Career
As an athlete he competed internationally but his career was cut short by injury. He went on to specialise in strength based sport and represented both England and Great Britain in various Highland Games and strength athletic events. He has gained international renown in strength sport for being one of the world"s foremost exponents of grip strength.
Laine"s father ran a large transport company, something which Laine would go on to emulate in running Devon Fleet"s Hereford Branch.
By the age of 12 Laine was 6"2"" and 15 stone. He became a shot putter and Geoff Capes became his coach.
Winning such events as the American Automobile Association Midland Counties championship in 1994, (following in the footsteps of athletes such as Bill Tancred and Andy Drzewiecki) were platforms to Laine performing at international level However, an operation on his spine forced him to abandon a career as an athlete.
He therefore began concentrating on other strength sports such as bench pressing and grip strength.
He is also noted for having broken a number of records in bench pressing and in 1999 became Guinness world record holder for the most bench presses of a person in one minute, lifting Ian Wright and the bench he was lying on, amounting to 17 st 4 lb for 56 repetitions. As a strength athlete he competed in national level events in the United Kingdom and was a finalist in both 2000 and 2001 in Britain"s Strongest Manitoba In 2006, Snook began training rigorously once more, in his home gym six days a week for two hours a day.
On 1 August 2006 he became the world record holder in the international recognised Rolling Thunder lift, deemed by Ironmind as one of the ultimate tests of grip strength.
Later that evening he succeeded in deadlifting the Millennium Dumbbell (231 lbs) and the Thomas Inch Dumbbell (172 lbs) simultaneously. In Augaust 2008, snook cleaned the "Super Nova" kettlebell (185 lbs) to the shoulder becoming the first person in the world to perform this feat.
On 21 December 2008, at the Whey Power Challenge Laine Snook hoisted two Millennium Dumbbells, dumbbells with "handles as thick as a Coke can" weighing 230 lbs each. Commenting on this, Randall J. Strossen noted that Laine Snook had first come to the attention of the grip strength world when he certified on the Number.
3 Captains of Crush Gripper, officiated by Jamie Reeves.
Augmenting his reputation, his world record in the Rolling Thunder combined with the Millennium Dumbbell feat have led Strossen to say that Laine has started "to produce some marks that will astound the grip world".
