Team Aviano member breaks world record in deadlift

  • Published
  • By 2nd Lt. Allie Delury
  • 31st Fighter Wing Public Affairs
AVIANO AIR BASE, Italy --  On Feb. 28, Team Aviano member Mike Tuchscherer broke the International Powerlifting world record in deadlift at a staggering 819 pounds during the Arnold Sports Festival in Columbus, Ohio.

Tuchscherer, originally from Corydon, Ind. but currently living in Aviano, has been competing in the Arnold Sports Festival since 2008. The festival hosts 175,000 attendees competing in approximately 50 different sports per year, including powerlifting.

"I started lifting weights for football in high school and I liked it a lot. Eventually, I became a powerlifter who just played football in the off season," said Tuchscherer. "I knew I was good at it since I broke HS records, but as you continue to progress, the goals get bigger."

Alongside coaches and teammates who were with Tuchscherer during the Arnold Sports Festival was his father, also named Mike, who has helped Tuchscherer meet his world-record goals for the last 13 years.

"My dad comes to a lot of my competitions. He helps me backstage and helps keep track of the numbers to see if anyone is close and what I need to do to win," he said. "It's always helpful to have someone back there who can be more apprised of the situation and what's going on in the competition so that I can just focus on lifting weights."

After high school, Tuchscherer continued training and coaching in deadlift during his time at the Air Force Academy before commissioning as a missileer officer. He remained on active duty until August 2012, and now focuses on powerlifting almost full-time while living in Italy.

"[Being in Italy] hasn't had as much of an impact as you might think. I have a setup in the basement so I train at home and it's really convenient," he said. "The hardest thing for me is travel--travel seems to be disruptive. For me, if I take a week off, it takes me 4 weeks to get back to baseline."

After raising the bar at the Arnold Sports Festival, Tuchscherer already has his eyes set on the next challenge: winning the 2014 Powerlifting World Championship in South Africa in June. Despite being favored to win during the last two years that he's competed for the title, Tuchscherer was unable to obtain his goal.

"But, third time's a charm," he said.