David Walker of Pinehurst recently represented the U.S. at the World Drug Free Powerlifting Federation (WDFPF) Single Lift World Championship and earned first place in all three bench press divisions.

The WDFPF was held in Muskegon, Mich. on June 24 through 26. Walker said 14 countries were represented by nearly 230 competitors.

There Walker earned first place in the Men’s Open, Masters and Police and Fire. After earning first place in each bench press category he also earned the best lifter award in bench press.

Walker weighed in at 226 pounds and bench pressed 551 pounds. His press broke the WDFPF world record in the Mater – 2 Division.

According to Walker, the WDFPF follows strict guidelines regarding judging, adding more pressure to the bench press.

“This is not a touch and go bench press competition,” he said.

Walker explained that in order to meet guidelines on the bench press, competitors have to hold the weight at arm’s length until they are given the command to start. Then they bring the bar down to their chest and hold usually 2 or 3 seconds on a pause. Then they are given the command to press. They must press the bar up in an even extension. The final command is to rack the bench press. They must hold the bar at the top, arms fully extended, until they are told to rack the bar.

The competitors must lay flat on the bench press with their feet flat on the floor. Once the start command is given, the head, feet and lower body cannot move.

“To give an example of how strict this is, before I started competing in the WDFPF, I used to lift a lot of what I call extreme federations where judging and equipment standards are not even close in comparison,” he said. “My best bench press then was 700 pounds, which I pressed at a state fair competition 4 years ago.”

Walker holds other world records as well. He has the world record in the Open, Master – 1 Division and Police and Fire Division at 562 Pounds.

According to Walker, he trained for WDFPF alone. He moved to Pinehurst six months ago, losing all the men who he would normally train with.

Walker has been participating in bench press competitions since 1989.

The WDFPF follows the U.S. Olympic Committee’s strict guidelines regarding steroid usage to include all performance enhancing stimulants. Walker said if a competitor fails a drug test they would be banned from WDFPF for life.

“To compete in the WDFPF is to compete against some of the best drug free lifters in the world,” he said.

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