Urban Barbell Limerick going from strength to strength

URBAN Barbell is a powerlifting gym located in the heart of Limerick with the club enjoying a positive 2026 to date.

At the recent Junior National Championships, the club was awarded Best Club and had multiple junior national champions, podium finishes and national record performances across a range of categories.

The club is also hosting upcoming Strongwoman and Powerlifting competitions in August involving athletes from Limerick and across the country, with growing participation in strength sports locally, particularly among young people and women.

Ian Benson of Urban Barbell spoke to the Limerick Leader on the success of the club and the rise in popularity of the sport he loves.

“Last year we finished as the second best club in the country and we really pushed on this year, to push that team environment, that team culture, try to make a winning attitude in the club and we ended up taking multiple national titles, even more so than last year.”

This year, Urban Barbell received the Best Club award, cementing their status as the best powerlifting gym in the country, it was the first time a club outside of Dublin has won the award.

“It was a huge achievement for us and it's something we've been really striving for over the last number of years. the club has been open ten years but there's been a big push the last three or four years to become one of the strongest clubs in the country, to put Limerick on the map.

“In the last two years, between open and junior championships, we've had 14 national titles, we've had over 20 international caps representing Ireland, we've set over 22 national records and we hope to keep more of that.”

Ian says the sport is ‘definitely’ growing, especially among the younger generation and women.

“It's definitely growing of late, especially among young people and women. Over 60 percent of the records set and international caps obtained within the club have been by females.

“We have three powerlifting clubs in Limerick, it's always been there but it's always been this underground sport whereas now it's gone a lot more mainstream, it's a big sport now and people are starting to see the sporting aspect of it and that's helped massively by how it's growing internationally.”

Ian says that the Urban Barbell’s recent Best Club achievement shows the growth of powerlifting within the county.

“I think it shows the growth of the sport in the county and it shows more people are getting involved because in Dublin you have such a large pool to choose from.

“We're only a small city but we've seen a lot more people coming into it that want to drive on and become elite level lifters.

“We have people come into Urban Barbell now and their goal is to become a national champion and we try to create a system there for people to achieve success at the top level in the country. We're supporting Strongwoman Ireland in August.”

This August, Urban Barbell will be hosting upcoming Strongwoman and Powerlifting competitions.

“The Strongwoman competitions started last year and we hosted one of the competitions in the club and we're doing it again this year. A week later we're hosting the Irish Powerlifting Federation's August Open Championships.

“We've been hosting competitions a couple of times a year now for the last couple of years and they've only grown and it's really putting a nice spotlight on us, it's really pushing the sport forward.”