{"id":287409,"date":"2025-10-08T20:32:18","date_gmt":"2025-10-08T20:32:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/287409\/"},"modified":"2025-10-08T20:32:18","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T20:32:18","slug":"man-who-turned-to-weightlifting-for-health-now-headed-to-powerlifting-world-championships-at-82","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/287409\/","title":{"rendered":"Man who turned to weightlifting for health now headed to powerlifting world championships at 82"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ravi Sood was 70 years old when he first picked up a barbell.<\/p>\n

“Both my knees needed replacing, and the orthopaedic surgeon said that if I had my muscles in good condition, the surgery would be easier,” he said.<\/p>\n

The Canberra astrophysicist sailed through the procedure and found a new passion for lifting heavy weights.<\/p>\n

Twelve years, a heart attack, and a national record later, the now-82-year-old is travelling to South Africa to represent Australia at the World Masters Powerlifting Championships.<\/p>\n

“This is my dream come true,”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

he said.<\/p>\n

“Just the fact that I’m wearing Australian green and gold, for me, that’s fantastic.”<\/p>\n

\"Ravi<\/p>\n

Ravi Sood holds the Australian deadlift record for his age group.\u00a0 (ABC News: Lily Nothling)<\/p>\n

Ravi’s goal is to beat his previous national deadlift record for his age and weight class of 115 kilograms.<\/p>\n

“I don’t really care if I win any medals \u2014 just to represent my country at an international level, that’s out of this world,” he said.<\/p>\n

While many can find the gym environment intimidating, powerlifting has transformed the octogenarian’s life and introduced him to a new community.<\/p>\n

“When you go and enter a competition, everyone cheers you on \u2014 there’s no ‘I’m going to kill you’ like they do in hockey or football,” he laughed.<\/p>\n

His pump-up playlist is far from conventional, boasting the likes of Slim Dusty, Elvis Presley and John Williamson.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Ravi Sood says lifting weights has changed his life.\u00a0 (ABC News: Lily Nothling)<\/p>\n

‘Life doesn’t stop when you get older’<\/p>\n

Coach Megan Hinchley, who has been training Ravi since the start, said the 82-year-old was a role model for ageing healthily.<\/p>\n

“It just shows that life doesn’t stop when you get older, that you can continue to have goals and to have purpose and to push yourself,” she said.<\/p>\n

“You never have to stop giving things a go and you never know where they might take you.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The benefits of strength training for ageing bodies are well-documented.<\/p>\n

\"Ravi<\/p>\n

An astrophysicist, Ravi Sood has bounced back from a double knee replacement and a heart attack. (ABC News: Lily Nothling)<\/p>\n

Lifting weights offers protection against chronic conditions like heart disease, diabetes and osteoporosis.<\/p>\n

“When people are young, they like to be strong and fit for sport or aesthetic reasons,” Ms Hinchley said.<\/p>\n

“But I think it’s being able to maintain that and develop that as you get older because it just helps you continuing living the life you want to live.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

She said all her clients, young and old, loved working out alongside Ravi. He even motivated another 83-year-old woman at his gym to take part in a powerlifting competition for the first time.<\/p>\n

“There are people who are training with him and they want to have a break, but they see the 82-year-old still working out, so they’ve got to keep going as well,” Ms Hinchley said.<\/p>\n

\"Ravi<\/p>\n

Mr Sood has been an inspiration for Veronika Pasalic, who is also lifting weights for her health. (ABC News: Lily Nothling)<\/p>\n

Fellow gym-goer Veronika Pasalic said she was excited to cheer Mr Sood on at the world championships from afar.<\/p>\n

“I wanted to start lifting and trying to get stronger from a healthy aging perspective, so seeing someone who is in their 80s and lifting the kind of weights that he’s lifting is super inspiring,” she said.<\/p>\n

“I want to be like Ravi when I grow up.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ravi Sood was 70 years old when he first picked up a barbell. “Both my knees needed replacing,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":287410,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[147785,4746,4740,147787,4745,24478,1198,210,12649,147788,92390,67,132,68,80725,147786],"class_list":{"0":"post-287409","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fitness","8":"tag-82-year-old","9":"tag-act","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-barbell","12":"tag-canberra","13":"tag-champion","14":"tag-fitness","15":"tag-health","16":"tag-local-stories","17":"tag-medals","18":"tag-powerlifting","19":"tag-united-states","20":"tag-unitedstates","21":"tag-us","22":"tag-weights","23":"tag-world-masters-powerlifting-championships"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115340453863356588","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287409","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=287409"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287409\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/287410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=287409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=287409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=287409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}