Evolving Son of India ‘Asheesh Elete’ emerging into the world of Power Lifting

“I believe that thought process and functionality and behaviour are according to our personalities and we train according to our personality,” Asheesh Elete.

Asheesh’s training is lovable, thoughtful and stimulating. The action of the lifter on the gym floor fairly and accurately reflects who he is on the inside. It is fair to allow the new trainee to adapt to his new surroundings in an intimidating setting. Asheesh has an image of himself who is self-made personality and evolved by himself.

His father informs, “As parents we never tried to change or insisted any deviations on his career path. However I agree that as a dad I and my wife Vani Elete expressed our concerns of injury repeatedly and warned consequences of injury and begged many times to focus on medical studies at university. My brother Pramod Elete advised him often to stay away from power lifting competitions. His sister Akshara Elete is always proud of her brother and enjoyed his muscle power. Asheesh always had blessings of his grandparents and extended family.”

The true personality, the inner-self, emerged as Asheesh training at gym floor week after week. Persistence is a very good thing. He is on his way and will reach there one day amid chaos of: dad, uncles, warm, cold, affection, stress, medical school studies, friends, library and money. One day I say, “Hello, I’m me, Asheesh’s dad”.

“Competitions take place across the world but mostly in the United States, Australia, Canada, United Kingdom, Iceland, South Africa, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Russia, Taiwan, Japan and Ukraine. Powerlifting has been a Paralympic sport (bench press only) since 1984 and, under the IPF, is also a World Games sport. Local, national and international competitions have also been sanctioned by other federations operating independently of the IPF,” Mr. Elete informs.

Asheesh with support and encouragement from his coach tried to enter the IPF World Powerlifting Championships in June 2016 competing as a 93kg Lifter in the Junior under 23 class. Unfortunately Asheesh broke his fibula, lower end of left ankle and stopped his training until February 2016. He withdrew of his idea of participating at world championship. However he started focusing on Australian National Junior championship to be held in Melbourne on August 6 at 5pm at Arrow Hotel, 488 Swanston St, Carlton VIC.

The Entry Fee for spectators is $ 20.

Asheesh Elete and his love for Powerlifting

Asheesh Elete, a 3rd Year Medical student at Bond University.  Along with studying Medicine, he’s pursuing the sport of Powerlifting. He tells us what Powerlifting is, how he decided to pursue the sport and more:

What is powerlifting?

For the many that probably haven’t even heard of Powerlifting, I will give you guys a quick rundown of what’s involved. Powerlifting is a sport where each competitor has 3 attempts at the Squat, Bench Press and Deadlift (in that order). The highest successfully completed lift from each movement is recorded and contributes towards the competitor’s total. For example if Person A squats 100kg, bench presses 100kg and deadlifts 100kg, their total is 300kg (serious mathematics skills are not a required to be a successful Powerlifter, hence the appeal). At competitions, people are separated based on 3 simple things; Gender, Age and Weight classes. I personally am a 19 year old (Junior age group is 19-24) male who competes in the under 105kg and under 93kg weight classes.

So how exactly did you end up powerlifting?

Well basically after I finished high school and stopped playing rugby, I had gained a lot of weight. I was roughly 115kg and it most certainly was not muscle. Going into my first year of Uni, something had to change so I did what everyone else did – joined a local gym. After 4 to 5 months of some borderline stupid dieting, I had reached my goal weight of 90kgs but faced with another problem. What do I do now? I began researching new programs to do and discovered Powerlifting, a simple sport which involved being as strong as possible on my 3 favorite lifts. Too easy.

When and where are you going to compete?

I have almost 4 years left as Junior competitor during which I aim to set National Junior U93kg records in the Squat, Deadlift and Overall Total. I also aim to hopefully win Gold at Junior Nationals allowing me to compete at overseas competition such as the World or Commonwealth Championships . The main Powerlifting organisation in the world is the International Federation of Powerlifting (IPF) and its Australian affiliate is Powerlifting Australia.

What is your current strength?

My personal goals for this competition are 227.5kg Squat, 130 Bench, 270kg Deadlift to total 627.5 kg at 93kg bodyweight.

I am also the president of Bond University Strength Club and entering this competition under the Bond University Elite Athlete program.

PERSONAL TRAINING AND ACHIEVEMENT TO DATE:

2011-2012: Started training and weight training in school but mainly for rugby and did no powerlifting training directly. Played in the A Grade team for school.

May 2013: Began training at Plus Fitness Eastwood with general fitness goals of losing weight and gaining muscle.

Oct/Nov 2013: Cut down to 90kgs from 115kgs and began focusing more on strength training. Broke scaphoid in wrist from rugby so was injured so slowed down on heavy strength training.

Feb 2014: Finished rehab on the broken wrist and gained strength back. Started focusing on powerlifting and general bodybuilding training to gain muscle and strength.

May 2014: Moved to Gold Coast to study medicine and met future coach Matthew Stewart (national level coach with Powerlifting Australia). From this point he started focusing purely on powerlifting and improving on the Squat, Bench Press, Deadlift.

March 2015: Competed in first competition doing a 202.5kg Squat, 105kg Bench, 250kg Deadlift with a 557.5kg total at 101kg bodyweight (aged 19). Injured his sternoclavicular joint 2 weeks prior to the competition which affected performance.

September 2015: Competed at Australian University Games for Bond University’s Rugby 7s Team hence training focus shifted to rugby and away from powerlifting temporarily. His team finished 4th at national championships.

November 2015:Competed in second competition doing a 225kg Squat, 112.5 Bench, 262.5 Deadlift with a 600kg total at 100kg Bodyweight (aged 20).