At age 33, Corey Pederson’s football days are well behind him, but the willpower to stay in shape still persists, so in his spare time away from his job as a U.S. Customs inspector, Pederson lifts weights at the Cook County Community YMCA.
He admits it’s hard to get to his workout at times, so as a way to keep the flame lit under him, Pederson enters a power lifting competition here and there. It was at one of these meets held in the Duluth about six weeks ago that Pederson set a new Minnesota bench press record for the 160-pound class. Pederson lifted 315 pounds, breaking the fouryear old mark by 5 pounds.
“I can lift 340 in practice, but in the competition they make you hold the weight and lift it slowly. It takes a lot out of you to do it that way,” he said.
“I can still put on 5 pounds of muscle and stay in the 160-pound class, so that’s what I’m going to try to do before the next competition. Hopefully I will be able to break the record again when I add some more muscle.”
Pederson not only won his weight division, but his bench press was better than the next two weight classes above him.
Still, he said, the most impressive lift of the day came by a 71-year-old man who dead lifted 655 pounds. “Now that was really something to see,” he said.
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