Joey Echeverria
As powerlifters we are gluttons for punishment, and once we reach a milestone, we quickly set our eyes on the next one. Joey Echeverria has been competing in powerlifting for multiple years now, and has recently clocked his 3rd year and 5th event for the GGC.
There is something really cool about seeing a GGC athlete progress, grow, and change over the years. Sometimes the PRs slow down cause of kids or work or injuries, sometimes they keep on rolling. Sometimes their gym evolves from nothing to something magnificent. It really doesn’t matter. I just love admiring someone who has taken a path to pursue something for themselves. In their garage, building, day after day, working towards a goal that will likely never be reached.
Joey Echeverria said screw that to slowing down and has set all time bests in every GGC, with a recent monster 1334lb total. His home gym ain’t too bad either. Let’s take a look Joey’s journey.
What is your story? What makes you tick?
I was born in New York State, but moved to South Carolina when I was 11. I went to Pittsburgh for college to get a degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering before starting my career as a Software Engineer. Since graduating, I’ve moved around quite a bit spending time in Maryland, California, England, and now in Indiana. I grew up the stereotypical nerd, into board games and video games, watching Star Trek and Dr. Who, and reading comic books. I was never an athlete as a kid. My introduction into fitness was through hiking, playing racquetball, and running. This led to me focusing on running for a few years, including training for and completing a full marathon.
My first real intro into the strength world was through CrossFit in 2014. This taught me a lot of the fundamentals of lifting, but ultimately wasn’t a good fit for me and my training. After a few years of on again/off again bouts of running, I decided to work with a personal trainer in 2017 to focus on strength. I didn’t have any lofty goals when I started. I was hoping to feel stronger and to better enjoy a simulated surfing machine which taxed my balance and core stability.
After a few months, my trainer figured out that I had a particularly strong deadlift. I like to think that my time running primed my hamstrings for deadlifting. Around the same time, a friend of mine had started powerlifting and entered a few competitions. As I told her about my progress with my trainer, she encouraged me to try out powerlifting and enter a competition.
A few days after she told me about a specific upcoming competition, my trainer said that I should really enter a competition. I told him about the one my friend had mentioned. He asked me if I would be willing to increase my training sessions to 1 hour, up from 30 minutes, and to add an extra day of lifting on my own that he would program for. I said yes, and I’ve been powerlifting ever since.
Check out Joey’s First Powerlifting Meet.
How did you get involved in the garage gym community?
Like a lot of people, my lifting took a back seat when the pandemic hit and gyms were closed. I tried to keep a routine focused on body weight movements for awhile, but it just didn’t draw me in the way that lifting did. After a couple of years off, I moved into a new house with my wife that happened to have a 3-car garage. This is when I started building my at home setup. I watched a million hours of reviews on YouTube channels. Given my background with powerlifting, I had a good idea of the kind of training I enjoy and the kind of equipment I really liked at my old powerlifting gym.
So I decided to build a complete gym with a 6-post power rack, an integrated belt squat, a few barbells, calibrated plates, adjustable dumbbells, a deadlift platform, and a rower. This was about 18 months ago, and I’ve been adding to my setup along the way.
Check out Joe’ys gym on his Instagram.
I usually train by myself in the morning before work. I definitely miss the community aspect of lifting at a powerlifting gym, but I think I’ve found an even bigger community online that has kept me motivated and accountable. I don’t think I’ll ever go back to full time lifting at a commercial facility, but I’d love to find folks locally that want to train and set up some time for small group workouts.
Lets talk about the Garage Gym Competition…
After I had my home gym for about 4 months, I found my re-introduction routine getting stale and I was looking into JuggernautAI as I had success with Juggernaut-style programming in the past. Around that time, Chad Wesley Smith posted about the Garage Gym Competition. I missed competing, but wasn’t ready to go back to an in person event, so I set the Spring 2022 competition as my meet date in the app and began serious training again. My goal for my first GCC was to tie my numbers from my first powerlifting meet.
Check out Joey’s 2022 Fall Entry
As my training progressed, I found that I was on pace to hit a total closer to my second competition! This gave me a lot of drive to see how far I could progress in my come back meet. By the time the competition came around, I blew away both my original goal and my stretch goal. Including hitting a 500 lb deadlift for the first time in 3 years. This had me hooked, so when I heard the GGC was coming back in the Fall, I knew I had my next meet picked out.
One of the things I like most about lifting is how you reach big goals by doing a lot of little things consistently. I don’t always feel like working out first thing in the morning, but I know if I listen to my body and get in as much work as I’m able to for that day, then I’ll be one step closer to my goal. This motivated me throughout my prep for the Fall 2022 competition.
Between that consistency mindset and the Juggernaut AI programming, I was able to hit all time PRs on all of my lifts and increase my best ever total by 71 lbs. This was also a 143lb increase between the Spring and Fall competitions!
I don’t have to have the highest total, or to beat out other lifters. I’m competing against just one person, and that’s me. Being able to test myself in the comfort of my home gym with such a well run event will keep me coming back for years to come.
What’s the most important thing people should know about you?
The most important thing people should know about me is that when I set my mind to something, I’ll keep at it and focus on the little things to get me to my destination.
How are you preparing for the next Garage Gym Competition?
I’m continuing to use Juggernaut AI to build on my total and see just how strong I can get.
Thanks Joey Echeverria!
Notes – Joey managed a 1334lb total by way of a 463 Squat, 287 Bench, and 584 deadlift in the 2024 Spring GGC! And you KNOW he is coming back for the Fall.
