Addict addicted to dead lift
Justin Buckels, a recovering heroin user, stands in his gym where he trains fellow users as a way to combat addiction.
Justin Buckels does push-ups with resistance bands in his Washington gym.
Justin Buckels uses a bamboo bar with suspended kettle bells as part of a stabilization exercise.
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Justin Buckels never skipped leg day. The 27-year-old Washington man credits his early love of lower-body lifting for putting him in competitive shape to potentially break a state record in dead lifting. For the past year, Buckels has operated a physical rehabilitation and strength-training gym out of a garage on Enterprise Road in Washington. It’s his own enterprising spirit he hopes will get him back to work as an occupational rehabilitation specialist. But not before his powerlifting addiction completely replaces his addiction to painkilling drugs.
“I started at 14, 15 – smoking pot, drinking. And it wasn’t bad until I got into pain pills for a year. Then I found out I couldn’t keep up with money on them. So that led to heroin. It happens when you’re around people who are already using,” Buckels said, explaining he’s been in recovery for nearly two years.
Buckels answered questions after working out with Kyle (whose last name is being withheld), a 25-year-old from Moundsville, W.Va., who moved to Washington due to struggles with heroin. Buckels trains for free those in recovery about three times a week. In this session, Kyle had Buckels show him the “battle ropes.”
“C’mon! You got it!” Buckels yells as Kyle churns the two 15-foot, thick-twine ropes up and down to work his shoulders and forearms.
“The lifting, it keeps me motivated and dedicated,” Kyle said. “I consider it meditation. It gives me the energy to pump through the day, and it’s nice to just get out of my own head space for a while,” he said between repetitions.
“I don’t believe in reps,” Buckels interjects. “If you’re already thinking about how many you’re going to do – just go. Lift to failure. “Because as soon as your body knows the answer, then you can start asking questions on how to get better and stronger,” he said.
Buckels goes hard at everything. But his discipline wasn’t enough to keep him out of trouble this summer. On July 25, Buckels passed out from heroin while driving and crashed into a vehicle driven by 41-year-old Ira Redd, of Indiana, as he was driving on West Maiden Street. She was taken to Washington Hospital with undisclosed injuries.
“I’m a forgiving person, and I pray he recovers from his illness,” Redd said.
Buckels and Kyle are big on prayers. They both credit their faith in God as key to their recovery.
“I came to God through this process. When I was going to (in-patient rehabilitation), my faith was challenged … But I went into my room, prayed for a sign, and a door that was only slightly open slammed shut with no wind or anything. It made me pause, and I started realizing it’s a higher power that will help me,” Kyle said, “and what’s keeping me clean now is wanting to go back to school to help others and become a social worker.”
Buckels said his devotion to Jesus Christ has been present since he was a teenager – around the same time every other athlete in high school was skipping leg day – and credits a return to faith as helping him keep focused.
“I had (fallen away from God) being in the world of drugs. It was a dark time. But when I moved to Washington, I first started going to Central Assembly in Houston and now Life Church in Washington. I’ve been open with the congregations, and that’s been so helpful. “Life Church believes in healing from addiction. That openness with my faith community has totally changed my outlook on life and how I feel about myself,” Buckels said.
Yet Buckels said if it weren’t for his addictive personality, he might not have ended up falling in love with his passion of competitive powerlifting.
“Whenever high school ended, I needed something to replace sports. I met some powerlifters over at the now-closed Alexander’s Gym. I just fell into it. I can’t not lift, you know?”
He nabbed first place in dead lift in the World Association of Benchers and Deadlifters world qualifier in 2010, and several second- and third-place awards through the WABDL in 2011 and 2012. Buckels said he’s ready to jump on momentum of rebuilding his gym – as well as his mind, body and spirit – to try and break the 622-pound state record for the 198-pound weight class.
“This building, everything in it, took years to purchase and pay off. This is a long-term game plan. Some pieces cost $4,000,” he said, “but as for the record, I can ably lift 600. So now it comes down to researching my weaknesses and incrementally getting there.”
The other long-term plan is to return to full-time work as a physical rehabilitation therapist. Buckels received his degree in physical therapy and rehabilitation from Kaplan Career Institute in 2009.
“I love working in hospitals, nursing homes. Somehow my life has always been around rehabilitation, whether it’s been physical, mental or spiritual. I feel like my passion and ability to help people is a God-given talent,” he said.
Until that happens, he said he’ll continue to train men and women in his gym with his holistic approach to wellness, which includes “functional cardio” at the end – something most bodybuilders and powerlifters shy away from because they believe it cuts into muscle gains.
”I believe in actually using the muscles you’ve been training to work your cardiovascular system – actually using them and seeing how they perform. So it’s hitting a punching bag, jumping rope or pulling a weight sled that shows you how much work you need to do,” he said.
A lot of what Buckels trains for is to strengthen “stabilization” in support muscles. The stability he’s trained his muscles to retain for so many years, he said, may finally be coming to his mind and spirit.