Brian Shaw Net Worth 2023 – Retired professional strongman Brian Shaw has a net worth of approximately $5 million.
| Brian Shaw Net Worth: | $5 Million |
| Nationality: | American |
| Born: | 26th February 1982 |
| Place of Birth: | Fort Lupton, Colorado, United States |
| Brian Shaw Age: | 41 |
| Height: | 203cm (6 feet 8 inches) |
| Brian Shaw Weight: | 385โ440lb (175โ200kg) |
| Profession: | Professional Strongman |
| Brian Shaw’s Wife: | Erin Jenkins |
| Children: | 2 |
| Source of Wealth: | Strongman Competitions Prizemoney Sponsorship deals with health and fitness companies Event Appearance fees Website Membership, Merchandise, and Training program sales Social Media Advertising and Affiliate Revenue |
Best known for being the four-time champion of the Worldโs Strongest Man competitions, Brian Shaw initially acquired his wealth primarily from prizemoney and sponsorships by competing in strongman competitions worldwide.
During the 2010s, as Shaw started to dominate the sport of strongman, he was able to leverage his newfound popularity and fame. He started selling his own merchandise through his website, SHAWSTRENGTH.
The highly successful strength athlete has also built a social media presence, particularly on YouTube, where he has two channels, SHAWSTRENGTH and SHAWSTRENGTH Podcast. Shaw receives a share of the advertising revenue earned from YouTube his channels and promotes several of his sponsors to his subscribers and followers across all social media platforms.
Shaw is not the only strongman to capitalize on social media fame as fellow competitor and close friend Eddie Hall has also built a large following and frequently appears on Shaw’s channel as a guest. Check out our Eddie Hall net worth article.
Shaw married Keri Jenkins in 2015, the widow of former strongman Mike Jenkins. Brian and Keri have two children together.
Shaw has invested a lot of his earnings into his ‘dream home,’ which he moved into in 2020, and has built a custom home gym worth over $500,000.
Brian Shaw is nicknamed ‘The Gigantor’ for his large size and stature.
Shaw announced that he would retire from strongman in 2023 after competing in his last World’s Strongest Man and the Shaw Classic events.
Brian Shaw’s Early Life
Brian Shaw was born on February 26th, 1982, in Fort Lupton, Colorado, USA, a small town of around 8,000 people.
Brian’s parents are Jay Shaw and Bonnie Shaw. His parents were above-average height, with Brian’s father standing at 6 ft and his mother being 5 ft 11 inches tall.
Brian is 6ft 8 inches tall. Brian is a lot taller than his parents, but his family certainly has good genetics, as many of his relatives are of similar height to him.
During the summer, Brian used to work on his uncle’s farm in Colorado. It was here that his family realized that. Brian was considerably strong. His uncle Lee explained to Vice Sports that Brian would lift 40-50 lbs bales of hay very easily.
Childhood and Education
Shaw attended Fort Lupton High School before moving to Otero Junior College in La Junta, Colorado.
During these years, Brian’s athletic talents were first recognized as he proved to be an exceptional basketball player.
Shaw 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.
During University, Brian began spending more and more time in the gym to improve his athletic performance. Here, he soon realized that he had a talent and passion for lifting heavy weights.
Brian Shaw’s Career: Becoming a Strongman
With a growing interest in weightlifting, Shaw decided to take part in a number of amateur strongman competitions.
The rookie strongman entered his first competition, the Denver Strongest Man contest, in October 2005. Despite not having any formal training, the 23-year-old won the title.
Shaw’s positive experience led him to join the professional strongman ranks in June 2006.
Brian Shaw’s Event Finishes In His First Two Years As a Professional Strongman
| Year | Event | Finishing Position |
|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Venice Beach Grand Prix | 9th |
| 2007 | North America’s Strongest Man | 2nd |
| 2007 | America’s Strongest Man | 6th |
| 2008 | Mohegan Sun Grand Prix | 7th |
| 2008 | All-American Strongman Challenge | 2nd |
| 2008 | World’s Strongest Man | Qualified |
In his first two years as a professional, at 26, Brian experienced great success with two podium finishes in national events.
