Avonmore's Ben Britton takes 2nd at powerlifting championships

Avonmore’s Ben Britton drove 16 hours to Lafayette, La., to compete in the 2023 USPA powerlifting championships last month.

He certainly made the trip worthwhile.

Weighing just less than 162 pounds and competing in the 165-pound weight class, Britton pulled 534.6 pounds in the deadlift portion of the championships. He managed to deadlift more than three times his body weight, a challenging feat for powerlifters.

Britton’s total at the event was a personal record 1,157.4 pounds for deadlift (534.6 pounds), squat (407.8 pounds) and bench press (220.4). He finished second behind William Walker (1,339.3 pounds).

“I felt pretty good to go down there and compete,” Britton said. “I’ve never been that far south, so it was pretty cool to see a different part of the country and meet all kinds of different people. That was really cool. It was really fun to see different parts of the country, different cultures and meet a lot of really good lifters.”

Britton, 21, qualified for the event after a strong performance at the 2023 USPA Gorilla House Power Bowl in Altoona. His three-lift total was 1,069.2 pounds.

“I’ve come extremely far,” Britton said. “Whenever I first started lifting, I was about 120 pounds whenever I was a freshman. I was really skinny, but I just really liked to lift. When you’re in middle school and you see big lifts on YouTube and stuff like that, you want to be like that.”

Britton first started to lift weights because he was playing sports and grew to enjoy the strength aspect of lifting, rather than bodybuilding.

Britton is on a strict training schedule and always is preparing and making sure his form is perfect to prevent injuries when lifting.

“There’s a lot of dangers to lifting with bad form, especially with too much weight,” Britton said. “That’s how you could have really bad injuries, so form is crucial. That’s the first thing you should do. When you start lifting, you’ve got to have perfect form.”

As meet time approaches, Britton begins to lift heavier. Instead of lifting lighter weights, with more reps, he does heavier weight with a lower rep range so he gets prepared for the competition.

He goes from doing a set of five block, to a set of three block, to doing one rep on his peaking block. Britton does this because in competition the powerlifters do one rep. He added how important holds are in his training.

“Usually about, like, five weeks out or so, I would start to really do my heavy weight,” he said. “So actually, this last peaking block, what I would do is called a hold. If I were in a squat, I would walk out with weight that was a lot more than I could squat, but I would just walk it out and I would just hold it.”

Britton’s journey has come a long way since his meet debut when he was 17. Now, at 21, he has increased his deadlift by more than 100 pounds.

The powerlifting championships were just the beginning for Britton. He wants to continue to increase his numbers and also win tournaments.

Although he is unsure if he’ll make the trip, he was invited to a world competition in Oregon this fall.

“It’s an honor to see other people out there, recognizing what I’m doing and seeing the hard work that I’m putting in,” Britton said. “I’m not entirely sure if I’m gonna do it this year, just because I was thinking about coming back next year just a little bit stronger, but it’s really cool to see other people out there recognizing what I’ve been doing and to invite me to a prestigious event like that.”

Britton said he is grateful for his parents, Curt and Susan Britton, as they have supported him throughout his lifting career. He also is thankful for his lifting coach, Mike Siszka.

“They’ve been very supportive,” Britton said. “I’ve had a lot more success just by hiring a coach because I feel like if you just kind of wing it, you kind of plateau after a while, but I feel like having a coach he puts different exercises in there, kind of switches it up, and really keeps me on track. My parents have always been very supportive.”