There are not many people who can deadlift 400kg—that’s roughly equivalent to almost 900 lbs! Meet Ogden Myklebust.
Ogden is a husband, father, powerlifter, he works in the oil & gas industry, and he is fighting sex trafficking! Not only is Ogden using his influence to help men in the oil & gas industry recognize the darkness of sex trafficking, but he has also created a fundraiser to help fund restoration for survivors.
I work in the Oil and Gas Industry and have traveled the world on projects for long periods of time and have seen colleagues get caught up in the darkness of the sex trafficking industry.
Here is our interview with Ogden Myklebust.
Hi Ogden! Tell us a little bit about yourself, and how you got into powerlifting?
I’m married to my dream girl Kelley Rian, we have a ridiculous awesome 21-month-old son named Ryker and of course, 2 fur babies named Ammo and Zoe. I started strength training with my father and uncle at the age of 13 and was always pretty strong due to manual labor as well.
After playing college football a couple of years at Texas Lutheran, I transferred to Texas Tech to play under Mike Leach. I ended up having another injury and also got into the engineering school so I had to give up my football pursuit and use my brain.
I was deadlifting in the weight room and the coach for the powerlifting team approached me about trying out the sport after never knowing much about it. My first meet, I ended up setting a collegiate American deadlift record and I was hooked after that!
You are going to be competing in the 2019 Kern U.S. Open, how much work goes into preparing for a competition like that?
This is my second year competing at the US Open and it is literally a year in year out commitment to training. It requires a lot of consistency, perseverance, and multi-hour training sessions 3-4 times a week in my garage mostly. It takes years to make healthy sizable strength gains. I’ve experienced a plethora of injuries and have to adjust my training around them depending on the severity with my coach.
You could have supported any cause, so what made you want to use your platform to help end sex trafficking?
My wife got me interested in Elijah Rising. At first, we joined a Van Tour and seminar and I became more interested. I work in the Oil and Gas Industry and have traveled the world on projects for long periods of time and have seen colleagues get caught up in the darkness of the sex trafficking industry.
God led me to do something about it and I originally wanted to put on a whole powerlifting meet here in Houston to support multiple organizations since Houston needs all the help they can get. Hopefully, that could still happen in the future.
You know OTC (Offshore Technology Conference) is in 2 weeks and that’s a spike time for traffickers moving women into the city because of all the men from all over the world coming to Houston. I’ve had a couple of interventions with guys I had just met trying to get involved in it.
Power Over The Game Liftathon
I have set up a personal fundraising page through Elijah Rising here »
I’m asking for patrons to commit to a certain cent per kilo of my total at the meet and to wait and see how I do on April 27th in San Diego, CA. They can message me on Instagram (@og_tripl3_0g ) or Facebook to commit. My goal is to Total 1000kg, which is 2204lbs, in the Squat Bench and Deadlift. This has been the second powerlifting goal I set for my self. The first goal, set 10 years ago, was a 400kg deadlift which I accomplished last year here in Houston.
Start A Fundraiser!
If Ogden’s story has inspired you to get involved in the fight to end sex trafficking, you can create your own personal fundraiser online.