Despite being a relative newcomer to the sport of strongman, Shaw was spurred on by his initial success.
In 2009, Shaw entered a period of elite performance that would see him dominate the sport of strongman for over a decade.
2009 Onwards: Dominating Strongman
2009 was the breakthrough year for Brian, who had only been in the sport of strongman competitively for three years.
In 2009, Brian traveled to Canada to enter Fortissimus โ also known as the Strongest Man on Earth. He finished in third place and was the only man who had been able to lift all six atlas stones. The heaviest atlas stone was 425 lbs (193kg).
The Atlas Stones would prove themselves to be one of Shaw’s best events throughout his professional career.
Later that same year, Brian competed in the World Strongman Super Series in Romania before going to Valletta in Malta, where he took part in the Worldโs Strongest Man for a second time.
During this contest, Shaw was put into a group nicknamed the โgroup of death.โ The group was given this apocalyptic name due to the number of top-quality competitors, including Shaw himself. The most notable was Lithuaniaโs Zydrunas Savickas, who won the group contest.
Despite Savickas winning the group, Shaw was only two points behind. In the final, Shaw reached the podium, finishing in third place.
This would be the first time Savickas and Shaw would go head to head, but it wouldn’t be the last.
Following the retirement of the five-time champion in 2009, Mariusz Pudzianowski, both Shaw and Savickas would battle it out for the top titles for the next decade. Similar to Shaw, the Lithuanian Savickas would go on to be a four-time World Strongest Man champion.
Heartbreak For Shaw In World’s Strongest Man Final
In 2010, Shaw qualified for the prestigious Worldโs Strongest Man finals in September in Sun City, South Africa.
Shaw came into the event in great form, having won a number of strongmen contests around the world, including the Gothenburg Gran Prix and the Mohegan Sun Grand Prix.
Again, it was Zydrunas Savickas who was standing in his way.
Shaw put in a number of great performances, winning the Keg Toss and Atlas Stone events outright and coming joint top in the deadlift.
However, in the end, he was tied with Savickas on 51.5 points and ended up losing to him by countback. Countback is a scoring system based on athletesโ placings in all final events.
Savickas had won two events and was second in the Keg Toss, whereas Shaw had also won two events, but his highest finish after that was third in the Loading Race.
This loss was even more painful for Shaw because he was inches away from winning the competition.
In the first event, the Loading Race, Shaw needed to push the last and heaviest sandbag on the raised platform farther. The bag fell and cost him two points. Those two points would have been enough to see him become champion and still remain a moment that haunts the strongman to this day.
Below is a post from Shaw’s Instagram account about how he never forgot this moment in his career.
One month later, Shaw went head-to-head with Savickas again in Istanbulโs Giants Live contest.
Once more, it was Savickas who beat him to first place.
However, all was not lost in 2010. Shaw won the Jรณn Pรกll Sigmarsson Classic in November, as well as the Strongman Super Series Swedish Grand Prix.
Dominating Worldโs Strongest Man
The 2011 Worldโs Strongest Man competition was, again, a head-to-head between Shaw and Zydrunas Savickas.
This time, however, was Shawโs time, as he beat Savickas to 1st place by two points.
In 2012, Savickas returned to beat the defending champion and won the title for a third time, leaving Shaw in 4th place.
Shaw came back a year later to beat Savickas in 2013 to become the World’s Strongest Man champion for the second time. The event took place in Haitang Bay, China.
Shaw was just two points ahead of Savickas leading into the final event โ the Atlas Stones, which was Shaw’s best event. Shaw beat Savickas’ time by just 0.19 seconds to win the title.
Shaw has also won the Worldโs Strongest Man title in 2015 and 2016, with Savickas coming second to him in 2015.
