A jolt of energy, starting from his feet and rising through his leg muscles, core, and through his shoulders into his hands, is all it takes for senior Maddox Zywiec to get his new heaviest deadlift off the floor. 

Putting up a 452 pound squat, 452 pound deadlift, and an astounding 275 pound bench press, Maddox Zywiec completed his very first powerlifting meet with bravado. 

Although he is just beginning his competitive years of lifting, Zywiec started calisthenics (body-weight and athletic exercise) from a young age, and later took on weightlifting as an escape from mental problems he ran into in his past.

“Training hard and my love of lifting came [from my past]. I used to wrestle as well, so I would go to the gym a lot to get bigger and be able to wrestle more,” Zywiec said.

Ironically, when Maddox lifts weight, it helps to take the weight of his life off of his shoulders, and helps him to relax and focus on the tasks at hand, whether that be school or the road ahead for powerlifting.

“Calisthenics was [enjoyable], and became a passion of mine very quickly,” Zywiec said. “When I started lifting, I found out that it was really very relaxing, and that it was [very] helpful after hard days.”

Speaking of the road ahead, Zywiec has his second powerlifting meet in the coming months, and is spending time preparing for it with his coach, Jon Mendoza. 

As a powerlifter himself, Mendoza has a lot of knowledge and many years of experience under his belt, and makes coaching his part-time job.

“My coaching career has reached the national level through multiple athletes,” Mendoza said. “Coaching is my passion project, and I’d like to make it my full-time [job] someday.” Mendoza’s coaching has become extremely important as a support and as a guide for Zywiec in training for his second powerlifting meet. 

“I have competed twice [at the] local level, and I use an app called TrueCoach [to deliver] workouts week to week and offer form reviews,” Mendoza said.

Alongside Mendoza’s training, Zywiec has found that he is inspired by the powerlifting greats of recent years. Specifically, Zywiec enjoys and looks up to Gavin Adin, a professional powerlifter who has captivated Zywiec from early on in his career.

In fact, Zywiec resembles Adin in his experiences, as both have just recently competed at powerlifting meets. 

“Adin is extremely talented, and he placed third at the Sheffield Powerlifting Championships in March. He is someone that I can look up to as a young person in this sport,” Zywiec said. “I am very inspired by his work, and I hope that I can pursue a similar career as him and see similar successes.”

Perhaps just as important as any day of training that Zywiec takes on is the day before and the day of his powerlifting meet. 

“Competition day is unreal. It feels like a dream, and it’s 100% about how you prepare yourself for it,” Zywiec said.

Powerlifting is such an exerting sport that, in most cases, it’s best to not even train the day before a meet. 

“I work very hard before meets, and there come  these nights that I ask myself, ‘when is a competition going to come up so that I can show how far I’ve come?’” Zywiec said. “It’s crazy that, despite what people may think, it’s best that you don’t train the day before. Allowing yourself that time to rest and [recuperate] is vital.” 

Although training is put on the backburner before a meet, Zywiec still prepares and readies himself and his body for the competition ahead.

“I like to get a breakfast in, and then make the drive out to the competition. Once I get there, I look for my coach, and we immediately get prepared,” Zywiec said. “I am always pretty excited, but I keep it cool and focus, warming up and getting into the mindset for lifting weights.”

Despite his excitement, Zywiec still has to pass over obstacles to get where he stands now.

“The week before my first competition, my coach instructed me not to go extremely heavy. What startled me most was that weights that I found light in weeks before felt a little heavier than normal,” Zywiec said. “This stressed me out, but on competition day, I found that the cheers of the crowd and the atmosphere around me made it easier to lift than ever before.” 

Setting down the deadlift that blasted electricity through every nerve and muscle in his body, Zywiec achieved a second-place position at his very first powerlifting meet, securing the silver and setting his sights on the gold.