No luck, all work.
That’s what it says on the back of his T-shirt and there’s no bigger truth for Pierce Northcott, 16, who is a determined powerlifter competing at the Special Olympics BC Summer Games set in Prince George from July 10 to 12.
“We were looking at the record books for the Special Olympics and we’re thinking he might set a record at the Games,” said Northcott’s coach, Bryce Surgenor.
They both live in Mackenzie and came to Prince George to get together with other members of the Region 8 powerlifting team at the Prince George YMCA on Tuesday, May 6.
Northcott lifts 297 pounds in squat, 159 pounds in bench and a whopping 420 pounds in deadlift.
“Northcott is the most coachable athlete I have ever seen,” Surgenor said.
It all started for Northcott when he wanted to get strong in Grade 8 so he began weight training.
“I didn’t know what to do so I just did my legs for a whole year,” he said. "Then my mom told me about powerlifting and I said OK, I’ll try it and I fell in love with the sport. Bryce told me how to do deadlifts and the training got my arms bigger.”
Surgenor is a certified personal trainer and when there was a Special Olympics Expo in town he said he thought he would volunteer to coach.
He had coached another athlete with autism in the past.
“And I thought, 'why not?'” Surgenor said.
“Pierce is a pretty incredible athlete and it’s not going to be long and he’ll be stronger than me.”
“I’m happy I have a coach like Bryce,” Northcott countered.
“Anything he wants me to do, I do it. I always follow orders and I made it this far and my goal for my deadlifts is 600 lbs.”
How do you get from 420 pounds to 600?
“You have to get creative,” Surgenor smiled. “We’ll have to try out all sorts of different techniques and programs just trying to milk out an extra couple pounds of strength. We do progressive overload so you just try and get a pound stronger every week. You can always add a pound. If you can do 400 you can do 401 and that adds up.”
Of the three powerlifting components, Northcott favours two.
“I definitely like deadlifts and bench press,” he said.
When it comes to competing there’s a single-mindedness to Northcott’s approach.
“I just focus and I just do it,” he said. “I don’t worry about nothing else. I just focus, don’t worry about the weight and I just lift it.”
“He’s got an excellent mindset,” Surgenor added.
Surgenor started powerlifting when he was 13, following in his brother Tyson’s footsteps.
“He’s super fit and was just at the RCMP Depot and he got one of the highest fitness scores you can get,” Surgenor said. “And that didn’t surprise me. He shows me up every day.”
Northcott said that when he first started training with Bryce he was different than he is now.
“I had tons of fat until he trained me,” Northcott said.
When it comes to getting stronger, there is no typical workout, Surgenor explained.
“It’s always changing but we usually start out with our main heavy lifts, then we’re going to do more assistance exercises, hit weak points, target muscles that may get underworked by those exercises. And we also periodize it where we’ll have a light week, a medium week and a heavy week. We leave no stone unturned.”
“I also lift tires as part of my workout,” Northcott said with a twinkle in his eye.
For more information about the Special Olympics BC Summer Games in Prince George from July 10 to 12, including how to volunteer visit www.specialolympics.ca/british-columbia/2025-sobc-summer-games.
