Stan Efferding: The bodybuilder and powerlifter on how to build muscle, burn fat and perform at your best

It would be difficult to overstate Stan Efferding’s impact on the world of health, fitness and performance.

Having reached the pinnacle of both bodybuilding and powerlifting - he is both a world record holding powerlifter and an IFBB professional bodybuilder - he is now one of the most highly sought after consultants to many of the world’s most popular and successful athletes across an incredibly wide range of sports. Clients include four-time World’s Strongest Man Brian Shaw, Icelandic strongman and Game of Thrones “The Mountain” Hafþór Björnsson, and WWE Hall of Fame wrestler Stone Cold Steve Austin.

As hard as it is to imagine now, Efferding was once considered too small for soccer, with a physique “like a number 2 pencil”. He began training at his coach’s request to bulk up while on a soccer scholarship to the University of Oregon ...