Patrik Baboumian

The world's strongest animals are plant eaters. Gorillas, buffaloes, elephants and me.

Patrik Baboumian (born 1 July 1979) is an Iranian-born German-Armenian strongman and former bodybuilder. He promotes veganism.

Quotes

• The world's strongest animals are plant eaters. Gorillas, buffaloes, elephants and me.
  • From his print ad for PETA, in “‘Strongest Man’ Eats Plants, Loves Animals,” in peta.org (21 November 2011).

• This is a message to all those out there who think that you need animal products to be fit and strong. Almost two years after becoming vegan I am stronger than ever before and I am still improving day by day. Don't listen to those self proclaimed nutrition gurus and the supplement-industry trying to tell you that you need meat, eggs and dairy to get enough protein. There are plenty plant-based protein-sources and your body is going to thank you for stopping to feed it with dead-food. Go vegan and feel the power!
  • Message attached to his YouTube video “555kg yoke-carry for 10m in the middle of Berlin” (1 September 2013).

• One day, I just thought, if you see a bird with a broken leg, you really have the urge to do something about it and help the bird. … Then, at the same time, you go to a restaurant and eat a chicken or something. It doesn’t make any sense. … I just realized that if it’s really compassion that drives you, maybe it’s not enough just to stop eating animals but you maybe should boycott the whole animal industry, because … it’s not what you as a compassionate being would want. So actually you should go one step further and become vegan.
  • “Vegan strongman shoulders 550 kg — a record, perhaps — at vegetarian food fest,” interview with Toronto Star (8 September 2013).

• I Am a Vegan Badass.
  • Phrase on his T-shirt during performances. Quoted in “Vegan Strongman Breaks Weightlifting Record,” in peta.org (11 September 2013). See also his Facebook profile ID, “VBadass”.

• Strength must build up, not destroy. It should outdo itself, not others who are weaker. Used without responsibility, it causes nothing but harm and death. I can lift the heaviest weights, but I cannot take the responsibility off my shoulders. Because the way we use our strength defines our fate. What traces will I leave on my path into the future? Do we really have to kill in order to live? My true strength lies in not seeing weakness as weakness. My strength needs no victims. My strength is my compassion.
  • “Strength | Vegan Strongman Patrik Baboumian,” video PSA for PETA (31 December 2014).

• It's not about being the strongest and the biggest. It's really about what are you going to do with your strength, and what are you going to do with the power that you have.
  • Interview in the documentary-film The Game Changers by Louie Psihoyos (2018).