SATELLITE BEACH, Fla. — “Dad, I want to be strong like you.” My oldest son Jacob said these words to me as I was finishing a heavy squat workout in our home’s garage gym, and my aches and pain immediately subsided and were replaced with proud joy! Determining if he was “ready” for heavy lifting was never a question, Jacob was 11 and had always been an active child who played baseball, soccer, and tackle football. I waited patiently for years for him to mentally “want” to lift heavy, because that is the most important aspect in powerlifting: the mental toughness required. As an elite-level powerlifter I knew that I needed to train my son intensely but also keep it fun, and I was up for the challenge!

The following paragraphs will outline how I trained my son from never touching a barbell to setting a World Record deadlift at the 365-Strong WPF National Championship in only two short months.

Determining that Jacob was committed, I bought him the gear that he would need to feel confident and keep him safe. I bought him an adjustable belt from Rogue Fitness so he could practice his bracing during his training, I made sure he was wearing flat soled shoes to decrease the distance he would need to pull (inches matter!), I bought him long socks and an American flag singlet that he could wear during the competition, and I discussed the mental aspect of competing and created competition-like conditions during each training session. I would bring in his siblings to cheer him on, I would play his chosen walk-up song, and I would try to get him focused and to ignore the outside distractions: just focus on the bar and picking it up. This helped lower his anxiety about competing on such a large stage (hundreds of spectators, loud music playing, three judges watching him intensely as he lifted, etc.) and was the most important part of his training.

The next most important part of his training was the actual lifting! Since Jacob was only competing in the deadlift event (you walk up to the bar, pick it up until your back is straight and knees are locked out, then lower it on command) I knew that I could focus on exactly what he needed to do his best. I demonstrated the basics of the movement, then had him start by pulling off of blocks instead of the floor in an effort to separate the movement into pieces (off the floor, to the knees, lockout). Since the lockout is the easiest to perform and to learn, we started there first.

He trained twice a week, one heavy day and one speed day. During his heavy days he would pull from various heights and would use heavy chains attached to the barbell so that the weight would be light on the floor (with the chains piled up) and heaviest at the lockout (with the chains draped down to the floor). This builds tremendous power so that when you remove the chains the weight literally flies up since your body is prepared for increased resistance. In the same way I trained Jacob with rubber bands attached to the barbell on his speed days, having him pull from various heights but with lighter weights and focusing on perfect form but as explosively as possible.

For accessory movements after each heavy and speed day I would have him pull and push a weighted sled, row on our Concept 2 rowing machine, and perform assisted pull-ups. These techniques are the same that I use and that I have my athletes who I train use, because they work! We never performed more than one rep when deadlifting since I wanted to train his body to exert as much effort as possible for one perfect rep, instead of multiple reps with diminishing form and exertion.

The day of the meet was upon us and Jacob was ready! I competed first and then Jacob was brought up to the platform as the final lift of the day before the award presentation, so the place was packed! He was in his singlet with his belt and flat soled shoes, his walk-up music was playing, hundreds of people were watching him, but he was calm because we had trained for those conditions so he could instead concentrate on what he came to do, deadlift! I was his back spotter right behind him and I was so proud as he walked up to the bar, braced and gripped the barbell, pulled it up to lockout, got the command to lower, received a “good lift” judgement, and then he smiled as the entire arena erupted in cheers! He had done it! I picked him up and hugged him and he told me, “Thanks Dad, now I’m strong too!”

Christopher T. Young is an Elite-level Multi-Ply Powerlifter who has totaled 2,000 pounds in competition (881 squat, 529 bench press, and 628 deadlift). He owns 13 World, 14 National, and 39 State records in three international powerlifting federations, is a West Point graduate still serving as an active-duty Army Infantry Officer with 22 years of service, and is the proud father of five children all under the age of 11. He is sponsored by many brands to include Animal Pak and Iron Rebel. He can be reach at his coaching website, YoungStrongPowerlifting.com or on Instagram at @youngstrongpowerlifting.

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