Private Training Facility Sends Female Powerlifters to Compete at USAPL Ohio State Powerlifting Championships

From Left: Chelsea Neeley, Ella Diller, Tina Torbati,
and Savannah Steamer celebrating victory.

November 12, 2014 - Columbus, OH - The USA Powerlifting Ohio State Meet Powerlifting Championships which took place all day Saturday attracted lifters from all over the state of Ohio to lift big weights and attempt to qualify to compete at the 2015 Arnold Sports Festival. Among this group of determined lifters was a group of four young women who were headed to Springboro, Ohio, where the competition was located. All four of them train at an elite private training facility located here in the Grandview neighborhood of Columbus, Ohio called The Spot Athletics.

Cassie Prenger is a current Exercise Science major at Capital University who will intern with the Strength and Conditioning program at The Ohio State University for Spring 2015. Tina Torbati is a current Nutrition in Industry major at The Ohio State University and works in the Nutrition Department at Bethesda North Hospital. Chelsea Neeley is an Early Childhood Education graduate of The Ohio State University and Coach at The Spot Athletics. Ella Diller is the Graduate Assistant at the OSU Adventure Recreations Center working on a Masters in Sports Management. This powerlifting meet was each of these ladies’ first sanctioned competition, and all had been preparing for it over the last few months. In addition to training together in a team environment, all four went head-to-head for the aforementioned 2015 Arnold Sports Festival Invitation, since they all competed in the 148-lb class. Cassie Prenger placed 2nd in the Women’s Open 148 division, while Ella Diller took 2nd and Tina Torbati took 3rd overall in the Women’s Junior Division.

Nicholas Bronkall, Director of Strength and Conditioning at The Spot Athletics, states, “I’ve seen these ladies grow during team training and I was proud to see them unveil their hard work on the platform.” 

Casssandra Prenger, Strength and Conditioning intern at
The Spot Athletics, hitting a solid deadlift in her first meet.

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Getting Back to the Basics: The Bench Press

How many times have you heard someone ask “How much do you bench?”. The bench press is commonly used as a marker of strength and is one of the most popular exercises out there because it looks cool and seems relatively easy to do. However, it is one of the most misunderstood exercises out there. “I’ll just lie down and push this bar up with my arms, how hard can that be?” is probably what you’re thinking. For most people, this is exactly what they do. However, the bench press is just as technical as the squat or the deadlift. Learning how to bench press properly can mean the difference between doing one of the most beneficial upper body exercises for size and strength or benching the same weight forever and tearing something in your shoulder. 

We’re going to go over some of the basic technique principles of the bench press so you can move more weight and stay injury free. The most important thing to note about the bench press is that it is not just a chest/ shoulder/arm exercise. If you bench properly, you should actually be using your whole body.

Coach Bryan spots an athlete on floor pressing. Though floor pressing is a variation of bench press, some of the same rules apply.

Let’s start at the top. Your back and shoulders should be squeezed together like you’re doing a lat pull-down. You should actually use your back to stabilize the bar as you lower it and keep your chest up  to meet the bar. Do not drop the bar on your chest and assume you’ll be able to push it back up from there.  Make sure you touch your chest with the bar. This seems obvious but many people seem to think they only need to bring the bar halfway down for it to constitute as a bench press.  There should be a natural curve in your back. That means you’re not pushing your back down into the bench and also not trying to create a huge arch. That is a more advanced move. One of the most important parts of the bench press actually involves your legs. You want to plant your feet in the ground and push the ground away from you to create leg drive. Using your legs will produce more force through your arms to push the bar away. So, we’ve covered some of the basics on how to make the bench press safer and more effective. 

What if you have a pre-existing shoulder injury? Do you need to bench to get the benefit? Of course not. There are plenty of alternatives for those who can not comfortably bench press. Try a swiss bar or dumbbells with a neutral grip. The swiss bar has bars running parallel to each other with allows you to maintain a neutral grip (palms facing each other) which many people find to be more comfortable for their shoulders while still getting the benefit of a bench press. 

