Out of the Shadows

By Lamar Gant

About the Book
Out of the Shadows is the inspiring true story of Lamar Gant, a man who fought through many challenges to become a successful international world record-holding power lifter. After meeting the wife of a fan one day at the market, he realized that there were a number of errors in people’s knowledge about him. This included his basic biography and also his records. This inspired Gant to write this book, a personal memoir exploring his childhood, his challenges, and his ultimate triumphs.

About the Author
Lamar Gant is a dedicated and hard-working father. He considers being a father to his son, Israel, his greatest honor and joy. Gant is an international word-record holding powerlifter. He still holds the IPF word record in the 123lb. and 132lb. divisions for the deadlift. In 1985, Lamar became the first person to deadlift five times his own bodyweight. Lamar retired from powerlifting in 1998. He was diagnosed with Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis at the age of fourteen. He uses every opportunity to inspire and encourage other people with Scoliosis.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dorrance Publishing Company
• Release date: Sep 19, 2023
• ISBN: 9798886837742

Book preview

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The contents of this work, including, but not limited to, the accuracy of events, people, and places depicted; opinions expressed; permission to use previously published materials included; and any advice given or actions advocated are solely the responsibility of the author, who assumes all liability for said work and indemnifies the publisher against any claims stemming from publication of the work.

All Rights Reserved

Copyright © 2023 by Lamar Gant

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted, downloaded, distributed, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, including photocopying and recording, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented without permission in writing from the publisher.

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ISBN: 979-8-88683-201-3

eISBN: 979-8-88683-774-2

Dedication

I dedicate this book to my son Israel. I have been Blessed to travel to many places in this world. I have enjoyed great success in my Powerlifting career. I will forever consider being a father to Israel my greatest honor and joy. Watching him grow up and become a man himself has helped me to become a better man, father and person. I feel like a project in the works when it comes to being a great dad. I am learning something new almost daily. I thank God for this Blessing and having had a great father of my own to reference.

I want to thank my sponsors, Pete Alaniz, he was paying it forward. long before it became a term we use today, the late George Zangus sponsored me as well. My first trainer and coach the late Bill Stiff, Sr. and Randy Laur for giving me my beginnings and years of support that followed.

Section 1

Early Life

I was born in 1957 to Doris and Herbert Gant. I was the third of four children. It has been stated in articles, blogs and even on Wikipedia that I was born in Fort Collins, Colorado. I was born in Flint, Michigan which is located about fifty miles north of Detroit, Michigan. Flint was considered a General Motors town back then. Almost every family living in Flint either worked in the factories or had a family member that worked in the factory.

When I was two and a half years old, it was in the winter time. My Dad and I went downstairs to the basement of our house. He gave me a pair of white ice skates. Even though they were girl skates, it didn’t matter. The only thing I could think about was I would be able to go skating with my two older sisters Deborah and Gennois (aka Renny). I eventually learned to skate well in those skates. When I was around seven to nine years old, one of the things I enjoyed doing was having a couple of the older neighborhood boys come over to our house. They would pick me up by my ankles and wrist and throw me up in the air as high as they could. I would always land on my feet. I encouraged them to throw me up in the air.

The higher, the better for me. I wanted to prove that I could land