{"id":163803,"date":"2025-09-27T12:47:15","date_gmt":"2025-09-27T12:47:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/163803\/"},"modified":"2025-09-27T12:47:15","modified_gmt":"2025-09-27T12:47:15","slug":"huntington-powerlifter-paul-cooper-is-crushing-it-at-78","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/163803\/","title":{"rendered":"Huntington powerlifter Paul Cooper is crushing it at 78"},"content":{"rendered":"

Paul Cooper visits various doctors as he grapples with his many \u201cfrailties,\u201d as he calls them: diminished hearing, a blind eye, an aortic valve made from pig tissue, another valve derived from a cow, a heart monitor surgically implanted in his chest and Stage 4 cancer. <\/p>\n

He also visits a gym three times a week to pursue a late-in-life dream: crushing powerlifting records among\u00a0men his age and weight around the world. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m living off of medications and implants, and sometimes I\u2019m out of breath and I don\u2019t know why,\u201d said Cooper, 78, of Huntington. \u201cBut then I go to the gym and I\u2019m a whole different person. It\u2019s the only place I get a respite.\u201d <\/p>\n

Earlier this month, Cooper competed in his latest Revolution Powerlifting Syndicate<\/a> meet at his gym and home-away-from-home for the past two years, Gaglione Strength in Farmingdale<\/a>. The national organization hosts bench, dead lift and squat-based amateur competitions at local gyms. Cooper benched 165.35 pounds, setting a world record for anyone in the 114-pound weight class and the 75- to 79-years-old age bracket, according to officials with the syndicate as well as Open Powerlifting, an online database that collects data from lifters and organizations like the syndicate from across the globe. <\/p>\n

Last year, Cooper, who\u2019s 5-foot-4,\u00a0set a Revolution world record for his age in the 132-pound weight class. Since then, he\u2019s worked to lose weight so he can put another notch in his belt.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

The seeds of Cooper\u2019s fulfilled dreams were planted 11 years ago when he said he read a Newsday feature about three men in their 70s<\/a> who trained at their local gym and competed in lift competitions. He started researching the syndicate\u2019s competition records. <\/p>\n

\u201cI said \u2018I think I got a shot at some of those,\u2019 \u201d Cooper recalled at his kitchen table one recent afternoon. \u201cBut I was working fulltime, working a second job, raising a family. I put it on my bucket list.\u201d <\/p>\n

At the time, Cooper was lifting weights on his lunch break with Jon DeMaio and John Bullard, his fellow employees at Suffolk County Community College in Selden, where he worked as director of facilities, overseeing new construction and renovations. DeMaio, who took over Cooper\u2019s position when he retired a couple of years ago, drew on his weight room experience, which dates to his days as a high school gymnast, to offer Cooper tips. Back then, Cooper\u2019s only competitor was himself. <\/p>\n

But the trio could only hit the gym \u201cas often as the job would allow,\u201d DeMaio said. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou would see really significant progress, then we would get busy and we would kind of fall back and regress,\u201d DeMaio added. <\/p>\n

\"Cooper,<\/p>\n

Cooper, doing a weighted pullup, said he feels at home with his friends at Gaglione Strength gym in Farmingdale. Credit: Newsday\/Alejandra Villa Loarca<\/p>\n

PERSONAL TRAINER KEY<\/p>\n

Cooper made more consistent progress toward his bucket list goal after retiring\u00a0\u2014 and after his second heart surgery to implant a bovine valve within the porcine valve already in his chest. He began training at Gaglione Strength, where he met then-intern Hannah Callahan. <\/p>\n

Despite prior experience that gave him \u201cpretty decent form\u201d and made him \u201cvery strong, right off the bat,\u201d Cooper still had to learn more about powerlifting, recalled Callahan, 25, of Hauppauge. During the year she trained him, Callahan locked Cooper into alternating \u201cmesocycles,\u201d or weekslong training blocks with specific goals. The cycle of lifting lighter weights for several reps built up Cooper\u2019s muscles, while the weeks\u00a0lifting heavier weights fewer times bolstered his strength.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s this common misconception that powerlifting is just doing one-rep maxes all the time, and you go extremely heavy, but . . . we need to focus on building muscle,\u201d said Callahan, now a certified personal trainer and strength and conditioning coach at Redefine Fitness in Stony Brook<\/a>. “I think over time I gained his trust.” <\/p>\n

