A Moncton teenager is attracting a lot of attention in the world of powerlifting after breaking a national record.

Fifteen-year-old Colin Rose is more than a super athlete; he’s a Special Olympian.

Rose began training at the Amherst Powerlifting Club a year-and-a-half ago. Trainer Trayci Metzger says his goal was clear from the start.

“His goal is to be as strong as he can possibly be,” says Metzger. “Sometimes he's hard to focus on the numbers themselves and not how it looks on the bar, but that's his main goal is to be as strong as he can be.”

Rose lives with Asperger’s, a developmental disorder on the autism spectrum. His mother Donna Rose says, at first, she was concerned about his sport of choice.

“I didn't really know the sport so I was really afraid that, you know, he might hurt his knees or his back, or whatever,” says Donna Rose. “But with Trayci's guidance and through Special Olympics, with the proper gear you will not get hurt.”

In January, Rose had a dead lift of 405 pounds, believed to be a national record for his age.

He competes in Special Olympics, but that performance qualified him for tournaments with able-bodied competitors as well.

“Doing that at 15, if he keeps focused the way that he is, he could be breaking world and national and world records from now until the time he decides that he's done of the sport,” says Metzger.

Rose is a young man of few words, but says he's having a blast.

“Gotta keep going, never going to stop this, it's too fun,” says Rose.

Rose has progressed quickly up the charts and both his mother and trainer say he's changed a lot since walking in the gym doors.

“Very, very shy and tended to, from the rest of the group, stick off to the side,” says Metzger. “Now, he blends in perfectly fine.”

“Socially it's really good because Trayci really involves him with the team that they have, called the Young Guns and it just really boosts him up,” says Donna Rose.

Rose is training for an international competition that will be held in Amherst, N.S. at the end of April. He's hoping to beat his current record by at least 20 pounds.

With files from CTV Atlantic's Dan MacIntosh