue pushing his strength to new levels.

“Strongman is the fundamental movement patterns of life. So it’s push, pull, squat, hinge, carry, and overhead press. Really, that’s all we do in every day life. So we replicate that in the gym,” he explained. “We see how far we can take it.”

For Hooper, this journey started as a directive: “See how far you can take yourself. See how strong you can become,” he said.

“And I know I have a long way to go.”

To see how Hooper demonstrated his strength in CTV’s Your Morning studio, click the video at the top of this story.