Between 2009 and 2016, every World’s Strongest Man event would be won by either Brian Shaw or ลฝydrลซnas Savickas. UK strongman Eddie Hall was the first to break the Savickas-Shaw dominance when he won the World’s Strongest Man in 2017.
Savickas and Shaw provided some of the best moments in the competition’s history. The duo’s rivalry helped improve the sport’s reach and popularity across the world.
End of Career and Retirement
2016 would be Shaw’s last victory in World’s Strongest Man as he went to compete in the competition seven more times. He came second in 2021 to British strongman Tom Stoltman.
Shaw equaled the record with his old rival Savickas with ten podium finishes, the most in World’s Strongest Man history. He also set the record for most appearances in the competition in 2023 at sixteen.
In 2020, Shaw hosted his own event, The Shaw Classic in Colorado. The competition offers one of the highest prizemoney in the strongman circuit as Shaw wanted to give back to the sport that has given him so much. Brian confirmed on his YouTube channel that he received no prize money from the event.
Shaw won the inaugural event in 2020, and all the prize money was distributed to the remaining competitors.
In 2023, Brian stated that he would be retiring from the sport of strongman and that the World’s Strongest Man in South Carolina and the Shaw Classic would be his last events.
He came seventh in the World’s Strongest Man and 1st in the Shaw Classic, his last professional event.
Brian Shaw’s Awards and Achievements
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 day.
However, due to the phenomenal rise in the sport’s popularity in recent years, more events have been created that have also been more lucrative for the competitors.
These strongman events include:
- Arnold Strongman Classic (established in 2002)
- World’s Ultimate Strongman (established in 2018)
- Giants Live Tour (established 2009)
- Strongman Super Series (Established 2001 to 2010)
- Shaw Classic (Established 2020)
The Shaw Classic is a strongman competition established by Brian Shaw himself in 2020. The event takes place in Colorado, and Shaw won the inaugural event in 2020 and again in 2023.
In addition to his World Strongest Man titles, Shaw has also won the Arnold Strongman Classic three times โ in 2011, 2015, and 2017.
Shaw won the Arnold Pro Strongman World Series four times in 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018.
Brian Shawโs Personal Records (PRs)
Over the years, Brian Shaw has accumulated many impressive personal records related to strength and conditioning.
How Much Can Brian Shaw Bench Press?
Brian Shaw can bench press 530 lbs (240kg) for two reps while pausing at the bottom. Shaw completed his personal record lift on his YouTube Channel series, The Road to 701lbs. Shaw stated that this was his personal record (PR) in the bench press, although he admitted that he could lift more weight for just one rep.
Shaw also completed a 560lbs (254kg) bench press on a Smith Machine at Planet Fitness on his YouTube Channel.
How Much Can Brian Shaw Deadlift?
Brian Shaw can deadlift 1,031 lbs (468kg) using an elephant bar. Shaw completed the lift in training and posted the footage of his personal record deadlift to his Facebook page.
How Much Can Brian Shaw Squat?
He can squat 410kg, bench press 240kg, and deadlift 495kg from blocks.
What are Brian Shaw’s best competition lifts?
| Event Name | Details |
|---|---|
| Atlas Stone | Former world record lift of an atlas stone weighing 560lbs (260kg) |
| Keg Toss | 8 Kegs ranging from 40-55lbs (18-25kg) over a 4.9m bar in 16.59 seconds |
| Car Deadlift | Deadlifting a car weighing 851lbs (386kg) for twelve reps |
| Tyre Deadlift | Deadlift of Hummer vehicle tires weighing 1,128lbs (512kg) for one rep |
| Atlas Stones | Five stones weighing between 264-397lbs (120-180kg) in 14.2 seconds in 2010 |
| Arm over Arm Boat Pull | Pulling a 661lb (300kg) boat uphill for 20 meters (2009 Worlds Strongest Man) |
Below is Brian’s atlas stone lift of 560 lbs, which is now a former world record after Tom Stoltman lifted 630lb (285kg) in 2023.
