All Sport Report

At twenty one years of age English powerlifter AJ Roberts already has his name on the pages of the record books more than once. In his last competition Roberts put up a big 2285 lb total by way of an 881 lb squat, a 705 lb deadlift and a 699 lb benchpress, which gave him enough to take home the crown in the 308 lb weight class of the ‘06 WPC World Championships.

AJ’s beginnings with the weights came as many other’s had, he started lifting to get bigger for football, “that’s when my obsession with lifting started.” His entrance into competitive powerlifting, however, came a bit differently.

Roberts came to the US as an exchange student and international students are only granted one year of eligability. In an attempt to avoid this complication AJ’s parents actually signed over guardianship to the family he was staying with, but false rumors circulated that he was an international recruit. The OSSA ruled him ineligable, and despite several attempts of appeal AJ was banned from playing high school sports during his senior year. The world of powerlifting was about to be blessed with one of it’s most promising young competitors.

AJ started breaking records in 2003 in the teen division with a 470 lb deadlift and the numbers kept growing. By November 2005 AJ held IPA World Records in the 275 lb weight class with a 903 lb Squat, a 600 lb benchpress and a 2138 lb total.

His next full meet, the IronGladiators Classic ‘07, will come in April of ‘07 in Spokane, WA where AJ will look to improve his total to over 2400 lbs. Roberts will be twenty two in a little over a month, which in the powerlifting world means that he hasn’t even begun to hit his stride. He is at least of few years away from being at his peak, he’s going to keep getting bigger, stronger and more proficient.

“I’m addicted to lifting,” he says, “it’s my drug of choice. I keep going back day after day because I love everything about it - the smell, the sound, the blood, the pain. Powerlifting has become part of who I am, without it I’m not sure how I would function.”

At last years IronGladiators Classic AJ set Oregon state records with a 950 lb squat and a 650 lb bench press and a personal record total of 2300 lbs. A 2400 pound total is definitely within Roberts’ reach for this coming April, as far as what we’ll see from this phenom down the road - your guess is as good as mine, but I will tell you you should bring your calculator to add up the total ’cause it’s gonna be huge!

For more info on AJ Roberts go here, or to get info on how you can be trained by AJ go here.