JACKSONVILLE BEACH, Fla. – You do not usually see someone in their 70s lifting nearly 300 pounds. Especially while heavy metal blasts through the gym speakers.
“I was not used to metal,” Masters powerlifter Susan Paxson said. ”Now I play it myself. I was not used to tattoos everywhere. Now I have a tattoo.”
Nocatee resident Susan Paxson is anything but ordinary. The 73-year-old grandmother is a world champion powerlifter.
“When I set the world record in deadlift, it was wild, wildly amazing because I haven’t gotten anywhere close to that in so long,” Paxson said. ”It was fun.”
Paxson did not discover powerlifting until her early 60s, when her mother gifted her sessions with a personal trainer.
“She said I’m going to pay for twice a week for four months,” Paxson said. ”Let’s just stick with it for four months and I liked it right away.”
That decision changed everything. Paxson says she transformed her workouts, changed her diet and lost 75 pounds.
“It gave me so much energy,” Paxson said. ”It was amazing, the difference. It was so surprising how quickly I felt better.”
More than a decade later, that passion is still growing. Paxson trains at The Pit gym in Jacksonville Beach, where she is one of the oldest powerlifters in the building. What started as two workouts a week has turned into three-hour training sessions several times a week.
“I am feeling better now than I did in my 50s,” Paxson said. ”I can’t even explain the difference. It’s made a difference in my quality of life and it’s more fun.”
And if you are wondering whether lifting hundreds of pounds is safe at her age, the Mayo Clinic says resistance training can help slow - and in some cases reverse - age-related muscle loss.
“I’ve asked any doctor I’ve ever been to at first because they scared me and this one fella goes ‘I want you deadlifting until you can’t lift the bar off the floor’,” Paxson said.
After getting the green light from her doctors, Paxson took the sport seriously and entered her first competition - a local meet where she immediately set a world record in deadlift. Then came the squat and bench press. Since 2018, Paxson has competed across Florida, around the country and even internationally. Last year in Seoul, South Korea, she set another world record in deadlift.
“I still haven’t beat the bench,” Paxson said. ”Except in the American record. The world, I don’t come close.”
Paxson has now set more than 300 state, national and world records.
“She probably has more accolades here than anybody else in terms of achievements, but it’s more the humble attitude,” Team G coach Garret Aby said. ”Everybody loves her.”
Paxson trains under the watchful eye of her coach, Garret Aby, and says the support from the powerlifting community keeps her motivated.
“It’s a camaraderie and helping each other situation that I was drawn to,” Paxson said. “I don’t know how long it’s going to last, but until I can’t lift it. I’m going to continue.”
Paxson is now training for a national meet in July and plans to compete at the world championships again in November.