Shaw also has the world record for a single Keg Toss, which he set in the Worldโs Strongest Man competition in 2021, where he tossed the keg an impressive 7.75 meters.
Brian Shaw Worth: Sources of Income and Wealth
The sport of strongman has seen a huge rise in popularity over the last 2010s. With the introduction of social media, athletes like Brian Shaw have been able to showcase their incredible feats of strength to a much wider audience.
With this increase in the sport’s popularity, there have come more opportunities for strongmen competitors to earn an income aside from competing.
Strongman Competitions Prizemoney
Although the official figures are unconfirmed, former strongman Laurence Shahlaei explained on his YouTube channel that in 2011, the World’s Strongest Man winner would receive $45,000. Shahlaei also confirmed that in 2022, the World’s Strongest Man champion would earn $75,000. Second place would earn $30,000, and third place would receive $17,500.
Here is a breakdown of the prize money at the major strongman events in 2021.
| Event | Prizemoney for 1st Place |
|---|---|
| Worlds Strongest Man | $75,000 |
| All Giants Live Events | $30,000 |
| Shaw Classic | $38,500 |
| World Ultimate Strongman | $75,000 |
| Arnold Strongman Classic | $80,000 |
| Rogue Invitational 2021 | $133,000 |
Although Shaw has won a number of high-profile strongman events, it was at a time when prizemoney was significantly lower and, in some cases, less than half of what it is today. This has had a large impact on assessing Brian Shaw’s estimated net worth.
Website Membership, Merchandise, Supplements and Training program sales
With the prizemoney being so low during his early years as a strongman, Shaw has had to create other sources of income to pay for his training equipment and extreme diet.
In the early days of his career, Shaw started an online website, shawstrength.com. The site sells strongman apparel and equipment that Shaw would sign for fans.
Shaw managed the website and sales himself before he married his wife Keri, who has since started helping and expanding the site, allowing Brian to focus more on training.
What started out as a simple ECommerce website has expanded to a real community of fans and fitness enthusiasts over the years.
Brian offers more than just gym apparel and merchandise. He now provides specialized strength training programs for community members and in-depth Q&As where he answers any questions that the community may have.
Evolution Athletics
Shaw created his fitness brand, Evolution Athletics, which sells sports apparel for men, women, and children.
According to the popular online tool Similarweb, the website gets between 40,000 and 65,000 monthly visitors.
Undefined Nutrition
Shaw is also the owner of the brand Undefined Nutrition, a supplement company he created in 2021.
While still in its early stages, the company offers four main products, including its own brand of Mass Gainers, Whey Protein, Pre-Workout, and Post-Workout supplements.
Social Media Advertising and Sponsorship Deals
Social media has undoubtedly had a huge impact in growing the sport of strongman, and Brian Shaw has been at the forefront of that development.
Not only are the incredible feats of strength and fitness challenges that Shaw uploads to his social media immensely popular but what has fascinated Shaw’s audience is his extreme diet.
Shaw’s most popular videos have consistently been about what he has to eat in a day in order to compete as a strongman. One of the most popular videos on his YouTube channel, SHAWSTRENGTH, was Brian eating his 15,000 calorie-a-day strongman diet. It has over 5 million views.
Shaw’s gentle giant personality has also resonated with fans, as many frequently comment on how caring he is while still being competitive. One top comment states, ‘Brianโs strongest muscle is his heart.‘
Dinnie Stones
In addition to the diet videos, Shaw also documents his heavy lifts and workouts. One of the most notable lifts was when Shaw and fellow strongmen competitors Eddie Hall, Robert Oberst, and Nick Best traveled to Scotland to lift the famous ‘Dinnie Stones.’
Named after Scotsman Donald Dinnie, the ‘Dinnie Stones’ weigh approximately 733lbs (332kg) in total, and during the 1860s, the stones were considered a ‘test of manhood’ throughout Scotland.
