Strong Man Tom Stoltman says, fitness saved my life after battling autism and depression

Strong Man Tom and his wife Sinead tell news about how the most muscular man uses his physical and mental strength.

World’s Strongest Man winner Tom Stoltman said powerlifting was a “lonely sport.” That’s great for a 28-year-old athlete.

Strong Man Tom was analyzed with autism when he was eight; he told the news. According to Autism Speaks, a disorder refers to various conditions characterized by challenges with social skills, repetitive behavior, language, and nonverbal communication.

“The school I went to from 5 to 12 was tough for me,” Stoltman said. “At one point, I just said to my mom, ‘I’m not going back to school because it’s so, so hard.’ Then one day, I just said. I want to tell my friends that I have autism and if they don’t, ‘no.’ like. They don’t like me but if they accept me for who I am then that’s okay.”

His academic struggle was not in vain. Stoltman says he “loves studying” when he can write something but efforts to keep his “textbooks and spoken stuff. Stoltman said he often worried at school about feeling safe without his family by his side. “I’m going to cry; I’m going to be devastate. I’m going to wear my veil. I’m not going to talk to anyone outside my family,” she said.

“My siblings also had to support me and sacrifice a lot of time away from my mom and dad so they could help and I could get the help I needed,” explains the athlete.

Stoltman’s older brother Luke Stoltman, a strong man, encouraged him to hit the gym. And while weight training later became his profession, the Scot just wanted to play football at the time. “That’s my coping mechanism,” he said. Stoltmann thought football (or football since he was Scottish) would be the way. “I think God gave me that because that’s the only time I didn’t feel any different from having football at my feet,” he said. But after it became clear that professional football was an unrealistic goal, his mental health deteriorated.