Mike Marcinkowski continues to raise the bar in the weight world.
The 72 year old lifts weight that would be difficult for many people half his age, benching 185 pounds and squatting 275 pounds.
Marcinkowski picked up powerlifting in his 40s, competing in his first World Drug-Free Powerlifting championship in 1998, where he won a world title.
“I’ve been doing sports all my life, different things like outdoor sports,” Marcinkowski said. “When the time comes to winter, I went back to gyms, pushing weights (and) keeping up with my phys ed and my health.”
Now, Marcinkowski is continuing to pursue his fitness goals. He’s heading to England this week to compete in his first championship since 2019.
“Now I’m building up my muscle, hoping I’ll be able to set my goal,” Marcinkowski said.
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Training includes a warmup with foam rolling and lighter weights.
That’s followed by a variety of compound lifts like deadlifts and squats, all in an attempt to set a new World Drug-Free Powerlifting Federation (WDFPF) record.
Marcinkowski currently holds the unequipped deadlift world record in the men’s 75 kg 60-64-year-old category.
Set a decade ago at the age of 61, he hopes to break another deadlift record on Saturday, this one in the 70-74 age group.
“The (current) record is 180.5 kg, so I want to do a minimum 1.5 kg more to get a world record,” Marcinkowski said. “We’ll see how it goes. Maybe I’ll do 2.5 kg more, you never know.”
A weight Marcinkowski hopes he can deadlift to the top of his category and the WDFPF record books.
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