SHERIDAN, Wyo. — It’s one thing to be strong. It’s entirely another to be the strongest. And Mitch Godwin has worked tirelessly to get there.
“Between (age) 19 when I came back from college and 21, I actually scooted up to about 400 pounds,” Godwin told MTN Sports this week seated on a weight-lifting bench.
But that’s not how much Godwin lifted — it's how much he weighed.
"I was playing football in college. When I came back, I didn’t stop eating that way. Got into partying … normal 21-year-old stuff and just blew up like a balloon," he recalled. "The doctor told me I kind of needed to change my lifestyle."
And boy did he. Godwin got serious about his health — and strength — at the old Forge Physio building in Sheridan. Next door inside the historic Sheridan Iron Works building is the gym's new expansion.
Godwin says his goal was to retreat to his Sheridan High School football weight of less than 300 pounds. It took him six years, but in a deliberately healthy routine.
As he trimmed, Godwin gained interest in Strongman competitions after seeing a TV show on the strongest man in history.
“It kind of reignited a fire that I had from watching it as a little kid with my dad late at night. I always thought I could do it,” he said.
And now he has. Godwin last month at the 2024 United States Strongman Nationals in Denver became a national champion in the sub-308 pound weight class.
“I had no clue I’d won until well after the last event,” he said.
Here’s how the Strongman competition works: One day, five events which include the circus dumbbell, the yoke walk — carrying a bar across the back with drop legs holding massive weights — and the deadlift, where Godwin actually hurt his back during the national competition before powering through the sandbag carry and closing with multiple reps lifting a 405-pound atlas stone over a bar.
Godwin won the yoke event outright carrying 950 pounds across the line in 36 seconds. He won the national championship by 5 1/2 points.
As if oversized weights aren’t enough, the big guy also fashions oversized earrings that stretch his lobes to 1 3/8 inches.
“I’ve always been kind of a punker-metal kid and I’ve always enjoyed the look. It’s uncomfortable but not painful to stretch them out," the strongman national champ said with a smile.
