Salem Herzallah, an Emirati-based Palestinian, was titled as the Strongest Man in UAE for the second time since 2019!
After Salem won the Emirates Strongest Man competition in 2019, he was set to participate once more later that year at the Middle East’s Strongest Man, however, due to a knee injury he was forced to withdraw and as Salem started to focus in taking part in Emirates Strongest Man 2020, a false positive PCR test result forced him to once again, miss to the competition the next day.
BUT! he made his comeback and proved to himself and the world that he is indeed the strongest man in UAE after he won this year’s Emirates Strongest Man 2021 competition. He pressed a 155kg log over his head and then walked across 40m whilst holding 140kg in each hand!
Salem was born in Abu Dhabi and completed his bachelor’s degree from the American University of Sharjah, where he found his interest in weightlifting and that resulted in the 25-year-old leading his university’s powerlifting team.
He met Mark Boyd, former Britain’s Strongest Man, through a mutual friend in 2017 that made him switch to Strongman to start competing and eventually became Salem’s trainer. According to Salem, he felt that “Strongman was more fun, it’s more complete and each competition is different” and that he has “found his thing.”
During the 2020 pandemic, Salem stayed with his family and decided to continue his training at home when he had bought second-hand weights, a squat rack and even made his own sandbags to keep him going. Nothing got in his way, not even having a full-time job and commuting to Dubai during Ramadan, just to train after Iftar and get back home to Abu Dhabi just in time for Suhoor, and get ready for work the next day. We applaud your determination, Salem!
Salem is now training to take part in the Middle East’s Strongest Man competition, which is set to take place this October 1st. You can watch the whole event on Strong Gym HQ’s Youtube channel.
Salem Herzallah, keep doing what you’re doing as no one can do it better than you!
The whole of UAE is rooting for you and we, at LocalSHJ, wish you all the best! *intense clapping*
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