Fame at age 10 is an easy lift for bodybuilder Lucy Milgrim.
“One time, a kid picked up my backpack, and they were like, ‘It’s heavy,’ ” the Bellmore fourth grader with close to 200,000 social media followers told The Post.
“I picked it up, and it felt like less than an ounce,” added Milgrim, who can safely deadlift a youth record 180 pounds.
The 4-foot-2, near-60-pound prodigy has been a fitness jack-of-all-trades since swinging from the monkey bars as a tot and, moments later, shocking her family by climbing the structures of another set of playground equipment to its top.
“We noticed right from there that she had an innate strength,” said her father, Brett, a former W.T. Clarke High School coach in East Meadow.
“Once we started teaching the technique, everything just seemed very light for her, and she progressed very quickly.”
Milgrim also holds USA Powerlifting records for squatting 131 pounds, and benching 74 pounds, in addition to competing in club wrestling and fighting in MMA. She set the American deadlift milestone at the recent Arnold Sports Festival in Columbus, Ohio.
“I love doing the powerlifting tournaments because I can do my makeup, but I can’t when I wrestle,” said the bubbly tween.
“I love putting on makeup and doing my hair pretty.”
Built differently
She has a home gym in her garage, a wrestling room in the basement, and follows a weekly training regimen with her dad and her sixth-grade brother, Louis.
“Louis lifts with Lucy as well,” said Brett, adding that the two can’t yet spar with each other because of a fiery sibling rivalry. “Sunday is the family workout day.”
Younger siblings Anna and Marcus are doing light exercises, such as push-ups, during that time.
Lucy first fell in love with powerlifting after seeing her dad and mom, Michelle, a dietitian, constantly working out. They got her started on some light exercises, and she was hooked.
“Then the weights got heavier, and I started getting more excited about it,” she said.
Lucy’s focus is “on form and posture” as she continues to grow well ahead of the curve for her age, according to her dad.
“I’m not really trying to have her go heavy every week,” Brett said, adding an extreme emphasis on safety over vanity.
As it is, Lucy hits the weights only once a week.
“What we do is we kind of go to somewhere around 50 percent or 60 percent of her max. We’ll do clean reps and work on the technical aspect of it.”
She also trains with former bronze Olympic medalist Vougar Oroudjov of Azerbaijan, who, according to the young girl, said she is “his ticket back to the Olympics.”
“If I’m not wrestling, five days a week I go to Jiu-Jitsu,” she said. “Or sometimes I do MMA.”
“We’re working on closer-in punches because my arms are shorter, so when I go closer, I have more power.”
Milgrim also commonly practices with older wrestlers in higher weight classes.
“It’s heavier, and it’s tough. It’s competitive,” she said. “But I can still score in them a lot.”
Strength in numbers
Lucy’s mom began sharing her athletic journey online about a year ago, when the elementary schooler became competitive with fitness.
“From a social media perspective, so many followers are so inspired by her,” said Michelle.
“It’s incredible to see. I get all the comments and read them. They’re really amazing from adults and kids alike.”
Lucy boasted that kids in Louis’ grade are now motivated to hit the gym — thanks to her presence both online and in school.
“Whenever I go to lunch, they’re always going to art class. So they’re always in the halls like, ‘Hey, it’s Lucy!’ ”
Now the Bellmore behemoth is focusing on getting stronger every day as she aspires to beat some of her dad’s lifting records, like a 460-pound squat, 320-pound bench and 515-pound deadlift.
More than that, Lucy wants to represent the stars and stripes on the world’s biggest stages.
“I hope to be an Olympic gold medalist in wrestling — and open my own wrestling club.”
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