Every detail thought out and planned, hours of preparation, sticking to all the rules and being single minded.

For Frome-based magistrate Ram Patten, that applies not just to his day job, making huge decisions which will have major implications for everyone who comes before him ; but when he changes to his other work, back to a different kind of bench in a local gym.

He is hyper-organised, hyper-aware and when it comes to the March 2 competition, he is confident he will soon be the holder of the British National Bench press record.*

Ram has been working out three times a week for the past six months at Watson's Gym, to get ready to power lift an incredible weight.

He will have three attempts at the International Powerlifting Federation competition to clinch the British National Raw Bench Championship.

Assuming all the training, discipline and sheer hard work pays off, he could then be off to compete in America, self-funded, but wearing his singlet with no small amount of pride.

Ram, is nothing if not disciplined, coming from a military career and now working as a magistrate in some of the most harrowing and difficult courts in the South West. So he has learnt to make the most of compartmentalising his work in and out of the gym.

The national record for a raw ( so unaided) lifts is there to be taken, but Ram wants to exceed even this, even considering raising the bar to 205kg.

He already holds two bench press records, so winning is perhaps not what is at stake here.

So what motivates Ram?

He tells Nub News why: " I think everyone has a million and one reasons why they might engage in something like this, and my background and my volunteer work is I hope speaking to someone. Everyone has a noise in their head and for me this makes it stop - this is meditative, a mental health meditation.

"Everything that I do (in lifting) has a prescribed step, and if you put all that chain together you get (literally) a strong result at the end.

"If you miss a step or you think oh I won't warm up today because I am feeling fine, then that's wrong. You have to have discipline and then the more you repeat something the more muscle memory, you have the more you build into yourself.

" For me the noise comes from PTSD (from his active service) hyper awareness, and I have ADHD so there is a lot of noise in my head. When I focus, I expel all that white noise, so I have one thing, so when I am working on the bench with such a heavy weights it requires me to just be extremely diligent."

It is the same mental agility he takes to his other 'bench' in the family courts.

The down side is acute too

If there is a slip, at these weights it is also dangerous. He explains: " I train with 170 k to 200 kilos ( to put that in perspective for those who are not pressing weights, that's essentially like lifting a piano) above my face.

" My face will bend (he laughs), you can break ribs, or worse, so you need to know not to overstretch, so continue to grow but don't be reckless with it.

" But when I am squatting or lifting that is when I find my peace."

He freely admits that he is mainly competing against himself, but is confident that on the day he will win.

He will get three attempts, with only seconds between in each lift, watched by hawkeyed judges who will be checking the former marine's posture to ensure his feet are firmly on the floor, his spine on the bench, his arms at a precise degree angle to his shoulders and his head down.

He needs to confirm a 'clean' lift - three white lights - and since as he says "the judges don't care about the socks I am wearing, " they only need to judge the lift.

The federation is also vehemently anti any kind of stimulants or performance enhancers, he will get a trophy, no prize money, but an enormous amount of satisfaction.

Until then it is hitting the gym with a practiced schedule, (broken only by his mentoring and encouragement to other young lifters and the occasional congratulatory and admiring comment from fellow athletes).

Ram, who lives in Edmund Park, took up this particular sport because of injury to his knee.

Power lifting is powerful for the mind too

He will open with 185 kilos, yes that is his starting point and already knows he can lift 195kg and secure the top spot, so why go for 205kg? The short answer is because he knows he can.

The gym is my mental health sanctuary. Image Frome Nub News

Six days ahead of the championship Ram will pause (a so-called de-load) although he will be feeding his body with a high carb diet.

So what is it about lifting the 'heavy circles' as the lifters call the weights that makes him want to do it?

"I powerlift for two reasons; namely, the first being that the gym is my mental health sanctuary.

"The second is because my whole life I've been told that life is not a level playing field - be it because of my race, disabilities, sex, religion, education, or privilege.

"Powerlifting allows me to practice discipline, meditative focus, progressive development, and team work.

"And to win. "

• The current record is 177.5 kg set by Ryan Dixon who also set a 182.5 kg record at the 2023 World Championships 
• The British all time record was set in 2020 and is held by Alistair Murdoch who lifted 215 kg