15-year-old Renton powerlifter sets six world records

Published 11:15 am Wednesday, November 25, 2015

She’s only really been lifting for a year and though Sachie Dubose says she has “bigger plans,” it’s hard to imagine what could be next considering the 15-year-old set six world records at a competition in Las Vegas last month.

During the Amateur Athletic Union’s World Powerlifting Championships, the sophomore at Renton’s Secondary Learning Center broke records in the teen 14/15-year-old category in squats (281 pounds), four records in deadlifts (275, 300, 311 and 315 pounds), and one for overall with a total of 717 pounds.

“It was fun,” Dubose said this past week during a phone interview. “I was really excited.”

But maybe even more impressive is that her record-setting performance comes less than a year after she got involved with the sport of powerlifting.

“It hasn’t been that long yet,” she said.

Dubose’s mother is a bodybuilder and the teen said watching her mother work out in the living room of their apartment inspired her to give it go as well.

“We lived in a fourth-floor apartment and she was lifting like 200 lbs.,” Dubose said. “I’m just used to seeing a lot of muscle.”

Dubose began working out with coach Bull Stewart at Columbia City Fitness in Seattle last year but did not have enough competitions under her belt to compete at the championships; but one year and four meets later, she was in.

Stewart is himself a lifter and former world champion and Washington State Powerlifting Hall of Fame member.

“I try to listen to everything he says, but sometimes I’m a little bit stubborn,” Dubose admitted.

Dubose said she and her family – including some from states other than Washington – made a vacation out of the whole trip to the event at the Rio Hotel and casino, which she described as a “huge place.”

Competing in the 165-pound weight class, despite weighing in lighter than she had expected, Dubose said she was scheduled to lift a total of nine times in the 12-hour competition period but wanted one more record and lifted a 10th time to get it.

“Why not?” she said with a laugh. “It’s the end of the day.”

However, despite the records, Dubose admits she did not do quite as well as she had hoped.

“I was hoping to get at least 330,” she said about her deadlifts.

Dubose, who said she also enjoys playing basketball, plans to transition to bodybuilding after her next meet in March, so instead of lifting, she will just be posing to show off the work she has done in the gym.

She says it is not always easy being a young, female powerlifter and sometimes she gets told she looks like a man, but the world-record holder is taking it all in stride and not letting anyone else bring her down.

“I don’t really pay them no mind,” she said of the haters.