“After suffering a serious back injury in 1997, I began strength training. After learning about real strength training from “Power To The People!” by Pavel in 2001, I stopped using machines and started using a barbell. I began competing 3 years later, in 2004, at age 49, in the 148 lb weight class.
My powerlifting results may be seen online, but to save you the trouble, here are my deadlifting highlights: 347 lbs deadlift age 49, 353 lbs at age 51, 360 lbs at age 59, 365 lbs at age 62, and then began an expected slipping backward due to getting older and having already approached what some might call my “genetic potential.”
But I have no patience for getting older and weaker. I redoubled my efforts to improve my skill at the deadlift and pulled 369 lbs at age 64, a new lifetime personal best. And on November 19, 2022, I pulled 375 lbs which set a USPA National US Record for the powerlifting deadlift, M65-69, 148 lb, raw, and a new lifetime personal best for me at age 67 years and 8 months.
I have no intention of stopping to improve.
I choose to lift in the Raw Division, which allows the least amount of supportive equipment, but I use none of what’s allowed: no knee sleeves, no wrist wraps, not even a lifting belt.
My training disproves many of the stereotypes of weight lifters. I still weigh what I weighed 50 years ago. I am not bigger, but I am stronger, and my life is immeasurably better.
Strength is a skill that can be honed regardless of age and size. My advice to anyone reading here is simple. Approach strengthening like you would approach learning to play a musical instrument: first and foremost, get a teacher - my special thanks go out to Pavel Tsatsouline, Founder and President of StrongFirst, and StrongFirst Certified Master Instructor and Chief of Staff, Fabio Zonin. After that, it’s simple: learn from your teachers and practice what they’ve taught you.
In strength,
Steve Freides, #StrongFirst Senior Certified Instructor
3 days ago
