#394 The Problem with Modern Powerlifting | Joe Jackson

Dave Tate's Table Talk

Dave Tate

Fitness, Health & Fitness

4.9 • 586 Ratings

🗓️ 27 January 2026

⏱️ 137 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Joe Jackson, better known as Delco Jesus, is a 140 kg raw powerlifter, coach, and member of the Delco Spotting Crew from just outside Philadelphia. After battling depression, dropping over 100 pounds, and even going through a period of homelessness, Joe found powerlifting and never looked back.

With best competition lifts of 826 lb squat, 463 lb bench, and 744 lb deadlift for a 2017 lb total at 308, he's competed on big stages like American Pro, Ghost Clash, IPL North Americans, and ABS Series meets. Along the way he's become known for his faith-driven "Delco Jesus" persona, his honesty about mental health, and his willingness to give back by spotting, loading, and helping other lifters chase their own numbers.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Zeus, I don't care what I squat.
0:02.0	Everything is going to make you want to give up.
0:05.0	I don't care if you're injured, I don't care if you're healthy.
0:07.0	On May 30th, when I step on that platform, it's the end of you.
0:11.0	Zeus is going to be slaughtered.
0:13.0	Remember that.
0:14.0	It's time to sit down, keep it real, and cut the bullshit.
0:27.2	Welcome to Table Talk.
0:29.3	I'm going to jump off with a quote of yours.
0:33.3	You can't out total a bad relationship with yourself.
0:37.9	Can you elaborate a little bit on that one?
0:40.2	We'll get into your timeline and all the other kind of stuff.
0:42.4	Yeah.
0:42.5	But I like to jump off with something that kind of will show where we're going to go throughout.
0:48.8	Yeah, definitely so.
0:52.3	With lifting, at least for me, it was big of my mental release from mental health, all my issues going on.
1:02.2	And what I found is you will never, if you just chase the, if you just chase the total, you're just going to eventually fall back into that depression.
1:19.6	If you fall in the numbers, you are not going to be able to ever be happy.
1:24.7	You have to just put the numbers aside and work on being better for yourself
1:28.6	and bettering yourself opposed to, I need to beat this guy, I need to beat that girl, stuff like that.
1:36.1	That's interesting because of the journey that you went through, which we'll get into, is
1:41.9	when you first start, the numbers are going up pretty quick.
	...

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