The UAE has recently crowned 25 year old Palestinian Salem Herzallah the Emirates Strongest Man. Taking place at Strong Gym HQ located in Al Quoz, he accomplished incredible feats such as pressing a 155KG log over his head and holding 140KG in each hand as he walked 40 metres.
Herzallah had previously won the competition two years ago in 2019 and had set his sights on competing in the Middle East’s Strongest Man later that year, but an injury to his knee forced him to sit on the sidelines. Coached by former Britain’s Strongest Man Mark Boyd, Herzallah then began focusing on preparing for the Emirates Strongest Man 2020. However, due to receiving a false positive PCR test result the day before competition forced him to miss out once again.
Born in the capital city of Abu Dhabi, Herzallah has spent his whole life in the UAE. While studying for his bachelor’s degree at the University of Sharjah, he discovered a passion for weightlifting and ended up leading the powerlifting team at his university. It was after meeting Mark Boyd in 2017 through a mutual friend that he decided to make the switch to Strongman.
“I felt that Strongman was more fun, it’s more complete and each competition is different. I had found my thing.” said Herzallah.
During last year’s lockdown, he stayed with his family in Abu Dhabi but it was no lazy vacation. He bought second-hand weights, a squat rack and even made his own sandbags to continue his training. Even a fulltime job and Ramadan couldn’t slow him down as he commuted to Dubai after Iftar every night and returned home to Abu Dhabi for Suhoor, ready for his next working day.
“All I did was sleep, eat and train; it was the perfect environment for an athlete’ said Herzallah.
Both of the previous year’s setbacks had taken a toll mentally on Herzallah which makes his win at this year’s Emirates Strongest Man competition an incredible comeback. The fact that he went from deadlifting 330KG to 400KG in under two years just goes to show his passion and dedication towards Strongman competition.
His trainer Mark Boyd believes that he could be “the next big thing in Strongman”.
Salem Herzallah will return to Strong Gym HQ where the Middle East’s Strongest Man competition takes place this October 1-2. The whole event will be streamed live on YouTube.
