James Hamilton
strong vegan strongman/strongwoman
James has been making a fantastic impact on the sport of Natural Strongman, competing in the UK and internationally.
- 4th at Natural Strongman World’s Strongest Man.
- 2nd places at both Natural Strongman England’s Strongest Man and UK & Ireland’s Strongest Man.
- 110 kg axle clean & press at 72kg bodyweight
Competing in the 70 kg and 72 kg categories, things started to take off for James in 2024 when he took 2nd at UK’s Strongest Man u70 kg. This qualified him for the Strongest man in the World in the same weight category, where he took 7th.
James competes as a natural (steroid-free) strongman, competing in natural and untested federations.
The early months of 2025 saw him take two more Silver medals, one in the UK Natural Strongman England’s Strongest man before repeating the position at UK & Ireland’s Strongest Man. Months later he took 4th at Natural Strongman World’s Strongest Man.
He showed his versatility at the last, recording second at the static Max Axle Clean & Press as well as in the 100 kg Sandball Dash, a moving event
“I’ve been on the podium at 4 national level competitions now, with a number of events wins” James says. “I’m particularly good at overhead events like the axle and log press.”
Overhead lifts are impressive, and James has completed four reps of a 95 kg log and completed a 110 kg axle lift – both weights far in excess of his own bodyweight.
“…it was hypocritical of me to claim I loved animals whilst eating them.”
Vegan Power!
James has been vegan since 2019 after three years vegetarian. He describes his motivation as “first and foremost for animal welfare reasons, with the environmental impact a close second. I had the realisation that I would not personally be able to slaughter the animals I ate and that it was hypocritical of me to claim I loved animals whilst eating them.
“Becoming vegan was a fairly quick decision for me. I’d been vegetarian for a few years and I convinced myself that it would be difficult to still get sufficient protein without some eggs in my diet, both in their whole form and as ingredients in Quorn which I was fond of at the time. It was after I graduated university and spoke to someone who had been vegan since the ’90s that I realised there was actually a lot of offerings out there and it would actually be very easy for me to go fully plant based and still eat a healthy and balanced died that met my training needs.”
Now a lot of his food is made up of granola, soy-based meats and peanut butter sandwiches although he does cook as well.
“I also include lots of beans and legumes like edamame, and when I cook I usually make curries and chillis. I’m also partial to occasional treats like vegan sausage rolls and dark chocolate, there’s almost too many vegan snacks and temptations these days!”
“I definitely could eat better!” he says.
It fuels training which, due to the nature of the sport, is focussed on heavy lifts. It varies according to what competitions and events James is targeting.
“It will usually consist of strength training staples such as squats, deadlifts and press variations, whilst also include more event specific training such as different sandbag exercises, yoke carries, stone lifting and so on.”
As a weight-class competitor, James has to build strength without bulking to a weight above the limit and this is comfortably covered by what he eats.
For years strength competitors relied on animal food sources, although with growing numbers of vegans in the sport, James is becoming less rare and there’s not much of a shock factor when people find out that he’s vegan.
“For many people there’s an initial slight surprise but for the most part it rarely registers as significant amongst other athletes and coaches. It’s now quite common in many sports and particularly in Strongman too where we have a number of quite successful vegan athletes. It’s mainly amongst regular people and non-athletes where there’s more of an element of surprise and almost without fail they will ask ‘but where do you get your protein?’”
James’ accomplishments mean he can easily demonstrate that he is getting enough.
Future plans
James has a collection of silver medals, and is focussed on going one step further with a gold.
“I hope to eventually win a national title, having come 2nd four times at the time of writing” he said in 2026. “I think it’s long overdue that I stand at the top of the podium.”