WYOMING, Mich. — Like father, like son.
Eric Scott started his journey of powerlifting 10 years ago. It’s a passion that has strengthened ever since.
“It grows every single day. Just because every day in the gym, I’m pushing myself to do something that I haven’t in the past,” said Scott, who resides in Grand Haven. “And it’s just something I enjoyed to be able to pass on to people.”
Powerlifting is a sport involving three tests of strength: The bench press, squat, and dead lift. There’s one special person Eric has passed this passion on to: His 6-year-old son, Abel.
“Ever since he was little, he would come to the meets with me and there’s a couple times where he just wanted to bench press,” Scott said. “We have videos of me, you know, setting him on my chest and we’re benching together. And everybody got a kick out of it.”
Abel couldn’t hold his excitement, especially with having dad as the ideal role model.
“It's very fun to lift with him,” Abel says. “And I want to, I want to lift a lot more than I can right now when I'm older.”
Earlier this year, Eric and Abel competed together for the first time at the Metal Militia Powerlifting Federation national meet in Youngstown, Ohio.
Eric qualified for his fourth consecutive world championship in the professional division with a 500-pound raw bench press. Abel bench pressed 25 pounds, earning his first nod to the world championships in the amateur division.
As they prepare for the World Championships of the Metal Militia Powerlifting Federation at the end of the year in Lake George, New York, their training regimens drastically differ.
“I train max effort for bench press on Monday. And then on Thursday, it's dynamic, it's speed work, it's moving the bar as fast as possible,” Eric explains. “And then I have a conditioning day, Tuesday and Friday. It's more bodyweight exercises, doing things for time to help my conditioning and just get a better performance, athletically.”
For Eric, it’s an articulated plan. Abel’s training, however, is uncomplicated.
“Training wise, I just keep it very simple for him. A lot of pushups, he does bench press. I just keep the weight very low, and we just focus on form, and everything should be perfect,” Eric explains.
“I want him to enjoy it. So it's when he wants to do it too. If he doesn't want to do something, he won't do it. I won't force him,” he said.
Abel, however, has his eyes on the prize.
“I like to get stronger. I like to get medals,” Abel said.
For Eric, it’s more than lifting. It’s a growing connection with the person that is closest to his heart.
“It just means the world to me that, you know, he does something that we can share together. It's seeing him succeed seeing how happy he is,” he said. “When we go to the meet seeing him succeed and everybody else cheering him on and tell him how great he is. Nothing beats that.”
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