Bob Harper first turned 80, and then he powerlifted his way to a host of records the following day.
On Nov. 3, the Mercer Islander treated himself to a belated birthday present by setting a world record in the deadlift and three American records in the deadlift, squat and total weight — all in his age and weight class — at the California State Meet in Sacramento.
Harper notched a 435-pound deadlift, a 308-pound squat and amassed a total-weight mark of 920 pounds (which also included his bench press amount) in the age 80/90 kilo classes.
The 10-year powerlifter and longtime MI resident said he gets a thrill out of hoisting the weights and reaping success.
“I think for an 80 (year-old), you’re still challenging yourself. And it’s nice to see how you stack up against other people,” he said. “I guess I’ve always been kind of competitive. And it just seems like for some reason, powerlifting is maybe something that I should have done a long time ago. So I’m fairly good at it.”
In October, he earned the best master lifter honor at the Washington State Meet amongst all lifters age 40-plus in all weight classes.
The former standout swimmer in high school and college didn’t delve into the weight training realm until he began participating in CrossFit at the age of 66. After later nailing an age/weight-group deadlift Washington state record of 365 pounds, he decided to find a trainer and wound up at Seattle Strength and Power. At his first meet in Seattle at age 71, Harper notched a 445-pound deadlift in his age/weight group and was rolling from there.
“If you train properly, and that means get a coach who knows what they’re doing, and make sure you’ve got the right technique so you don’t hurt yourself, I think it’s a really healthy thing to do that’s kind of overlooked a little bit,” said Harper, who also set three American records in his age/weight bracket five years ago in the squat (321 pounds), the deadlift (474 pounds) and total weight (983 pounds) at the USA Powerlifting Nationals.
On the swimming scene, Harper won the state 100 breaststroke in 1961 as a member of the Highline High School team. Keeping swimming in the family, his daughter Michelle’s Mercer Island High School (MIHS) teams won four straight state titles from 1995-99 and she won two individual state titles in the 50 and 100 freestyles her senior year.
His son Lane, who played baseball and football at MIHS, attended the California powerlifting meet with his family to root for Harper, who said it was cool to lift in front of his grandkids.
“It was a real positive experience, and it’s kind of fun to think that’s going to be a memory for your grandkids,” he said.
