Favela breaks records

On April 24, Zach Favela, son of Francisco and Deanna Favela and grandson of John and Janie Conerly of Florien, competed in The Texas Classic in Austin, Texas with his team, Team Fuzion, of which he is the youngest member.

Powerlifting is a competition that consists of three consecutive lifts, the squat, the pause bench (the lifter must hold the lift on his/her chest until given the press command), and the deadlift. Each lifter is then added together for a total, and the lifter with the highest total wins the contest. Zach competed in the raw category, which means no supportive gear, strictly a singlet, a belt and wrist wraps.

Officially weighing in at 178.8 pounds, he competed in the 18 - 19-year-old division, and the open (any age) division in the 181 pound class. He started his day by breaking the teen world record with his opening squat of 465 pounds, and then going on to break the open world and his own teen world record with a squat of 501.5 pounds.

When bench came around Zach once again broke the teen world record by 35 pounds with his opening pause bench of 315 pounds. His day seemed to stay on a good note with his last bench as he clearly underestimated himself with an explosive finish to set a new open and teen record pause bench of 336.5 pounds. But his last lift of the day had the entire crowd erupting as he pulled 600 pounds off the floor and grinded out the last six inches of the lift to become one of the youngest people ever to deadlift 600 pounds raw!

Zach gives all his thanks to the support of his family and friends. He hopes to continue having a great powerlifting season and someday make a career of it.