Joe’s Gym powerlifter sets record
Joe’s Gym member Jerome Johnson set a national powerlifting record as a Special Olympian during a state meet at Clearfield.
Mike Copper, Erie Times-News
Joe Orengia boasts more than 600 powerlifting titles.
More than 55 years into his career, however, the Erie native still ranks one of his earliest records as perhaps his proudest moment.
Orengia’s decades of local commitment to — and promotion of — powerlifting earned his spot in the Erie Sports Hall of Fame’s Class of 2025. The owner and operator of Joe’s Gym at 4319 W. Ridge Road, he’s a familiar face to powerlifting fans locally and worldwide.
Hundreds of athletes know Orengia as ‘coach.’ First, though, he was an athlete.
An athlete who has no plans to stop.
“It’s a big deal and I’m really happy about it,” Orengia said of his upcoming induction. “The whole gym is. Some of these people have competed on my team for 40 years.”
Power = health
Orengia’s powerlifting career began upon his 1968 return from the Vietnam War.
He trained under Les Kramer and, by 1972, Orengia set an Amateur Athletic Union world record by deadlifting 555 pounds in the 148-pound weight class.
This, Orengia said, remains his proudest lift. It scored him a spot in the legendary Muscular Development magazine and sealed his reputation as one of powerlifting’s pioneers.
“It just got better and better every year because I kept health in mind,” Orengia said. “Stay healthy, eat well and teach it to your family and kids. Then, I opened the gym and started teaching it to everybody.”
Athlete, teacher, coach
Orengia first assembled his powerlifting team in 1976. It’s still active today, training at Joe’s Gym and competing in meets sanctioned by the 100% RAW powerlifting organization.
They’re known for power. But that’s not their motivation.
“If you want to be healthy, you power train,” Orengia said. “You don’t have to powerlift. We power train for our health. We power lift to prove it works.”
Powerlifting, Orengia said, helped mitigate the physical toll his body withstood at Vietnam. He won 100% RAW Coach of the Year in 2023 amidst his induction into the organization’s international hall of fame.
Orengia has coached more than 40 world powerlifting champions, including 1979 World’s Strongest Man Don Reinhoudt. Orengia once deadlifted 700 pounds himself, but it was his 555-pound pull which put him on the map.
“No one was doing that,” Orengia said. “It was like a gift I got.”
Not done yet
Orengia turns 80 next year. He has no plans to stop coaching.
Even more, Orengia plans to repair a knee he shattered in Vietnam via surgery which is scheduled for two days after his hall of fame induction. After that, he plans to set new age group world records in powerlifting after his 80th birthday.
“By training and building my muscles, I kept that knee active all these years,” Orengia said. “I’ll take two or three months off and still bench press, but then I want to get back to squatting and squat around 300 pounds at 80 years old.”
Contact Jeff Uveino at juveino@timesnews.com. Follow him on X @realjuveino.
