Tara Webber, 34, is the best powerlifter – man or woman - in Canadian history, breaking world records along the way.
In her most recent win at the Olympia Super Finals competition in Florida, Webber lifted 1,565.27 lbs. in one day during her squat of 705.47 lbs., bench press of 358.24 lbs., and dead lift of 501.56 lbs.
She is the World Power Lifting Organization women’s world record holder for her total of the three events combined, called full power. Her squat is the all-time world record, which includes all powerlifting federations around the world.
“That was my goal,” Webber said. The number to beat was 685 lbs.
“In my second attempt I went 688 and in my third attempt I went 705.”
In her recent past Webber was named the lightest woman to squat 700 lbs. for the all-time world record when she weighed 155 lbs.
During this competition she weighed 145 lbs. when she lifted 705.47 lbs.
“So I beat my own record there, too,” Webber, who co-owns XConditioning with husband Mike, added.
To figure out that she is the best powerlifter in Canadian history, the Wilks Coefficient was used. It is a method by which the strength of a powerlifter is measured against other powerlifters of a different weight category.
Webber said she used to lift at 160 lbs., but she went away in the summer and lost weight during her time off. She really likes how she feels with her ‘walking around’ weight at 151 lbs. or so and then competing at 148 lbs. She’s going to stay where she is, she said.
“I am lifting better, I am recovering better, and my resting heart rate is almost 10 beats lower than it was before,” Webber said. Her resting heart rate hits as low as 50 beats per minute and tops out at 57.
“The lifting I do is called equipped powerlifting,” Webber said.
It’s really important to maintain your weight, Webber added, so the suit can work to its best ability during the competition.
Hard-core training for the most recent competition started 16 weeks out, Webber said.
“The type of training we do is called conjugate so every week we do a max rep for lower body and upper body,” Webber explained. “But it’s always a little bit different so there’s always a variation by using a different bar, adding chains to the bar.”
And that goes for each lift – squat, bench press and dead lift.
“Being able to do a one-rep max is a skill,” Webber said. “It would be really hard to go from doing five repetitions and then during competition you do one repetition so that’s why we train this way.”
Webber will lift 75 to 85 per cent of her max rep when she’s doing five repetitions. Quite a difference from her max rep weight.
Webber has a goal for her Olympia competition next year in Las Vegas.
“I would like to total over 1,600 lbs.," she said.
