Famous strongman Brian Shaw net worth is approximately $15 million.
He is best known for competing in the World’s Strongest Man competitions. Shaw stands at an impressive 6 feet 8 inches tall and weighs 195kg.
He has the nickname “Gigantor”.
Brian Shaw's Early Life
Brian Shaw was born in Fort Lupton, Colorado, a small town of around 8,000 people.
His parents are Jay Shaw and Bonnie Shaw who were both above average height with Brian's father being 6ft tall and his mother 5’11”.
Although Brian is a lot taller than his parents, his family certainly have good genetics as his uncles and grandads were of similar height to him.
His Uncle Lee owns a farm in Colorado where Brian used to work during the summer.
His Uncle explained to Vice Sports that Brian was always strong from an early age and would lift 40-50lbs bales of hay easily.
Childhood and Education
Shaw attended Fort Lupton High School where he was an exceptional basketball player.
After graduating high school, he went to Otero Junior College in La Junta, Colorado. This was great for his basketball career.
He then went on to gain a full scholarship in basketball at the Black Hills State University in Spearfish, South Dakota. He studied for a degree in wellness management.
While playing basketball professionally, Shaw loved weights and spent a lot of time in the weight room.
Brian Shaw Net Worth Explained– Becoming a Strongman
With his interest in weightlifting, Shaw first entered a strongman competition – the Denver Strongest Man contest – in October of 2005.
Despite not having any official training, the 23-year-old won the title.
The boost he got from this experience meant he decided to join the professional rank in June the following year.
In 2009, Shaw travelled to Canada to enter Fortissimus – also known as the Strongest Man on Earth. He finished in third place and was the only man who had been able to lift six 136-139kg Atlas stones.
Later that year, he went to compete in the World Strongman Super Series in Romania before going to Valletta in Malta where he took part in the World’s Strongest Man for a second time.
During this contest, Brian Shaw was put into a group named the “group of death” alongside Lithuania’s Zydrunas Savickas who won the group contest.
Savickas himself would go on to be a four time World Strongest Man champion and the two would battle it out for titles throughout their career.
Despite Savickas winning the group, Shaw was only two points behind.
In the final, it was Shaw who reached the podium, finishing in second place.
World's Strongest Man and Making Rivals
In 2010, Shaw qualified for the prestigious World’s Strongest Man finals that took place in September in Sun City, South Africa.
Again, it was Zydrunas Savickas that was battling him closely.
In the end, he was tied with Savickas and ended up losing to him by countback – a scoring system based on athletes’ placings in all final events.
What made this loss even more painful for the up and coming Shaw, was that in the he was literally inches away from winning the competition.
In the sandbag loading event he didn't push the last and heaviest sandbag on the raised platform far enough.
The bag fell and cost him two points. Those two points would have been enough to see him become Champion and still remains a moment that haunts the strongman to this day.
One month later, Shaw went head-to-head with Savickas again in Istanbul’s Giants Live contest.
Once more, it was Savickas who beat him to first place.
However, all was not lost in 2010; Shaw won the Jón Páll Sigmarsson Classic in November as well as the Strongman Super Series Swedish Grand Prix.
He became the overall champion for a second time.
Dominating World’s Strongest Man
The 2011 World’s Strongest Man competition was, again, a head-to-head between Brian Shaw and Zydrunas Savickas.
This time, however, was Shaw’s time and he beat Savickas to 1st place.
Shaw also beat Savickas in 2013.
During both contests, they were neck-and-neck until the final event – the Atlas Stones, which as mentioned before are Shaw's favourite event.
In 2012, however, Savickas came back to beat Shaw and won the title for a third time, leaving the two time champion in 4th place.
Brian Shaw has also won the World’s Strongest Man title in 2015 and 2016, with Savickas coming second to him in 2015.
The two legendary strongmen provided some of the best moments in the competition's history as the duo competed throughout the 2010's, which helped improve the sport's reach and popularity across the world.
Titles Outside World's Strongest Man
The World's Strongest Man franchise has been around since the 1970s when fellow Americans Bruce Willhelm and Bill Kazmaier dominated the competition.
Whilst the event has changed over the years it is still the most prestigious title in the sport to this today.
However, given the rising popularity in the sport, more events have been created which have also become hugely popular and a lot more lucrative for the competitors.
In addition to his World Strongest Man titles, Shaw has also won the Arnold Strongman Classic three times – in 2011, 2015, and 2017.
He has also placed 2nd four times – in 2013, 2014, 2016, and 2018.
In the All Arnold Pro Strongman World Series, he won in 2015, 2016, and 2017 and he came 2nd in 2020.
