Owen Sound born and Canadian strong.
That’s the way Justin Zottl is looking at where his life is now that he holds a Canadian powerlifting record.
Born in Owen Sound and raised in Chatsworth, Justin competed at the 2023 WRPF American Pro 2 in Manassas, Virginia back in October.
His goal was to get the record and he did.
At a powerlifting competition, athletes are tested on their squat, bench press and deadlift in that order.
They’re allowed three attempts at each lift with their best, legal lift from each one counted towards their total.
After squatting 953.5lbs (432.5kg) on his third attempt, a personal record for Justin, it was onto the bench press.
Justin opened with 490.5lbs (222.5kg) before jumping to 534.6lbs (242.5kg) on his second attempt, which he got.
Unfortunately his third attempt, 545.6lbs (252.5kg) was a missed lift so he was credited with his second attempt towards the total.
This left him with a total of 1488.1lbs (674.9kg) headed into deadlifts and where he knew he could claim the record he’s long wanted.
Justin opened with 771.6lbs (350kg), he just needed to complete his second attempt for the record.
It was a hard pull but Justin successfully lifted 810.2lbs (367.5kg) to give him a total of 2,298.3lbs or 1,042.4kg.
He says he can trace his need to be the best all the way back to his time on the cycling team at St. Mary’s High School where he also played football.
Once graduating, and without an athletic program to focus on, he gained weight and not in the way he had hoped.
By 2014, Justin had discovered powerlifting and it soon consumed his life.
He began to focus on his training, his diet, his life and the changes started to come fast and furious.
When he began his journey he realized he had gained 60lbs and by the time his first competition rolled around, he was down to a lean 237lbs.
Justin says he’s been blessed with a terrific support system and the love of the strength community, something he says everybody should experience.
In 2015, Justin weighed in at 239.8lbs and had a total of 1,720lbs.
Now walking around at 300lbs and a Canadian record under his belt headed into 2024, he says he’s just going to keep going.
His next goal? The world record which according to Open Powerlifting is 2,463.6lbs (1,117.47kg).
Justin manages to keep himself busy outside of his own training by giving back to the community that’s helped elevate him.
Along with his fiance Helene Tremblay, who herself is a competitive powerlifter, they operate Zottl Training Systems out of St. Catherines.
Justin and Helene offer online coaching to a wide variety of people no matter their age, gender or goals.
He says they just want to help and want to push people to be the best they can be as he continues to push himself to be the best.