Brian Shaw’s Social Media Audience (2023)
| Social Platform | Subscribers/Followers |
|---|---|
| YouTube | 1,950,000 |
| 1,300,000 | |
| 1,700,000 | |
| X (formerly Twitter) | 29,000 |
According to popular online tools like SocialBlade, Shaw earns anywhere between $10,000 and $150,000 per year from his YouTube channel just from advertising (not taking into account sponsorships and affiliate sales).
In addition to his primary YouTube channel, Brian started the SHAWSTRENGTH Podcast in January 2022. It already has over 59,000 subscribers.
Sponsorship and Affiliates
The four-time World’s Strongest Man champion has numerous affiliate and sponsorship deals, including:
- RedCon1 – a sports supplement brand.
- Trifecta Nutrition – Meal plan for athletes
- Rogue Fitness – The industry standard in strongman competition equipment.
- New Age Performance Mouthware – a mouthguard product for weightlifters.
Brian Shaw’s Wife, Family and House and Cars
Brian Shaw married Keri Jenkins on July 4th, 2015, in an intimate ceremony attended by their family.
Brian and Keri met via mutual friends at an event organized by Keriโs gym in 2014. The couple had only dated for a few months before Brian asked her to marry him in Keriโs hometown.
Brian proposed while the couple were on a bridge by the Susquehanna River in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. After she accepted his proposal, they enjoyed a horse-drawn carriage ride around the city.
Brian and Keri have two children together, Braxton and Kellen. Their first son, Braxton, was born on June 15th, 2016, and Kellen was born on May 3rd, 2018.
Keri is also the widow of former strongman competitor Mike Jenkins, who died in 2013 due to an enlarged heart from long-term steroid use. Brian often competed against Mike in strongman competitions, including the Arnold Strongman Classic in 2011, which Shaw won, and Mike Jenkins came second.
Keri has her own YouTube channel and has nearly 16,000 subscribers. Brian’s wife also has 74,000 followers on Instagram.
The channel contains 26 vlog-style videos that describe what it’s like being the wife to a famous strongman and how she balances that while raising her family and running the family business, SHAWSTRENGTH.
Brian Shaw’s House
In 2020, Brian and his family moved to a new house in the mountains of Colorado, which was Brian’s dream ‘mountain getaway home.’
Brian’s new residence was where he and Keri were married. From that day, Brian always wanted a home that would be a retreat for his family. In 2020, he made his dream a reality.
Brian Shaw’s $500,000 Home Gym
With the purchase of his mountain home in 2020, Shaw decided to build a new home gym adjacent to his house.
Shaw documented the whole process of building the gym and fitting it out with all his custom-built equipment on his YouTube channel.
The two-floor building took about a year to complete and was custom-made to suit Brian’s ample frame, as the staircase was made a lot wider than conventional staircases for Brian to move through it easily.
On the ground floor is Brian’s strongman gym, which has everything from squat racks to atlas stones. The family business, SHAWSTRENGTH, operates on the first floor.
The gym, with all its custom equipment and weights, is worth approximately $500,000.
Brian Shaw’s Car
Given Brian’s size and weight, it makes it extremely difficult for him to choose a new car. The options are certainly limited as he can only comfortably fit in a few.
Shaw also admits that he is not a materialistic person, and supercars do not appeal to him.
Shaw’s car of choice was the 2020 F150 Shelby Super Snake, which he bought in 2020. The truck was the first one that was made available to the public and has 770 horsepower.
Shaw purchased the truck for $120,000.
Brian Shaw’s Diet and Training Regime
One of the most popular videos on Shaw’s YouTube channel showcases his extreme diet in his early strongman days when he was trying to add mass.
Brian would consume around 15,000 calories a day. Shaw even stated he had to buy disposable paper plates as he would spend too much time washing dishes for all of his meals.
For context, the recommended daily calories for an average-size adult is between 2,000 and 3,000 calories.
