From Wheelchair to World Record: Liam's Beville's Fight

When Liam Beville was 18, a stolen car mounted a curb in Limerick and crushed both his legs.
 Doctors told him he’d never walk again.

But Liam didn’t just walk — he deadlifted 285 kg to become a Guinness World Record holder, and 310 kg at 75 kg bodyweight to become one of Ireland’s greatest lifters of all time.

This episode is about defying prognosis, rewriting identity, and proving that mindset is stronger than muscle.

💥 In This Episode

Sam Penny sits down with Irish powerlifter Liam Beville to explore:

• Growing up in a tough Limerick household surrounded by disability — and learning resilience early.
• The 1983 accident that shattered his legs and the long battle back from the edge.
• How walking to the gym on crutches became the first step to greatness.
• Competing against able-bodied athletes — and why he refused to accept the label “disabled”.
• The mental cost of chasing perfection and the darkness of depression.
• Discovering hypnosis and mindset training to control anxiety and rediscover love for the sport.
• Breaking four world records across four weight divisions — and holding them all simultaneously.
• Becoming the oldest and lightest man ever to hold the Guinness World Record for heaviest disabled deadlift.
• What “strength” really means after six decades of pain, purpose, and perspective.

🧠 Key Lessons

• Labels limit you. Don’t let anyone define what’s possible for you.
• Sit with pain. Whether physical or emotional, resisting it gives it power.
• Control the controllables. Focus on what’s within your reach — and forget the rest.
• Success and failure are imposters. Treat both the same, as Rudyard Kipling wrote in If.
• Never too late. At 60, Liam’s still training to break his own world record — proving you’re never too old to start again.

🗣️ Memorable Quotes

“Opinions are like assholes — everyone has one. But they don’t know me.”
 “Pain became my friend — it reminds me I’m alive.”
 “If you want it, you’ll find a way. If you don’t, you’ll find an excuse.”
 “You don’t have a disability; you have a different ability.”
 “I’m a bit of metal and a lot of mindset.”

💪 The Brave Five

Liam reveals:

1. His most unexpected lesson from recovery.
2. What he felt when holding the Guinness certificate.
3. The truth about friendship and why being a people-pleaser nearly broke him.
4. The mindset that’s kept him competing into his 60s.
5. The one thing he wants every listener to remember: “Control what you can and forget the rest.”

🎯 Why You Should Listen

If you’ve ever felt broken, too old, too tired, or too far gone — this story will wake something up inside you.
 It’s not about lifting weights.
 It’s about lifting yourself.

Creators and Guests

Host

Sam Penny

Sam Penny is an adventurer, entrepreneur, and keynote speaker who lives by the mantra “Say YES! to the Impossible.” From swimming the English Channel in winter to building and selling multi-million-dollar companies, Sam thrives on pushing boundaries in both business and life. As host of Why’d You Think You Could Do That?, he sits down with ordinary people who have done extraordinary things, uncovering the mindset, resilience, and bold decisions that made it possible — and showing listeners why their own impossible is closer than they think.

Guest

Liam Beville

World Record Holder, Motivational Speaker, Disability Ambassador

What is Why'd You Think You Could Do That??

They’ve swum oceans, scaled mountains, launched empires, and shattered expectations. But before they did any of it, someone, maybe even themselves, thought: “You can’t do that.”

Hosted by Sam Penny, Why’d You Think You Could Do That? dives into the minds of people who said “screw it” and went for it anyway. From adventurers and elite athletes to wildcard entrepreneurs and creative renegades, each episode unpacks the one question they all have in common:

“Why'd you think you could do that?”

If you’re wired for more, haunted by big ideas, or just sick of playing it safe, this is your show.

Sam Penny (00:00)
18 years old, a Friday night in Limerick, a stolen car screams down the street, mounts the curb and in a heartbeat, life as Liam Beville knew it shatters. Both legs are crushed, bones exposed.

Doctors say he'll never walk again. Most people would have accepted that verdict, but Liam refused. From a wheelchair and a pair of crutches, he fought his way back not just to walking, but to standing on a platform lifting 285 kilograms, more than four times his body weight. The same man, once told he'd never stand unaided, became a Guinness World Record holder for the heaviest disabled deadlift ever performed.

He's also battled anxiety, depression, joint replacements and time itself, coming back in his 50s to win world titles against able bodied athletes half his age. He calls himself a bit of metal and a lot of mindset. This is Why Do Think You Could Do That? I'm Sam Penny and this is Liam Beville. Liam, welcome to the show.

Liam Beville (01:05)
Glad to be here, Sam glad to be here.

Sam Penny (01:08)
Well, this, I'm excited because I think this is going to be an epic show. Firstly, you're Irish. I love the accent. ⁓ But I think they, I think they can, but when I was doing my research, I was just blown away at your journey. And that's what we're going to dive into today. But rather than starting at the pointy end of Guinness world records and world titles and those kinds of things.

Liam Beville (01:15)
Let's hope your listeners can understand.

Sam Penny (01:34)
One of the things that's really important for listeners to recognise is that every one of my guests started as ordinary people. So before before the records, you were just an ordinary kid from Limerick. So tell me about where you grew up and what was life like before that night in 1983?

Liam Beville (01:56)
Well, I grew up in a place called Tormangate in Limerick City. It's on the north side of the city and it's, I suppose it's known for being poor for want of a better word. I know we grew up poor, but I never knew it because I never wanted for anything. know, my mother and father looked after me well. I was the youngest of seven children.

My brother and sister were both Down syndrome and my sister had severe autism as well, non-verbal. So my mother's time, my parents' time would consist of ⁓ looking after my older siblings. therefore I won't say I was neglected, but my needs were such that they didn't come first.

Even though I was the youngest, I was never treated as the youngest because my sister, Margaret, who had severe autism and was Down syndrome, was a year older than me. Irish twins. was a year and half older than me. We call those Irish twins. my mother had it tough. My oldest brother, Michael, who was Down syndrome, he was born in 1950. There was no facilities in Ireland at the time for ⁓

Sam Penny (03:08)
Ha

Liam Beville (03:23)
people with disabilities such as Down syndrome or autism. We've come a long way nowadays with everything that we have, but back then they had nothing. So my mother's time was really taken and she was a very religious woman. Jobs believed that there would be a cure for... ⁓

Down syndrome or autism, you know, she was very simple in her. I won't say she was a simple woman, but she was very simple in her understanding and how she how she thought about things. She would often bring my my sister. Margaret went everywhere with her because everything had to be done for her. So she'd often bring them to religious sites like Lourdes and, you know, places like that. Just just.

praying for Margaret praying for a cure, probably praying for a better life more than anything else. She had it tough and I grew up in that environment, that household. I once said that I had it tough, but even my older sister had polio when she was younger, so her legs were affected. So we had a lot of disabilities in the household.

So before the accident at 18, I was living with people with disabilities and I saw the way they got on with life and I saw the way my mother and father got on with life and they did get on with life and we had a good life and we had a happy life. My father was a fantastic sportsman. He was a boxer, ⁓ rugby player.

He co-founded Torment RFC in 1944 and my uncle, my mother's brother was captain of St Mary's RFC and one of the co-founders in 1943. know, athleticism was there, but I couldn't live up to my father's

I wasn't a rugby player, I wasn't good. My father was an extremely good diver as well and swimmer. there's photos of him there diving off one of the highest bridges in Ireland over a river. And he's just fantastic. And it's a beautiful swan dive he's doing.

And you can see, and you look at it, it's amazing. But my father was never happy with it. He was a perfectionist. His legs would have to be together like that. And one of his legs was slightly above the other in this perfect swan dive that he was doing, you know. And he never liked the photograph. And it was one of the best photographs that was ever taken of an athlete in action. So I grew up in that kind of environment that I'm surrounded by.

Sam Penny (06:00)
⁓

well.

