Herbst perseveres to keep his crown
May 12th, 2009
May 11, 2009
Orignally posted by: The Journal News
He did not have his usual physical support – a lingering hamstring injury was still barking – but powerlifter Robert Herbst had plenty of emotional support, and from an unusual source: the Trinity College men’s squash team.
Herbst, a Trinity graduate, had congratulated the team in February for having won its 11th straight national championship and continuing its record 202-match winning streak. And he stayed in touch with the team and its coach.
So when Herbst, on the verge of attempting to win his 14th straight national championship, severely pulled his hamstring, the Trinity squash players rallied on his behalf.
“I unexpectedly received a number of e-mails from players who are less than half my age, encouraging me and telling me that they knew that I would dig down deep and win again,” Herbst said. “I did not want to let them down.”
He didn’t.
Herbst took his 14th consecutive national title, and 22nd national title overall, winning in the middleweight class of the masters 50-54 age division at the AAU Powerlifting Raw National Championships.
He also has 11 world titles and seven world records.
But this time he hobbled to the podium.
And since it was the Raw Nationals, the lifters competed under drug-tested conditions and could not use supportive equipment such as knee wraps.
The Larchmont resident was able to grind out lifts of 303 pounds in the squat, 264 in the bench press and 402 in the deadlift, for a total of 969 pounds.
He will compete next in the world drug-free powerlifting championships in Milton Keynes, England, in November.
When he’s not lifting, Herbst is an attorney in New York City, a Scout leader, and coaches numerous youth sports teams every season. He also runs the Larchmont/Mamaroneck Little League’s summer recreational baseball program for boys who do not play travel baseball. And he has volunteered at the Empire State Games as a timer in swimming and a “ball boy” in soccer.
Herbst recently became only the third person in the nation to win a second Platinum Award in the President’s Challenge, a program of The President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports designed to encourage Americans to lead active lives.
But perhaps his most impressive accomplishment – and certainly the most rewarding – is the tsunami-relief work he did in 2006.
He raised almost $10,000 by having people pledge money for how much he lifted at several competitions. Then he flew to Sri Lanka at his own expense and went to refugee camps, where he distributed the money. While he was there, he coached several sessions for the Sri Lankan Olympic weightlifting team and lectured at the university and the medical school about strength training, youth sports and fitness.
“I can sincerely say that I do all this not for my benefit or for recognition, but because it feels like the right thing to do,” Herbst said.
