ISB senior Daniel Ramirez is known for the time he spends in the gym, both in and outside of school. And it has paid off. Being a 199-cm, 105-kg giant, Daniel has dominated heavy division powerlifting in Thailand for the past year.

For the past two years, Daniel has focused on his weightlifting and is especially known for heavy weights on squat and deadlift. When he was a junior, Daniel chose to run cross country for ISB, making the 2023 varsity team. But during the season, he suffered from a stress fracture in his ankle. In a boot and unable to run, he turned his attention to the gym. He had previously suffered “lots of random injuries” but nothing like this before. Considering the boot ruled out deadlift and squats, the bench press began to call his name. “It was the worst moment for everything but bench press,” he recalls. 

After “increasing [his] bench by 20 kg in a few months,” ISB fitness center supervisor Khun Dee and athletic trainer Cory Campopiano approached him about the possibility of entering his first powerlifting competition. Daniel says it was an opportunity to “to push [myself] even further,” providing him a tangible goal to chase. Later that year, he competed in a bench-press-only competition where he managed to bring home gold for his weight division. 

The next step in Daniel’s journey was the National Qualifiers with the Thai Amateur Association of Powerlifting. Although he had begun to reintroduce squats and deadlifts to his workout program as he recovered from his injury, the National Qualifiers would be his first time competing for both these lifts. He was accompanied to the tournament by ISB’s Campopiano and sophomore ISB student Thijs Bijl, competing in separate weight divisions. Daniel commented on the welcoming nature of the competition. “It made me feel better about myself,” he says. 

Nationals was Daniel’s most recent competition where he lifted 112.5 kg on bench press, 180 kg on squat, and 210 kg on deadlift. While these values do not represent his personal best, competition weights are often lower than an individual’s all-time record. This is due to a combination of being put on the spot, personal prep, and exhaustion. 

Now competing for the Thai national team, Daniel will represent Thailand at the Asian African Powerlifting Championships held in Himeji, Japan, from July 5 to 13 — less than a week after graduating from ISB.