Sandusky's Peugeot wins powerlifting title

SANDUSKY — James Peugeot takes his workouts seriously. Peugeot, a 2023 graduate of Sandusky High School, recently took first place in his division at the powerlifting nationals. Peugeot totaled a combined 1,416 pounds in the squat, bench press and deadlift at the APF/AAPF Nationals in mid-June in Royal Oak, Michigan. "I've always enjoyed lifting and I've never enjoyed the body building type of lifting," Peugeot said. "I've always enjoyed lifting heavy weights." Peugeot, 20, competed in the drug-free 242-pound weight class for males age 20-23. His top weights in each discipline were 529 pounds in the squad, 286 pounds on the bench press and 601 pounds in the deadlift. He received a medal and certificate for his accomplishments. "It's pretty cool," he said. "I'm a pretty laid-back person." Peugeot will be a junior this fall at Bowling Green State University. He competes on the school's powerlifting club team. He reached one big goal at the national meet at Royal Oak Gym. "I wanted to be the first person from BG to pull 600 pounds," he said. He surpassed the 600-pound mark on his second attempt at the deadlift. Mission accomplished — and without steroids. He competed in the drug-tested category as opposed to the untested version. "I have no plans of ever taking steroids," he said. "It's really bad for you and also gets really expensive." His best squat came on his third and final lift and he posted his bench press mark with his second lift. Peugeot competed in the USPA Junior Nationals with BGSU earlier this year and finished in second place. He said his favorite lift is the deadlift, an exercise in which the barbell is lifted from the floor to a standing position. "It's the lift that I'm best at," Peugeot said. "It's a lot easier for me to do than squatting and benching." Peugeot played football at Sandusky and was a standout lineman. He also wrestled and threw the discus and shot put in track. "Ever since eighth grade when I first started lifting for football, I've always enjoyed lifting," he said. Peugeot said his walking-around weight is about 250, which means he does have to cut a few pounds for competitions. "You gotta do it carefully. If you cut wrong, you can lose muscle mass and it makes you weaker," he said. "You train for 15-plus weeks for one meet, so it's really stressful and hard on your body." Peugeot qualified for nationals last November. His next big competition will be in March. "I want to pull 700," he said. Peugeot trains every few weeks with his lift coach, Josh Landers, an accomplished powerlifter who lives in Findlay. Peugeot is majoring in psychology and wants to be a school psychologist. He's working this summer as a dock hand at Sandusky Yacht Club. He said excelling at powerlifting is not something that happens overnight. "It takes time," he said. "On social media you see all the people lifting really heavy weights. They're really buff and they've been lifting for years. On social media, it's your top 1 percent of lifters doing all the crazy stuff."