You probably know Icelandic strongman Hafthór Júlíus Björnsson as “the huge guy from Game of Thrones who exploded that other dude’s skull with his hands.” It was one of the most shocking scenes in 2015 television, complete with over-the-top HBO-financed gore. And when you look at the real-life 6’9” man they call The Mountain, you think: He probably could crush another man’s skull with his bare hands. The guy comes from hardy Nordic stock (his grandfather was a farmer for 40-plus years), he hasn’t missed a workout in six years, and he can deadlift 990 pounds.

AGE: 27 HEIGHT: 6′9″ WEIGHT: 396 LBs.

So how in the hell did you get so damn big?

“I was always taller than everybody else. I’ve been training all my life, but probably didn’t grow muscle-y until I quit doing basketball. I played for Iceland’s under-18 and under-17 team, so it wasn’t until probably 2007, 2008 that I start to gain a lot of weight.”

Why did you want to start weightlifting?

“I was always getting injured. I injured my ankles quite badly. I had to have surgery. So the second time I had an operation I decided to take a break from basketball to heal my foot. I could train more then, and I just fell in love with the weights, fell in love with training hard, started to put weight on quite fast, started to get strong really fast. I saw results.”

Martin Schoeller

How much did you weigh when you started?

“My body weight was probably 105–110 kilograms [Editor’s note: 231–242 pounds]. Nowadays I’m close to 180 [396 pounds].”

What did you start doing differently? What did you start doing in the gym to get bigger?

“It’s not just all about the training. It’s all around: You have to train well, sleep well, eat well. If you don’t eat, you don’t grow. The biggest changes were that I didn’t do much cardio anymore, and I put more food into my diet. It’s just like constantly work for me: I have to eat every two hours to maintain my body mass. It is not easy. When I’m filming, I always have to have breaks to eat.”

How many meals?

“It’s probably around six to eight meals a day.”

What’s in those meals?

“I eat a lot of sweet potatoes, a lot of meat, fish, chicken, good fats like cocoa butter, almonds. I love greens, like spinach, avocado, broccoli. I eat very healthy overall—but because of my weight, I need fast carbs, easy carbs. So maybe before a training session or after a training session, I eat what I want.”

Are there certain feats of strength you’re most proud of?

“That’s a difficult question. We pull airplanes, we pull trucks. We run with cars on our shoulders. We lift quite heavy stones. We do all kinds of crazy things. The thing that I’m probably most proud of probably is my Viking record. The 1,000-year-old Viking record I did in Norway this year.”

How much did you lift for that 1,000-year-old record?

“The log weighed close to 1,500 pounds, if I remember right.”

What does that feel like?

“I had to take at least four steps to break the record. And I remember when I went under the bar and I tried to pick it up and I felt the pressure going from my neck through my body and straight to my toes. I felt like my body was going to collapse. I took a break, took a good breath, went under again. I took a step, I felt my back was strong. It was going to hold, so I carefully took another step. I faced straight ahead, more pain in my back. My third step, it felt like my body was going to break. I took a fourth step, and I realized I broke the record. After that, I felt my body was quite fucked up. [laughs] It did heal up quite fast after the record. I did celebrate with my friends, and I ate a lot.”

Martin Schoeller

What was your championship meal?

“Big filet steak. Probably around one kilo.”