Seattle powerlifting team strong together
SEATTLE — Watching 17-year-old Sachie DuBose back-squat 280 pounds five times (mind you: only 70 percent of the full weight she is working toward), I sighed, wishing I had lifted so young.
DuBose is one of 25 members of the Bull Stewart Powerlifting team, many of whom lift weights incomprehensible to many of us.
Gene Alexander, for example, owns the world dead-lift record for ages 65 to 69 at 468 pounds. Winifred Pristell, 79, has won multiple world titles.
The youngest team member is 9 years old. The team itself is the reigning Amateur Athletic Union world powerlifting champion, with additional women’s and youth titles.
Andrew “Bull” Stewart is the dynamic coach. A powerlifting world champion several times over, he owns Columbia City Fitness, the base for his team.
Stewart’s athletes are hyper-focused, lifting three times a week to work on the three powerlifts — back squats (squatting with weight), dead lifts (lifting weight from the ground) and bench presses (pressing weight from your chest). The members also train in Olympic lifting events (the snatch and the clean and jerk) but the team has made its name in powerlifting.
It was squat day the day I visited the Columbia City Fitness location on South Jackson Street. Several lifters were there to watch and support the people working out, with one lifter helping Stewart swap out the weights for each set. He tracks each lifter’s goals and progress; most lifters don’t know exactly what they’re lifting, said Asuba Alley-Barnes, a lifter and team captain.
Alley-Barnes is training for the 2020 Olympic Trials in the snatch and the clean and jerk.
The lifters warmed up, their squat forms beautiful and strong. Stewart reminded them, “Chest up, good form.” The lifters were all in the early portion of an eight-week lifting cycle, gearing up and getting stronger to compete in state championships.
“People ask, ‘How do people get so strong in such a short time?’” Stewart said. “Dedication.”
When DuBose moved to her max set for the day, everyone started cheering. Bull shouted “Give me two!” as he spotted the lifters. Others called out “Easy weight!” DuBose looked as if she could do more.
The team’s closeness is palpable. They chatted between sets or wandered into the office. They all have nicknames — Gladiator, Smiley, Warrior, Ghost — stitched on their Bull Stewart’s Powerlifters shirts.
Every team member is voted on, and any one person has veto power; people have been voted off the team. Stewart said his athletes lift drug-free. The team’s reputation draws lifters, although Stewart has been known to watch people in the gym and ask them to join.
“We trust him,” AlleyBarnes said. “He’s such a great coach and works with each of us individually. ... It’s not easy.”
Stewart talked about one lifter who said she couldn’t afford to join. He met her for coffee and struck a deal — buy him a cup of coffee for every training session and call it even. The exchange has been going for more than a decade.
“Do you know how many people would be successful if there wasn’t a price tag attached to it?” Stewart asked.
Powerlifting has grown in popularity with the rise of CrossFit. It’s cool now to be a powerlifter.
The sport, though, isn’t about getting big, Stewart said.
“We train to be strong.”