This kid hasn’t even made it into the double digits, but he’s already dead lifting in the triple figures.
Tate Fegley is just 9 years old, 4-foot-7 and 103 pounds but he’s already a powerlifting champion breaking national records.
At a state competition this month, the Minden, Louisiana, native broke American records for dead lifting, squatting, bench pressing and total weight lifted in a day in his age and weight class.
“I just love the sport,” Tate tells CNN, “I love the competition, too.”
After breaking the dead lift record, and then immediately topping his own record in his second and third lifts at a competition, all Tate had to say to his coach was: “I wish we had one more attempt! I wanna go up!”
“He just wants to keep going,” says his coach, Peyton Gray, adding that the boy’s motivation comes from himself and not the adults around him.
“I never push him past where he won’t keep going.”
Tate began training a year and a half ago, going to the gym every morning at 7 during his summer break. Today, he works out after school for up to three hours.
In terms of diet, Tate isn’t worrying about protein shakes and strict regimens quite yet — he eats like any other kid his age, he says.
“It’s extremely amazing, especially when you go to a meet where other kids are lifting and you can see how much more weight he’s lifting,” Tate’s mom, Marla, tells CNN.
Indeed, Gray says Tate is lifting more than most adult males.
“He works ridiculously hard and it’s very motivating to see,” Gray tells KTBS. “I think that 99% of his progress is how hard this young man works.”
As for the safety of juvenile weightlifting, the limited research available reveals that kids have participated with few injuries, according to a study published by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Gray says that having a good coach makes all the difference: “Nine-year-olds can lift safely if their coach teaches them to.”
Next up, Tate’s hoping to break even more records by dead lifting 250 pounds, squatting 215 and bench pressing 155 in August, at the Youth National Championship.
As to his secret, his only explanation for his young prowess is: “Hard work and commitment.”