Taihape strongman more than just ‘Big is Good’ slogan

A UCOL student and aspiring strongman is making a documentary to shed light on the determination and commitment it took Levi Vaoga to compete on the strongman world stage 11 times.

Jamie Dunn is filming The life I’ve lived - Levi Vaoga, which follows Vaoga’s journey from his childhood in Whanganui through to finding national fame as the ‘face’ of Mitre 10 Mega.

Dunn decided to do a documentary on his childhood idol as he said people only knew Vaoga from his famous catchphrase, ‘Big is Good’, during his promotional work for Mitre 10 Mega’s home improvement stores.

At store openings Vaoga was known to tip over 1200kg cars, press lift car axles and pull trucks.

But he is now focused on running his women-only gym, Femme Fizek, in Taihape after parting ways with the company last year.

The documentary is set to be released on November 1 and will be around 45 minutes long.

‘‘A lot of people only know him as being the Mitre 10 Mega guy, not the one who put New Zealand on the map doing the world’s strongest man 11 times,’’ Dunn said. ’’He’s only one of five New Zealanders who have done world’s strongest man and the only one to have done it more than twice.’’

The documentary tells the story of how Vaoga was jobless and selling sheep manure for money so he could afford to chase his strongman dream around the world. At 9 years old, Vaoga knew he wanted to be the world’s strongest man, and so his parents brought him his first dumbbells.

The documentary features interviews with Vaoga’s family, past trainers and competitors and the big man himself. It also has training footage, news clips and other television appearances.

Dunn said Vaoga’s typical daily diet consisted of 30 eggs, 1kg of chicken, 1kg of kumara and 6 protein shakes.

Vaoga, now in his 40s, tips the scales at 160kg but at the height of his competitive career was 203kg. Dunn said as a teenager Vaoga barely weighed 60kg.

Dunn said strongman tends to fly under the radar in New Zealand, with bodybuilding and crossfit getting more attention. ’’He’s one of the most humble and downto-earth guys. It’s been an eyeopener learning about his past and what it took to accomplish what he did.

‘‘This is a man I’ve looked up to since I was a kid. I remember watching him on What Now where he lifted 140kg with two fingers. No-one knows the commitment and dedication it takes to get to that stage.’’