Jitse Kramer was born in Marrum and has lived in Leeuwarden since 2003. He has been playing sports from an early age. From the age of 8 until the age of 19 Jitse played tennis fanatically. At the age of 22 Jitse started working out and in 2006 he decided to become a fitness trainer. In 2009 our OG Hero entered the "strong man's world" through a fellow athlete who was already competing; "you should try it sometime, it's fun" they said and "you can do it" and 4 years later he won the title "Strongest man in the Netherlands"! This was due to carefully designed (nutrition) schemes, discipline and perseverance together with setting realistic and achievable goals. All in all, the title Strongest Man of the Netherlands went his way twice and he is one of the most successful Dutch "strongmen" worldwide. Jitse loves training hard but he is also a bon vivant. He believes that one should not exclude the other; "the way towards a goal should be with pleasure."

Highlight career
OG Hero Jitse's highlight in his career is the way he became the 'Strongest man in the Netherlands' for the first time. Jitse managed to win the decisive last part (the stones of strength) with a torn Achilles tendon. 

Pre-match habit 
Before every competition Jitse takes 5 to 6 days of complete rest and eats even more than he normally does. By doing this, the OG Hero stores a lot of energy in the body and can give even more on race day. In addition, Jitse makes sure he has everything with him through a standard checklist.

Dream 
Jitse's dream is to become the strongest and most successful strongest man in the Netherlands and Jitse is already well on his way to achieving this. As long as he is successful and enjoys the process he will continue with this fantastic sport. Meanwhile Jitse is almost 40 and he also thinks it's very nice to set a record here and there with the 40+ strong men at world level. 

Hobbies
Besides top sports there is little time for hobbies according to Jitse. What Jitse likes to do is gaming and Netflix and recently he has taken his 25 year old technical lego from the attic and started to rebuild everything. This will keep him busy for a while.

Guilty pleasure
Star Trek, yes, he is a trekkie! (Much better than Star Wars according to Jitse).

Career
2011 6th place Sterkste Man of the Netherlands
2012 5th place Strongest Man of the Netherlands 
2013 1st place Strongest Man of the Netherlands
2013 1st place Strongest Man of the Netherlands 
2015 1st place Strongest Man of the North of The Netherlands
2015 (also a qualifier for Sterkste Man of the Netherlands)
2015 1st place Strongest Man of the Netherlands
2016 2nd place Strongest Man of the Netherlands
2017 2nd place Arnold Classic South Africa
2017 7th place Arnold Classic Barcelona
2017 2nd place Strongest Man of Friesland with a Dutch record deadlift of 390 kg
2018 11th place overall Arnold Classic 2019 worldwide
2018 2nd place Arnold Classic South Africa 
2019 5th place Arnold Classic Santa Monica and there set a new Dutch record deadlift of 413 kg
2019 11th place overall Arnold Classic 2019, worldwide
2019 7th place Arnold Classic Santa Monica