Cooper said of Callahan that he \u201clearned to not question her judgment.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cI would say, \u2018Are you crazy? That\u2019s too light,\u2019 \u201d Cooper recalled of his early training days. \u201cBy the time I got to the fifth rep, it\u2019s not too light.\u201d <\/p>\n

DOCTOR WEIGHS IN<\/p>\n

Losing muscle mass and strength is a big reason seniors can lose physical abilities as they age, according to the National Institute on Aging, based in Bethesda, Maryland. Strength training can improve the quality of life for older adults by helping them maintain muscle mass and improve mobility. <\/p>\n

Federal guidelines call for adults, including older adults, to do muscle strengthening activities two or more days per week and at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity aerobic physical activity per week, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. Still, just 13.9% of those 65 and older met federal physical activity guidelines, according to a 2024 CDC report. <\/p>\n

While stretches and strength training of some kind is as critical as cardiovascular exercise for seniors, late-in-life first-time lifters can suffer tissue tears around the joints or damage shoulders, knees and other critical joints if they are lifting too much or have poor technique, said Sreevathsa Boraiah, chief of joint replacement surgery at Northwell Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New Hyde Park. \u201cIf you\u2019re not lifting anything when you\u2019re 60 and then one day you decide to go and bench 200 pounds … you might get injured,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you\u2019re starting to go heavy in your later years, you have to build it up slowly. Your bones might not be ready to take that load, your muscles are not ready . . . But once you\u2019re there, keep it up.\u201d While Cooper figured he \u201chad nothing to lose\u201d when he took up powerlifting after retirement, Liz Honig, one of the handful of seniors who powerlifts alongside him at Gaglione Strength, had fears and apprehensions. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe first month or so, every time I was driving [to the gym] I was nervous,\u201d Honig, 71, of Babylon, recalled. That was about a decade ago. Her fear of injury was assuaged after Honig\u2019s trainers assured her over several weeks that they wouldn\u2019t push the novice beyond her capabilities for her own safety. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou start to realize that if it\u2019s too heavy, you just put it down,\u201d Honig said. \u201cThere\u2019s really nothing to be afraid of.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"Cooper<\/p>\n

Cooper joined Gaglione Strength gym in Farmingdale about two years ago, and a then-intern at the gym, Hannah Callahan, helped him build on what he already knew. Credit: Newsday\/Alejandra Villa Loarca<\/p>\n

CARPENTER\u2019S FRAME<\/p>\n

While Cooper did not inherit a powerlifter\u2019s frame \u2014 he\u2019s compact, with narrow shoulders and a slim chest \u2014 his carpentry skills came from his grandfather. <\/p>\n

\u201cBefore I could even walk I was hammering nails,\u201d Cooper said. <\/p>\n

After he graduated from the now closed Sheepshead Bay High School in Brooklyn in 1963, he said he planned to avoid writing any more essays by studying physics at Queens College. He\u00a0graduated in 1968 and briefly taught scuba diving there. He married his college sweetheart, Linda, in 1972 before they moved into a home he built in St. John, where two of their four daughters were born. He continued his scuba pursuits in the Virgin Islands before dedicating himself fully to construction. <\/p>\n

By 1980, the family moved into their Huntington home. A few years later, Cooper received his professional engineering\u00a0license and managed facilities at Queens College and Franklin Hospital, now Long Island Jewish Valley Stream. He retired from SCCC in 2023. <\/p>\n

Before his postretirement transformation, Cooper said he weighed about\u00a0150 pounds. In addition to adding exercise, he gave up the cookies, cakes and candies he loves and started eating more fish, nuts and beans. He barely ate in the run-up to his recent weigh-in \u2014 just\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201ccelery, cucumber, lettuce and a little bit of coffee,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u2003\u00a0 <\/p>\n