So then what

kind of kid were you then, Liam? Were you ambitious? Were you reckless? Or would you think you're just ordinary?

Liam Beville (06:37)
I was just ordinary. was quite, I was very quite because, you know, being the youngest and not really having your place in the family. Well, you know, I won't say I was forgotten about, yeah.

My sister, my older sister says that I never cried when I was a baby. So I never, I was never an attention seeker. That changed later in life, I'm 60 years of age now and all I look for is attention. That's why I'm on here with you. But no, I just didn't find my place till later in life. And ⁓ I wasn't really looking for a I was enjoying life. I mean, you you look back.

Sam Penny (07:00)
Hahaha

Liam Beville (07:21)
I used to swim a lot, I used to go out with a place called the Forty Foot, which is a fantastic swimming spot. My father used to swim there as well. But ⁓ my father didn't like crowds.

And I was out there one time on my own and I was swimming and I could see my father coming along the bank. And the minute he saw me, he just turned and walked away. And I said to him later, he says, why did you turn? I said, it's too busy. I was the only one there. Too busy. That was the kind of, you know, I didn't grow up. I just grew up, of me.

Sam Penny (08:03)
So then, as a teenager, what did strength mean to you back then?

Liam Beville (08:08)
When my father was a very strong man, meant everything. It meant everything. know, you'd watch, there was local weightlifters. Paddy McMahan was one of them and he was a local weightlifter and he was a legend in Limerick at the time. And you just, in awe of strength, just in total awe of it, you know. ⁓

I grew up in that kind of environment where respect was earned. You weren't just given and if you were an athlete, a sportsman, a strongman, well, the world, as far as I'm concerned, admired that. And at that moment in time.

That was my world, you know, so I grew up in that environment. you know, I have great respect for my father and great love for my father. And he was a very strong and fantastic athlete. And, you know, I mean, he was an all rounder. So, you know, strength meant everything to me. It meant everything to my father as well, you see. So looking from my father's perspective, you know, I would naturally lean towards being an athlete. But

You know, being young, carefree, know, endless summers. I just I spent them outdoors and, you know, competitions weren't in my mind, you know, but everything was a competition to survive even back then when I think about it. You know, you know, at six and at seven, you're still competing, you're competing against your siblings. I'll give you an example. We'd all eat.

with my brothers would all eat at the table. But I'd have to eat guarding my food being the youngest. It would be taken fairly fast and I'd have to eat very fast as well. So everything was a competition.

Sam Penny (10:06)
So then looking back, do you think that there was any part of your personality that really prepared you for what was coming?

Liam Beville (10:15)
Yeah, ⁓ definitely, definitely. I was very stubborn, very pigheaded, very strong-willed even as a child. know, when I saw something, I became tunnel visioned and if I wanted it...

That's it. I'd have to go for it, know, 100%. I'd do everything 100%. I don't do anything half-arsed, you know. It's usually that much like, but that's the saying. We don't do anything half-arsed. So, you know, I'd give it 100 % in everything, but I reckon that was a trait I got from my mother because she was extremely stubborn woman. She had to be to survive back then as well.

and she could show great empathy towards people but she could turn it off as well and switch. It was a survival mode that she could do it but when she wanted something she was extremely stubborn and I think I got that. My father was more easy going, he was more laid back than my mother was. So I definitely got that from my mother's side and that helped me.

Even though my mother, when I started for lifting, she just says to me, you get money for this? And I said, no, only for the love of it. And she says, you want to give that up? So everything was about survival for her. You know what mean? She couldn't understand hobbies unless they paid something and they put food on the table. know, so therefore. ⁓ But I was pigheaded like her as well, you know, but she didn't recognize it. do recognize it.

Sam Penny (11:32)
Yeah.

So then came a moment, Liam, that really would change absolutely everything for you. Take us back to that night. What do you remember about the accident itself?

Liam Beville (12:05)
Well, I remember everything clearly. I mean, it's my whole life changed in a split second.

I remember the 3rd of June, 1983. I remember going out. It was an ordinary day. was a beautiful day. I went out for a big long walk out in the countryside, out by the river, which I always went out by the river. It was fantastic. It a beautiful day and I came back. It was late in the evening and a few of my friends wanted to go to a nightclub. So said, yeah, I'll go to this nightclub.

So we went out to the nightclub. was a Saturday night, 3rd of June. The nightclub finished and we'd walk home. And everyone from the nightclub would walk home. So we were walking through an area and just a speeding car came out of nowhere.

I'm on the footpath, a friend of mine is with me, Brian, there's a couple of friends up ahead, a couple of friends behind and just we see this car and we hear the revving and the noise and it was coming at us and I immediately just pushed my friend out of the way and I said in my mind I...

get him out of the way to the left and I jumped to the right and in the process of jumping to the right I must have left the ground because the car hit me full force onto the legs, twisted me, landed me about 20 meters away ⁓ and then everything went black for a few minutes and then when I came to I was dazed, I was in pain but it hadn't fully hit me.

And then I looked down at my legs and they were mangled. There was bones sticking out. could see just jagged pieces of splinter bone just sticking out through my right leg. It was compounded, a compound fracture. My left leg wasn't as bad in that. I couldn't see the bones in it. But the leg was twisted and you could see under the skin, it was like a bag of walnuts. It was just all.

bones mashed and I looked down and my legs were off the curb and I was on the grass verge by the footpath, by the sidewalk and I was lying down and my legs were off it and then the pain just started.

It just came over me like a wave. was just enormous pain. I can't describe it because it's indescribable pain. I've never felt nothing like it since and hope never to do. But because of the angle of my legs were off the curb, they were like that. My body was here and my legs were down. So the bones were sticking out even more. And I could see right in through the...

the flesh and it was barely holding on ⁓ my right leg. And one of my friends came over to relieve the pain. He lifted up my legs and he did relieve the pain somewhat, you know, and I kept fading in and out of, thankfully, I kept fading in and out of consciousness because the pain was just too much. But when the ambulance came and put inflatable splints on my leg.

I kind of came to again and I thought in my mind, don't amputate my leg. Because that's what it felt like. It felt like someone was just cutting my neck and I was, I'd catch one of them by the collar, the emergency response team and I'd pull him in and say, don't take my leg, don't take my leg, you know? And ⁓ it's embarrassing, like, you know, to think that no, but what was going through my mind was just incredible, you know?

Sam Penny (16:07)
So was it at this moment, Liam, where you realized how serious it was, or was it later on?

Liam Beville (16:12)
Yeah, didn't, I wasn't too sure was this really happening, you know, even though the pain was keeping me, ⁓ keeping it real for me. My mind was saying, this can't be happening, this can't be happening to me. You know, I'm young, I'm healthy, I'm fit said, I'm lying down on the flat of my back and I'm looking at bones sticking and this can't be happening to me.

I thought it was a nightmare and I thought I'd come around maybe, you know, I'll come around and this will be all fine and I'll just shoot up in the bed and say, that was terrible nightmare. But the nightmare continued and it continued for a long time and the realization only set in. I suppose the following day in hospital when they had one of my casts I had casts up to my hips.

and I was lying on the flat of my back. And I spent, I'd say about nine or 10 weeks in the hospital at the time. But they cut out a little window on my right leg where the bones had broke out through the skin. So they were keeping an eye on that.

They prepare you for the worst and say you could still lose your leg. Your leg could still be lost because they can't even put screws or plates in because the bones are disintegrated. So this went down for a time, I was scared.

that they were going to take my leg and I was just trying to come to terms with being laid up in hospital and then I was trying to come terms with having one leg. both of I don't know. They really were worried only about the right leg though so I think it was only one that they were thinking of, it was touch and go for a while. ⁓

I healed well and I am a great healer even to this day at 60 years of age I still heal very well you no matter what injuries I still get and I get a lot through power lifting I heal faster than someone in their 20s and

Sam Penny (18:24)
Yeah.

