Kingston, father, son make their marks
Injuries fail to keep Chet, Dinesh Mangra from setting records
Chet Mangra and his son Dinesh continue to break records and earn accolades in World Association of Benchers and Deadlifters competitions.
Chet, 59, of Kingston, is an eighttime world champion, as well as a national and state champion. He currently competes in the 54-60 age group in the 132-pound class.
Last month, Chet took gold in the Welker Engineering World Bench Press and Deadlift Championships in Las Vegas, deadlifting 285 pounds while competing against powerlifters from Hawaii and Brazil. This came as he was recovering from a shoulder injury.
Chet said his doctor suggested that he shouldn’t compete, an order he ignored.
“I’ve been doing this since I was 12 years old,” Chet said. “I’m still continuing to do it.”
Chet and Dinesh now train at Thomas Farrell’s new gym Sports of Iron Fitness on state Route 28 in the town of Ulster.
The Mangras are currently preparing for Nationals in February.
Both Mangras once trained at the now-shuttered MAC Fitness location on U.S. Route 9W in the town of Ulster. Chet credited much of his success to the MAC’s late founder Lyle Schuler, who died in September. “He was a great man,” Chet said. “Lyle never charged my son or me membership fees. He sponsored my tickets. “Lyle helped me a lot in this.” Chet, a native of British Guayana in South Africa, said Schuler helped get him in to powerlifiting after he came to the United States.
He’s competed for the U.S. for
years, first with the USA Powerlifting Association and later with the WABDL.
As for how he keeps setting records, Chet said he sticks to a strict diet, trains hard and doesn’t smoke. His only vice is an occasional beer. He added he keeps weights in almost every room of the house and likes to keep around 132 pounds when he’s nearing a contest.
Chet said throughout the year his weight fluctuates to as high as 152 pounds as he goes heavy on protein-loaded meats like fish, steak and chicken, along with rice and beans.
“I didn’t get fat. It’s thick muscle,” he said.
But when a contest approaches, he cuts back and goes back down towards 132 pounds. He noted he’s lost upwards of three pounds in 1 ½ hours through a process named steaming.
Chet, said his training routine consists of one- to two-hour sessions four to five times a week around his job as a supervisor at a floor cleaning company. It’s a job that involves a lot of working evenings and nights. Following in Chet’s footsteps, Dinesh, 27, started competing in WABDL in 2015, and this year marked his second time competing in the worlds.
He said he started training at MAC Fitness and competed in several local meets before he qualified in the worlds.
Recovering from a back injury that took him out of contention in 2016, Dinesh said he went back up to the 165-pound weight class.
“It put me out of action, I trained back from the bottom,” Dinesh said, adding he was left with no longterm consequences.
“I came back stronger,” Dinesh said.
This year, he took first in his category, starting with a lift of 381 pounds and finishing with a lift of 402, defeating seven competitors. He said his start bested the runners-up, who finished with lifts of 370 pounds after opening with 315.
As he turns 28, Dinesh moves into the open men’s category, where he said he’ll face much stiffer competition. He added he’s hoping to someday finish with a lift of 500. He currently owns the state and national marks, but not the world records.
Chet looked back on how far his son has come in the years they’ve trained together. He started out small, lifting just 95 pounds, then moving to 225, 361, 380, 395, 405 and, most recently, 425.
Like his dad, Dinesh trains about four times a week, but they only train together at events.
“We train hard. We can get a spotter, people to watch you,” Dinesh said.
But, looking ahead, there’s a bit of uncertainty ahead in Chet’s future.
“I may have to take surgery,” Chet said “I have to get an MRI.”
The Mangras thanked Farrell, Brian Rogers, a trainer at Sports of Iron Fitness; Tomy Albano, who gives them private training sessions in his private gym in Kingston; Tom Patrick and his son, Dan Cease; world champion Brad Klinger; Pat Carroll and Dinesh’s wife, Shira.