SHERIDAN, Wyo. — Being strong is one thing. Being the strongest is quite another. And Mitch Godwin has worked tirelessly to get there.
“When I came back from college, between ages 19 and 21, I gained like 400 pounds,” Godwin told MTN Sports this week, sitting at a weightlifting bench.
But it’s not how much weight Godwin lifted, it’s how much weight he carried.
“I played football in college, and when I went back I continued to eat the same way. I partied a lot… I did all the normal 21-year-old things, and I got fat,” he recalls. “My doctor told me I needed to change my lifestyle.”
And he really did succeed. Godwin started getting serious about his health and fitness in the old Forge Physio building in Sheridan, next door to a new expansion of his gym in the historic Sheridan Iron Works building.
Godwin said his goal was to get back down to under 300 pounds, his weight since playing football at Sheridan High School, and it took him six years to achieve that with conscious healthy habits.
While losing weight, Godwin watched a television show about the Strongest Man in History and became interested in strongman competitions.
Mitch Godwin
“Watching it with my dad late at night as a kid, it just seemed to reignite my passion. I always knew I could do it,” he said.
And now he’s done it: Godwin was crowned national champion in the under-308-pound weight class at the 2024 U.S. Strongman Championships in Denver last month.
“I didn’t know I’d won until after the last event,” he said.
Here’s how a strongman competition works: Five events are held over one day, including the circus dumbbells, the yoke walk (carrying a heavy bar across your legs, with a heavy weight hanging from your back), and the deadlift (Godwin hurt his back during the nationals, but still managed to powerfully carry a punching bag, and finally finish by repeatedly lifting a 405-pound Atlas Stone over the bar).
Godwin won the York meet with 950 pounds, finishing in 36 seconds and winning the national championship by 5.5 points.
As if the oversized weights weren’t enough, this big guy also makes oversized earrings that stretch your earlobes up to 1 3/8 inches.
Scott Breen/MTN Sports
“I was always a punk metal kid and I loved the look of it. Stretching is uncomfortable, but it doesn’t hurt,” the national strongman champion said with a smile.
