The strongest man in Malta: Tony Farrugia
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The strongest man in Malta: Tony Farrugia


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This is an interview with Mr Tony Farrugia a Maltese athlete which performs many charity events, entertaining crowds with his feats of strengths.

Tell me a bit about yourself? When did you first realize your strength was out of the ordinary, and what pushed you to treat it as more than a hobby?

My name is Tony Farrugia, I am also known as Tony ‘The Strongman’ and I’m a performing strongman who does feats of strength shows for charity. I first realised that I had abnormal strength when I was around 18 years old but I started treating it as more than a hobby in 2014 when I first started performing feats of strength for charity.

Paint me a picture of a normal training week: which lifts or events get center stage? Breakfast to bedtime, what does a full day of eating look like for you, right down to sauces and seasoning?

I do not have a training schedule but I usually train outside with whatever I can find for example with stones, cars, skips. logs etc. I don’t have a specific diet but I do drink a lot of milk, about 3 litres every day.

Supplements can be a minefield; which products have earned a permanent spot on your shelf, and which did you ditch after a single tub?

I have never taken bodybuilding supplements and I am a proud lifetime drug-free natural athlete who has always taken a stand against the use of drugs in sports. My motto is ‘Natural is the best! Natural is the strongest!’.

You lift cars and drag busses for charity. Why pair big lifts with fundraising, and has that mission changed the way you train or compete?

I decided to use my talent to help various Maltese charities about 11 years ago now. Doing feats of strength shows for charity hasn’t changed the way I train because I have never had a training schedule and have never trained at a gym.

Everyone hits those sessions where the bar feels glued to the floor. What mental tricks or routines pull you through the rough days or difficult performances?

Sometimes I will be faced with a very difficult feat which I will need to summon all my strength and more to accomplish. To do this I often think of the people being helped by the charity I am performing for and this usually gives me the courage and strength to complete a difficult feat or challenge.

Strongman thrashes joints and tendons. What recovery tools—physio work, sleep habits, therapies—keep you in one piece?

I have had many injuries over the years such as broken bones, torn ligaments, muscle tears, bicep tears and tendon tears. Despite all these injuries I have never been to a physio and I rarely ever go to a doctor but I do believe in the need for prolonged resting and a good night’s sleep in order to heal up properly.

If you could deliver one training tip and one life lesson to your younger self, what would each be?

Maybe I could have started doing my feats of strength shows much earlier when I was in my late teens because I already had the strength to do them at that age.

Which is the hardest feat you have ever accomplished?

The hardest feat is hard to choose because there have been so many over the years but I will mention a few of my favourites. I once flipped a car over that weighed 885kg in aid of a children’s charity, another difficult one was pulling a massive Kenworth truck on an uphill slope with no rope at Selmun in prepartion for an event for kids with cancer and the final one was squatting a large iron skip with 7 people inside at the Zabbar Autofest which was in aid of cancer research.