CMS Has A Chat With Andy Bolton

Holder of a Guinness World Record as the first man to deadlift over 1,000lbs, Andy Bolton is the strongest British and European powerlifter ever.

Men’s Fitness magazine recently described Bolton as “a scholar of strength” and said: “Bolton himself is built like most things in Yorkshire. Large, robust and insanely strong.”

We met up with Andy Bolton recently to chat about his background and ask for his top five powerlifting tips.

ANDY BOLTON BIOG

Born in 1970 in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, Bolton didn’t actually start lifting weights until he was 18 years old.

With a background in rugby league and track and field events, he found he had an aptitude for strength training and could soon squat 220kg for 20 reps.

Although he competed at body building for two years, it was his “super human strength” that was always the main attraction.

At 21 he started powerlifting and in his first year he won the Yorkshire Junior, Yorkshire Senior and British Powerlifting titles.

MAJOR ACHIEVEMENTS

• World Champion three years in a row: 1991, 1992 and 1993
• Seven times World PowerLifting Champion
• British Powerlifting Champion on 15 occasions
• World record squat holder at 550.5kg
• First man to ever deadlift over 1,000lbs

COACH AND TEACHER

When he’s not competing, Andy spends his time coaching, teaching and running workshops.

When he first started out, he soon realised the importance of developing the right techniques and training programmes to achieve his goals and avoid injury.

Since then he has read hundreds of books and articles on strength training, attended seminars and worked with some of the best coaches in the field to develop his own teaching and training methods.

ANDY BOLTON’S TOP FIVE TIPS

1. Practice good technique and build a base. The bigger the base the stronger you can be. Seek out different people’s opinions and experiences – ask everybody. There isn’t one way to get strong but there are some key basics to learn – learn these well.
2. Only follow a programme that you can realistically follow – make sure the programme is doable and progressive. Set realistic goals but don’t limit your potential. Give yourself small increments to improve by but aim high. You never know what you might be capable of. If someone had told me at 20 years old that I would squat 550.5kg and be a world record holder, I would have doubted it – but I wouldn’t have said never.
3. Follow a good diet, eat healthily and eat enough. Avoid sugary drinks and empty calories (see our blogs on The benefits of reducing sugar intake, Food labels, counting calories and hidden fat and Alcohol – what every personal trainer should know). Instead eat plenty of good protein and carbs (see our blogs on: Effects of protein and carbohydrate on resistance training and The role of protein and recommended intake). Look after your body like it’s a Formula One car: don’t put the wrong fuel in or you might run out of energy.
4. Rest (see our blog on Resistance exercise: How to avoid overtraining).
5. Train explosively with control. Whether you lift 60kg or 500kg you need to perform the lift with maximum intensity, maximum speed and optimal alignment (see our blog on How to work out your one rep max). This will build technique and confidence ready for a competition.  “Grease the groove.”

In summary – enjoy yourself and don’t be scared to fail or you’ll never push your limits.

WANT TO FIND OUT MORE?

Andy is competing on the 15 November at the GPC British Powerlifting final in Manchester.

Check out Andy Bolton’s website and blog at: https://andyboltonstrength.com/