Vegan Powerlifter Smashes State Record For Deadlift

A vegan powerlifter has scooped the California state record for deadlift.

Nick Squires was competing at the California State Championships in Chino Hills last week when he took the record.

He took part in the in the 100kg, open age group category at the event, which was organized by the United States Powerlifting Association, when he lifted 650.36lb (295kg) to beat the previous record of 633.82lb (287.5kg).

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Meet recap: cut weight and entered at 220lbs for the first time since 2018. Called on my squat opener, hit it on my second, and then squatted 589 for a 20lb meet PR but racked before the command so finished squats 1/3 and 40lbs behind my goal. Bench was feeling great but a nagging left shoulder injury led to some downward motion when unracking my third attempt, 2/3 and 20lbs behind my goal on bench. By the time deadlift came around I was so discouraged I barely squeaked out my second @ 650lbs. The good news is that 650 was good enough for first in the 100kg raw open deadlift only (and also the CA state record for the same) and my total was enough for 2nd in the 100kg raw open. Pretty upsetting meet over all but all we can do is learn and focus on tested nationals in June. Thank you to all my family that came as well as @don_julio164 for handling me.

A post shared by Nick Squires (@meatymcsorley) on Feb 24, 2020 at 6:45am PST

Vegan powerlifter

Squires took up powerlifting in late 2013, and adopted his vegan lifestyle in May 2014. Since then, he has ‘competed in five open powerlifting competitions, placing first in three of them, finishing second at the 2018 USPA Drug Tested California State Championships, and qualifying for and competing at the 2018 IPL Drug Tested Powerlifting World Championships in Las Vegas’.

According to Squires, he ‘wasn’t even sure if the two [veganism and powerlifting] were compatible’ when he first adopted a plant-based diet, but he says he ‘couldn’t continue to eat animals’.

You can find out more about Nick Squires here