East County lifter wins national title

WHISPER BEND — Joe Seth will be the first one to tell you size wasn’t one of his strengths growing up.

The Whisper Bend resident was one of the smaller kids in his class. So rather than playing contact sports, Seth focused his attention on running and competing in triathlons. But following high school and college, Seth began to learn about sports science.

While he was in graduate school, Seth started putting on weight and getting stronger. At that point he decided to start power lifting.

“I was always a little guy,” Seth said. “I just started learning (about power lifting); and I liked it and started putting more effort into it.”

Now 15 years later, Seth is the owner of Advanced Fitness and Performance in Sarasota. And on April 9-11, he won the 77-kilogram weight class for ages 40-44 at the 2010 National Masters Olympic Weightlifting Championships in New York.

Seth snatched 89 kg and had a clean-and-jerk of 111 kg. With his 200 kg total, Seth also qualified to compete in the 2010 World Masters Olympic Weightlifting meet in Poland. It was the first time Seth, who dropped an entire weight class for the meet, had ever won the competition, having finished second and third the past two years.

“It was a good feeling,” Seth said. “I went to where I believed I could win. It’s not who trains the hardest — it’s what kind of day you have.”

In 1995, Seth began competing in the Scottish Highland Games. But after reaching his maximum weight of 240 pounds, Seth’s knees began to give out, forcing him to lose some weight and gravitate away from the games.

In 2004, Seth formed Team Florida Advanced Fitness and Performance as a way to train younger athletes while still competing in Olympic-style weightlifting.

Today, Seth trains about 18 athletes, including two females, ranging in age from 13-69. Some of the athletes spend up to four days a week at the gym working on their snatch and clean-and-jerk in preparation for the Sunshine State Games, which are held every year in Lakeland, and other Olympic-style weightlifting competitions.

“I’ve always been competitive by nature, but now as I get older, I can be competitive through the kids,” Seth said. “I call this the ‘Island of Misfits.’ (Weightlifting) gives them a direction in life. It gives them something to do with structure, and kids excel (more) when they have structure.”

Now with the National Masters Olympic Weightlifting Championships behind him, Seth will focus hi attention on training his athletes for next month’s Sunshine State Games before preparing for the American Masters Olympic Weightlifting Championships in November.

Contact Jen Blanco at [email protected].