When you think about Girls Who Powerlift, you think of strength. But that strength doesn't just mean how much you can lift. True strength comes from struggle and what happens when there's no other option. No struggle is harder than being sick and having to fight for your life. We had the immense pleasure of interviewing Valerie Valentino who is a 23-year-old cancer survivor. Just after finding her passion for powerlifting she was diagnosed and had to learn to be just as strong outside of the gym as she was inside the gym. Here's her story. 

Introduce yourself to the GWPL community

Hello! I’m Valerie Valentino, I’m 23 years old and I’m a cancer-surviving powerlifter. I recently moved to North Dakota with my boyfriend because he got stationed here. He’s my boyfriend, but he’s also my coach and he’s taught me everything I know about the barbell.

When did you get into lifting and why?

I got into the gym straight out of high school. I was an athlete all through school, so after graduation, I just needed something to keep me active. When I first stepped into a gym I was intimidated and scared! I didn’t know how to use anything and I thought everyone was looking at me and knew I had no idea what hat I was doing.  I started seeing people squatting, benching and deadlifting, and I was like hey, I want to learn how to do that. So I started asking people to show me. Most people showed me the wrong way, but eventually, I asked a powerlifter (Kevin, the boyfriend) and I learned the right way. I started with just the bar and slowly was able to add weight. Then something awesome started happening; I started getting stronger! What felt impossible one week, I’d be lifting the next. I fell I love with the feeling of hitting a PR. I fell in love with improving myself. And before I knew it, lifting had become one of the biggest parts of my life.

Which of the big 3 is your favorite and why?

My favorite of the lifts changes from time to time-based on whatever is feeling best for me at that time.  I love deadlifting because I feel like it’s the most savage and I honestly have fun doing it. Squats I feel are more impressive and take a lot of technique in order to excel at them. Squatting takes a lot out of me so when I know I have a heavy squat day I usually make an afternoon of it. The bench is probably the lift that I’m most proud of. When I started I could hardly bench the bar and I’ve had to work very hard to get where I am today. I remember when benching a plate (135lbs) was a dream of mine, and now I can rep a plate and that just a great feeling to have.

Talk to us about when and how you were you were diagnosed with cancer?

I was diagnosed with cancer on January 16, 2018. My boyfriend was deployed and he was coming home the very next day so it wasn’t exactly how I wanted to welcome him home. So here’s how I found out; I was training for a new job and now was just standing there listening to my coworker when I touched my neck. I instantly noticed a golf ball size bump above my collar bone that I had never noticed before. I kinda panicked so this girl probably thought I was out of my mind. Well, I asked around over the next few days and people all said the same things to me. “Oh it’s just a swollen lymph node”, “oh you’re body is just fighting off an illness, it’ll go away”. Well in my 22 years of life my lymph nodes had never done this and it wasn’t going away. It would fluctuate in size and after a few months, I decided to see a doctor. I really thought it was nothing. I thought maybe they would have to remove it but nothing serious. So I got referred from doctor to doctor for a couple of months and was growing impatient with their lack of urgency. I remember saying to myself, “what if it was something serious like cancer, and they’re just taking their sweet time”, not thinking I actually had anything serious like that.

Eventually had a biopsy on it, which hurt very badly, and they told me the news. I was pretty devastated for different reasons.  First off, they told me I was going to lose all of my hair. I had long beautiful brown hair and I was going to lose it all. Secondly, I had just signed up for my first powerlifting meet and I was really pumped for it. I was stubborn and I said I was going to compete anyway. I kept training only to become weaker every week. It got to the point where I couldn’t even do the main 3 lifts without hyperventilating and I eventually made the decision to back out of the meet.

