Myles Mobley has a very big passion for the sport of powerlifting which led him to break multiple all-time school lifting records at Parkway South.
He has been working out since his elementary school years and it all started with the bench press. He wanted to get strong for football and he had a bench press right next to his room and would hit sets on that. Day by day he got stronger and fell in love with the sport.
“I’ve hit a 525 lb squat, 615 lb deadlift, and 336 lb bench press,” Mobley said.
Even though Mobley has all these records, he is motivated to still want to improve and keep progressing throughout his senior year to achieve his powerlifting goals and break his previous records.
“Having those records felt really good for like 2 weeks. Now I’m not satisfied with those numbers and am looking forward to increasing them,” Mobley said.
After setting the records Mobley has made some more goals for himself. He wants to progress and break his own records. By doing this he wants to be consistent and have discipline to achieve his goals.
“By the end of the year, I want to squat around 600 pounds, hopefully, deadlift 650 and bench press 405,” he said.
Mobley knows that this sport comes with success but also a lot of failures. Being able to keep on pushing past the bad days is what makes him a record holder.
“I think something that helped me along the way was consistency and telling myself to not be afraid to fail. I know it’s a part of the process and have to remind myself to not let it get to me,” Mobley said.
Mobley also looks up to other powerlifters to learn and practice more from them. Mobley’s favorite powerlifter to look up to is Jesus Olivares. Jesus Olivares has set multiple world records in powerlifting. He is a super heavyweight in his sport and competes for the U.S. at national powerlifting meets. Olivares has a total of 1,152.5 kilograms. He has squatted over 1000 pounds, benched over 600 pounds, and has a deadlift of over 900 pounds. Seems fair why Mobley might look up to him.
“I follow Jesus Olivares because he’s set records and the weight he lifts is my end goal. Being able to compete at that level and lift that kind of weight is the dream. It’s every powerlifter’s dream,” Mobley said.
Outside of school, Mobley has competed in a powerlifting meet where one performs the squat, bench, and deadlift. This powerlifting meet was a very good experience for him as it was his first time competing, which will help him in the future when he competes more often. This was a great learning experience for Mobley since he plans to take powerlifting to the next level at the collegiate level. He recently committed Missouri Valley College for school and to join their powerlifting team.
“I will be signing to the Missouri Valley powerlifting team and continuing my journey there. It seemed like the best fit for me and I enjoyed the school as a whole. Their weight room was nice and that’s what my eyes locked onto,” Mobley said.
Mobley knows that his records may not stand forever. But with the numbers he’s putting up, they could be around for a long time. The records he has broken stood for years and Mobley now owns three out of the four in his weight class and overall for that lift.
“I think the record will be broken someday because people are getting more interested in lifting more and more,” Mobley said.
The only South High weighlifting record Mobley doesn’t have is the clean.
“I want to work up to it. I know I have time to figure out the movement, it’s just gonna be a matter of time if I’m able to break it or not,” Mobley said.
Being a powerlifter, it’s impressive that he even wants to attempt the Olympic lifts. Mobley has already hit three of them, so why not a fourth?
Mobley has a lot of experience in this sport and has a passion for it that is strong, mentally and physically. He knows what it takes to work up to the level that he has gotten to and hopes many others will join the sport and build a strong community of lifters at South.
“I want this sport to grow even more than it already is. I hope to see younger lifters see the things I do in the sport and hope for them to get into any form of exercise or lifting,” Mobley said.
