March 21, 2026, 8:01 a.m. ET
In many ways, Lucy Milgrim is just like other 9-year-old girls. She enjoys spending time with friends, making arts and crafts and studying math at school. But in recent weeks, Milgrim has gone viral for her tenacity in the gym.
In an Instagram video with more than 3 million views, Milgrim sports bright pink and blue shoes and a custom powerlifting weight belt as she deadlifts 180 pounds at the Arnold Sports Festival in Columbus, Ohio. With AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck” blaring in the background, sub 60-pound Milgrim approaches the bar and shakes her pigtails a few times before lifting the bar to her waist. After dropping the bar, beaming a smile to the crowd and flexing her muscles, Milgrim retreats to give her father and coach, Brett Milgrim, a high-five.
“People see these numbers, and they say, ‘Wow, she must be training really hard to get that number.’ The truth is, she just has a different baseline than most kids,” Brett told USA TODAY. “Lucy’s always been this really naturally strong kid.”
In addition to her 180-pound deadlift personal record, Milgrim has squatted 150 pounds and bench pressed 85 pounds, she told USA TODAY in a video call from her home in New York. During her first year of powerlifting, Milgrim has set three American Records through the USA Powerlifting organization, her mother Michelle Milgrim told USA TODAY.
“My favorite part of wrestling is when you get to hang out with all your friends, and when you win the match, you get your hand raised,” Milgrim said. And when it comes to powerlifting, the 9-year-old said her favorite part is hitting a “really big weight.”
Lucy’s training regimen
In addition to powerlifting, Milgrim has wrestled competitively for three years.
“My mom and dad; they were working out in the gym, and I saw them doing all this cool stuff, and I wanted to try it too,” Milgrim said. “I got interested in wrestling because my dad (is) a wrestling coach and he used to bring me and my brother to wrestling practices.”
When it comes to training, Milgrim said she has wrestling practice four or five days a week, and then she trains in the family’s home gym once a week, usually on Sundays. In addition to Brett, one of Milgrim’s wrestling coaches is Vougar Oroudjov, who won the bronze medal for light-flyweight wrestling at the 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympics.
Milgrim works out with typical gym equipment when she’s training, but she does have a custom-made weight belt, created just for her by Cardillo Weightbelts.
And if wrestling and powerlifting don’t sound like enough, Milgrim also participates in boxing and jiu-jitsu.
‘Skill, as opposed to a test’
While training at home, Brett said his goal is to teach Milgrim skill, rather than to test her abilities.
“We don’t really chase numbers,” Brett said. “What I’m really looking for when I’m having Lucy … workout with is … for (her) to maintain postural control throughout a movement that can be repeated, so not something that can be done once for an impressive number.”
Despite Milgrim’s viral weightlifting videos, Brett said only about one-third of her training includes lifting weights. The bulk of her work is calisthenics, or using one’s body weight for strength training, such as hang cleans, box jumps, one-legged jumps, push-ups and sit-ups.
“When she did the 180 (-pound deadlift), there’s obvious amount of strain to perform the lift, but what I was most impressed about was that she maintained postural control and technique throughout the movement,” Brett said. “It was a cool thing to do, but in terms of when she’s going to attempt a big number like that again, not for a long time, until weights start to move very easily as she progresses.”
Is it safe for children to powerlift?
Children who participate in resistance training, designed to enhance muscular strength, power and endurance, are likely to see improvements in health, fitness, rehabilitation of injuries, injury reduction and physical literacy, according to an American Academy of Pediatrics report published in 2020 and reaffirmed in 2024. Injury rates among children participating in this type of training are low when proper technique is well supervised, the report states.
However, like all physical activity, there are risks. Overtraining, which may include prolonged heavy loads and/or too short a recovery time between sessions, has been tied to increased injuries and illness in children, the AAP report states. The AAP recommends one to two days of rest per week from training. Adequate caloric and fluid intake is also important to ensure a healthy body and mind.
Non-weighted strength training, which the Mayo Clinic differentiates from weightlifting, bodybuilding and powerlifting, can be part of a children’s fitness plan when they’re as young as 7 or 8, the hospital advises.
Ultimately, organizations such as the AAP and Mayo Clinic recommend medical consultation before a child begins any resistance training.
Michelle, Milgrim’s mother, told USA TODAY that her daughter meets with a pediatrician annually and also works regularly with a physical therapist.
Keeping social media fame, childhood separate
As of March 19, Milgrim boasted 174,000 followers on an Instagram account managed by Michelle. The account, which features more than 150 photos and videos of Milgrim training in the gym or taking on opponents in competition, was created about a year ago. Brett said the idea to create the account was first introduced to the family by a referee.
“We were at a jiu-jitsu tournament when Lucy was 6 years old, and Lucy was Lucy … you see her excelling now, she was doing it then too, and one of the referees came up to us and asked, ‘What’s her Instagram handle?’ And I looked at him like he was crazy,” Brett recalled. “I said, ‘What do you mean? She doesn’t have Instagram.’ And he goes, ‘You’re crazy. What are you doing? You need to show this. This is very unique. This is incredible.'”
But social media was put on the back burner until last year, when the NCAA added women’s wrestling as a championship sport in January 2025, Brett said. Then, Brett and Michelle began discussing how Milgrim could be a potential college recruit as she gets older and how having a social media presence could be important, as it would allow her to showcase her talents and bring an audience with her.
“We started the account with the idea of, maybe by the time she goes to college, we’ll have a few thousands or 10,000 people looking at it or something. We didn’t really think it was going to take off the way it did,” Brett said.
For Brett and Michelle, keeping Lucy away from social media is important.
“She doesn’t look at comments. She doesn’t know amounts of followers or views or any of that. She’s a 9-year-old girl. She does 9-year-old girl things,” Brett added. “She’ll go to wrestling practices, and she’ll come home and put on a dress and … play with her little sister.”
Greta Cross is a national trending reporter at USA TODAY. Story idea? Email her at gcross@usatoday.com.
