MARINE CORPS AIR STATION IWAKUNI, Japan -- A scrawny young kid walks into the gym and tries to imagine himself fitting in with the chiseled weight lifters who loom around the weight tree. Looking down at his frail body, two thoughts enter his brain. First comes the intimidation; lifting next to these guys would leave him feeling like an ant trying to move a boulder. Then comes the wonder, the dreaming of being one of the giants with muscles on top of muscles. After standing in the doorway for a moment, which lasted an eternity, he decides to plunge into the intense disciplined world of power lifting.
Experiencing a similar situation, many Station residents have taken up weight lifting at one point in their life, but there are a select few who apply the intensity and discipline to this powerful world, transforming their body into bulldozers of flesh capable of moving unbelievable amounts of weight.
Patrick J. Griffin and Kyle J. Hoelscher are two up and coming powerhouses aboard the Station who are stacking the weights in their favor for the power lifting competition being held at IronWorks Gym, Oct. 29.
Beginning his power-lifting journey after attending a seminar taught by Abe Roman, Griffin decided to give the sport of giants a try.
“When Abe first came up to me back in 2003 and asked if I ever thought about competing, I really wasn’t too interested,” said Griffin, a 5’10", 220 pound fortress of a man. “He asked me to go to a seminar he was teaching, and after seeing all the different techniques and proper forms, I decided to give it a try.”
Not only did he give the sport a try, Griffin found a new passion for the sport.
“My first competition was in February of 2003, it was kind of like my weight lifting debut,” said the humble giant. “After my first experience as a rookie, I just wanted to keep going to see what kind of weight I could put up.”
Upon beginning his heavyweight trek, Griffin was Bench pressing 350 pounds, squatting 425 and dead lifting 535. His current goals for the upcoming competition are a 400 pound bench press, a 525 pound squat and a dead lift of 600.
“Goal setting is so important in this sport,” said Griffin, the Rockville, Md. native who is always easily identified in the weight room thanks to his signature black boots. “I set my goals in eight-week increments and just kind of roadmap how I’m going to meet that goal by smaller weekly goals. With this eight-week cycle, I control when my body is in its peak performance. Without goals how could you measure success?”
“The human body is an amazing machine. It can do anything you want with proper training,” said Griffin, who currently holds three records in the 220 pound weight class at IronWorks Gym with a 425 pound squat, 530 pound dead lift and the overall weight of 1,300 pounds.
As a relative newcomer still learning the finer points of technique and form, Hoelscher is currently honing his body for the next competition.
Spending more than 12 hours every week at the gym, the 165-pound Jefferson City, Mo. native has been building his body for the past 14 months.
“I first started getting into lifting basically just to look better,” said the broad shouldered Hoelscher. “After a while just lifting for looks, I noticed the strength was coming a lot faster than the weight, so I started training for more strength to see how far I could go.”
When first starting to lift, Hoelscher was bench pressing 180 pounds, squatting 200 and had never completed a dead lift before in his life. Although he knows his own name won’t be placed on the IronWorks record board after the next competition, Hoelscher is determined to set new personal bests with goals of benching 275 pounds, squatting 325 and dead lifting 400 at the next competition.
“The goals are what give you the constant gains, even when you feel like you’ve hit a plateau you’ll push through to meet your goal,” said Hoelscher. “Sometimes you get a comment from friends, like ‘Hey, you’re getting bigger,’ or they see you at the gym and notice that you’re lifting a lot more than you used to, and most of the time more than them. Meeting your own personal goals is so rewarding.”
“Winning and loosing isn’t important in the big scheme of things. That’s what makes this sport so great,” said Abe Roman, Station power lifting expert who was a former national champion at the 148 pound weight class, two time all Marine champion, and coach for the All Marine, Interservice, and U.S. power lifting teams. “You’re not competing against other people, the whole idea is self improvement. You’re only trying to lift your weight and reach your goals.”
Although there isn’t an organized power-lifting program for beginners on base, Roman encourages anyone who is interested to come and ask him for advice.
“If anyone needs help, or wants to know more about the sport, all people have to do is ask,” said Roman, who has the build of a human bull dog. “The vets of this sport are always happy to help someone get into the sport the right way and start reaching their own goals. Just approach us in the gym.”