Mark Chaillet
Co-Founder and CEO
Accomplishments
- CEO and Co-Founder International Powerlifting Association (IPA)
- 2000 York Barbell Hall of Fame Inductee
- 1986 World Powerlifting Champion (Super Heavyweight Class)
- Top 20 Lifters in All-Time Century List
- First Man to Dead Lift over the 800 lb. mark in the Master Class (40 years+)
- 1987 USPF USA Team Member to Compete in South Africa
- Elite Lifter Classification in Four Weight Classes
- 40 Years as a Competitive Strength Athlete and Coach
Mark continues to strive to achieve excellence personally and for powerlifting acting as the CEO of the IPA. Mark has been running powerlifting meets since 1974, and was the first to promote powerlifting to the military holding the first meet at Andrews AFB.
His competitive lifting career spanned 25 years beginning in 1971 toying with the sport of Olympic-style weightlifting, and soon moving on to powerlifting where he achieved his highest accolades. In conjunction with his weightlifting and powerlifting competition, he achieved the status as Maryland’s High School Football All-American, All-State winner, and ultimately played football for the University of Maryland as the offensive center. In 1974, Mark won the Teenage National Powerlifting Championships in the 198 lb. weight class and the Collegiate National Championships as an 18-year-old.
As a college student, Mark won the Collegiate Nationals in the 220 lb. weight class, earning the Collegiate National Record with a 717 lb. dead lift. He was a Junior Olympic Champion and his combined Olympic and Powerlifting totals rank him in the top five of all time.
After college, Mark took advantage of an incredible opportunity to work and train under the tutelage of powerlifting legend, Larry Pacifico, at New Life Fitness Centers in Ohio. Mark parlayed his passion for strength sports and management experience with New Life Fitness Centers to his own facility that he opened in 1983 outside Washington, DC. From 1983 through 1998, Chaillet’s Gym was one of the most recognized strength centers in North America.
In 1983, he and John Gamble (1999 Hall of Fame Inductee) performed a two-man 1,600 lb. World record dead lift raising over $10,000 for The Jerry Lewis Telethon. Mark earned 10 World and American records with the USPF, APF, WPC, APA, and the IPA. He was the 1986 APF World Champion, 1991 and 1992 APA WPC World Champion, and 1993 and 1994 IPA World Champion.
Mark has been ranked as one of the Top 20 lifters in the All-Time Century List in multiple weight classes spanning two decades. He is one of only four lifters in the history of the sport to dead lift 800 lbs. or more in four different weight classes. In 1996, dead lifting 830 lbs., he became the first man in the history of powerlifting to dead lift 800 lbs. in the Master division (40 years and older).
In 1998 Mark was hired by York Barbell Company to “bring athletes back to the company” and to manage the retail division. York Barbell’s desire to replicate the founder’s (Bob Hoffman) penchant for promoting strength sports and athletes inspired the first of many Strength Spectacular events in 1998. In 2000 Mark was inducted into the York Barbell Hall of Fame for his lifting accomplishments and his contributions to the sport. Following his heart, Mark opened Chaillet’s Private Fitness, a personal training studio, in 2001 in York, Pennsylvania where he trains people today.
Mark’s enduring strength, fortitude and accomplishments are acknowledged by popular strength sports writer, Marty Gallagher, in his book The Purposeful Primative. Marty was a long-time member of Chaillet’s Gym and witnessed some of the sport’s most incredible and memorable moments. Marty includes Mark as one of the pioneers of power lifting, nicknaming him “the minimalist”.