SUMMERVILLE, S.C. — A man holds world records, wins international competitions and can lift nearly four times his body weight. Yet he still sees himself as just a guy with a hobby.
Lorenzo Wright has been powerlifting competitively for seven years. He holds the USA Powerlifting world record squat in his weight class at 795 pounds.
“A lot of people, they’re kind of surprised because I’m, I’m about 5′9, 220, but I’m not overly big. So when I tell them the numbers I do, they kind of get shocked,” Wright said.
During the week, he works at his job in home health physical therapy. On the weekends, he’s either training or traveling to participate in competitions around the world.
“When I was in Korea, I came in first in my weight class and then I won best lifter overall,” Wright said.
He competes in three disciplines: squat, bench press and deadlift. Though it is a competition, he said he’s not focusing on the other lifters.
“When we’re in competition, we’re focused on hitting our numbers and when we do that, it puts pressure on everybody else, but we’re not focused on everyone else. It’s just beating what we did last time,” Wright said.
Wright said he tries not to think when his muscles are holding hundreds of pounds of weights in the air.
“When I have all of that weight on my back, I try not to think about anything…and then when I have the lifting competition, I kind of just shut my brain off and let my body work,” Wright said.
With all the awards and world titles, Wright still treats powerlifting as a hobby and recognizes that life balance is essential.
“Some days are long days and then I have to come in and train after that. Then of course make sure there’s time for my family and friends and things I love to do other than powerlifting,” he said.
Wright is continuing to train for his next competition, which will be in Chicago on Sunday.
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