Harper Sercombe
Karl Di Falco of Taylors Lakes is once again ready to hit the world stage.
Di Falco is one of Australia’s best powerlifters, and currently holds the record for his squat and deadlift in his weight class.
Powerlifting is a unique sport and is measured by the total weight of a person’s maximum single repetition from their deadlift, squat and bench press.
Earlier this year Di Falco won his sixth national championship, competing in the 67.5 kilogram class. He recorded a 270 kilogram deadlift, 235 kilogram squat (both Australian records) and a 130 kilogram bench press, totalling an Australian record weight of 635 kilograms.
This is Di Falco’s 11th year competing, throughout his career he has also tried his hand at bodybuilding but admits the strength work has always been his forte.
Now he will be heading to Rome, Italy to compete in the world powerlifting competition later this month, in the 69 kilogram weight class.
“It will be held near the Colosseum, which is where I feel at home,” Di Falco said with a laugh.
“I’ll be trying to attempt the world squat record.”
The 69 kilogram weight class record has been held by him in the past when he recorded a 235 kilogram squat in Melbourne back in 2020, but has since been broken with a 240 kilogram lift.
However, now his focus is on preparing and getting his weight competition ready.
“I’m in a big [calorie] deficit, I usually walk around at 74 [kilograms],” he said.
“I’m down at 67 at the moment, so I’m refeeding a little bit back up to 69.
“The training volume and the training days are down to four days a week, because the weights are so heavy and the intensity is so high, you need a lot more rest.
“But I’m just keeping training very specific to the sport, so it’s a lot of compound movements, a lot of low repetitions and high intensity on the bar with heavy weights.
“Then just trying to recover and most importantly getting eight to 10 hours of sleep.”
Di Falco is heading to Europe with around 10 other Australian powerlifters and will be faced with competitors from 15 other countries and 120 lifters.
“This win would probably be the most prestigious to me,” he said.
“I’m under a lot more stress and I don’t have the ability to train for five hours like I used to.
“So amongst all the chaos to be able to achieve this goal, I feel like I’m in my prime right now, sort of in the twilight years too, it would finish off a great career.
“I feel like I have accomplished everything, but there’s always that fire that burns.”
While Di Falco is preparing himself for the world stage, he also runs his own gym, KAOS Fitness and Recovery, featured on a Channel Seven reality TV show, Million Dollar Island, and is releasing his own line of supplements.
However, he still isn’t sure if this will be his last world championship performance.
“I think I might have one more left in the tank, but at the same time, I am very tired,” he said.
“It’s a hard one to sit down and make the assessment until after this competition.
“But I do feel like I’ve got a couple of years left.”
Di Falco will compete in Rome from October 30 to November 1.