So

give me an idea, Liam, of the extent of the injuries in both of your legs.

Liam Beville (18:35)
Yeah, just they were crushed. ⁓ If I had been standing, standing still when the car hit me, I would have been dead because the estimation of the speed of the car was 60 miles an hour. You don't survive that. You don't survive a 30 mile an hour, let alone a 60 mile an hour. So had I been standing...

What you reckon will save me was me trying to dive out of the way. It still, I nearly did it. I nearly made it, but you know, there's no, there's no silver medal for this, you know? So I lost, I lost the battle with the car that day. So my mindset, my way of thinking is.

That is the way I think, you know what I mean? I did lose the battle that day, know, but the war is still beginning, you know, it's still on, and the war was ...

Sam Penny (19:28)
And the doctors told

you that you weren't going to walk. How did that affect you?

Liam Beville (19:35)
Yeah, I didn't believe it. I just didn't believe it from day one. said, you know, mean, opinions are like assholes. Everybody has one, you know. So I wouldn't have, you know, not disrespected doctors, you know, I've lived the experience and they haven't, you know what mean? I know me. They don't know me. They only know what to see on the chart. You know, and I said to look.

I don't believe it. I will walk and not only will I walk, but I'll prove you wrong. I'll run, you know, and it's what I did as well. I did run a 10k.

in 1986. Now, this was three years after the accident. And I was even just discussing this with the wife the other day, because they don't really talk about, you know, I'm starting to talk about it now

Sam Penny (20:31)
Now, from my research, you started walking to the gym on crutches. Did that really become a turning point for you?

Liam Beville (20:39)
Yeah.

Yeah. And the gym was actually a basement. So I'd have to come down a flight of stairs into a basement. And I had underarm crutches, you know, it's not like your ordinary crutches, they're underarm. Yeah, the old school crutches. But, you know, when you have two legs in plaster, it's either wheelchair or those crutches. And I did spend six months in the wheelchair as well. But I kept, you know,

Sam Penny (20:56)
Old school crutches.

Liam Beville (21:09)
When I was indoors, I would use the crutches. I'd sleep upstairs. So I became a dab hand at going up the stairs in these crutches and coming down the stairs. the gym, when I started, I'd say it was 1984, a year after the accident. I still had the, I think the plasters were just about taken off the plaster on my legs up to my hip.

were just about removed but they were heavily bandaged, my legs. No, my legs were non-existent. There's more meat now in the butcher's pencil than would have been on my legs. there was no muscle, there was no nothing. So I went in and, you know, being on these crutches, I did develop an upper body strength. My triceps and my shoulders and my chest started to develop.

And I looked like an inverted golf club. And that I had no legs and I had a body. So what I would do, I said, I have to get into gym here. I have to do something. I have to, you know, I'm not walking properly. I'm not able to walk properly because I have no muscle to move the bones. No, the bones were healing. They were healing well, but the knee was damaged.

from day one, it had no ligaments to the side so I'd get movement like that with the knee and sleeping positions at night time, I might wake up in agony, the knee might slide like that just slightly you know, so I'd have to physically go down and lock in my knee and just so I've always needed this knee replacement.

Now, everyone knows about the 285 now because it's Guinness World Record, but I actually did 310 kilo lift 33 years ago at 75 kilo barbell, whilst having this knee, whilst having this damage. And the reason why I didn't put that forward to Guinness World Records is because I can beat my 285 and I have plans even to do that.

I'd never beat my 310. I'm chasing a ghost here. I'd never beat that. For 33 years. It's been the best.

Sam Penny (23:27)
So I want to get... Yeah.

I want to get into the powerlifting shortly. ⁓ But getting back to the rehab, the rehab really, from what I'm hearing, it was all about survival effectively. But becoming a champion, that's completely ⁓ entirely different decision. So what did rebuilding your body actually look like day to day for you?

Liam Beville (23:39)
Yeah.

Yeah, it just became a grind. If it became a struggle trying to walk and go long distances, I would get very sore underneath the arms because I was relying on the crutches too much, you know. And which is why I had to go into the gym and I had to start doing some exercise once I got a bend back in the knee. When you were in plaster of Paris, up your hips for nearly a year, best part of a year.

Everything sees us. Your knees don't work. My right knee didn't work anywhere. you know, everything is just rigid. So I go in and I sit on the edge of ⁓ bench. My legs are still out like that. And I might do some shoulder exercises or whatever I was shown. But at the same time, I try and draw my legs back.

and I try and get the bend in the knee while it's doing some other exercise. It was taking the mind off, you know, off the legs. And so it was allowing me to train the legs, get some bend into it. Because once I said I'll get a bend into this, I might be able to do leg extensions or something, you know, so something that's, you know, very light. But I'll be able to do something. that was.

the reason why I just had to prove people wrong that I could walk and I did walk.

Sam Penny (25:28)
mesmerised by strong man Jimmy Butler. What did that mentorship mean to you?

Liam Beville (25:32)
Yeah.

He's still a great friend today and he's actually a European bodybuilding champion and one of our first European bodybuilder champions ever to come to Ireland. He's a fantastic guy. It meant everything to me. The first time I saw him in the gym and he went over and he was going through the dumbbells, the rack and increasing in the weight until he got to the heaviest dumbbells.

And at ease, he was just pressing these dumbbells out. And one of these dumbbells probably weighed more than me at the time because I had no legs. So therefore, was weighing half a man. was just half the man I should have been. But I was just mesmerized. I just saw this and I just...

This is the personality that I have though. says well if he can do it, I can do that. I didn't see any disability. I never saw a disability and to be quite honest, I never spoke about it either even through my powerlifting career because First of all, ⁓ I didn't want to point out I had a weakness especially when you're competing against able-bodied athletes and secondly, ⁓ I didn't want to admit to myself that I had a disability.

I said I'm capable of great things and I want to be capable of great things and I am capable of great things. But it has to start with, and I think that's something I got from my father because my father who died of prostate cancer and he had it for five years towards the end and they told him he'd never walk as well, but he walked to the end.

You know, he got the cancer into the bones and everything. And that man walked to the end. you know, this is the type of DNA I have. And this is the type of blood that's run into my veins. He never once admitted to anyone he had cancer. And he lasted for five years. He would just say, I've arthritis. You know, I've arthritis.

And so I wouldn't even admit I have arthritis.

Sam Penny (27:48)
So

Liam, you mentioned just before that you didn't want to accept that you had a disability. You grew up in a household that had disability all around you, but also with such a strong mother and a strong man father. How did that upbringing affect ⁓ your mindset of not accepting that you have a disability?

Liam Beville (28:02)
Yeah.

Yeah, well first of all, know, my sister, my brother and my other sister who had polio, they were treated differently. My sister, Christine, we call her Dean because my brother Michael who had Down syndrome, couldn't say Christine, he used to call her Dean. So we call her Dean.

She spent most of her life in Croome Hospital. ⁓ Even her schooling was done in hospital beds. It was a miserable existence for her. We're very close. She's 10 years older than me, but we're very close. She's living in England now for over 40 years, near on 50, I'd She's married to a doctor over there.

and she has a great life but she suffered badly with depression as a child you know being laid up like that and we had Croome hospital was the orthopedic hospital and it's something like about 30 miles away from our home so we didn't have a car and so she didn't have visitors

So I seen all this when I was growing up and I've seen all this, you know, my mother treated Margaret and Michael and I didn't consider myself to be any special and I didn't want that special kind of treatment. so when I got a disability myself, said, you know, I can't, first of all, I can't admit it to myself, but secondly, I'm not admitting it to anyone else because I don't want anybody to treat me differently.

Because, you know, growing up with two special needs, brother and sister, and a physically disabled sister as well, it just, you know, I'm looking at that life and I'm saying, you know, I can do better. I don't want people simply and simply only hold you back because it's an excuse to not include you.

