Mark Felix: The Strongman Who Defies Ageing

“Just, I try to stay away from stress as much as I can. Well, they reckon that's the biggest killer, don't they? Like reducing lifespan is stress. Is stress, yeah, yeah. Well, anything you can control, just let it go.”

“My dad, he used to work a lot of gardens. We grew up on the land. Basically, people did that stuff that they call off the grid. Whatever you say on TV, that's how I grew up. It's like off the grid. No electric, no running water, nothing like that.”

“I could have built a house before I leave. Before I was 20, I could build a whole house for myself. Do concrete, you know, like dig the hole. Foundation, everything. Put your pillar, put your mat, bring it up, cast the concrete, your ring beam and everything.”

“I started when I was 37. You are, you fucking shitting me. You didn't start Strongman until you were 37? I didn't start Strongman until I was 37. Fuck my life, Mark. I'm 38 and I've been retired nine years.”

“And you remember my grandma. She worked a lot when she was younger. They worked there as well. And she never stopped moving. Even when she was old, even when she was blind, she always getting up and walk from her bedroom to the veranda. She lived here. She was here when she was six years old. 106. Yeah, yeah. Only because she keep moving.”

“And then one time when I was home, back in England, and then I drink. And then I was pissed. And then I went in the front of the mirror, and I look at myself pissed, doing that kind of shit. And I did it for half an hour. And then I stopped and I say, well, if that's what people see me like when I'm pissed, I never want to get pissed again. So I never get pissed again.”

“I always believe in eating healthy. I didn't used to eat it for what it tastes like. I eat it for what the benefit I could get from it. I've always been like that. I could eat anything, but as long as there's some good benefit in it, I will eat it, whether it tastes like shit or not.”

“Sometimes people, a lot of people are dull and stuff, come here and there and dull. And the first thing I said to myself when I come to something, I say, well, if I have to come here and go and dull, depend on government for money, I'm going to go straight back to Grenada. There's no way I would come here and live on the government.”

“That's one of the reasons why people always say when you're a strong man, you always, why do you work when you just do strong? It's like, well, I have to do strong man because I have to be doing something. Because if I just do strong man, when you come from up there and you get back home and you get down there, it's going to affect you. So I just go straight back to work to take my mind off of being up there.”

“Like I say, if it's beyond your control, if you can't control it, just let it go. If you're in control, then you're in control, but if you're not in control, just let it go. You can't just let it go.”