Kemari Copeland shot to fame in 2024 after obliterating Virginia Tech’s squat report, lifting an astonishing 605 kilos—for 10 reps! And, whereas the Hokies’ defensive lineman’s highly effective efficiency within the fitness center is constructing a stable basis for soccer, he’s additionally engaged on the finer particulars, like engaged on his technique and hitting the precise body weight for Saturdays this season—and hopefully Sundays within the NFL.
M&F sat down with the thrilling lineman to seek out out extra about his love of lifting, and the way he’s been utilizing the low season to prepared for 2026 and past. And the way in which he describes it, it’s been a household affair.
With three football-playing brothers, and a father within the Navy, Copeland has by no means been in need of a robust male presence to encourage him into motion. Nonetheless, being a part of a naval household has meant numerous shifting round for this younger athlete who confirmed promise as a stellar defensive lineman again at Floyd E. Kellam Excessive College. He started his faculty footballing profession in 2022, for Military West Level, however would quickly switch to Iowa Western Group Faculty in the hunt for extra minutes on the sector.
“That you must have self-belief,” he tells M&F. “Since you don’t actually know, while you’re hopping within the switch portal, there’s so many unknowns. There’s children that had been getting dropped, children that don’t discover a house, so I sort of needed to guess on myself and be like: I can show to school scouts that I’m the participant that I say I’m, and that’s what I did, and fortuitously it labored out.”
One of many causes that all of it labored out is the truth that Copeland was in a position to withstand the temptations of faculty life in favor of bettering himself as a participant.
“The best way my mother raised us, we had been by no means actually in a position to fiddle, as a result of we had been within the navy,” explains Copeland. Nonetheless, whereas life as a miliary household supplied the younger man with self-control, the fixed shifting round made it tough to seek out buddies. So, when Covid hit, he determined to make use of a fair higher time of solitude to cement his relationship with the fitness center.
“They are saying that onerous work pays off, so I went as onerous as I might throughout Covid to attempt to get forward of individuals, and that’s actually the place it took off,” confesses Copeland, explaining that he would repeat a push/pull break up. “I’ve really by no means instructed anybody about this, however I simply searched a random exercise routine, and Large Man on Campus (by Steve Prepare dinner) got here up,” he shares. “It was sort of my escape. I simply wished to grow to be one of the best soccer participant I might be and I like understanding, so it was one of the best of each worlds.”
Kemari Copeland Recollects his Document-Breaking Squats at Virginia Tech
Signing with Virginia Tech in 2023, Copeland had already helped Iowa Western to win the NJCAA Division I Nationwide Championship, and it didn’t take lengthy for him to make an influence within the Hokies weightroom, repping a record-setting 10 squats at 605 kilos. “I knew I used to be going to have the ability to do it,” he displays, noting that at simply 19 years of age he’d already squatted a single rep of 675 kilos.” Nonetheless, Copeland remembers that he needed to go to a “darkish place” in his early 20s to nail his 605-pound, double-digit-rep feat. “I dang close to handed out after, however I obtained it accomplished,” he beams.
Copeland’s herculean power is one factor, however he tells M&F that he’s now concentrating on kind and approach, to be able to develop additional as a participant. “After that squatting report, there’s no level maxing out and going greater in weight,” he notes. “As a soccer participant, you solely have to get a lot stronger.”
Kamari Copeland is Digging into the Particulars Forward of the 2026 Season
Apart from the standard again squat, Copeland has additionally been working towards the entrance squat with straps at Virginia Tech. “So, our coaches need us to do numerous actions based mostly on attempting to get a stronger energy clear,” he explains. “Constructing on out explosive actions. So, entrance squats with straps work on the top of the motion of the ability clear, the place you must get below it, squat, and get up.” Copeland says the straps additionally assist with people who have stiff shoulders or wrists, as a result of the elbow is additional away from the barbell.
When it comes to fueling his ferocious actions on the line of defense, Copeland says that his dietary precedence is protein, and he tries to eat round a gram per pound of body weight, that means that he eats round 280 to 300g of protein per day, largely made up of entire meals like rooster, beans, and rice—topped up with shakes. The defensive deal with additionally takes vitamin D to bolster his bone density. That is vital, he says, as a result of Copeland’s physique takes a daily beating on the sector. “I might say, as a D-lineman, we’re at all times bent over, and we’re at all times placing any individual. So when it comes to what hurts essentially the most, the subsequent day, my fingers are jammed. You’re utilizing your knees, ankles, and simply always bumping heads with the opposite dudes.”
For restoration, the Hokies get common therapeutic massage therapy, and Copeland is a large fan of scorching saunas. “We’ll have a sport Saturday, then Sunday we’ll have an off day, then Monday is our restore day,” explains the baller. In fact, one of the simplest ways to cope with an damage is to stop one within the first place. “If I don’t stretch beforehand, my decrease again is gonna be actual tight,” Copeland says. “I stretch my hips flexors, my glutes, my hamstrings, my quads, and I attempt to make it possible for my entire decrease physique is unfastened.”
Copeland says that he makes use of the froth curler to construct flexibility, and that having stayed constant together with his coaching, he’s excited for what’s to come back in 2026. “I wanna know as a lot info because the offense does,” he shares, noting that he has been research movie to be able to construct his strategic IQ. The Hokies Quantity #13 says that he’s additionally upping the cardio to trim round ten kilos off his body.
In his restricted downtime, Copeland continues his ardour for making social media content material. “Since I used to be like 8 or 9 years previous, simply making silly little cringey movies,” he jokes. “I’ve a TikTok channel that I grew to 150,000 followers. I simply love making content material.” However proper now, the upcoming season is taking precedence, after which there’s the prospect of gaining curiosity from the NFL. “I’m attempting to take it day-to-day,” shares Copeland. “I used to be projected to get drafted final 12 months however I made a decision to come back again and play my final 12 months and lift my draft inventory. I’m positively going to do the NFL Draft subsequent 12 months, and hopefully it’s a excessive choose, so we’ll see.”
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