⁓ Liam has a disability. You know, I am a brand ambassador now for ⁓ active disability, for Disability Active Ireland, you know, and I speak in engagement coming up in December. And that's what I will talk about is inclusion. And that meant a lot to me was to be included. So if I wanted to be included as being an athlete.

I didn't, you know, it's no disrespect to disability or disabled athletes, but it's the mindset of people. Once they hear you have a disability, go, ⁓ that's terrible. You can compete over here now. You know, we put you in a little box and we label you here as disabled and your achievements, they won't be as good. So that's why I had to compete with able bodied athletes.

Sam Penny (31:10)
Hmm.

Liam Beville (31:21)
because my achievements were, they're still good. They are good. And I had to prove that to people. I had to prove it to myself first and foremost. Because, you know, there's times when I just didn't believe it myself. And I went through terrible bouts of depression from a young age. And I still said for no reason, I might just get badly depressed.

I have to look back and I've never been more happy now at 60 years of age Sam. So because I look back at my life and I say, well, I did achieve a lot and I did everything I set out to do. I did it and I did more. which is to be quite honest with you, it was all I ever wanted was just to be included.

Sam Penny (32:09)
So Liam,

in this period of your rehab and basically just getting your body back again to ⁓ be working, was there a moment at any point where you felt that fear or anger was about to win?

Liam Beville (32:29)
Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. I'm only human. ⁓ Flesh and badly bruised and badly broken bones, you know. ⁓ Yeah, my mindset, I have to say, don't know, the stubbornness I have, I just wouldn't let that hold me back either. Again, if you admit it, you're labelling yourself.

So therefore I couldn't admit that I have even depression because that's a weakness. It's not a weakness, that was my mindset at the time.

You know, you couldn't admit that, you know, I'd have friends and, you know, if you said, you know, I'm feeling a bit depressed today, it'd make fun of you. You know, it wasn't a done thing, you know, we grew up kind of tough and there was, you know, we didn't... Be a man, yeah, be a man.

Sam Penny (33:28)
Toughen up, be a man, those kinds of things. Yeah.

Liam Beville (33:32)
That's exactly what it is. So I came from that environment, know, so, old fashioned I suppose. I don't know.

The young people have it differently nowadays, but that's the mindset that I had. And I would suffer badly from depression. And I can get touches of the blues now and again, you know, even the fact that I said touches of the blues means that I'm not even admitting that I would be depressed. You know, so I have to come to terms with that. I have come to terms with it and I've led a good life and a happy life. So I'm OK with it.

Sam Penny (34:07)
So Liam, three years after your accident, you're a man who's been told that you may never walk again, but you walked onto a powerlifting platform. Tell me about that first competition. What was going through your head?

Liam Beville (34:17)
Yeah.

Yeah, I was training in a gym in Limerick and three local clubs got together and said they'd what's called a push and pull competition nowadays, which involves bench press and deadlift. No squat. No, this is unheard of and the first of its kind as well at the time because all power lifting competitions, you would have to have squat.

I didn't have legs. Even three years later, I didn't have legs for squatting. So when I went into this, first of all, was delighted that my club, which I was training at, asked me to get involved.

And, you know, I felt, well, you know, just this is great. It's something that I'd be interested in doing. I was extremely nervous, obviously, but I was very good at the deadlift. I remember the owner of the gym would come along and have us all, you know, bench press and see what we could do. I went on to the deadlift.

And I dead lifted more than everybody else. know, guys heavier than me, you know, didn't have injuries. No one knew I had these injuries. They just thought like, this guy with skinny legs, he doesn't train legs. No, I was training legs at this time. Because yeah, I actually train, I still get accused of skipping leg day when people see my legs. But the thing is, I train legs twice a week.

Sam Penny (35:49)
It's skipping leg day.

Liam Beville (36:01)
I actually do more than most. It's just that I can't develop it. If the bone structure is wrong, you're not going to put on any muscle size. But I develop techniques for deadlifting, for squatting. I became a quite capable squat person as well, rather than just a deadlift. But having said that.

Yeah, I was very nervous in my first competition and I think it was 190 kilos that I deadlifted. I benched 100 kilo.

and I was delighted, was hooked straight away, I just loved it. I loved it, the crowd and the enthusiasm from the crowd that they were giving me and I said, you know, this feels great, I'm just here lifting a bit of weight like I would do anyway and these guys are cheering me, you know, they're loving it. And they know nothing about my disability, they know nothing about my past, they know nothing. So I'm saying to myself, Jesus, I must be good. I'll stay with this, I'll stick with this.

Sam Penny (36:57)
Hahaha

Liam Beville (37:09)
and I'll try the next one and I'll get better and I'll keep going and I'll get better. So I was hooked straight away for the first

Sam Penny (37:19)
skip to 1992 because this is quite a monumental moment in your career, your powerlifting career. You pulled 310 kilos and you only weighed 75 kilos. At the time, did you know that you had done something quite historic?

Liam Beville (37:25)
Yeah.

Yeah.

It'll be five kilo.

yeah, I did. First of all, you have to understand this is IPF International Powerlifting Federation is still the best federation, but it was the only one we had at the time.

but another thing as well to everyone remembers the deadlift because it was it was a big thing first of all it was an Irish and Celtic record

because was Celtic Nations competition, international competition, three international referees.

So when I did that three ten. Now

The thing is, I lost the competition. I only came second in the competition. I lost to a Scottish guy. Now I would usually win with the deadlift being the last lift of the competition. I would normally win ⁓ having such a huge deadlift.

But this guy was a brilliant squatter and a brilliant bench. And I had too much and he was a great deadlifter as well. And I had too much to make up in the end.

And so they set me up for the going. Now I knew I was going for a record, but I thought I was going for an Irish record. Now it ended up equaling the British record. ⁓

by a guy called Bob Limerick, which I find fascinating because here's Liam Beville from Limerick, who's equal in this British guy's record. And I remember looking in the Guinness Book of Records at the time and Bob Limerick's name was there at 310. And I said, you know, I've done to 310 as well. name not there. But, you know, I didn't break the 310. At that time, they put in

you know, British power lifters and things like that, you know what I mean, who did. that that taught me after the competition that this lift was even better than what I hoped. You know, I knew it was an Irish record, knew it a Celtic record and I came home, I came home actually depressed for not winning the competition. I came home a bit dejected and I said, you know, it is what it is this was,

it's still the greatest deadlift ever by an Irishman. So I can say pound for pound because I can beat other guys that are heavier than me. Pound for pound I'm Ireland's greatest deadlifter on that tree ten.

Sam Penny (40:04)
Fantastic.

Liam Beville (40:06)
I didn't get to win. So I mean, that was very important as well. know, so, you know, I have I have a lot achieved. So I have to look back on everything I've achieved and I have to say, well, you know, that's good. You have to be happy with that. But my mindset at Simon's, I was never happy. was never happy, which probably fed into my depression a lot as well.

because I was never happy with what I did. Even if I did something great, I'd say, well, I could do better. I'd do better. And my mindset at the time was, I can't be happy because if I'm happy, I'll just sit in my laurels and I'll just live off that lift and I won't do anything better. you know, it's probably the wrong way to look at it and it probably feeds into depression and it leaves the gate open for it.

Sam Penny (40:57)
So Liam, there's so much going on with obviously your rehab and then to this monumental moment in 1992 of lifting 310 kilos, but also battling with depression through this period as well. What kind of toll was it taking on your body?

