Porter Bowles, or porterbowlesfitness on Instagram, is an 18-year-old senior at Wilsonville High School who has an aspiration for inspiring others and lifting. In February of 2021, amidst the pandemic, Porter started his Instagram, porterbowlesfitness, with the intent of spreading the Sport of lifting and self-betterment.

I had the opportunity to interview Porter, and I asked him, “What inspired you at the beginning of and throughout your lifting journey?” and Porter responded, “Okay cool, I started lifting freshman year in weight training class, and I really enjoyed it, I didn’t lift too much outside of class, but with the help of Mr. Fink, I was able to form a solid foundation for lifting. I always looked up to people who were “shredded” and wanted to look like that to an extent. I started lifting outside of school midway through the sophomore year to work towards my goal and since then I’ve made a lot of progress. Something that has helped me to stay motivated and consistent is the YouTube channel and Instagram account I created to post my progress. I feel like that will help me to continue lifting for a long time because it’s something that I really enjoy and I feel like I have something I have to live up to. Something that’s been tough is balancing tennis with lifting. I play tennis fairly competitively and the two don’t mix too well, so I’ve had to improvise a bit and make sure that my lifting routine doesn’t negatively affect tennis and vice versa. ”

Despite mainly focusing on natural bodybuilding, Porter still has extremely impressive max lifts. With a Squat of 405 pounds, a Bench of 300, and a deadlift of 435, Porter boasts a strong set of One-rep maxes.

With almost 200 followers on Instagram, porterbowlesfitness is a growing account, and getting more and more attention on social media by the day!