WATCH: Moncton strong man Iron Biby is training to break another world record in powerlifting, but as Global’s Shelley Steeves reports, he’s also lighthearted enough to life people’s spirits.
MONCTON – Moncton’s strongest man, known as “Iron Biby,” is out to shatter his own world record and lift people’s spirits.
“All of the lifting that I do is to show others that they can do it too to achieve their goals in a positive way,” he said.
Biby’s real name is Cheick Sanou. He grew up in West Africa and moved to Moncton in 2009.
Last year at the World Power Lifting Championship he set a world record in the heavyweight junior division. Now, at 23, he’s training to compete as a senior.
“No steroids, all natural, all clean,” he said. “I like staying clean and showing to others that we can do it naturally.”
Biby recently graduated with a business degree from the University of Moncton. He says his father always taught him that knowledge was power.
“For him education is very important and I made sure to get my diploma in university,” he said.
But Biby says when he picked up his first set of weights in 2010, he also discovered that he has another special kind of power.
His trainer, Marcel LeBlanc, says Biby is an inspiration.
“I think he is really determined, I think he works really hard and I think he sends a really positive message to everybody,” LeBlanc said.
Cheick says he got the nickname “Biby” back home in West Africa.
“When I started talking that was the first word I kept saying, so everyone kept calling me Biby.”
The “Iron” part speaks for itself.
As a heavyweight junior winning his division at the the worlds in 2014, Biby bench-pressed 485 pounds and dead-lifted 685.
But those numbers pale in comparison to the goals he’s set for the seniors’ division.
“In bench-press I want to go more than 600 pounds and in dead-lift close to 900 pounds.”
The next world power lifting competition is in the fall of 2016. Biby says he has a year and a half of training ahead of him, but since he graduated this spring, he can focus 100 per cent on training.
Now he has knowledge and power.
“Knowledge is really important, not always the strength side, it’s good to have a head on the shoulder.”
Biby says even if he doesn’t break another world record, he hopes by trying that he can inspire others.
“You know some people are not confident, I try to build up their own confidence and really it works good, really good.”
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