3. Dr Terry Todd

When I first heard about Sri Chinmoy, I was curious, and now that I have met him, I can see that I had good reason to be. Sri Chinmoy is an athlete who uses meditation for his inspiration. For example, he learned tennis at age 48, which is as difficult as trying to learn Chinese at age 48. I feel that Sri Chinmoy is not really all that concerned with how he compares with other people, but rather he is concerned with self-transcendence, concerned with how he is doing in comparison to his previous accomplishments. His only aim is progress.

The progress Sri Chinmoy has made in one year and the amount of determination he shows are extraordinary. The progress he has made in this short period of time — to go from 40 pounds to 240 pounds in just one year, at his age and with no experience in the field — is extraordinary. In fact, just to support 240 pounds is extraordinary.

With the calf-raise, it is difficult to prove where others stand. It’s never been done in competition before. To know for sure if it is a world record, we have to bring people to the machine and say, “OK. Now you’ve got nine days to see what you can do.” That’s how long it took Sri Chinmoy to raise 1300 pounds. I’m pretty convinced that that’s higher than anybody has tried before.

Referring to Sri Chinmoy’s self-transcendence in the literary world: Can you imagine being Sri Chinmoy, and going into a bookstore and telling the owner that you are an author. And he says, “Oh, really? What’s the title of your book?” Then you pull out from your pocket that list of 700 titles!

Please be sure to thank everyone for me for all they’ve done, especially Sri Chinmoy.

Dr. Terry Todd Former U.S. powerlifting champion Professor of Physical Education World-renowned authority on strength-related feats