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.

To see original headline, click here.

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. 

The Most Important Thing

The Most Important Thing

…is family. 

Sometimes we get so caught up in our goals that we forget about the people who are propping us up. The people who are there to break the bad news and stick around for our reaction. Family doesn’t always mean blood relation, so I suppose the proper word for what I am trying to convey is COMMUNITY. 

This past weekend, I competed at the Lexen Extreme Fall Classic and I got a reminder of what it meant to personally be a part of a community. The profound sense of acceptance and support that I received over the weekend is something I will never forget. This article will serve two purposes: to recap the meet and show you why building a community is so important.

I competed in the 132-pound class and finished the day with a  215-pound squat, 135-pound bench press, and 260-pound deadlift. Though I didn’t achieve a couple of my goals, I was happy to get a feel for the 132-pound weight class and set a PR total of 610-pounds with the support of many great lifters, coaches, and friends. Some of these people I’d never personally met before but corresponded with on social media, and some of them I’ve known for quite some time.  Regardless, when I stepped onto the brightly-lit platform, it made all the difference that someone was there to support me when I really needed it.

When I say I needed it, I really did. After my missing my first deadlift attempt, I thought I was going to have to cut it there and bomb out. My hip-popped during the lift and my entire left leg was throbbing as I swallowed tears. I was told to pull conventional instead of sumo and the thought of that made me extremely nervous. My sumo pull has always been much stronger than conventional AND I’d maxed my conventional pull just a few weeks earlier and it was super slow. Not only that, but the weight I opened with was five pounds heavier than that super slow conventional pull. There was no way I’d be able to pull it off with an injury. Surprisingly, I PR’d my conventional deadliest by 25 pounds.

In all honesty, I started lifting weights because I just liked how it felt. But now it goes much deeper than that. Now I’m little more competitive, I’ve got training partners, and it kind of just feels like training and competing is something productive to do with my pals. We set our own goals, but we also know that we need each other in order to achieve those goals. This is why building a community is the key to achievement.

It was almost exactly a year ago that I started training at The Spot Athletics and at first l felt like the odd-man-out. Constantly getting picked on, making dumb mistakes, and always asking “Will I get yelled at if I do such-and-such?” Now, I feel a part of a family. Going further, I’ve expanded my network of friends and it was this small group that pushed me at the Fall Classic. It was these guys who offered verbal support, shared their ammonia to get me pumped, rubbed baby powder on my thighs before each deadlift attempt, and inspired me to believe in myself.

Our very own Nic Bronkall, or Coach B, took the time out of a beautiful Saturday to be cooped up at a powerlifting meet to handle me, because here at The Spot Athletics, we have something that not a lot of gyms have: a family. We want everybody to achieve their goals and be motivated to be the best person they can be. 

Savannah Steamer

Friday Technique Video- How to set up bands

Spot Athletics week in review video montage 3/10/2014

It has been a big week for The Spot Athletics.  Two athletes just committed to colleges, at both Ohio Dominican and Louisiana State University.  Another one of our athletes just won his 3rd middle school state wrestling championship, in a row, making him one on a short list of other to ever do that before.  The weather is starting to break, and our clients are working hard in anticipation.  Great work everybody! We're proud of your efforts!

Check out the week in review here!

Great Sunday Workout

Today was a great workout.  My pecs were still a little sore from my Thursday volume workout so I decided to go with a 3-board raw press.  I worked up to 585lbs for a single, it was fairly easy.  Then I did hammer strength shoulder press with 4 plates on each side, pull-ups, rows supersetted with straight arm pulldown. Followed it all up with 30 min. of cardio with a HR of 130-140.