Liam Beville (41:18)
Yeah, he was taking horrible toll on it because like I said, you know, I go up in in body weight and I come down with body weight and that's not good either, you know what I mean? That's and I don't know if for a weightlifter or a powerlifter or even a boxer or anybody who has to to go into a weight division You know, if you have to come down to a lighter weight division, but you're not going to get your best performance

So, you know, that could feed into my depression as well. And it would take a terrible toll on my mind. That's I'm here and I'm trying to in my mind, I'm going to do better. What I'm coming down and body when I could come down for stone and body with you're hardly going to do better. But I was never in touch with reality there, you know, which is probably why I.

defeated what the doctor said as well because I just know reality didn't just it was just another form of an opinion to me, you know what I mean? I didn't really agree with anything like that. So I wasn't I wasn't in touch with reality. You know, it's only later in life. have to say that's you know, that's a bit mad. So.

Sam Penny (42:37)
So there

was a moment where the doctors said that you finished. How did that make you feel?

Liam Beville (42:41)
Yeah.

Yeah, I had to go into... I got my hip done at 39. And I said, I'll do one more competition after this. So the following year after getting my hip done, I went to World Championships in Ghent in Belgium. And I did great again.

I got eight for nine lifts, again missing one of the bench presses, you know, which equaled my greatest moment in 1992. So I said, that's a great way to go. And I got a bronze medal. And I stood on the platform with the able-bodied athletes and I had a bronze medal. And I was happy with that, I had a world challenge.

Sam Penny (43:26)
at the World

Championships at 39 and you get a bronze. That's fantastic. Unbelievable.

Liam Beville (43:30)
And I got a bronze and I said,

yeah. And I said, what a way to go. I must get my knee done now because the knee always needs to be done. And I was saying it to myself in such, well, if I get my knee done now, there is no way back. I can't come back. There's no way back. So I was letting myself know. It was like an out of body experience. I have to have a word with myself about these things, you know. So.

I'd said, you know, I'll get my knee done now that I'm retired. That was just to ensure that I would stay away from it because the effects of my body now at this stage were just incredible. I'm getting older and I'm getting more damaged and the old damage is coming back. At one stage, I couldn't tie my shoelaces. My wife had to tie my shoelaces because the hip was so bad.

from the accident in 1983, the toll of having a bad knee, my right leg is half an inch shorter than my left leg. So even though I tried to disguise the, and I used to practice my walk, I used to try to disguise the limp, the limp was there and the hip felt it and you know, being out of gate.

for so long. I've got an arthritic hip and it just needs to be done.

So I said, and I wouldn't even come to terms with that because, you know, the doctor was telling me, have arthritis in your hip. No, I don't. don't. But this is just a tear and this probably a tendon or something. No, I don't have arthritis. I was kind of like, how dare you? How dare you even suggest that I'm a mere mortal? But obviously I had arthritis and obviously I needed to get it done.

Sam Penny (45:17)
You

Hahaha!

Liam Beville (45:29)
So, you know, I stood on the platform and I was quite happy. Here's the man with bad injuries. competed just a year after getting a hip replacement and did three nice squats, two good benches and three good deadlifts and ended up with a bronze medal.

get your knee done. At least you'll sleep at night time without having to wake up. You can sleep in different positions without having to sleep in the one position all the time. So I did in 2007 then, a couple of years after the hip, I went in for the knee operation. And I remember it was 2007 because the Rugby World Cup was on at the time. So I was watching that TV.

But yeah, got the full name, but it didn't go to plan. The hip was fine, went to plan, was great. I was back walking. Now again, I was competing with myself, which I always do, just can't, mean, I'd go down, my wife would tell you, I'd go down to Lidl and do shopping and I'd be competing with the guy who's serving me.

trying to get it packed faster than he can put it to the scanners. You know, it becomes it's running. They all know me. It's a running joke down there. So I competed. I competed at anything, anything at all, you know. And it was just inbuilt to me. So the thing is that after the hip, I was in the gym after four days, four days after the operation. I was in the University Limerick Gym.

No, I wouldn't have been doing any leg work or anything like that. But was doing chin ups and I was doing, and I'm fairly capable of that anyway. And I was doing upper body and but I was in the gym and I was delighted to be. And again, with the hip, you know, they normally give you an epidural and you normally go fasted But I opted for.

the cocktail of drugs to knock me out because I didn't want anyone putting a needle into my back. Whereas I didn't have the leg strength and I was thinking of competing after the hip. And so I didn't want any damage done to my back because all my strength comes from my lower back ⁓ and my upper back rather than my legs. know, my legs are there only to balance. ⁓

Sam Penny (48:03)
Thank

Liam Beville (48:06)
So when the knee operation was done, it didn't go to plan. Again, I opted not to have the epidural. ⁓ The anesthesis came down the night before the operation to my bedside and he was there trying to persuade me, trying to take the epidural. Your recovery is going to be longer and everything like that. And again, I dismissed him.

He said, no, I'm going to be in the gym in three days. I'm going to beat my four days. And he was saying, this is madness. And he was saying, you shouldn't do this. And then came the operation and then came the pain that followed. No epidural when the drugs wore off me and I woke up and it really couldn't give me anything else.

I was climbing the walls backwards with the pain and very similar to the pain I felt in 1983. But again, not quite. It a different sort of pain. But I was still, I was actually physically moving back in the bed, trying to get away from the pain and going up the walls. When my wife came in to visit me, I was halfway up the wall trying to get away from the pain in the knee and I could barely breathe. And I was...

trying to control my breath because the pain was just constant. to cut a long story short, I did manage to get into the gym within three days and I did beat my own record from the hip.

Sam Penny (49:42)
most people, Liam, listening to this just would be thinking you're absolutely mad. Yeah, I would, I would want to stop. I would, the pain's too much. Why don't I just sit on the couch? Why don't I've had a knee replacement? I've had a hip replacement. I've already had a great life. I've lifted 310 kilos. I've been competing on the world stage, getting a bronze, the world championships.

Liam Beville (49:48)
Yeah.

Sam Penny (50:10)
Why after all these surgeries and replacements, what made you say, I'm not done?

Liam Beville (50:17)
Yeah, I was done. I was done. I had said the knee surgery was to be the end of it. But I'm a natural competitor. I will compete at anything, you know, and I'll usually win at anything as well. When I set my mind to it, I usually get it. And I don't know, it's in my DNA. was just born that way.

But I had finished with the power lifting and like I said, I mentioned open power lifting. It's a resource, online resource for power lifters and they were only getting together and they didn't.

have my best lifts and I remember ⁓ emailing them and saying, you know, I have my certs here, you know, for 310 and you don't have my best lifts. And they says, well, has it been in a magazine? Is there any way we can corroborate this? You know, because anyone can make up a cert. And I was, I got mad at this. I said, look, all you have is stuff that makes me look bad.

You know, I might have bombed out, which means you might have just not been disqualified from a competition. And that's what you have for me. You know, you have very little for me. And even today, because of most of my lifts were done in.

in this country, in Ireland, and it wasn't recorded. We don't have videos or iPhones or anything like that back in the day, you know. And if the Americans would have their lifts on a magazine, but we didn't have any of that. they still don't have my best lifts. you know, when they didn't, they wouldn't accept.

that I had done the 310 and I said, I'm not a lawyer. And I said, I can tell you exactly, because I have a great memory. And I told them exactly how the competition went. they said, know, well, everyone, know, you're pushing on a bit. Your memory could be, it was insult after insult for a while, you know, in my mind. They weren't trying to insult me, but I was thinking it that way, you know. I was reacting to it badly. So I just said, well, remove me. And they said, no, you're a public figure. You can, we can.

have anything that we want up in you. It was a competition, so we're well within our rights to have these up. And I said, well, if you won't remove me and you won't take my word for it, I'll be back. That was it. And so we sat down and I says, okay, what can I do? I says, well, I'm not going to do three ten. So what can I do? I said, I can do.

Sam Penny (52:51)
Ha!

Liam Beville (53:06)
what no other people have done. I'll do a world record at each bodyweight over four bodyweights that I used to compete in and I'll hold them simultaneously. I'll hold them at the same time. And genuine records and you know, it's...

