Until this year, it had been 46 years since an American male set a new World Record in weightlifting.

Richard Nixon was in the White House. A stamp cost 6 cents; a gallon of milk, $1.15.

A lot has changed since then, and Beaufort, South Carolina's CJ Cummings changed the record books forever this past June at the International Weightlifting Federation's Junior World Championships. There, in Tbilisi, Georgia, he set a new Youth World Record in the clean & jerk (180kg) and total weight (317kg.)

Cummings broke his own clean & jerk world record with a 182kg lift 4 months later at the Youth World Championships in Penang, Malaysia.

His weightlifting resume is impressive:

-2 World Championships

-2 Youth World Records

-25 American Records

Beyond the world records and world championships, CJ Cummings is still just a kid. At 16, he balances being an elite, world-class athlete while being a normal teenager.

Learn about a different side of CJ here: