He’s a modern day Hercules! Moments after apparently carrying more weight than anyone ever before, German strongman Patrik Baboumian let out a roar and a couple seemingly unlikely words “Vegan power.”  The 34-year-old, who already holds world records for log lifts and overhead beer keg lifts, carried a yoke loaded with just over 550 kilograms (1212.54 pounds)10 meters (32.8 feet), the heaviest load ever carried — equivalent to a large horse.

Baboumian, a longtime animal lover, became a vegetarian in 2006. “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,” said Baboumian, wearing a T-shirt that read, “I am a vegan badass” and sporting mutton chops vaguely reminiscent of Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine from the X-Men films. “Then, at the same time, you go to a restaurant and eat a chicken or something. It doesn’t make any sense.” In 2011, shortly after being named Germany’s strongest man, he went completely vegan.