Math teacher Joseph Chon feels accomplished after walking out of a tiring workout of powerlifting. Chon reminds himself of why he started powerlifting: to protect his loved ones.
Powerlifting is a competitive sport where a lifter works to become as strong as possible, using powerlifting basics: squat, bench and deadlift. A powerlifting total is where the sum of the heaviest squats, benches and deadlift are added together. Chon was able to achieve his lifetime goal benching 405 pounds, squatting 515 pounds and deadlifting 600 pounds—totaling to 1520 pounds.
“I was happy to kind of break the 15. It’s called the 1500 club, and people usually try to break the 1000 Club, [which is when] your total is at least 1000,” Chon said. “If you reach the [1000] club, you’re strong, but a lot of people can reach that. [For the] 1500 club, you don’t hear a lot of people saying they hit it.”
Chon was persuaded by his friends to start lifting weights his senior year of high school, and eventually transitioned to powerlifting during college. He regularly power lifts as a way to maintain his health and to become more robust.
“It’s kind of cheesy, but I just wanted to get stronger to protect my loved ones. That’s what got me into powerlifting, because powerlifting is about getting as strong as you can,” Chon said. “Through browsing online, I came across powerlifting, which is about just getting stronger. That’s how I kind of transitioned from the early days of just working out and going into powerlifting.”
Chon powerlifts about four days a week, with each powerlifting session lasting around two to three hours. In each session, Chon works on his goal of maintaining his strength and getting a bigger total after returning to his “peak strength”, due to wedding preparations.
“[When I powerlift], it depends on the day and what I’m training for. I would say my biggest goal right now is my squat and deadlift [which] need more work. My bench is pretty strong, so I would say just working on my squat,” Chon said.
Powerlifting has taught Chon the importance of managing responsibilities, placing priorities and not comparing. Chon believes that through powerlifting, he has stopped caring about others’ opinions, and how in powerlifting the goal of improving yourself is a healthy mentality.
“I like that aspect of [powerlifting], I feel like that helped transition into my personal life where, sure, there might be other teachers, where more students are ‘Oh, that’s my favorite teacher’ or ‘I like that teacher’s class more,’ but I don’t really care about that. I just want to make sure I improve myself as a teacher and not compare myself to other people,” Chon said.
Chon believes that through powerlifting he has developed characteristics such as perseverance and consistency.