Getting back to basics in the weight room means doing things correctly within the context of the weight room itself, such as performing lifts correctly and in a fashion that is both beneficial, safe, and will keep you racing towards your goals. This article reviews the basic technique points of the bench press to help you get the most bang for your buck with this difficult exercise. 

Columbus Resident, Vitor Oliveira Dominates at IBJJF Pro League Tournament

November 6, 2014 - Columbus, Ohio -  The Spot Athletics is proud to announce the recent victory of Vitor Oliveira at the International Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Federation Pro League Tournament on October 19th, 2014. This prestigious tournament was an invite-only event and only the top four competitors in each class were invited to compete.

Vitor Oliveira and The Spot Athletics Owner,  JL Holdsworth, celebrate victory

GF Team member Oliveira reflects on the growth of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu: “Everything is really blowing up in the US; there are tournaments every couple of weeks. We don’t have that in Brazil.” Just a few weeks prior, Vitor dominated at the IBJJF Pan Am No Gi Tournament on September 27th, 2014, but this most recent victory was a milestone for Oliveira’s career.


This was the third Pro League Tournament and winners received prize money, illustrating the growth of the sport. More exciting was the announcement of two more future tournaments, which Vitor will be preparing for. 

Oliveira’s next competition is scheduled for Decemeber 14th, 2014 in Long Beach, California and he currently trains at The Ronin Training Center and The Spot Athletics in Columbus, Ohio. The Spot Athletics Owner and Head Trainer JL Holdsworth had this to say about Vitor’s performance: “Vitor’s improvement and dominating style never ceases to amaze myself or my staff. He brings that same intensity to his strength and conditioning sessions and we are thrilled to be able to work with such an outstanding athlete.”

With many eyes tracking his progress, Vitor has stayed humble throughout his career. He thanks Ronin Training Center, JL Holdsworth and the staff at the Spot Athletics, Kill Cliff Recovery Drinks and Protein Bars, and Bull Terrier Fight Gear.

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Zach Gallmann of The Spot Athletics Places at North American Strongman National Championships

November 5, 2014 - Columbus, Ohio - Local Strength and Conditioning Coach and Strongman competitor Zachary Gallmann recently traveled to Reno, Nevada to go head-to-head with some of the top amateur Strongman competitors in the country. This event was the biggest Strongman competition to-date and had over 250 competitors. 

Gallmann, who has recently undergone a weight loss transformation of about seventy pounds over the last year, has many years of competition experience in the sport. Of his competition preparation and performance, Zach states, “I was interested to see where my strength was. When I chose to lower my bodyweight by seventy pounds I knew that my strength would decrease, but it’s made me a better overall athlete. Even though, I didn’t do as well as I thought I would, it’s made me hungry for more.”

Zach placed fifth in the 231-265 pound weight class and is looking to compete again in the upcoming year while focusing on regaining strength. He competes with Team BOSS and trains at The Spot Athletics in Columbus, Ohio.

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How Does Your Coach Stack Up?

Maybe you’re looking for your first strength and conditioning coach, shopping around for a new one, or trying to figure out if yours is any good. But how do you know what to look for? Here’s a checklist of some things to look for to see if your coach is top notch or just another person spewing nonsense.

1) What have they done? Do they currently compete in a sport or have they in the past? Or are they out of shape and can’t actually demonstrate anything they tell you to do? Do they practice what they preach or do they just point and yell? Find a coach that can walk the walk and talk the talk. Find one that trains, competes, and utilizes what they teach.

2) What does your coach do in their spare time? Do they attend conferences, read journals, write articles? Or are they using the same outdated information because they “always know best?” Find someone that is always trying to learn and make themselves better. Better yet, find a coach who writes articles, presents at conferences, and is someone that others in the industry look up to.

3) Does your coach say there is only one way to do things? A good coach knows that training is not a one size fits all approach. Everyone is different. Everyone has different goals, injuries, limitations, and is training for different reasons. Your coach shouldn’t have a cookie cutter approach to training but should know how to individualize everything.

