Life
Robert Oberst is one of America’s best-known strongmen and is renowned for his “Strong and Pretty” brand, as well as his incredible overhead strength; “The American Monster,” as he is known, is a former United States record holder in the log lift.
Oberst, who named his son Atlas, after the legendary Greek titan, has twice reached the grand final of World’s Strongest Man in a total of eight appearances at the contest. He has formerly competed in MAS wrestling, going unbeaten in 2013, and was a collegiate American Football player at Western Oregon University.
At 6’ 8” tall, “Obie” has always been on the large side and was picked on at school because of it. At just twelve, he stood over six feet tall and weighed 100kg/220lb. Oberst has gained notoriety within the sport due to his comedic and bad-boy image. He has appeared several times at Giants Live events, most recently in 2019 where he competed at the World Tour Finals event in Manchester.
Career
Oberst graduated high school at 370lb/168kg and spent his collegiate years playing American football. He first tried strongman on the recommendation of a friend and enjoyed instant success, besting the unofficial USA amateur log lift record with a 150kg/331lb lift on his first ever attempt.
Winning his pro card at the Dallas Europa event, Oberst made his World’s Strongest Man debut in 2013, just eight months after his debut performance. He placed 12th in his first and only appearance at the Arnold Strongman Classic, where he pressed the 200kg/441lb Austrian Oak log for two repetitions. In 2015 he established a new American Log Lift Record at the Arnold Strongman Classic Australia, placing 211kg/465kg overhead.
Robert has appeared at World’s Strongest Man on eight occasions between 2013 and 2021. He may easily have qualified for more than two finals if it weren’t for the stone-off event in the heats, where he has lost out on three consecutive occasions in 2019, 2020 and 2021.
Oberst’s best Giants Live performances were his 6th place finishes at both the 2017 World Tour Finals in Manchester, England, and the 2016 North American Open in Martinsville, Indiana.
Best Title
Robert has reached the podium three times at America’s Strongest Man, finishing runner-up in 2013 and 2014, and placing 3rd in 2012. His best finish at Word’s Strongest Man was his 8th place in 2018 in Manila, the Philippines.
In 2017, World’s Strongest Man competitor, Oberst won the ISF1 contest in New Braunfels, Texas, where he defeated fellow American Justin Fisher and Austrian Martin Wildauer. Robert Oberst’s deadlift record is 360kg in competition.
Competition Results
World’s Strongest Man:
Giants Live:
2014 Arnold Strongman Classic: 8th place
America’s Strongest Man:
2017 IFS1: Winner
Best Lifts
Competition
Present Day
Oberst is due to captain Team America in the Giants Live World Strongest Nation event to be held at the Marks & Spencer’s Bank Arena, Liverpool, on 26th November 2022. The American Monster will re-ignite his rivalry with Team Britain captain and 2017 World’s Strongest Man, Eddie “The Beast” Hall.
The pair will be leading their respective nations in a mixed gender, team competition that looks set to see the duo go head-to-head once again. In previous contests the pair have enjoyed a fierce rivalry with both men engaging in a war of muscle power and words; this event could prove to be more than just a physical battle.
Media
Oberst has a prominent social media presence; on Instagram he goes by the handle @robertoberst and his account has amassed an impressive 693k followers. On Facebook, his fans, which include 177k followers, find him under: Robert Oberst. His YouTube account is equally popular, which 344k subscribers to his American Monster Productions channel. Robert also has a website, where people can contact him for personal training and programming: www.theamericanmonster.com.
The Joe Rogan experience hosted Oberst in July 2019. His appearance was noteworthy, among other things, for his condemnation of deadlift training for athletes, stating that the incidence of lower back injury made the movement too risky.
Robert was one of four strongmen to star in The History Channel’s “The Strongest Man in History” which premiered on July 7th, 2019. As well as Oberst, it featured Eddie Hall, Brian Shaw and Nick Best and ran for one season. The four athletes travel the globe investigating strongman legends, endeavouring to best famous historical feats of strength and outdo each other in order to discover who is the strongest man in history.