IDAHO FALLS, Idaho -- The best of the best in power lifting from all over the world are spending their Labor Day weekend in Idaho Falls.

This is the first time the World Power Lifting Congress' Raw World Championship has been held in the United States.

At just 22, Idaho Falls native Justin Cain qualified to compete in the WPC Raw World Championship after just one year of training.

"Just the feel of lifting something heavy, something hard to lift-- it's a lot of fun," Cain said.

World champion and international referee Gordon Santee has been power lifting since he was Justin's age. Although it’s not a very popular sport, Santee said he's does it to have fun.

"It’s you and the indisputable law of gravity. The weight is there, you lift it,” Santee explained. “No assistance, just what's in your heart and what's been in your training. So, it’s raw and it’s real."

It's that raw weight that the competitors try to push more and more each day.

"The weights handled here are phenomenal,” Santee said.

A lot of the competitors can lift over three times their weight, but for Justin power lifting is more than a sport.

Just over two years ago Cains mother, Sabrina Rish, was diagnosed with a degenerative muscle disorder called Mitochondrial Myopathy. Though Rish used to go to the gym six days a week for least two hours at a time today, she can barely lift five pounds.

"Now I get to see my son compete at the Worlds and I’m just so proud of him. I think it’s so cool because he can do something I can’t do, and I get to watch him excel in it,” said Rish.

"I get to lift for her, I guess, because she can’t do it anymore,” Cain said. “She's kind of living through me in a way."

While the world’s best may lift hundreds of pounds, Rish encourages everyone else to do what they can to keep their bodies strong.

"Once you get started, it really is the most amazing feeling in the whole world,” Rish said. “You'll be healthier; you'll live longer and have so many opportunities you wouldn't have otherwise."

Santee said while he may be 64 years old, he's breaking his own records and getting stronger the older he gets.