Name: Sam Byrd
DOB: 8/14/1981
May 2003 Eastern Seaboard Bodybuilding Championships: 5th Place Middleweight Division
May 2004 Eastern Seaboard Bodybuilding Championships: 3rd Place Light Heavyweight Division
July 2004 Southern Powerlifting Federation (SPF) Nationals: 2nd Place 242's (227lbs)
Lifts: RAW -675 SQ (x750 on depth),Bench 460, DL 575 (hitched 655) and a 1710 Total
June 2005 SPF Nationals: 1st Place 242s (221)
Lifts: SQ 865, Bench RAW 460, DL 630
Sept 2005 APF Georgia State: 1st Place 198s (197 lbs)
Lifts: SQ All-Time World Record 915, Bench- 551, DL 683, 5th Highest All-Time Total 2149
Jan 2006 APF North Carolina State: 2nd Place 220s (219) I competed RAW
Lifts: SQ 777, Bench 419, DL 650, Total 1846
What got you in lifting weights?
I have always been fascinated with strong men and comic book character physiques. I always liked to think I was strong for my size. I started lifting weights when I was about 14. I was at a private school and one of my teachers had a big influence on me. Kenny Roberts played football for Ole Miss and was in great shape. I always considered myself a fat kid in middle school so I busted my but to lose the weight. I started just doing push-ups, pull-ups and crunches every night. I was always competing with the other kids to see who could carry the biggest rock from the creek bed or the biggest tree from out of the woods. I would always be the one to volunteer to carry the 10 gallon water coolers up the mountain just to see if I could! I was always looking for a way to test my strength and push my own physical limits. When the school finally got a weight room I was hooked! There was no turning back!
Favorite Lift and why?
My favorite lift is definitely the Squat. As to why I am not sure. In high school I just liked that I could pile the plates on there and it made a lot of noise, so all the kids in my weightlifting class would stop what they were doing and watch. I was always strong in the Squat. I remember when I first read about Fred Hatfield being the lightest man to squat 1000 lbs. He was my first introduction to powerlifting. I remember right then and there saying "I will squat 1000 lbs one day too!" Over time I drifted toward the muscle rags and getting bigger. Im not sure when, but probably right after Chuck V. Did it at 220, I kicked training into high gear and decided I wanted that title of the lightest man to squat a grand!
Who has influenced and helped you along the way?
Of course Fred Hatfield who was my first introduction to powerlifting and the Met-Rx World's Strongest Man competitions on t.v. My first official introduction to powerlifting was when I came home on leave for the Marines one week. I was at the local YMCA working out and I kept seeing these 2 guys doing all kinds of strange things in there like squatting and benching with giant rubber bands, squatting off milk crates, and doing these aweful looking half-squats that looked like they were getting folded in half... all while wearing spandex shorts!?
I kept seeing these guys, and of coarse, I kept making fun of them. Haha. One day when I was benching one of them approached me and began talking to me. He told me I was pretty strong and that I should give up all that bodybuilding crap and move some real weight. He introduced himself and started talking to me about powerlifting. I wasn't convinced yet, but it got me started thinking about it. He told me from the very beginning I could be one of the best. So I gotta thank Todd Weller for bugging me enough to dabble in it and getting me hooked. (Hey Todd now you're almost famous! haha)
I gotta thank my Dad and Jim Pickett for goading me into doing my first powerlifting meet. I was dieting for a bodybuilding show and Jim told my Dad I needed to quit doing overgrown beauty pagents and lift some real weight... Especially if I looked like my dad! :) So my dad pestered me enough to go meet him and the team, which I now train with. So just 4 weeks after my bodybuilding show I competed in my first powerlifting meet. I REALLY didnt want to do it. I wasnt even really going to the gym since the show. I hadnt squatted in almost a year, hadnt lifted heavy in 6 months and had never pulled a max deadlift- I had no idea what I could do! But I did it and I was HOOKED. And after the meet I felt like I had been in a car wreck... that was then hit by a train! At that meet I met Doug Klein of Karin's Xtreme Power. Doug was very friendly and offered to sponsor me since I didnt have any gear. He sized me up right there for a bench shirt, squat suit and briefs. Also Brent Tracey and his crew at the Cell Block in Manchester, TN who helped show me how to use it.
I would also like to thank Steve Goggins, Scot Albano and Alan Hunt and the rest of NGBB who I trained with for Jon Grove's 2005 GA State meet. This was the fist meet I trained for. I figured who better to coach me to my first WR than multi World Record Holder and 4 time WPO Heavyweight Champion Steve Goggins. I trained with him for 7 weeks before the meet and picked up a lot of great advice.
Where and who do you currently train with?
I have recently opened my own gym in Chattanooga, TN called "The Iron Playground." It is a gym for anyone who wants to train hard and is sick of the fluff at so called ?gyms' around town. I do some personal training, but I am picky about who I will work with. I only want to work with the ones who are serious about their training and listen to what I tell them. I workout with my team Dallas Bay Barbell (DBBB). The team is small, about 6 consistent guys, but it is beginning to grow. My main training partners are Jim Pickett, Brent Pickett, Rick Lewis and Danny Stone.
What are your plans for the future?
Well my immediate plans are to compete in the New England Record Breakers meet on May 6th, 2006 where I hope to total over 1900 RAW without knee wraps. I will follow that up with the APF Senior Nationals on June 2, 2006 where I will qualify for the WPO. I really don't like to lift with the gear, but if I want to compete against the big boys I have to. I hope the NERB will start a movement toward RAW or less geared lifting. After these meets I will diet down for the summer (hey, I gotta look good for the hunnies! Haha ) From there I will Smash the 1,000lbs Squat in competition. Other than that, I just want to stay healthy, injury free, and get stronger!
