Advertisement

Blessed with superhuman strength, in one arm

Vice World Arm Wrestling Champion Matthias "Hellboy" Schlitte was blessed with the gift of superhuman strength, but in just one arm.

The 27-year-old German, from the small village of Haldensleben, has been recently featured in television commercials for AEG Powertools and Bunnings Warehouse. But as funny as the ads are, this is no joke, Schlitte is the real deal.

Hellboy is a professional arm wrestler, having claimed eight German national championships and 14 international championships.

He is also the youngest ever winner of the Sylvester Stallone-inspired "Over The Top" Tournament and once defeated a specially designed arm wrestling robot, even breaking it at one point.

Schlitte spoke to Yahoo7 Sport about his unique gift and said he first realised he could use his arm for good when he was three years old.

"I first discovered I could use my gift when I was three years of age. We had a family oven at home in Germany and I picked up a rather large bucket of coal for the oven and carried it around for my mother, which was probably very uncommon for a three-year-old," he said with a laugh.

Matthias Schlitte, left, is a professional arm wrestler. PIC: Visualeyes Photography Sydney


But Schlitte said it wasn't until he was 16 when he discovered his talent for arm wrestling.

"It was in 2004 and my mother found a flyer in a petrol station and the flyer was looking for an arm wrestler for men of up to 90kg. I was 16 and I went into this small bar in Haldensleben and I only weighed 65kg. All these bigger men were laughing at me, but when I beat them all the men changed from laughing to respect and the rest is history," he said.

Schlitte, a three- time winner of the Grand Prix of Germany, said his proudest moment was winning the Vice World Arm Wrestling Championships in Poland last year.

"It was probably the highlight of my career and such a great feeling for finally get the results for all the hard training."

Schlitte said he wouldn't change a thing about himself.

"I have spent 10 years traveling around the world doing what I love," he said.

"Everyone has a challenge in life. I'm not a religious guy or anything but this was a gift from a higher power and this was my calling in life."