Raising the bar: Powerlifting Club at The Citadel builds strength and community

At The Citadel, where physical fitness is part of daily life, the Powerlifting Club gives cadets something more — a supportive space to train, compete and build a stronger gym community.

Cadet Preston Canady, president of the Powerlifting Club, says his goals for the club include creating a welcoming, supportive environment for cadets to train and compete in powerlifting. Canady, whose older brother helped revive the club in 2022, said he took over this year to continue that legacy and build a more collaborative gym culture on campus.

“My main role and goal this year was to build a better gym community to The Citadel. Right now, it’s mostly a bunch of ego lifters, people who just care about themselves when they’re in the gym. I think it should be more of a positive environment where people are uplifting each other and motivating each other to be in the gym, not just a bunch of individuals. I wanted to, with the competitions and the practices we had, get groups of people together, especially with the whole upperclassmen and knob environment,” said Canady.

Powerlifting requires intense focus and mental discipline, which Canady says has improved his performance in academics and cadet life. As a mechanical engineering major, Canady’s time is taken up by homework and studying, but he says powerlifting is his outlet.

“It adds one more thing to my schedule, but being able to fit everything in prepares you for anything in life. If you can handle the most difficult parts of your day and make it work, you go to bed feeling like you didn’t miss out on something. I think it’s helped me improve my relationships in general, I’ve made a lot of good friends through this,” said Canady. “Most parts of my day are going to be stressed out, just moving from point A to point B, always thinking about something. But if I’m in the gym, it’s like nothing else really matters — I’m there to get a workout in. You have to kind of adjust your mind some points throughout the week.”

Canady explained down the key differences between powerlifting and bodybuilding, noting that while they’re closely related, the mindset and goals are distinct.

“I think powerlifting is different from bodybuilding in the aspect that you have to put your mind towards one specific weight. You have to really focus on it, like this is what my knees need to be doing, this is what my hips need to be doing, if I want to hit this weight. Being able to focus and the mind to body connection helps you out a lot with tapping into different parts of your brain,” said Canady.

The Powerlifting Club held an on-campus meet in March, where 20 people showed up to support and 15 participated. Canady said some people who competed weren’t fully committed to powerlifting before, but he believes the competition changed their minds after seeing just how well they could do against their peers. The energy in the gym matched the kind of environment Canady is striving to create at The Citadel.

“When it comes to overall fitness, it doesn’t even have to be powerlifting, I want to encourage people to take it seriously. It helps you in life overall — the mental aspect, the physical aspect — and helps you live longer. So whatever sport or path you decide to choose for fitness, take it seriously and know that it matters. Every workout you go into, know that there’s a reason you’re doing it,” said Canady.