Zachary Edwards

My name is Zac Edwards. I am a 23-year old exercise physiology graduate student at Mississippi State University (MSU). I grew up in Saltillo, MS, in a house with three brothers and my parents. I had dogs my whole life, grew up teaching myself how to play the guitar, and dabbled in multiple different sports, mainly boxing and football. I went to MSU for my undergraduate, in which I got my bachelor's in kinesiology whilst competing for all four years in powerlifting. I then started coaching my sophomore year while I was an officer in the MSU Powerlifting Club (MSUPL).

For the past 3 years, I have been a self-employed powerlifting coach, working with anywhere from the average lifter who just wants pounds on their total, all the way up to those at the national level, even working with three lifters at that caliber since I began coaching. I also have my own business (Edwards Strength Standard, LLC) for those who are interested in my services.

For the past 2 years, I have been a personal trainer at the Joe Frank Sanderson Center at Mississippi State University, working as a lead trainer, events coordinator, CrossFit coordinator, and the powerlifting club liaison, in which I have taught four different personal training certification courses to those interested in learning the basics of exercise physiology as well as general client programming. Additionally, I teach trainers how to perform body composition assessments, help my bosses run strength events for the gym, write CrossFit-style programming for the gym's coaches, and communicate between powerlifting club officers as well as the head of club sports about how to strive for the betterment of the powerlifting club's future.

I graduated in December 2022 with a bachelor's of science in kinesiology, with a concentration in performance fitness (now recognized as a strength & conditioning concentration). I am currently enrolled in graduate school, in which I will graduate in May 2025 with a master's of science in exercise physiology, concentrating on caffeine's effects on powerlifting and muscular performance.