barryOne of the things that makes Athletic Lab so great is our members. And there’s no one who embodies that more at Athletic Lab than Barry Myers. That’s why for the month of April, Barry has been selected as our Member of the Month. Barry is fresh off another national championship in weightlifting.

We’re proud of our members and the amazing things they do on a daily basis. The feature will highlight one or more members each month. Click here to see previous members of the month.

Name: Barry Myers

Age: 57
What city were you born in? Scranton, PA
What do you do when you’re not working out at Athletic Lab (occupation, hobbies, etc)? I am a software tester at SAS Institute. I write computer code to automate the testing of our statistical software products.
Right now I spend most of my free time lifting weights. However, I still occasionally get out and do rock climbing and ice climbing when I can. I became quite good as a climber in the 20 years I took off from weightlifting and even have a first ascent to my name. I also have several other hobbies (too many to list) that I hope to get back them someday when I retire.
How did you first hear about Athletic Lab? How long have you been a member? Andrew Vessey, a good friend and fellow weightlifter told me about Athletic Lab. I started coming to the Athletic Lab about 2 and half years ago. Mike and John are great coaches and have helped me correct some problems I have had.? We also have a great bunch of lifters here that are fun to be around and provide motivation to keep lifting hard.
What’s your favorite exercise? Least favorite? I guess my favorite exercise is the 12oz. curl. sometime I do 16oz curls. I do like beer but I’m just kidding. I like doing Snatches, mainly because they don’t hurt my elbows so much but also because I have the National record in my age group/weight class. My least favorite exercise would be sit ups but I do them because I’m a little thin and I need them to make my mid section strong.

How long have you been weightlifting? I went to my first weightlifting competition in 1976 as a 16 year old. I entered a competition because I had broken my leg in football and I wanted to have something to motivate me to train hard. The only thing I knew about Olympic lifting was from watching some on TV so I didn’t know what I was doing. Somehow I managed to get a 3rd place finish at the PA State Championships, only making 2 legal lifts. This is where I met the Junior USA team coach Marty Cypher. He offered to coach me and I improved quickly. In 1978 I placed 4th at the Sr. Nationals and was offered a spot at the Olympic Training center in Colorado Springs, CO to train for the 1980 Olympics. I had to decline the offer because I wanted to finish college. I continued lifting weights after that but mostly at the state level when I moved to North Carolina in 1984. At age 35 I won my 10th NC state championship and my 1st National Masters championship, breaking all of the national records and retired from the sport. Three years ago I made a come back to weightlifting after a 20 year break. I had intended to hang it up again if I won the National Masters but was having too much fun so I’m planning on staying around for awhile.

What motivates you? There are 2 things that motivate me. I set goals that are hard but attainable and I won’t quit until I make them. I write my goals down and review them almost daily. The important ones I write on my lifting belt so that I see them when I train. Goals keep me going when I’m tired or feel sore. The other thing that motivates me is competition. I don’t enjoy losing. My first year back I went to the Masters Pan Ams and was beaten by a Canadian. I only made 4 or 6 lifts and missed my last C&J that would have won it for me. I decided that I would be ready the next year and I have not lost a competition since.
barryWhat are your greatest accomplishments? Back in my younger lifting years I would say breaking the Teenage American record in the snatch at 120 kg at a body weight of around 72 kg. It was special because I made that my goal the year before. I worked all year with that in mind so I was really proud of accomplishing it. Sadly, it lasted only a couple minutes as another lifter took 122.5 kg and broke my record on his last attempt. It didn’t matter to me because I did have a record even if it was only a short while.
More recently, I would say that breaking a Masters National record and winning every major Masters weightlifting event in 2015 is my biggest accomplishment. In 2015 I won the Masters Nationals, Masters Pan Ams, Masters World Cup, Masters Worlds and Masters American competitions. What make this special is that 3 years ago I was still suffering from the after affects of Rocky Mountain Spotted fever that I contracted a year before. This is a tick disease that attacks your nervous system and joints. I spent a lot of time on the couch watching TV because the pain kept me from doing anything. One day I finally got tired of being depressed and decided that I wanted to try to win the National Masters weightlifting championships when I turned 55. It was a big goal because when I started I could only do a 70 kg Clean & Jerk and the pain was was pretty hard to ignore. I trained through it and made steady progress getting my strength back. I still have pain in my joints but I have learned train through it and I’ve been having a lot of fun lifting with the guys at the gym and traveling to competitions.