[BendtheBar]

Interview With Powerlifting Behemoth Jonathan Byrd

I was a 250lb, 14 year old fat kid who couldn’t bench 150 lbs when I started. By the time of graduation I did a handful of push-pull meets and benched over 400 lbs. This was at the age of 17. Coach Blick and I later became training partners and he introduced me to the group of powerlifters I still lift with today. It was there that I learned what it took to be successful.

Even in college my coaches would let me come home on Fridays to squat with them because of the gains I was making. I think it was there, in a garage with no heat or air that I really started to focus on strength gains. When I suffered the major knee injury, they were there to help me rehab it.

It was then that I knew I wanted to be one of the best in the world. Being strong became not only a goal, but a lifestyle for me.

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