GOING THE DISTANCE<\/p>\n

Cooper said that in his 50s, he began running marathons for the same feeling of camaraderie he gets at Gaglione Strength. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m too slow to compete with anybody; I\u2019m in the back of the pack,\u201d Cooper said. \u201cBut I found my friends were doing this [weightlifting], so I started doing it with them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Callahan, who still works out at Gaglione Strength, believes the more than 50 races Cooper finished helped him as a lifter. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think that his discipline has really taken him a long way,\u201d she said. \u201cRunning is a mental battle. . . . When it gets the hardest is when it counts the most.\u201d <\/p>\n

Cooper\u2019s marathon days ended shortly after he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin\u2019s lymphoma that he said morphed into Waldenstr\u00f6m\u2019s macroglobulinemia, a form of blood cancer that diminishes infection-fighting white and oxygen-carrying red blood cell counts, meaning sustained aerobic activity like running is out of the question. <\/p>\n

He said he takes chemotherapy drugs daily to combat his terminal Stage 4 cancer, which is a slow-growing variety, according to the Cleveland Clinic. \u201cIt\u2019s conceivable that it won\u2019t even affect my lifespan,\u201d Cooper said. \u201cI could die of something else before that.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"With<\/p>\n

With his 165.35-pound bench press, Paul Cooper, seen here at Gaglione Strength in Farmingdale, this month broke the record in his age bracket and weight class (114 pounds). Credit: Newsday\/Alejandra Villa Loarca<\/p>\n

TWEAKING THE LIFT<\/p>\n

Eight months ago, after being out of breath more often than usual, Cooper said surgeons implanted a heart recording device \u201cabout the size of a cigarette\u201d in his chest. It has yet to record irregularities. <\/p>\n

Cooper said his cardiologist expressed concern that his newfound passion could cause an aortic aneurysm or rupture, so he has adapted his technique accordingly. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re pressing, especially when you\u2019re holding your breath, your [blood]\u00a0pressure temporarily spikes,\u201d Cooper said. \u201cSo I don\u2019t hold my breath. Normally that helps you; you\u2019re trained to hold your breath. I breathe normally. I could probably squeeze a few more pounds out if I didn\u2019t, but I\u2019d rather take less risk.\u201d <\/p>\n

The benefits of powerlifting far outweigh the risks, according to Cooper. He sets and surpasses goals, made new friends, and said that after 25 years of high blood pressure \u2014 for which he once needed 280 mg of Diovan daily \u2014 he\u2019s down to only 40 mg. His cardiologist, he added, \u201cis my biggest fan as a weightlifter.\u201d <\/p>\n

It\u2019s doubtful that his physical therapist feels the same. Bench pressing abuses Cooper\u2019s shoulders, and he said he suffered a \u201ctrigger finger\u201d strain, or an inflamed tendon that causes his finger to lock in place. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt hurts when you bend it,\u201d he said of his finger. \u201cI probably did it from deadlifting too much weight in the beginning.\u201d <\/p>\n

Over the past two years, while Cooper has worked out at the\u00a0gym, Honig has grown to know him as \u201cfunny\u201d and \u201ca great woodworker.\u201d He recently repaired a cracked antique spinning wheel she uses to fashion her own yarn. <\/p>\n

\u201cThese are my friends,\u201d Cooper said of his fellow gym goers. \u201cThese are the people that support me and who I support, and I couldn\u2019t do it without them. . . . It takes a village to raise an old powerlifter.\u201d<\/p>\n

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified the location of\u00a0Northwell Long Island Jewish Medical Center.<\/p>\n

Nicholas Grasso covers breaking news for Newsday. A Long Island native, he previously worked at several community newspapers and lifestyle magazines based on the East End.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Paul Cooper visits various doctors as he grapples with his many \u201cfrailties,\u201d as he calls them: diminished hearing,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":163804,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[6647,102,74406,4204,74408,74407,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-163803","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fitness","8":"tag-fitness","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-lilife","11":"tag-retirement","12":"tag-suffolk","13":"tag-togetherli","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom","16":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=163803"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163803\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/163804"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=163803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=163803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=163803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}