Diet: 15,000 Calories a Day
Brian Shaw’s typical strongman daily diet was:
| Ingredients | Calories | |
|---|---|---|
| Meal 1 (Morning) | Six eggs, turkey sausages, pancakes, syrup, butter, and a quarter gallon of milk | 3747 |
| Meal 2 (Mid Morning Snack) | Pasta, Meat of choice, pasta sauce, glass of milk | 1770 |
| Meal 3 (Lunch) | Takeaway Meal at Chipotle – Chicken Burrito, Tacos and Coke | 2565 |
| Meal 4 (Snack) | Burger, Large Fries, Chocolate Milk | 1940 |
| Meal 5 (Evening Meal) | Pizza, Cheesecake, Large Coke | 4270 |
| Total Calories | 14,292 |
Training Regime
According to Muscle & Fitness magazine, Shaw trains four times a week.
On Monday, the strongman champion would train his legs. On Tuesday, Shaw would train chest, shoulders, and triceps, and Wednesday is a rest day.
Due to the levels of weight that Shaw could lift, he would put a tremendous amount of stress on his body. Therefore, recovery days played a vital role in allowing him to be at his best for training.
On Thursday, Shaw would train deadlift and back, rest on Friday, and on Saturday, he would do strongman event-specific training like Log Press, Farmers Walks, Keg Toss, or Atlas Stones.
Brian Shaw Quotes
โIโve always been able to do this. The biggest tire, the heaviest stoneโฆ Iโve always been able to walk up and lift it. Odd strength is what it is, not weight-room strength. Itโs brute strength.โ
If youโre the best at everything, youโve got no one to challenge you and make you better.
Brian Shaw
โI watched the Worldโs Strongest Man growing up on TV, and I just loved all of that, so I decided to enter a Strongman contest โ 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.โ
โI know Iโm big. Iโve been big my whole life. Iโve never had to prove how tough I am.โ
โI 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. Itโs neat to be able to be in a position to do that. Iโve always loved coaching; itโs how I got started.โ
โCertainly, when you go to a restaurant and the chair breaks, or you canโt fit in the chair, those moments are always interesting. But I think as a big guy, you just have to embrace it. Itโs just part of my normal life. To someone else, itโs very unusual.โ
Itโs a lot of fun; any time you can pick up a car is pretty awesome
Brian Shaw
โEating is the hard part. Itโs constant โ you donโt 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.โ
Brian Shaw Net Worth Summary
- In 2023, Brian Shaw’s net worth is $5 million.
- He was born in a small town in Colorado.
- 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 Worldโs 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 Jรณn Pรกll 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.
Frequently Asked Questions
What was Brian Shaw’s Heaviest Weight?
Brian Shaw’s heaviest weight was between 460 lbs and 470 lbs (209kg-213kg) back in 2017. This was the heaviest he had ever been for the World’s Strongest Man competition, and he admitted on his YouTube channel, SHAWSTRENGTH, that being at this weight was excessive and made him miserable.
What is the prize money for the Brian Shaw Classic 2023?
The prizemoney for the Shaw Classic 2023 was $251,932. Brian Shaw won but didn’t take any money from his own event and instead gave it to the remaining competitors. Mitchell Hooper came second and earned $49,771. This is a significant increase from the previous year’s winner, as Trey Mitchell received $38,500 in 2022.
What does Brian Shaw eat in a day?
Brian Shaw eats five meals a day when training for strongman competitions consisting of eggs, turkey sausages, pasta, bison meat, pancakes, syrup, butter, burgers, large fries, pizzas, chicken burritos, cheesecakes, Coke, chocolate milk, and a gallon of milk. Shaw’s daily intake is anywhere between 10,000 and 15,000 calories
Who is Brian Shaw’s Wife?
Brian Shaw’s wife is Keri Jenkins, whom he married on July 4th, 2015. Keri was the widow of former strongman competitor Mike Jenkins.
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