Jeremiah Weed Strongman Rendy DeLaCruz Talks Pulling Planes and Working Out

This week we had a chance to speak with Jeremiah Weed strongman, and badass(!), Rendy DeLaCruz. Coming off a campaign where he pulled NASCAR’s Matt Kenseth, safely, mind you, with a rope tied to his waist, we had plenty of manly questions to ask him.

DeLaCruz gave us a little insight on how he prepares to pull a jumbo jet and let’s us in on what his next big lift is going to be.

Tell me a little bit about the Jeremiah Weed campaign and how you got involved.
The Jeremiah Wee campaign, basically, they saw some videos of me on YouTube, flipping tires and whatnot. Got the call from [them] and they let me know what they were doing with the Badass campaign and I thought, “Man, that sounds pretty cool.” So, we started shooting some videos and we hit it off.

What made you want to be a strongman?
It kind of  runs in the family. My mom and dad were both strongmen. We travelled around with the circus, pretty much. My dad was the strongest man and my mom was the strongest woman, so it runs in the family. I just kind of fell in love with the whole sport and the challenge.

How much or how often do you train?
Pretty much every day, whether it be conditioning, lifting heavy weights, doing reps. Pretty much every day is a training day.

(More interview and check out some awesome video of DeLaCruz working out after the jump.)

You pulled a plane, right?
Yeah, I pulled a jumbo jet plane. It was the heaviest thing I ever pulled.

How do you prepare or train to pull a jumbo jet plane?
Do a lot of work at the gym. We have a thing they call a “Prowler,” which is a big sled and you can load that thing up to 4,000 pounds. Did that, and then pulled my friend’s monster truck. Pulled that up and down the street for sets of 50 feet each.

How much of a mental game is training to be a strongman?
A lot. Really you have to ignore the weight you’re about to pick up. Know that you trained hard for it, give it your best shot and go all out. A lot of it is definitely mental.

What’s your diet like?
I eat close to 14 thousand calories a day and about 700 grams of protein. You need it to sustain your body.

What kind of reaction do you get? when you’re out in public? Do people often challenge you to lift things?
Somebody’s always asking me, “are you a wrestler?” When I tell them I’m a strongman they’re always asking me to pick them up. Next thing I know I’m picking up the whole family. You become more like a side-show, whether it be in a restaurant or going to the mall or anything like that. I end up bending steel for people, ripping phonebooks, stuff like that.

You probably don’t get messed with at all, huh?
Nah. [laughs]

What’s the next thing you hope to lift or pull?
I was looking at the Smart Cars. I want to make like a barbell with two of them, put a bar trough two Smart Cars and then lift it. Thought that’d be pretty cool.

How did you come up with that idea?
Well I was at the movies and I saw a Smart Car in the parking lot. I was like, “Wow, I’ve never seen one of those in person” and got the idea to see how much it weighed. Then I went and picked it up on its side and thought that I needed to get two of these together and make a Smart Car barbell.

[Laughs]
Yeah, the owner came running out and was like “what are you doing!?” and I explained that I was a strongman, took some pictures and we were cool. That kinda started the whole idea.

I saw you do the Matt Kenseth pull. You made it look so easy. How easy did it feel?
It was the initial start. After I got it going it was more about the sprint. My goal was to get it in under 30 seconds and I think I did it in 26 seconds. the car was so low to the grown and in was an inclined street I thought it was going to be a pretty cool challenge, but once I got it started it was cool.

So I take it you’re a pretty competitive person, huh?
All the time! I haven’t lost in six years now. The last Strongest Man competition I actually tore my tricep off the bone. I just wrapped it up really tight and went and did the dead-lift. I ended up winning the whole show with only one arm. Yeah, i didn’t go to the hospital like a normal person.

Thanks a lot, Rendy. I wanna wish you the best of luck doing the Jeremiah Weed campaign and whatever you got going in the future.
Thanks, man. Yeah, with Jeremiah Weed we’re promoting responsible drinking too. You can also check out the latest on Jeremiah Weed’s Facebook page.