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Published 5:00 am Sunday, September 13, 2026<\/p>\n
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You\u2019ve all heard the phrase \u201cAge is just a number,\u201d right?<\/p>\n
Lake Oswego\u2019s Terry Shanley \u2014 now 70 years old \u2014 is living it.<\/p>\n
Here are some other numbers Shanley is living with \u2014 his bench press, squat and deadlift totals are all over 300 pounds and earned him Oregon records for the 70-74 age group despite taking up powerlifting less than five months earlier.<\/p>\n
Shanley broke onto the Oregon powerlifting scene after just four months in the sport. He started his powerlifting training on April 20, working with eight-time world champion Rudy Kadlub (a United States Powerlifting Association Hall of Fame member), and was an Oregon record holder by the end of August.<\/p>\n
In his first competition, the USPA Tested and Open 2K26 Summer Showdown<\/a> in Springfield on Aug. 29, Shanley broke through big-time. He competed in three events and set Oregon records in each for his age group and weight class (110 kilos [242 pounds]), finishing with a bench press of 314, a squat of 303, a deadlift of 363 and a total of 980.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was one of the best days of my life,\u201d Shanley said. \u201cIt kind of opened me up to what\u2019s still possible for this 70-year-old body.\u201d<\/p>\n Shanley, who wrestled, swam and competed in baseball, basketball, football, gymnastics and track growing up, has always worked out.<\/p>\n While powerlifting was never on the menu before, he became a convert pretty quickly.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve made a career by saying \u2018OK,\u2019\u201d Shanley said. \u201cRudy asked if I\u2019d train with him and I said \u2018Okay.\u2019 And since things were going pretty well and there was an opportunity to do something significant, it kind of whetted my appetite for it.\u201d<\/p>\n Kadlub knew he had something special when he began training Shanley.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s always been a pretty good bench presser because of his upper body strength as a wrestler,\u201d Kadlub said, noting that Shanley needs to continue making gains in his squat and deadlift. \u201cHe hadn\u2019t really trained for those, so his squat and his deadlift \u2014 although they were state records \u2014 have a lot of room for improvement.\u201d<\/p>\n At this point, Shanley has made a name for himself in powerlifting, but he went viral \u2014 again, at age 70 \u2014 for another reason.<\/p>\n During his competition in Springfield, as he completed his record-setting squat and waited to re-rack the bar, he looked toward his mother, 91-year-old Frankie Shanley, and gave her a confident wink.<\/p>\n His daughter, Madison Shanley, captured and posted the moment on her Instagram account<\/a> and the original video has generated more than 5 million views, reached more than 3 million viewers and generated more than 400,000 likes, 54,000 shares, 11,500 reposts, 21,000 saves and 3,900 comments.<\/p>\n \u201cAs soon as I got the weight up \u2026 I just looked over at my mom and winked at her,\u201d Shanley said, describing his mom as the \u201cheartbeat of the family.\u201d \u201cThere are very few 70-year-olds that get to have their lifelong supporter \u2014 their mom \u2014 watch them compete and be successful. And that meant everything in the world to me.\u201d<\/p>\n Because of his success in the Summer Showdown, Shanley qualified for the 2026 International Powerlifting World Championships on Nov. 22 at the Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n He\u2019ll be competing with Kadlub in Las Vegas and has more big goals in mind.<\/p>\n \u201cAbout four months ago, I was training with Rudy and he looked at some records and said, \u2018You\u2019re not that far away from a world record in the bench press,\u2019\u201d Shanley said. \u201cI said, \u2018What?\u2019 He said, \u2018Let\u2019s start training for it,\u2019 so we did.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOur goal for the bench press is 330,\u201d said Kadlub. \u201cThat\u2019s what we\u2019re working towards, but we\u2019ll bring his squat and his bench up too.\u201d<\/p>\n People can follow Shanley\u2019s training and journey to the World Championship on Instagram at @legendaryterrylifts<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\nHow he got started<\/h3>\n
The wink that went round the world<\/h3>\n
What\u2019s next<\/h3>\n