On October 28, 2017, at Kratos Strength and Conditioning in Evanston IL, Greysteel Athletes Ann and Carson competed in the US Strengthlifting Federation's Fall Classic. This event is held simultaneously all over the country, and is open to everybody. Contested lifts are the squat, the deadlift, and the overhead press.

Ann is 76 years old and Carson is 70. Both of these fine people train for health, not competition, and they went to have fun, not to win. Nevertheless, Ann was the top female Master at this location, and Carson put up impressive weights for his demographic. (Because of a shoulder mobility issue, he cannot compete in the squat, but he made all three attempts in the press and two heavy attempts for the dead).

At Greysteel, I'm not particularly interested in training people for competition. I'm interested in health and function. I did not make substantial changes in the programming for either Ann or Carson ahead of this meet. Their training programs were already dialed in for safe, steady, healthy progress.

That all being said, signing up for a competition can be an enormous motivation for a Master to push themselves a little harder. Months before the competition, I told these two athletes that they should have only three goals: challenge yourself, make all your opening lifts, and have fun.

Mission accomplished. Watch the video, and see what an athlete of aging can do.