Dr. Mark Webber
Episode 163
14 MAR 2022
He is a world champion power lifter. Since 2018 he has broken nine state records in dead lift and bench press, along the way taking first place at the World Championships last year for the World Association of Benchers and Deadlifters for 220-pound 50–54-year-olds. In college he had been a middle linebacker on the football team at the University of San Diego, a Catholic college where he also ran track for them, setting the school shot put and discus records. For approximately 25 years now he has been running a chiropractic sports clinic in the Pacific northwest where for years he has served numerous sports teams and events in roles such as medical director, team doctor, head drug tester, and team chiropractor.
Notable guest quotes:
“I was raised Catholic, but my dad… went into the monastery. He was a Trappist Monk… He felt called to go into that life and he was there for three years.”
“I visited a Trappist monastery many times and it was an amazing place. I even considered going into it at one point, but I did feel more called to be married.”
“Then I said, ‘So God, do you really exist? Do you really exist, God? If you really exist, please show me a sign. Show me a sign.’ And so, then I just felt this peace come over me.”
“I remember after kicking field goals one day saying, ‘Well, if I really believe in God and I believe everything that is around it, shouldn’t I want to go to Mass? Shouldn’t I want to go to church? Shouldn’t I be taking advantage of going to church?’ And at that point it became clear that yeah, I should be taking advantage of this. So, I started going to Mass every morning.”
“I was also the founding member of the University of San Diego Knights of Columbus. So, we started the Knights of Columbus on campus, and I became a third degree, and I was the first warden they had.”
“I stopped competing because… priorities change when you get married and have kids.”
“My dad had a third stroke, and he went into the hospital the day I found out my sister had cancer.”
“I said, ‘God, please help me to handle this. Please help me to embrace it. Give me grace. I know they say You don’t give us more than we can handle.’ And, at the time, once I said that and I accepted it, it became much more bearable for me.”
“I thought of Jesus on the cross and I’m thinking, ‘Well, I don’t have nails through my hands and nails through my feet. This is a lot easier than what He had to do.’ And I found there’s a certain peace when I gave it up to God, my suffering up to God.”
“When I do my dead lifts, the movement of a dead lift from the ground up, I think of Jesus on the cross, walking, when He’s carrying His cross and when He falls, and He has to stand up with the cross. And I visualize myself doing the same movement with the dead lift like I’m picking up my cross.”
“We do a Bible study. It’s about two to three hours on Thursday nights… Once a month we also go down and we feed the homeless in Seattle. We cook up a meal, we put it all together, and then we serve. So, it’s giving back.”
Related link:
Mark’s bio on his chiropractic sports clinic website
