Guardian surpasses standards, sets Hawaii state powerlifting records

U.S. Space Force 1st Lt. Thomas Moriarty, an operations officer based on Oahu, set six USA Powerlifting Hawaii state records at the 2026 USA Powerlifting Hawaii State Championships on April 25, according to a Space Force release. The 48-year-old prior-enlisted Guardian competed in the raw, 82.5-kilogram Masters 1B division, posting a 182.5-kilogram squat, 140-kilogram bench press, 215-kilogram deadlift, 140-kilogram bench press single lift, 355-kilogram push-pull total and 537.5-kilogram total.

Three days a week, Moriarty begins training well before dawn, driving from Mililani to Kakaako for more than two hours in the gym before reporting for duty. “I do think it’s about exceeding the standards, but it’s also just about wanting to live with a high quality of life,” Moriarty said. “I do this for my own quality of life. And so that, if my number’s ever called and I have to go do some physical stuff, I’m not going to be in a bad spot.”

The April results built on his recent late-career surge in the sport. “I was 15 pounds off of the 1,200-pound club in my first competition at 47 years old, and there’s definitely more in the tank,” Moriarty said.

Moriarty has also applied a holistic approach to fitness with fellow service members. While stationed at Fort Eisenhower, Georgia, as an Air Force staff sergeant, he mentored a peer who had failed three physical fitness tests and was at risk of separation. “I went and talked to him and I said, this is what’s going to happen if you want to pass your PT test,” Moriarty said. “You need to go buy a digital scale and weigh out every single piece of food you eat until your PT test. We are not even going to run. You’re going to squat, bench, deadlift and overhead press with me.”

Over the next eight weeks, the airman lost about 26 pounds, and on test day Moriarty ran beside him. “He passed and I had tears streaming down my face,” Moriarty said. “I told him, uniform on or off, no matter what I do in the rest of my career, I think this will be my proudest moment in the U.S. military.” The experience shaped his outlook on service and readiness. “To have the knowledge of fitness, weight management, strength training and just be able to pay that forward to everyone I come across,” Moriarty said.

He argues many service members overcomplicate fitness and says consistent movement and basic nutrition form the backbone of sustainable progress. “A lot of people think that fitness requires going to the gym or running or biking or cycling,” Moriarty said. “It is literally as simple as walking a lot and watching what you eat.” “You just have to move, whatever flavor that is for you,” he said. “Sitting down all day long is not good.”

As the Space Force refines its own fitness culture, Moriarty said daily physical training has taken root at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam’s Wahiawa Annex. “When I’m at the annex gym or the annex track, there’s people in the Navy and they see us in our silver and black, and they’re like, ‘Space Force does PT?’” Moriarty said. “And I’m just like, ‘Yes, every day.’” “A lot of it just comes down to identity,” he said. “This has been who I am since I first touched a weight in 1995.”

Moriarty is slated to compete at USA Powerlifting West Regionals in Las Vegas in September, where a win could earn him a pro card and a berth at Masters Nationals in 2027. He is also weighing a run at military nationals to represent the Space Force. “With my age and being in the Space Force, you’re kind of an underdog, and I love underdog stories,” Moriarty said.