4) Where has your coach learned their stuff? Did they open up a gym after getting an online certification? Or have they had internships and learned from some of the best in the industry? You can’t learn how to coach without getting hands on experience and learning from more experienced individuals. Take a look at your coach’s resume. If they don’t have any real world experience, get out of there. 

5) Does your coach put you through a thorough assessment? If you start a training program before being put through an assessment, RUN. Everyone has different bodies, problems, and injuries. A program should be made to fit your goals based on your strengths and weaknesses. Maybe you have tight hips, a weak left hamstring, or trouble breathing properly. All of those issues should be known before your coach writes your program.

These are just a few things to keep in mind when you try to see how your coach stacks up. If your coach doesn’t fit the criteria above- go and find yourself someone who is knowledgeable, thorough, and experienced. You probably wouldn’t trust a doctor who didn’t have real world experience, so why would you trust a coach who doesn’t have the same? Hopefully this checklist will help you find a knowledgable, trustworthy, and fitting coach.

Why Is Mobility Important?

First time gym goers will often learn new movements and experiment with others that they see the people around them doing. When implementing new activities into a routine, whether its lifting weights or doing cardio on the stair stepper, it’s important to have decent mobility not only to decrease the risk of injury, but to function properly during everyday activities. Mobility, not to be confused with flexibility, is the ability of the two bones that connect at a joint to move uninhibited by surrounding tissue. Unfortunately, this side of physical fitness usually goes unaddressed because people do not take the time to do a meaningful warm-up. This article will help you differentiate mobility from flexibility, and review why it is important to recognize mobility as a unique facet of overall fitness.

Most people will get to the gym, do a quick warm-up that consists of talking to friends and checking their phones (maybe a little flexing in the mirror), and then jump right into sets of heavy compound movements. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that this is a recipe to get hurt, but you’d be surprised to find out how many people do just that. Stretching and mobility work isn’t glamorous. Putting up big weights will get the heads in the gym to turn, so you often see kids throw plates upon plates on the bar without doing even one set with the unloaded bar. If they don’t even do a proper warm up, you can almost guarantee they aren’t doing any mobility work to make sure their joints are healthy. Not doing this will put you in a vulnerable position for an injury that could set your progress back months, if not years. 

We all know the guys that show off to their friends saying: “My chest is so big I can’t touch my elbows together!” or “My arms are too big to touch my shoulders with my fingertips!” Many of us have been that guy at some point. Everyone “oohs” and “ahhs” at your parlor trick, but unless you’re 250+ pounds, you should not have these issues. That is a result of poor mobility, not massive, gloat-worthy muscles.

The important thing to remember about mobility is that it differs from flexibility (a subset of mobility), which is the ability to stretch a muscle in a static environment. Mobility means being able to move a joint through a full range of motion in a dynamic environment. This means that your ligaments, muscles, and nervous system capabilities are all factored in to determine whether or not a particular joint is immobile. For example, someone who is flexible might be able to do a full split on the ground and stretch from side to side, touching their nose to the ground. But mobility determines whether they can summon these skills to do a split jump in the air. A martial artist who can kick his opponent’s head would be considered mobile because he is strong in that split position and can bring force down on his opponent. Someone might be flexible enough to get in that position on the ground, but in a dynamic environment, their nervous system will not allow it if they are immobile.

Having poor mobility WILL eventually lead to injuries. Just because you haven’t had any serious problems yet doesn’t mean it won’t come back to bite you in the future. Most of the time, mobility problems lead to more muscle tears and strains than lifting with poor technique will. So take at least 15 minutes before every workout to foam roll muscles to break up scar tissue and then STRETCH! Don’t mess around and BS it. Really make the stretch uncomfortable, and it will pay off in the long run. As you slowly improve, you will find it easier to fix form, get stronger, and feel less tension overall in your joints. Implementing mobility work in your routine will not only reap performance benefit, it will improve overall wellness and flexibility.

Savannah Steamer