Zachary (Zeus) Smith

You're not seeing double...we had the husband and wife team of Amira and Zach Smith win best lifter in the women's and men's division!

​Name, age & how long have you been Powerlifting?

Zachary (Zeus) Smith, 35, 16 years

Best lifts in competition?

Z- 651 squat, 480 bench, 751 deadlift (also this past meet)

Athletic background?  What you did before powerlifting?

Z-football, wrestling, rugby, bodybuilding Amira actually coached me for my first strongman competition and I spent almost 10 years fighting boxing & Muay Thai 

Why Powerlifting?

Z- i had actually torn my acl and labrum training for WKA's and in my rehab I used powerlifting as a measure to regain my confidence, oddly enough I met Amira about this same time and the rest is history.

Tell me something about your gym/team.

Z-My gym is Flex Gym, I've been training there since I was 13, my team is actually the Legacy Team Flex, the original Team Flex was started by Al Walke my mentor.  Everybody that wears a Team Flex Shirt had to re-earn it nobody was grandfathered in including myself.

Trying alone or training partner/coach, team?

Z-I prefer a training partner most specifically Amira Smith but I'm ok with a small training group as long as they understand watching the kids and the front desk come with the territory.

Something most people you train with (or those who follow you if you train alone) don't know about you?

Z-So my brother and I were drinking at a bar one time, and on our way out we got into a fight with a group of guys in the parking lot anyway the ambulance came and took a few of them away and the police took my name down.  Few weeks later my client who was a circuit court judge calls me and tells me that I was in trouble and my name came up and that I was going to have to go work for the sheriff for a few years....and that's how I became a deputy.

Biggest inspiration in the sport?

Z-my biggest inspiration is my wife, I literally wait for her to grind out a lift just to be fired up to do mine.

What's your favorite lift?

Z- Deadlift for sure

Least favorite lift?

Z- also bench 

Biggest challenge in your training?

Z-definitely distractions during training.  Kids/buisness/ solving drama or simply coaching. At one point in prep someone was showing me their bench video mid squat on a max effort triple.

Ideal training atmosphere?  Focused and dialed in or noisy and high energy?

Z-ideal is focused and dialed in, I don't mind high energy for the max effort lift but when the work starts let's just train.

Training plan. Do your own programming or have a coach?

Z-we both coach and program ourselves 

Social media.  Positives and negatives

Z-not entirely sure what's so positive about it except that but def takes up more time than it's worth.

Diet you follow? Supplements?

Z- I write diets for prep, post prep and maintenance and I typically order health supplements from Revive ie powdered greens, blood pressure, creatine, glutamine 

Biggest accomplishment in your powerlifting career? 

Z-biggest accomplishment to date is totaling elite at this past meet

What's one of your non-powerlifting goals?

Z-one of my non powerlifting goals that still need to be met is to purchase commercial real estate (specifically the building Flex is in)

Finally is there anyone you would like to acknowledge or give a shout out to (team, coach, spouse, sponsors)?

Z-honestly the person that has always held me the most accountable is Amira despite what we have going on she has always made our goals a priority and that's rare to find in a partner. Outside of that the team and the gym fam are so supportive and always come together for whatever we need.  That being said there are two people that I personally would have not made it this far without and that's Pat McMillan and Nichole King.  Literally Pat has been my powerlifting mentor and got me into the sport and has been there behind the scenes for every single prep I've ever had and Nichole (our family friend, business partner and physical therapist) has without hesitation dropped everything to address every single injury and issue we have, literally performed miracles and kept us healthy despite our best efforts!