At first I was aggravated by how many months it took them to diagnose me, but honestly, it was perfect timing. If they had told me any sooner I wouldn’t have had Kevin home to help me through it all. He was the one who shaved my head when I couldn’t handle the shedding anymore. He’s the one who sat by me when I was getting chemotherapy. He’s the one who cooked for me when I was so sick I could hardly speak. Things like that make me feel like everything happens for a reason because I would have hated to have faced this alone. It was hard. It was really really hard and it’s still hard at times. I felt like I was losing everything that made me feel like me. I lost my long beautiful hair. I lost my strength and I could hardly do anything at the gym. I had to watch all the strength I had trained so hard to gain, just fade away.  I lost my energy and I was sick every other week. I had a lot of side effects from treatment too. I got mouth sores so bad I couldn’t eat or drink. The pain was so bad I couldn’t sleep more than 30 minutes and I’d wake up crying again. I got random skin discoloration due to hormone imbalance. I had heat flashes non stop. I was given a shot to turn off my baby maker in order to protect it so I could have kids one day. With that came menopause essentially. So on top of going through chemotherapy, I got to go through menopause as well.

I had 8 rounds of chemo, one every other Friday for 4 months. My last treatment was on June 1st, 2018. I got back to powerlifting almost immediately. It wasn’t easy and the chemo was still in my system for about 6 months after treatment was over. I was just itching to get under a bar again. Kevin wrote me out a program and I started getting my strength back, and it came back pretty fast.

Before long, I was stronger than I had ever been. I signed up for my first powerlifting meet and competed March 23, 2019. I got first place in my weight class for open and juniors and took 8 state records. Talk about a freakin come back!  I will never give powerlifting up. It was always there for me even when I didn’t know it was. It's shown me how strong I really am and what my body can overcome. When I was sick And stuck in Bed for days all I could think about was lifting again. When Kevin would go to the gym I’d go with him even though he told me I needed to rest.

How did being sick and going through treatment affect your life and your training?

Having cancer and going through chemotherapy affected my life and my training tremendously. As far as training went, I really couldn’t. I couldn’t even touch a barbell after the first month of treatment. I still went to the gym and did what I could, but I just continued to get weaker. I was so anxious to be able to lift and train hard again. I had been so used to pushing myself in the gym, but for the first time, I really couldn’t do that. It was hard. It was hard losing everything that I thought made me, me. I lost all of what I believed to be my best qualities. I lost my strength, my long beautiful hair, my perfect skin, and most of my muscle. Powerlifting had become a passion of mine and I had to take a step back. The great thing about powerlifting is that as soon as I beat cancer and I was ready to train again, it was still there.

What advice would you give to someone who is dealing with a setback?

There are not many young powerlifting women going through cancer. So when I got diagnosed there were a lot of questions the doctors couldn’t answer for me.  The advice I would have given myself would be that it’s ok not to be ok. It’s ok to be sick. I didn’t know the difference between being lazy and just being really sick. I tried to push myself and I was too hard on myself.

What have you learned about yourself going through this process? 

I really learned how strong I am going through all of this. I learned how much I could inspire others with my story and that's exactly what I hope to continue doing.  I learned that powerlifting will always be there for me to come back to, and I learned that the come back is stronger than the setback.

Has your fight with cancer affected how you live and train now? Meaning, are you more careful or mindful of things and if so, how?

Well, I definitely appreciate powerlifting more than I ever did before and I also came back more motivated than ever. I came back with a vengeance for the weights. I came back with a point to prove. I really just wanted to feel like myself again. It still tries to hold me back in the gym at times though. I have acid problems now so I have to be careful when I  lift or I'll throw up ( yes, it's happened}. During chemo, I had a port in my chest and I only had one sports bar I could wear to the gym because if it, People would ask me why I always wore the same one, so they probably thought I was a weirdo. Now I have a pretty gnarly scar on my chest from my port and it still gets irritated from my sports bras and tank tops, but I just suck it up.

Do you have any specific goals in powerlifting? (i.e. totals, PRs, specific records you want to break)

Right now my goal for powerlifting is my next meet that’s in October this year. I want to break my own records I just set it March.  I’d like to squat and deadlift around 350 and bench 170, so fingers crossed!

