Vegan powerlifter Eddie Baumgartner has had a fantastic international win at the North American Powerlifting Championships.
The IPF meet included lifters from nations including the US, Canada, Mexico, Costa Rica and more.
After weighing in at just under 116 kg, Eddie started with squat and got a personal best of 302.5 kg. Despite missing a bench press he felt he could do, his massive 210 kg was still a personal best.
He was less happy with the 250 kg deadlift. He felt the total of 762.5 kg was “pretty bad because of deads” but it still gave him the category win and the national title.
A teacher by day, Eddie is a big guy who lifts even bigger weights – so he needs fuel.
“I’ve been eating as much as possible but the staples have been morning oats with chia and flax seed as well as protein powder” Eddie tells us. “My lunches were always a bag of morning star [vegan] chicken, rice and some veg. Dinner was kinda sorta whatever the wife wanted but I always ate a lot of it. I would say on average I ate 2kg of burritos like four nights a week. Lots of pinto beans! Also I ate over 230 light life hot dogs over the time between nationals and NAPF.”
Eddie’s growth over recent years has been fantastic, and he deserves credit for a determined approach to training and competition.
He draws inspiration from the motto of the English football team Tottenham Hotspur: “To Dare is To Do”.
“Just be brave, go do the damn thing. Most of the time the opposition is your own self stopping you. If you go into the depths that you’ve never been in, you will see a world that has never existed for you. It was my dream to represent the USA on an IPF international stage, and I did it as a 38 yr old Vegan Teacher. Everyone can reach their dreams you just have to do them.”