It is the Strongman Super Series where Brian Shaw has been most successful, having won it a total of six times.
It is fair to say that Shaw and Savickas have been the dominant strongman competitors of the last decade.
Brian Shaw Net Worth Explained: Other Sources of Income
As well as maintaining his physical fitness and competing, Shaw has a YouTube channel called SHAWSTRENGTH on which he uploads videos of strength challenges, fitness challenges, training footage, and eating challenges.
His followers are fascinated with his extreme daily routines of eating 10,000+ calories per day and deadlifting over 1,000lbs.
Shaw has been running his channel since 2008 and he has around 1.61 million subscribers and 238.3 million views.
As well as this, the strongman legend has also featured on the History Channel’s The Strongest Man in History in 2019.
During the first episode, Shaw pulled a Viking ship 18 metres uphill in just over 44 seconds.
The ship weighed an impressive 27,000kg!
In addition to this impressive feat, Shaw and fellow strongmen competitors Eddie Hall, Robert Oberst and Nick Best travelled to Scotland to lift the famous 'Dinnie Stones' which weigh 733lbs in total.
Named after Scotsman Donald Dinnie, during the 1860s the stones were a tribute to the famous 'test of manhood' in Scotland.
Brian Shaw also has more than 951k followers on Instagram, 25.5k on Twitter, and almost 166k on Facebook.
Brian Shaw’s Personal Records
Over the years Brian Shaw has accumulated many impressive personal records related to strength and conditioning.
He can squat 410kg, bench press 240kg, and deadlift 495kg from blocks.
In Strongman competitions, he managed to deadlift 460kg with straps and complete the Keg Toss (which has 8 kegs) in 16.59 seconds.
He also has the world record for the keg toss from the World’s Strongest Man 2021 where he tossed a keg an impressive 7.75 metres.
Family Life and Personal Life
Brian Shaw married his long-term girlfriend Keri Jenkins on 4th July 2015 in an intimate ceremony attended by their family.
The couple met via mutual friends at an event organised by Keri’s gym in 2014.
They had only dated for a few months before Brian asked her to marry him in Keri’s hometown.
He proposed while they were on a bridge by the Susquehanna River in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
After she accepted his proposal, they enjoyed a carriage ride around the city.
On 15th June 2016, their first son Braxton was born and on 3rd May 2018, they welcomed Kellen, their second son.
The Shaw family now live in Brighton in Colorado.
Brian Shaw Quotes
“I’ve always been able to do this. The biggest tire, the heaviest stone… I’ve always been able to walk up and lift it. Odd strength is what it is, not weight-room strength. It’s brute strength.”
“I watched the World’s Strongest Man growing up on TV and I just loved all of that, so I decided to enter a Strongman contest – just for fun. Really. For no other reason than that, I just wanted to compete in something and push myself. I ended up loving it from the get-go and also found that I was very gifted.”
“I know I’m big. I’ve been big my whole life. I’ve never had to prove how tough I am.”
“I love giving back. There were a lot of people when I got started who really helped me. I do a lot of seminars and appearances. It’s neat to be able to be in a position to do that. I’ve always loved coaching; it’s how I got started.”
“Certainly when you go to a restaurant and the chair breaks or you can’t fit in the chair, those moments are always interesting. But I think as a big guy you just have to embrace it. It’s just part of my normal life. To someone else it’s very unusual.”
“Eating is the hard part. It’s constant – you don’t ever stop from the time you wake up you eat until you go to bed. Then I wake up in the morning and the first thing I do is eat and do it all day again.”
Summary: Brian Shaw Net Worth 2021
- In 2021, Brian Shaw Net Worth is $15 million.
- He was born in a small town in Colorado to tall parents – though they are not as tall as he is.
- At school, Brian Shaw was an exceptional basketball player and won a scholarship to Black Hills State University.
- While at university, he discovered his enjoyment of the gym weight room.
- For fun, Shaw decided to enter the Denver Strongest Man contest in 2005 and ended up winning.
- With this boost, Shaw became a professional strongman.
- In his strongman career, Brian Shaw has won the World’s Strongest Man four times, the Arnold Strongman Classic three times, the All Arnold Pro Strongman World Series three times, the Strongman Super Series six times, and the Jón Páll Sigmarsson Classic twice.
- As well as his strongman career, Brian Shaw has a successful YouTube channel. He also has lots of followers on different social media platforms.
- Brian Shaw has been married to his wife, Keri since 2015. Together they have two sons, Braxton and Kellen. They reside in Brighton, Colorado.
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