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Double gold for newly crowned World Champion Powerlifter from Gedling

Date Posted: 2:37 PM on Fri, 21 October 2022 Martin Wilson, taking part in powerlifting competition. Photograph courtesy of Shots Like Sumo

A fitness advisor from Gedling has become a British and World Champion in amateur British powerlifting.

Martin Wilson, aged 33, won the ‘Open Men Raw Under 82.5kg’ category in the Amateur World Powerlifting Congress (AWPC) World Championships which were held in Manchester in September. He also won the same category at the Amateur British Powerlifting Union (ABPU) which took place in July.

Martin has worked at Carlton Forum Leisure Centre for four years, specialising in powerlifting and nutrition, as well as teaching exercise classes. Martin is always happy to help visitors to the Carlton Forum gym with advice on lifting, as part of his fitness instructor role.

He used Carlton Forum to train for the ABPU competition for 20 weeks and then a further 8 weeks for the AWPC. Carlton Forum Leisure Centre has an Olympic lifting platform, with specialist flooring and a range of weights, along with a free-weight training area and plate loaded machines.

Powerlifting is a strength sport involving three different types of lifts being performed; squat, bench press and deadlift.

Within Martin’s category in the AWPC World Championships, he achieved high scores of 192.5Kg in squat, 127.5Kg in bench press and 265Kg in deadlift, accomplishing a winning total lifting score of 585Kg, the equivalent of lifting six baby elephants.

Martin Wilson said:

“Competing at the British and World championships was great experience, the atmosphere was awesome and it was great when you had every person in the building shouting and cheering you on.

When I knew I had won both competitions I was so happy. My hope now is to retain my titles and get an even a bigger total lifting score next year.”

Councillor Henry Wheeler, the Portfolio Holder for Lifestyles, Health and Wellbeing, said:

“We’re so pleased for Martin to have won not just one, but two gold medals in recent powerlifting competitions. This shows Martin’s dedication and ambition to fitness and it’s wonderful to have him as a member of staff and an ambassador for Gedling Leisure at Carlton Forum Leisure Centre.”

Following on from his title wins, Martin will now be in recovery for three months before beginning his training again for future competitions. Two of these competitions will include attempting to retain both the ABPU and AWPC titles, as he has automatically qualified for these due his wins.