Where do you see yourself in the next 5 years?

It’s really hard to say where I see myself in 5 years. Whenever Kevin gets stationed I’ll follow him and my job transfers easily anywhere in the country. Maybe we’ll still be here in good olé North Dakota, or maybe we’ll end up closer to our family on the East coast.  I’ll probably be married with a little monster running around, and I’ll definitely be even stronger than I am today. Oh and I’ll have long pretty hair again because I’m never cutting it short again in my life. I hope Kevin and I are still competing together and pushing one another to be the bests version of ourselves possible.

(Just for funsies) What's your favorite breakfast meal?

First of all, breakfast if my favorite meal. The perfect breakfast would be a ham and cheese omelet, cinnamon French toast,  7 pieces of crispy bacon, a fruit salad and a very large iced coffee. Please and thank you.

Get to know Valerie a little bit better on Instagram

The past year has been a year of growth. I needed to reset myself. Honestly, it had nothing to do with powerlifting but because that was such a huge part of my life I needed to break up with it in order to figure what other aspects of my life had taken a back seat. I’ve learned so much in the past year. Going through it, made me feel as though I had failed, but now being partially on the other side of it, I realized that it was necessary. I had some real conversations with myself and those close to me and what I found out was that I needed to get healthy.

PHYSICALLY

I had built up this idea that I was a powerlifter so as long as the weight was moving I was going in the right direction but that was a lie and eventually the weight stopped moving. Powerlifting, while it was a part of my life, wasn’t my entire life. I wasn’t eating well and I wasn’t moving well in or outside of the gym. Things that I should have been able to do with ease were hard. Going for a jog, walking up stairs, standing for longer than 20 minutes. Those simple things made my heart race and made joints, back and feet ache. I felt like a much older person. I’m in my early thirties with no real illnesses. My strength started to plateau.

What helped: I used what I had. I’m the proud owner of an incredible gym that offers boot camp classes for beginners. I wasn’t a beginner to the fitness world but because of the way I was moving, it was as if I had to start from the beginning. It was incredibly humbling but worth it. My joints got stronger. My cardiovascular system was getting better and I was starting to be able to run and jump as I had never before.

The next thing I did was ask for help! This one is big because I’ve often felt like asking for help meant that I was dumb or inadequate in some way. I realized that although I knew what I needed to do, I also needed accountability. I got a nutrition coach. She has changed my life! I’m not at the place where I quite understand what she did for me but what I know is that I’ve never thought of myself as a person with discipline and somehow I’ve been so disciplined and focused and it’s really starting to pay off. I’ve never been prouder of myself.

MENTALLY

I was terrified daily. I was afraid that everything that I had built would disappear. I was afraid to move or make decisions because I was putting so much pressure on myself. I began to isolate myself because I was embarrassed about my feelings and I felt alone because I didn’t think anyone understood what I was going through since I couldn’t exactly articulate it myself. One day, I thought to myself, “if I was gone, no one would care. In fact, everyone and everything would be better off, even be more successful. I am the reason for every bad thing that is happening.” I wanted to disappear. I confessed my feelings to my husband and he encouraged me to seek help. I went to a therapist and learned that I wasn’t alone. In fact, there were actual legitimate reasons why I was feeling this way and she gave me practical, tangible advice.

What helped: I also sought help from others who were like me. I read books, listened to podcasts and read articles and blogs from other female entrepreneurs. I realized that most of us go through very similar seasons in life. It was enlightening. I listened and put into practice everything that I had learned.

I envisioned the person I wanted to be and started taking steps to become her. I cleansed my social media. If it didn’t serve me or bring me happiness I unfollowed or muted the account. I started doing things like setting alarms in my phone or writing on my mirror messages to myself to remind me of the person I wanted to be. Strong. Confident. Happy.

