Team Forza is aptly named.

The word forza in Italian means strength, forcefulness, spirit and power. Team Forza in Butler is the combined power lifting and bench press work of Justin Kearns, Chris Smith, Gunther Gaiser and Chris Huselton.

“We do a lot of workouts together and enter competitions together,” Kearns said. “We call ourselves Team Forza ... It’s a motivational kind of thing.”

It’s working.

Late last month, Kearns and Smith set world bench press records in their respective divisions at the 2016 IPA Summer Strength Spectacular in York. Gaiser and Huselton won their divisions as well.

Kearns’ bench press of 560 pounds set the world record in the age 40-44 master division. He also held the former record of 555 pounds.

The 560-pound bench press places Kearns, a 1990 Butler graduate, at No. 8 all-time in the United States in the 40-44 class.

He set the current record on June 26. He turned 45 the following day.

“Now I’ve got a new age division to work on,” Kerarns said. Team Forza’s next big competition will be back at York for the IPA State Meet next March.

Kearns — who won the best overall award at the Summer Strength Spectacular as well — has competed in 13 meets in the past four and a half years. He’s been interested in weightlifting for years.

“Coach Paul Uram gave me a dumb-bell to work out with in fifth grade and I took it home,” he said. “I’ve been lifting weights ever since.”

Smith, 19, set the IPA world record bench press in his age division at 475 pounds. He graduated from Butler in 2014 and began seriously lifting weights his sophomore year in high school.

“That was for football back then,” Smith said. “Once I quit playing football, I stayed with the weight training.”

Smith has been competing for three years now and estiimates he’s done 12 competitions.

In preparing for a competition, Kearns goes into an intemnse 15-week training session. Smith admitted he doesn’t prepare quite that hard.

“I do very little different,” Smith said. “My girlfriend, Taylor Crede, is a personal trainer and she’s into bodybuilding. She trains me, basically. I follow her regimen.

“Sometimes I wonder how I’d do if I did more intense training before these meets, but I’ve been happy with the results.”

Smith’s previous best bench press was 465 pounds.

Gaiser, 21, won the 242-pound junior weight division. Hed had a squat of 550 poundas, a bench press of 345 and a dead-lift of 625.

Huselton, 22, won the 308-pound junior raw division with a squat of 650 pounds, bench press of 425 and dead-lift of 575.

Kearns remains one of the top masters division lifters in the country, but doesn’t have his sights set on being No. 1 at that level.

“There are some awfully strong guys out there who I’m not gonna catch,” he said. “But I’ll keep working at this just to stay competitive with those guys.

“This is four or five days a week in the gym throughout the year. You push yourself. The results are pretty rewarding.”