RIP Pa O'Dwyer

tom_e · 3 Jan 2026 at 16:40

Probably someone not known to many here but a legend in the strongman community.

I'd met him a few times and he was always cracking a joke and keeping everyone laughing.

Only 40 and left behind 3 young kids. It's hit me hard as he's recently been on a similar journey to me getting fitter and healthier for his kids and he's only 3 years older than me.

Pigeon_Killer · 3 Jan 2026 at 16:55

Holy ****, was only watching one of his YouTube videos a few days ago.

First and foremost, he came across as an amazing guy that put others before himself and he always defended people when trolls attacked and belittled them.

RIP Pa

Josh · 3 Jan 2026 at 16:58

Christ I was watching him this morning.

Huge shame, such a character in the Strong Man community, seemed like a decent person too.

Alz_D · 3 Jan 2026 at 19:11

Saw Eddie Hall's video earlier. Such a shame. Seemed a genuinely great guy.

RIP

adidan · 3 Jan 2026 at 19:22

Can't say I've heard of him but 40 is absolutely no age whatsoever.

Especially saddening to hear when people go far too soon.

Buffman · 22 Jan 2026 at 10:21

I did see this. Sad to see but good there's been good backing on his gofundme (circa 200k)

I do wonder what effect the amount of compounds these guys are taking has on overall life expectancy. I suspect Pa is nowhere near the amount of gear Eddie Hall was taking in his prime.

Eddie was on a recent podcast (Jo marler) saying if his doctor lined everyone up in the country he was the most likely to have a heart attack /stroke. Obviously they can't be open about steroid abuse but thats surely why..

tom_e · 22 Jan 2026 at 10:38

Buffman said:
I did see this. Sad to see but good there's been good backing on his gofundme (circa 200k)

I do wonder what effect the amount of compounds these guys are taking has on overall life expectancy. I suspect Pa is nowhere near the amount of gear Eddie Hall was taking in his prime.

Eddie was on a recent podcast (Jo marler) saying if his doctor lined everyone up in the country he was the most likely to have a heart attack /stroke. Obviously they can't be open about steroid abuse but thats surely why..

Pa from what he said in one of his videos a couple of weeks before he died was actually on very little steroid wise.

He may have been using diuretics though which are much more likely than even heavy steroid use to cause heart attacks or he may just have been incredibly unlucky/it was his past substance abuse catching up with him and unfortunately living in rural Ireland he just wasn't close enough to a hospital.

100% Eddies shear size and PED use at his peak would have been the reason he'd have been at the top of that list.

Buffman · 22 Jan 2026 at 10:50

tom_e said:
Pa from what he said in one of his videos a couple of weeks before he died was actually on very little steroid wise.

He may have been using diuretics though which are much more likely than even heavy steroid use to cause heart attacks or he may just have been incredibly unlucky/it was his past substance abuse catching up with him and unfortunately living in rural Ireland he just wasn't close enough to a hospital.

100% Eddies shear size and PED use at his peak would have been the reason he'd have been at the top of that list.

Aye i suppose " very little" is all relative though if you're up at top level, and given they're presumably not pharmaceutical grade like in America the actual content is variable.

Its a shame strongmen etc can't be open about these things for fear of losing sponsorship and awful social media hate campaigns.

I do wonder if they should be more open to ideally put young lads off steroid use unless they're in the highest end competitive environment and identify some of these large side effects. On the counter maybe people would just use it as a shopping list.

tom_e · 22 Jan 2026 at 11:08

Buffman said:
Aye i suppose " very little" is all relative though if you're up at top level, and given they're presumably not pharmaceutical grade like in America the actual content is variable.

Its a shame strongmen etc can't be open about these things for fear of losing sponsorship and awful social media hate campaigns.

I do wonder if they should be more open to ideally put young lads off steroid use unless they're in the highest end competitive environment and identify some of these large side effects. On the counter maybe people would just use it as a shopping list.

It's an area I've got some knowledge on and in this case "very little" was even in comparison to a lot of the lads competing in local BB shows rather than in comparison to the doses you can imagine some of the guys at the top of their game use.

I can also confirm when lists of supposed use get out online they do just become shopping lists with the thinking "If I take this then I'll get to the same level" ignoring the years of training/diet/experience/elite genetics also required.

Hotwired · 22 Jan 2026 at 13:59

tom_e said:
"If I take this then I'll get to the same level" ignoring the years of training/diet/experience/elite genetics also required.

Same for estimating "how much" someone is on. Their genetics may not be cooperative or they might not be putting in the same effort or be lacking information so it's not as beneficial.