Squatting down over the barbell, sophomore Carter Bruce tightly grips his hands around the cold metal. His fingers tighten around the grate-skinned grip of the bar as he stands, his entire body shaking as he pulls the weight against the force of gravity. Sweat pours down his face as he slowly comes to a full stand, then lowers himself with great control in order to set the bar back on the ground. The holder of the national deadlift record in his class has just been broken.

As a cheerleader at Davenport West, Bruce holds national records in the squat, deadlift, and three lift total categories, and a state record in the bench press. At 16 years old, Bruce stands at 6 feet tall, and weighs in at 220 pounds.

In 2015, seventh grade Bruce started pumping iron. He did this because he was tired of being small, and wished to be a big guy. Four years later, Bruce is far from being a small guy. He still lifts, even after achieving his records, and notes two staff members at West as inspiration behind his efforts.

“Mr. Franzenburg is a really cool dude. He used to do some lifting back in his day. And Charlie Driscoll, one of our principals, was one of the best back in his 20s,” Bruce said.

Not all of Bruce’s motivation comes from his inspirations, in fact, he has an entirely different source that motivates him while he lifts.

“I motivate myself by seeing how I want my future to be, and how I want to look,” Bruce said.

Sound familiar? Bruce started lifting because he was tired of being small, and to this day, continues to use that mental image as a driver behind his routine. Bruce highly remarks consistency as an important role in seeking improvement in lifting, and upholds that remark with his own lifting agenda.

“I lift five to six times a week,” Bruce said. “Each lift is about an hour and 20 minutes, two hours max.”

Lifting so often requires a routine schedule to ensure the body fully develops. Bruce has a routine that he devised, which has helped him on his powerlifting path.

“I do a day of bench, a squat day, and a deadlift day, then I have three days for accessory lifts,” Bruce said. “So I have three days of my main lifts, and then the other two days are for the smaller body parts.”

Bruce understands not to make the mistake of ignoring any part of his body, and has thus included his smaller muscles into the schedule. This is crucial, as every muscle will rely on one another when the time comes to push the boundaries and lift the weights that truly count. Though this schedule is effective any time of the year, Bruce adapted his routine in order to prepare for the meet, where he set his records.

“Twelve weeks before the meet, I started meet prep, where I started lifting light and increase the weight I did each week to get my body more used to heavy weights,” Bruce said.

For 12 gruelling weeks, Bruce tested his body with up to two hours of training a number of days a week, all in the name of preparation to compete for this title. Eventually, the hard labor paid off, and Bruce was headed off to compete.

“It was a ton of big dudes going around, motivating each other and helping each other out. They were trying to help each other with how much they can lift,” Bruce said.

The long road to the competition led to the experience of meeting other powerlifters and getting to not only give others tips, but receive tips as well. With the competition come and gone, powerlifting doesn’t just up and leave from Bruce’s life. Rather, he wants to move forward with it.

“I want to see how big I can get with powerlifting, do that for the rest of my life, then maybe some kind of job that includes that, like a coach,” Bruce said.

Taking the knowledge gained and applying it to himself and others, Bruce seeks to pursue powerlifting for as long as he can. The day will come where he will rack the bar for the last time, and he will train others to achieve greatness as he has done. Technology teacher Jason Franzenburg did just that for Bruce.