Before Kaleb Calvert turned 14, he had one goal: to beat the bench pressing world record for his age group. 

“I just noticed that my bench was pretty close to it, so I decided to go for it,” Kaleb, an eighth grader at  Providence Academy –  a Pre–K–12 “classical Christian school” in South County – said. 

After approximately three months of training nearly every day, Kaleb not only met the record, but smashed it, benching 230.5 pounds, 5.5 pounds more than the previous record held by Sean McCall of Ohio, who broke the bench press world record with the World Raw Powerlifting Federation in 2021.

“It felt really good,” Kaleb said.

Kaleb’s parents, Rick and Jean Calvert, were over the moon about their son’s accomplishment. 

“We were excited. He’s been doing calisthenics for a couple of years now at home,” Rick said. “He perfected his balance, and he just got stronger and stronger. We’ve been watching his progression for the last two years. I was surprised when he told me he was going for the record because I didn’t really realize he could attain it. But when he put his mind to it, he just really ramped up pretty quick.”

“That’s his personality,” Jean added. “Once he puts his mind to something…”