Getting Things In Order

Hello all,

I've had several requests from my friends and family to keep them updated on the progress of my powerlifting training. So, I'm keeping a blog so that you all can gather to one place and it saves me time from having to come to all of you.

As you all should know, I began lifting in June of 2008, with Brent Kasmer at Astre Total Fitness, in Boardman, Ohio. For the first several months, I increased my benching weight an average of close to 10 lbs. per week. Brent moved to Charlotte, North Carolina, on November 1st, and on November 3rd, I began to train with Adam Capretta, founder of Victory Training. I decided to train seriously for powerlifting and make my goal to qualify for the 2012 Paralympic Powerlifting team.

Adam and I have had a very interesting time finding a system...mostly because of me and my insecurities and lack of trust in someone new. But, I've grown so much, as a person, with the events of the last two months. And I have a lot of fun working out with Adam. He makes me laugh...in fact, most days, he comments that my ab workout is that he made me laugh so hard. He makes it enjoyable to be there. He's the one that pushed me to set such a high goal for myself. And he has put up with a lot of attitude, while I adjusted to different circumstances. I owe him a lot.

I also have a wonderful new friend and lifting mentor named Mary Stack. She's a three-time U.S. Paralympian Powerlifter, and she holds like a thousand lifting records in states across the country...well, not really a thousand...but a lot! She lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan and she's super nice and helpful.

So, I currently "max out" at 155 lbs. on the bench. The goal is 225 lbs. by September. I'm currently training Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, due to my financial situation...but that is soon to be on the mend, and I will go back to my full schedule of lifting Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, with extra cardio on Wednesday and Saturday. I'm going to my first competition at Michigan State University in May of this year. Then I have a Nationals competition in Oklahoma in June. The biggest competition of the year is the IPC (International Paralympic Committee) Nationals competition in September, which will give me international ranking points to help me to qualify for next year's World's Competition. And, if I'm at or past my goal of 225 lbs. at that competition, I will qualify for funding for competitions from there on out. YAY!

So, I think that brings you up to date. Most of you should know most of this information, but I thought I should put a little background for my first entry. I will try to blog, at least every day that I lift. Today is Tuesday, so I have nothing to blog, since I'm on "part-time" training right now. Thank you all for your interest and your support!