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Austin Andrade works for the Bexar County Appraiser's Office by day, and hits the gym to lift weights at night to prepare for one of the strongman competitions.
KSAT reported that the 6 foot 2, 400-pound athlete lifts weights at Heavy Metal Fitness with his training partner.
Andrade said, "Being the big kid, you know, that’s the one thing I gravitated towards in high school -- the weight room. And that’s one place I was comfortable in."
He explained that he felt lost after leaving school and began gaining weight. He said, "I played sports, and I always had the weight room part of my life. I started getting a little chubby, and my wife’s like, 'Hey, you know, get back to the gym.'"
Andrade ended up at Heavy Metal Fitness where someone suggested he try out for a strongman competition.
He said, "Pretty much anything that looks cool -- we’re going to try to lift it and see who wins."
Andrade recently submitted a video audition for The Shaw Classic, an invitation competition put on by Brian Shaw, four-time "World's Strongest Man" winner.
Andrade said, "I scroll down and don’t see my name. Like, ‘Are you kidding me?’ And then I went all the way to the top, and I saw my name."
The Shaw Classic is in August, and the America's Strongest Man competition is in September.