“The phenomenon of Russian strength” – a video about a mysterious hero from the village of Satis in the Nizhny Novgorod region became a real shock on the Internet, it appeared on the “Adam Raw” channel in the summer of 2020. A simple story without comments about a guy easily pulling a hundred-kilogram barbell, pulling himself up on a horizontal bar with an additional load of 128 kilos – this caused a storm of emotions among fans of stories about sports achievements. Who is Andrey Smaev, how did he achieve such results, why doesn’t he boast of his heroic figure and sports records on the Internet, what prevents him from creating a blog and becoming famous on the network?
The answers to these questions can only be learned from the hero of the sensation himself – from a simple locksmith who conducts training mainly on street playgrounds. Andrei Smaev is not yet striving to become a celebrity, he talks about himself if he gives an interview, modestly and restrainedly. He has no desire to create his own channel on YouTube, to be active in social networks. But his fame, although negligibly little is known about the nugget-athlete on the Internet, is growing rapidly: for example, a story on the GoB Channel about Andrey Smaev quickly gained almost 2 million views and a lot of surprised and admiring comments.
What is known about Andrey Smaev's childhood
Now he lives in the village of Satis, Diveevsky district, Nizhny Novgorod region. According to some open information, Andrey Smaev turned 26 at the end of 2020. He was most likely born in the same place where he lives now, but he went to high school in the city – the strongman himself mentioned this in an interview with “Andrey Smaev. The phenomenon of power from Russia” on the YouTube channel “GoB Channel”. The young man began to get involved in strength training in the eighth grade, in his words. The desire to become powerful, to easily manipulate the barbell and weights, he arose, as Andrey frankly, after watching old films with Arnold Schwarzenegger and other action heroes.
Work, training, records
After school, Andrey Smaev entered the city technical school, as he needed a money profession, he wanted to get a job at a factory. “It is very difficult to make decent money here, but at the factory, salaries start from 30 thousand, which is much more than in the village,” from Andrey's stories. After entering the technical school, it was the turn to decide on a profession, and the young man chose the rare specialization “Ventilation equipment fitter”. As it turned out, this profession is very necessary, and Andrei now works at the 1st city plant. He works alternately in the day and night shifts, and trains between shifts.
“These are special requirements at international tournaments, but everything is simple here,” the strongman modestly tells about his achievements, showing his “assistants” – Soviet weights with a price tag of “7 rubles 60 kopecks” and the same old “pancakes”. It is hard to believe that with a weight of much more than 100 kilos, he freely pulls himself up on the horizontal bar with an additional load one and a half times heavier than himself! The nugget athlete does not hide the fact that he was able to build muscle mass by using pharmaceuticals in small doses. “True, I didn’t take tests, but I don’t feel side effects at all,” this is how he answers questions about whether it is unsafe for his health.
“It seems to go and go along the knurled one, I never really followed the figure and growth,” is another fragment of his revelations about training. Smaev is sure that prestigious gyms and eminent instructors are not needed at all to achieve such results: everything can be achieved with desire, curiosity and willpower by exercising with simple Soviet weights and on an ordinary horizontal bar. He is so modest that he does not try to become famous on social networks, does not post videos of himself on the Internet, he gave interviews to the GoB Channel twice only because he wants to share his experience.
His personal life
In an interview with him, information was casually heard that Andrei is married and that he has a little daughter. The man told a little about his family: he tries to help his wife in the house, he always goes to the store himself, because she takes care of a small child, and she does not have enough time and energy for the whole household. Smaev also said that he not only swings for himself, he sets records: “My wife likes that I am pumped up and strong. And I want to set an example for my daughter by not smoking, not drinking, doing sports. Maybe she, too, will train later, looking at the achievements of her dad.”
