By Christian Guerithault
Photo by Loren Worthington
Marco Beltrán is a 28-year-old powerlifter from Mexico City visiting Phoenix for the summer.
He was born with arthrogryposis, meaning his lower body muscles do not grow at a typical rate.
“I don’t have back control,” Beltrán said. “I don’t have stability for my legs.”
Beltrán competes in powerlifting bench press and his current max is approximately 265 pounds.
“I need to work out, I need to keep training,” Beltrán said. “My biggest dream is to be number one in powerlifting.”
Beltrán knows that being the best is no easy feat.
“If I want to be number one then I have to lift 510-520 pounds, so I don’t want to stop training,” Beltrán said.
Beltrán has only been at Ability360 for a few weeks after discovering the facility through the Internet.
“I was watching the American team and I saw this logo on their chest, which was a 360,” Beltrán said. “So I did some research, and I found this gym and I love it.”
Beltrán said there is a possibility that he could compete in the Cartagena 2018 Para Powerlifting Americas Open Championships, which takes place from Dec. 5 through Dec. 8, 2018 in Cartagena, Colombia.
Christian Guerithault
Writer
Christian Guerithault is a Senior at Barrett, The Honors College at ASU. He majors in Sports and Media Studies through ASU’s W.P. Carey School of Business. Christian is a native of Phoenix, Arizona and has two older brothers. He loves the NBA, NFL, soccer, and the UFC. Christian hopes to one day work in the front office of a professional sports team.