It's a lot easier now to compete than it was in my day because they have all different federations, they have all different standards and all different world records. So I went across three federations, four weight divisions and I broke four world records. And I said, no, no one has ever done that.

No one has ever done that in any weight division sport in boxing and powerlifting and weightlifting and what you have to weigh in. No one's ever done that. I'm quite happy with doing that. And in the meantime of me doing that, they found a magazine where it had the results of the Celtic Nations back in 1992. And he entered in my 310 deadlift. And yeah, I think that's you.

Sam Penny (54:19)
⁓ god. I think

everyone listening is on the edge of their seat. How can they not accept the 310?

Liam Beville (54:27)
Yeah, but it did. It's

now there. It's now there under 1992 and it's the third best deadlift of that year. yeah, it was.

Sam Penny (54:36)
Unbelievable. Now you,

you started to use at this time, you started to use hypnosis and mindset training. Tell me why was that so important to you at that time? And how did that affect not just your mental wellbeing, but also the physical side.

Liam Beville (54:43)
Yeah.

Yeah, here I was coming back with this brain dead idea of mine, you know, that I would normally have anywhere. And ⁓ I don't know, even looking back and I said, you know, that's a bit crazy, even for you, you know, coming back saying you do these things. I was like Babe Ruth, I was pointing to where I'm going to hit the home run.

I was telling people I'm going to do this and just people say, why are you telling people? I'm saying to myself, why are you even telling people? So I came back with this pressure that I built on myself. I hadn't competed in 13 or 14 years at this time now and I was well retired from it. And I had to qualify for my very first World Championships.

where I was going to set my first record and I decided that it would, now I'm weighing 92 kilos now I just decided that it would be down to 67 and a half kilos. So just to prove that I still had it, that I could still lose that body weight. I weighed in at 65 kilos on the day from 92 kilos. Now, the thing is,

With the qualifiers I came and I hadn't lifted in such a long time. No, I'd been training for a while in the gym, but training in gym and then being in front of people, two different things. So I had this pressure on myself. was unnecessary pressure. So I was suffering from anxiety and nerves got the best of me and I barely qualified. I missed the first lift.

I barely got the second deadlift. It 210 kilos. It just to qualify. And I didn't even go for the third because I knew that was it. I spent everything. But the thing is, the nervous energy that I was built up, I just didn't enjoy it. And the love for it was gone.

enjoyment in front of the crowd because you know the expectations which was probably mostly in my mind I'm saying here's the crowd looking at one of the best deadlifters in the world and they're not impressed because I wasn't impressed and so therefore I had to try something and I learned that there was a guy doing hypnosis and I said you know it is Chris Eubank he's a boxer

accused the Irish guy Steve Collins of cheating after he lost their first boxing match, World Championships. And his reason for it was Steve Collins cheated because he got hypnosis. Now he said, that's ridiculous, know, first of all, said, but it got me thinking, this could help me.

Sam Penny (57:48)
You

Liam Beville (57:56)
So I went along to Endo Shea, hypnotist in Limerick, and he says, you know, what can you do for me? So it was really, no, I had pre-notions of what hypnosis was. And it's embarrassing to think about it, but I thought, you put on pocket watch and he'd hypnotize you and you go under a spell. But what it was was just training your mindset to be the athlete that you were.

Sam Penny (58:18)
Yeah.

Liam Beville (58:26)
the picture, the crowd, the picture of himself doing the lift. It's something that I would have practiced but I would have forgot over the 13, 14 years that I didn't.

I didn't compete and it would have come naturally to me in the day. You know, you visualise the lift and you visualise you're doing it, you visualise the gold medal around your neck. And these are things that just came naturally to me because it was just a dream or anywhere. And I'd always I always dreamt of being the best dead lifter in the world. And I am now. So the dream did come true. But

and hypnosis did help me, it helped me rediscover my mindset for lifting.

Sam Penny (59:10)
So then Liam, what about depression and anxiety? What did that teach you about strength that the weights never could?

Liam Beville (59:18)
Yeah, here's the thing, know, the weights don't care. You either lift it or you don't. You know, but if you come in with any mindset, you can't do anything if you've got a bad mindset. If your mindset is that, you know, don't feel good today, I don't think I'm going to do anything. But you're right, you're not going to do anything. You know, so you have to you have to change that mindset. But ⁓

I had to learn to fight depression. I had to ⁓ understand that it's part of me. It's not something that I can hide away. It's not something I can forget about. It's going to be there and it's going to come out at the worst times. So I had to recognize I have it. And I had to sit with it. And I had to sit with it and say, well, know, this is OK. It's not the end of the world.

things will work out and I had to sit with it and be comfortable with it. It's not something that's, you know, it's not like broke a bone where it can mend. Your depression is going to be with you for life. But it's how you cope with it, it's how you live with it, it's how you sit with it. It's taught me a lot. It's taught me a lot. you know, I could go in to the gym and I still go to the gym and I don't go in with a bad mindset.

I go in with just happy. I'm happy to see the people inside her. I'm happy to be able to be lifting at 60 years of age. I'm happy to be able to do that. There isn't any other 60 year old man that is doing that. Well, there's very little anyway, you know? So, I mean, I'm happy, but I sit comfortably with my depression. I have no this, but I know they won't last.

And was Rudyard Kipling that said in his poem, if you can treat these two imposters the same. So I treat success and I'll failure the exact same. I treat the exact same. So depression can get hold of me because you know. ⁓

There's nothing to get depressed about. I don't feel like a failure. If I fail, I fail. I'll it the next time. If I succeed, what? It doesn't matter. Who cares? No one cares. It's only a waste. You know what I mean? So it's that poem actually that you know the poem I'm talking about, If by Rudyard Clippen.

Sam Penny (1:01:47)
It's

interesting Liam, a couple of my previous guests have also mentioned IF as well.

Liam Beville (1:01:53)
Yeah, yeah, fantastic. Well, see, it does have that effect on people. The thing is to not let the ego control anything. If the ego controls it, depression can only come in and it's the big dog, it's the dark dog or whatever you want to call it. It will have control over your life. So, you know, it's just part of life. Success and failure have to be treated the same.

You just dismiss board or you take my take time to you know, well, that was good. Next. You know, it does. And I'm glad to hear that a lot of people have mentioned that to you because it's very important that even to your listeners, I would say if you don't know the poem, learn it, go read it because it will teach you.

Sam Penny (1:02:45)
Yep, it's called, it's

called If by Rudyard Kipling. ⁓ Yep, it's a, it's a fantastic read. And once you really understand, because it is, it takes quite a bit of time to really understand what that poem means if, but once you understand it, it really cuts deep. It is really profound.

Liam Beville (1:02:48)
that spring here.

Yes.

It is profound. You'll be a man, my son. You know, when you hear those words, it means not until you live it. Once you live the experience, well, then it becomes profound. you know, words are only words at the end of the day. It's how they make you feel. It's how you live them. That's the difference. yeah, I just anybody who would suffer with depression, I would advise them to sit with it.

Sam Penny (1:03:30)
Hmm.

Liam Beville (1:03:37)
Understand it, not trying to dismiss it because it's in the dismissal that it gets worse. Just live with it. You will learn. There is light at the end of the tunnel. I don't know. I have a kind of a mindset.

where you can't tell me what to do. I joke with my wife, she might say, you're going to the, I'm going down to the gym, enjoy. And I'd say, you won't tell me what to do. So we laugh together at it. It's a half a joke, but half an earnest. we hope so.

Sam Penny (1:04:18)
That was

funny. Now, Lem, you're 60 now, but just three years ago, you broke a Guinness World Record. You're 57. Firstly, tell me what that world record was.

Liam Beville (1:04:26)
Yeah.

285 kilos. I weighed 86 kilos in the 90 kilo division at the time. Now Guinness don't recognize weight divisions. Do you only recognize the heaviest? The heaviest of the able body would be Halftor Bjornsson. Thor he's known as. He's done 510 kilo there recently.

