Robert Oberst

Robert Oberst (born December 20, 1984) is an American former strongman athlete.

He was a finalist in the 2013 and 2018 World's Strongest Man competitions ending up in 9th and 8th place, and emerged 8th in the 2014 Arnold Strongman Classic.^[3]

Oberst held the American national log lift record of 465 lb (211 kg) from 2015–2019.^[4]

Oberst was born in Santa Cruz, California. From a young age, he was considerably taller than most of his family and friends. His parents divorced when he was in high school. He was picked on as a result and thought about dropping out because of it. He attended Aptos High School in Aptos, California, where he participated in football and track and field. He then went on to continue playing football at the collegiate level at Western Oregon University majoring in history. Oberst graduated from Western Oregon University in 2008.^[5]

After college, Oberst gave the NFL a shot, but did not make the cut so got into bouncing at nightclubs Esta Noche and El Rio. It was there that one of Oberst's friends introduced him to strongman competitions. In four months of training, he received his pro-card.^[6]

Oberst is known for advocating "People Shouldn’t Deadlift" on Joe Rogan's podcast,^[7] and recommends doing exercises such as cable lateral raises, dumbbell front raises and face pulls.^[8]

He competed in 15 international strongman competitions and won New Braunfels Strongman competition organized by International Strongman Federation in 2017.^[9]

• Deadlift – 793 lb (360 kg) (2015 Arnold Australia)^[10]
• Log lift – 465 lb (211 kg) (2015 Arnold Australia)^[11]

• First Place, San Jose Fit Expo, 2012^[12]
• First Place, Dallas Europa, 2012^[12]
• Third Place, America's Strongest Man, 2012^[13]
• First Place, Sin City IV Strongman Challenge, 2013^[14]
• First Place, Odd Haugen's US Open MAS Wrestling Championship, 2013^[15]
• Third Place, All-American Strongman Challenge, 2013^[15]
• Sixth Place, Giants Live British Open, 2013^[15]
• Third Place, China's Strongest Man, 2013^[12]
• Ninth Place, World's Strongest Man, 2013^[16]
• Second Place, America's Strongest Man, 2013^[17]
• Fifth Place, MAS-Wrestling World Cup, 2013^[12]
• Eighth Place, Arnold Strongman Classic, 2014^[18]
• Second Place, America's Strongest Man, 2014^[19]
• Third Place, Arnold Strongman Classic Australia, 2015^[20]
• Sixth Place, Giants Live North American Open, 2016^[21]
• First Place, ISF1, 2017^[22]
• Sixth Place, Giants Live World Tour Finals, 2017^[23]
• Eighth Place, World's Strongest Man, 2018^[24]

On December 2, 2022, Oberst announced his retirement at Shaw Strength podcast.

In 2023, Oberst made his television acting debut in the third season of HBO's The Righteous Gemstones, playing Karl Montgomery, an estranged cousin of the titular family.

• List of strongmen