Daniel Bowers competes in weightlifting competition on Oct. 17 in Charlotte.
CHARLOTTE — An Anson County-native overcame a dark period in his life, pushing through to become a weightlifting world record holder.
Daniel Bowers, 42, graduated from Anson Senior High School. Following graduation, the football player went on to play college ball at Catawba.
Bowers seemed like he had everything going for him, but after leaving the football field, he said things took a bad turn.
He went down a depressing, drug-filled path — one he thought he would never find a way out of. Thankfully, with the motivation from his family, he found an outlet that helped him through: weightlifting.
Bowers competed in his first weightlifting competition as a novice in 2018. In just a short two years, he can now call himself a world record holder.
To get to that point, Bowers completed a 16-week training cycle. The worry in the back of his mind during training was whether or not the games were going to continue with COVID-19 still a concern.
But the hours and stress he put his body through came to fruition the weekend of Oct. 15-17.
Bowers competed at the World Powerlifting Games and World Bench Face-off in Charlotte on Oct. 17 as part of the 365 Strong World Powerlifting Federation.
“There are many, many, many, many different divisions,” Bowers explained. “I’m in the Master-2 division. At the time, I weighed 274 pounds, so they put me in the 275-weight class.”
The day consisted of nine total lifts. Competitors are allowed three lifts in each category, squat, deadlift and bench.
“There were so many different things going on,” Bowers said. “I wasn’t really able to pay attention. I just focused on me.”
The laser-sharp focus led Bowers to beating three world records in his division and weight class for the squat, deadlift and total amount. He couldn’t celebrate that day, not because of coronavirus restrictions, because he truly had no idea he broke a record.
“I thought I had beat it, but I had no idea,” Bowers said.
He received a certificate in the mail of his world records a few weeks later, solidifying his world title.
Bowers squatted and deadlifted 628 pounds in each contest. On the bench press, he lifted 392 pounds. He was unsure what the original records were by press time Monday.
More than 100 athletes from across the country and world competed during the weekend-long event.
Bowers now lives in Monroe and works as a carpenter. If you asked Bowers’s younger self, he would say he never thought he would be where he is today. He never planned on getting married or having a child. But his “nevers” keep getting beaten, as he adds world record holder to his list of accomplishments.
Reach Liz O’Connell at 267-467-5613 or at eoconnell@ansonrecord.com. Follow on Twitter at @TheAnsonRecord.