And what how I felt on the day doing it, I was abled body competition. I won the best lifter for that lift, which is, you know, you be much younger and you're much heavier athletes. And I was ranked number one in the world.

for my body weight and my category and my age. So I'm now in able body. I'm now ranked number one in the world. It's called an all time world record. It means of all the world records of all the federations, yours is the greatest. like I said, Guinness don't recognize age. You know, they recognize the heaviest. But I'm the oldest man.

Sam Penny (1:05:36)
Wow.

Liam Beville (1:05:46)
to hold the heaviest deadlift in the Guinness World Records. I'm also the lightest man to hold the Guinness World Records for the heaviest deadlift. Now of all the people who've held the deadlift, like Andy Bolton in England, Eddie Hall, England, and Thor at the moment, these men are massive. You're talking Thor

Sam Penny (1:06:10)
They're man-mountains.

Liam Beville (1:06:12)
Yeah, that's what he's nicknamed as Man Mountain, but he's 200 kilo. I weigh the 86 kilo. No, when you compare it, you know, there's no comparison like the 510 and 285, but there is in a formula. And if I was to use a Schwartz formula, which favors the lighter man, which determines the best lifter, I know I would beat Thor's lift.

Sam Penny (1:06:42)
when you break a world record Liam, what's the first emotion that hits you? Is it joy? it relief? Is it peace? What is that feeling?

Liam Beville (1:06:51)
It's absolute relief. It's absolute relief. I don't know, is there peace involved? If there is, it doesn't really last because I haven't got that type of mind. You know, I have to keep going, I have to keep going. You know, it has to be better. But enjoyment. I'm definitely at this age and this all of my life, I'm definitely enjoying it like I never did before.

I never took the time out to smell the roses, you but I'm taking the time out now and I'm on your podcast. I wouldn't even dream of doing this years ago, you know, because I said, well, that's not good enough. You know what I mean? It's not good enough. Why? Why? No, I'm saying I am good enough. You know, I know my work now, but I never knew my work back when I was younger. So, yeah, I'm definitely getting peace now. Well, I wouldn't have got peace. have no peace.

Sam Penny (1:07:44)
Fantastic.

Liam Beville (1:07:46)
It was just kind of mindset. I just wouldn't allow it to enter in. it's a kind of, again, it kind of comes from my background, from growing up, from my family life, you know. You just got on with life, you you didn't get prayers for things, know, didn't get prayers for anything, you know what I mean? Because life was just a survivalist. We were poor and we had to eat, you know what mean? It's a dog.

you don't get praise for something that you're expected to do. So I was just expected to do this in my own mindset. you know, when I was younger, wouldn't allow praise even to come in. I wouldn't even discuss it. I wouldn't be on your podcast anyway. If I was 27 years of age, I'd say, what are you having me on for? I'm not the best in the

Sam Penny (1:08:36)
Liam, obviously the name of this podcast is called, Why Do Think You Could Do That? And we've listened to such an absolutely fascinating ride. That's the best way I can describe it. So many ups and downs, but you still to this day are competing and just being so strong in your head, in your body.

And through all of the hardship that you've faced all the way through from that accident, but even before that, growing up in what you described as a poor family, having disability around you, the accident, and so many hardships then with the hip replacements, knee replacements, through all of this, why do you think you could do that?

Liam Beville (1:09:25)
Yeah, that's a good question. That's a very good question. Why do you think you could do anything? Why do you think you get up in the morning and you say, you know, I think I'll have eggs for breakfast. Why do you think you can do that? You know, because it becomes second nature to me. It's the way I grew up. You know, I've had a lot of jobs in my life. I worked for Intel and I worked for...

my own business, online website development business as well. And it's all I'm all self taught for the simple reason is I never thought that I couldn't do anything. I remember going for an interview for Intel and I had no qualifications, but I convinced him.

that I'm the right man for this job. And they took me on because they could feel the enthusiasm of me. They could feel that, you know, I'm a hard worker. I'm willing to give this a go. So I have had this mindset. Why do you think you can do anything? I feel that there's nothing I can't do. I've always felt that way. I always say even from the moment I started Deadlift and I said, I'm going to be the best in the world. You know, it's subjective.

to other people whether you are the best in the world or not, you know what mean? I make a good case. And the thing about it is that, ⁓ you know, to others that are in the game, they might see, well, no, you're not, know, Thor is a better deadlift, he's done 510 you know, but he hasn't done it under my conditions. He hasn't done it at my age and he hasn't done it, you know, what makes me think...

that I can compete against this man. Because why not? Why not? I can do what I want. You know what mean? Like I said to my wife, she tells me to enjoy my day. She won't tell me what to do. But that's the joke. But it's still the mindset. know what mean? Normal tell me what to do. I'm self taught in anything because I'm really... I'm unteachable, I suppose. You know, I have to learn. have to have...

Sam Penny (1:11:19)
Hahaha.

Liam Beville (1:11:33)
what the Irish call a grá for it, a love for it. You have to have a love and you have to have a grá for what you're doing. And if you have that love and grá for it, you will learn and you will learn to do to the best of your ability. I grew up, don't do things by half. You either give it your best shot or don't give it no shot. It's all or nothing. And I've lived that way all my life. It's always been all or nothing.

And in everything I do, I mean, I constantly compete with myself just to keep me sharp. I feel younger and people say, you know, friends, I grew up with this, you know, it's time to give it up now, do you? And I said, what do want me to do? Just roll over and die? Is it not? This is what I do and this is what I do best, you know, so I'm going to keep doing what I do best.

until I can't do it no more. And I'd say that'd be about 10 or 15 minutes just before I die, you know. So I'll keep going. And it could be 10 or 15 minutes after I die. I don't know. We don't know.

Sam Penny (1:12:35)
Hahaha

I want to turn this to the listener now and try and pick out some pieces because I know that there's so many lessons in there and your story has been fascinating because honestly, not everyone's gonna deadlift a piano, but everyone knows what it means to start again. So for the listener, Liam, what would you say is one small act of resilience anyone could take tomorrow?

Liam Beville (1:12:54)
Yeah. ⁓

Here's the thing, that's a great question Sam. Here's the thing I always say. Don't let people label you. Don't let people put you in a box and say you can't do this, you can't do that. They don't know you. You know you. If you want it, you will find a way. You will find a way and you will get it. It's as simple as that. That's my simple philosophy in life. If you want it, it's yours.

Find a way. These are only hurdles. They're obstacles. Everybody wants a smooth race. Everyone wants a flat race. Sometimes it's uphill. Sometimes you're doing hurdles. Sometimes it's cross country. You know, so you can't. These are variables that are outside your control. Control what you can and forget about the rest. So if someone says they're putting limits on you.

They don't know you. You've got to understand that they don't know you. You've got to respect yourself and respect your own abilities and disabilities. You know, sometimes, you know, anybody who's got a disability, it's a wrong way of looking at it. You have a different ability. That's the way I would look at it. You have a completely different ability and you can get the same result. You know, it's I'm all about inclusion. I want

people from all backgrounds, from all ages, from all disabilities to be included. Now, when it comes to competition, you know, you can't expect a person in a wheelchair to get up and run 100 metres, you know, against Usain Bolt or whatever. So you have to have limits and, you know, competitions that make it fair. But that's not to say you still can't be the best in the world at something.

And you have to change people's mindset into thinking that, you know, stop putting your labels on me. I can do what I want. Simple as that.

Sam Penny (1:15:08)
Absolutely fantastic,

fantastic words there, Liam. That was just profound. I love that. Now, I want to talk about physical action, things like walking, lifting, and just showing up. How can those things help rebuild mental health?

Liam Beville (1:15:11)
Thank you.

Yeah, walking is the best exercise you can do. Again, you have to do what's in your limit. If you get out into fresh air and you take a walk out in the fresh air, get one with nature. Go back to nature. We're designed to be with nature.

smell the flowers, smell the trees, know, accept the rain, know, walk in the rain, love the scent that comes with it. You'll see an increase in your mental health. It'll just be fantastic. You've just got to accept.

That's not everything is a problem. You know what I mean? You might say, you know, it's snowing today, I'm snowed in. No, you wouldn't say that because you're from Australia. We get snowed in here. You know, go build a snowman. Enjoy it. Have a laugh. You know, if you need to, if you can barely walk, do what you can. Just walk. Just walk. Walk with good company.

Sam Penny (1:16:10)
Ha ha ha ha.

Liam Beville (1:16:27)
You are some of your friends anyway, you know, so make sure you're always in good company and people who support you. You know, we all meet jealous people and envious people in life. But like I said, you know, that's their problem. You know, you've got to move on and take care of the variables that you can control and not what you can control. So, you know, get out in the air. That's all I say. That's all I say.

Sam Penny (1:16:55)
So what would you say to someone then who feels too old, too broken, too far gone to start over again?

Liam Beville (1:17:03)
Yeah, you're never too old, Sam. You're never too old. How could you be? I'm 60 years of age and I'm going to beat the 285. I have notions in my head. Whether I do or not, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. It's the fact that, you know, I feel younger for it. I don't feel 60. Maybe it's because of the accident, because I at a young age.

And I had such a terrible time in my mind. But I feel 17. So I go back a year after the accident. In my mind, I'm only a 17 year old kid. So, you know, I look I'm looking at myself here and I say, who's that old man? I don't recognise him. So you're but you're never too old. You're never too old. Remove the mirrors from your bathroom and just feel young. So, yeah, you're never too old.

Sam Penny (1:17:48)
you

Hahaha.

Okay, now Liam, I always love to finish with the Brave Five. It's the Rapid Fire Five questions. One question doesn't necessarily lead on to the other. Are you ready?

Liam Beville (1:18:12)
Yeah.

Sam Penny (1:18:13)
All right, what was your most unexpected lesson from your recovery?

Liam Beville (1:18:19)
⁓ My most unexpected lesson would be that I ⁓ depression, depression, I had to beat depression. I had to learn to not ignore it like I'd always been doing. I had to learn to sit with it and I have to learn to understand it and actually let it become my friend. It grounds me.

because I have tendency to float, you know what mean? I am a big dreamer and a tendency to float up. So I have to get grounded. I'd say, you know, depression helps me there because it brings me back down to earth. And because it won't affect me much because I may have to sit with it and I may have to understand it, but it will keep me grounded, keep me level.

because it's like the person whose highs are too high or his lows are too low. found the middle ground and I'm right there in the middle ground. So next question.

Sam Penny (1:19:18)
Okay. First

thought when you first thought when you saw the Guinness certificate.

Liam Beville (1:19:25)
⁓ joy, ⁓ exhilaration, validation. I totally vindicated. I said, you know, I said, I'm the only power lifter worldwide to hold, because they're all strong men to hold the heaviest deadlift. I'm the only power lifter to do it. I'm the oldest power lifter to do it. I'm the lightest power lifter to do it. And I hold, I hold this,

massive record that I set out all my life to have. I always wanted a Guinness World Record because it means something. And I felt vindicated for years of this, what other people might think is madness and put myself through pain. Pain became my friend.

It became my friend, but like I said, I need ground all the time. So, you know, I've I constantly I'm in constant pain because my left knee now needs to be done as well. It needs a full replacement. ⁓ But it doesn't stop me squatting. It doesn't stop me deadlift and it doesn't stop me doing anything.

And it gives me great pleasure through the pain to know that I can defeat it. But I'm not saying for everyone to go out and do that. First of all, anyway, you know, know, they make my job a lot harder if everyone was doing it. But, know, people with pain and I don't take painkillers and I don't take anti-inflammatories.

And the thing is that I sit with my pain, just like I sit with anything else with depression and things like that. It's just part of life. It's part of it. It lets you know you're alive. And it's just another thing I live with. It's just part of me. It's actually my friend. It keeps me alive.

Sam Penny (1:21:19)
Now tell me what is one thing you wish you knew when you're 18?

Liam Beville (1:21:24)
⁓ I wish friends, friends, friends are fickle. I wish I knew that, you know, friends are hard to come by. You know, I think the modern world we live in now where we have Facebook friends and say, you have 4,000 friends, you don't. If you can count how many real friends you have on your hand, you're a lucky person. You're very lucky.

⁓ My wife is my best friend. My daughter, my son they're my friends. don't know, familiarity breeds contempt. There's a good saying in that they would know me as, for years, but they wouldn't see me as being the greatest at something.

and that bothers me and you know what I wish I'd known at 18 years of age that don't be people pleaser because that's what I was you know don't be people pleaser and be able to cut people off they're not helping you they're only hindering you so yeah I wish I'd known that at 18 because

Sam Penny (1:22:42)
So then

what's a habit or a mindset that's really made the biggest difference to you?

Liam Beville (1:22:48)
Being stubborn. just can't help it. I'm just very stubborn. If I want something, it's mine, you know? But I also have a happy mindset in that I find humor in anything. Even through the pain, I find humor in this.

Sam Penny (1:22:50)
Ha

Liam Beville (1:23:06)
It's genuinely me, but I can find humour in anything and it helps me to survive and it helps me to move on and accept things that need accepting.

You don't accept everything, but things that do need accepting, you don't need to accept other people's limits on you, but you do need to accept your own limits.

Sam Penny (1:23:29)
right, so what

is the best advice you've ever received inside or outside of the gym?

Liam Beville (1:23:36)
Well, the advice I would give my daughter when she was younger was never change your horse midstream. And that always stood out for me. I would say rightfully or wrong, ⁓ it doesn't matter. Once you set your goals, once you set your mind to something, don't change. Don't change. Doubt creeps in.

negativity creeps in. ⁓ These are all little demons on your shoulder telling you you can't do it, you can't do it. But if you have the mindset to never change your horse midstream, you see, I love my sayings, you know that. But yeah, I think that's the greatest advice I could give to anyone. that has been given to me is that it doesn't matter if you're wrong or right because

Sam Penny (1:24:30)
Fantastic.

Liam Beville (1:24:34)
At the time, you're going to be right, but time could prove that you were wrong. But that could happen to anything. And if you keep changing your mind, you're definitely going to be lost. If you have this mindset that I'm going to win, you know, you're right. But if you have the same mindset, I'm going to lose. Well, you're right. You know, I mean, you're right both times. So definitely do not change your horse mid-stream once you've made up your mind.

Don't second-guess it. Keep going. Go for it.

Sam Penny (1:25:08)
Beville's story begins with shattered bones and ends with unbreakable spirit. He was told he'd never walk. Instead, he learned to lift the impossible. He turned pain into purpose, fear into focus and a hospital ward into the starting line of a world record career.

But the real record isn't 285 kilograms. It's the decades he spent proving that adversity can refine rather than define us. It's the courage to rebuild not just muscle, but mind. It's standing on a platform in your 50s after hip and knee replacements and saying to the world, I'm still here. Maybe you'll never pull a barbell like Liam but we all have our own weights to lift.

the griefs, the doubts, the voices that say we're done. The question isn't whether you could do what Liam did. The question is, will you get back up when life drops you to the floor? Now, Liam, for those who want to follow your story or learn from you, where's the best place for them to find you?

Liam Beville (1:26:11)
the website liambeville.com

Sam Penny (1:26:19)
Fantastic, and I'll make sure I put that link into the show notes. And if this conversation, it's reminded you what resilience looks like, share it with someone who needs a spark because bravery spreads and so does belief. I'm Sam Penny, is why do think you could do that. Until next time, keep saying yes to the impossible.