I took my life back! I stopped thinking about what others thought of me and I stopped worrying about whether anyone was ok with it or not. I couldn’t afford to give anyone that much energy.

I’m happy to say that this journey, although it’s still the beginning, has gotten me to where I’m training again! I have a new powerlifting coach and we’ve been working together for 5 weeks and I’ve never felt stronger. I went from trying to do it on my own all the time to having a group of people that are dedicated to my success and happiness.

I wanted to share this part of my life so that you know that you are not alone. If you are not happy with some part of your life you have the power to fix it. If you feel lost, there are ways to find yourself and you owe it to your future self to do so. Remember that seasons are cyclical and if you keep moving forward eventually you will be in a new season, a bright colorful one that’s full of new beginnings but you have to keep moving. Ask for help and do the work! You got this! I believe in you!

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Written by Brittany Kohnke

The king of all exercises: the squat.  What seems so easy for some can truly be a royal pain in the ass for others.  Perfecting your squat technique takes an understanding of biomechanics and consistent refinement and practice.  Working with a variety of athletes and being a competitor myself I found there are a few cues that can improve the squat from both a performance and injury prevention standpoint.  Before I get into those cues, it is important to understand what type of squatter you are.

Generally, there are two camps of people.  The people who have an upright, seemingly perfect squat form and those who resemble more of a folded over, good morning-type squatter.  The Internet trolls may disagree with me here, but NEITHER is good or bad. The respective form is dependent on your individual leverages, strengths, and weaknesses so having an understanding of where you fall on this continuum will be important as you read through these cues.

The first type of squatter are those people as I mentioned who will remain relatively upright during the descent and ascent of the lift.  These lifters have proportions (i.e. femur length compared to torso length) that are relatively balanced which allows them to squat deep and remain upright for most of the lift.  Again, generally speaking, these people will have strong ass legs in comparison to their low back.

The second type of squatter are those who tend to look pitched forward at the bottom of the lift.  These are the people with long femurs in relation to their torso, thus creating a squat that looks more like a good morning coming out the hole.  Again, this isn’t a bad thing, we can’t change how our bodies are built, but it’s just a different “look” to the squat. People with this form typically have strong backs in comparison to their legs.

Regardless of where your squat falls, the following 4 cues can be used to un-f*ck your squat, particularly for raw lifters.

Cue 1:  “Squeeze your elbows together”

The squat really starts in your set up.  This often over-looked aspect by a lot of beginners is perhaps, in my opinion, the easiest and most impactful cue because if you’re not prepared from the start, your squat will go to shit real quick, regardless of how “perfect” it may be.  Whether you are implementing the high or low bar set up, the idea of squeezing your elbows together remains. Your hands should be placed as close to your shoulders as your mobility will allow. Elbows should be pointing back behind you as you think about pulling them “together” or towards the spine.  Again, this will look different on everyone, but the concept remains the same. Squeezing your elbows together will allow your upper back to create a “shelf” and secure the bar into place. This tightness will also help mitigate any discomfort caused by the bar while helping to implement cue #2.

Cue 2: “Drive your back into the bar”

As you’re coming out of the hole of the squat, there is a tendency for the chest to fall forward to some degree.  Regardless if you’re in the short or long femur club, this pitch forward can mean the death of the lift. Once the bar strays from that magical center of gravity point (generally around the mid-foot), recovering can be very difficult if not dangerous.  To help avoid or mitigate that, coaches will say “drive your back into the bar”. This cue has actually replaced the popular “chest up” as it helps keep the lifter in both spinal alignment and within the center of gravity path. You see, chest up creates extension, particularly in the lumber spine, which during the squat is the last thing we want happening.  Thinking about pushing your upper back into the bar will automatically keep the chest up, but ensure the energy being created and moved stays in that center of gravity while keeping the spine neutral. Further, this cue can also help lifters think about driving their legs and using their back simultaneously (more on that concept in cue #3).

Cue 3:  “Knees to the wall in front of you”

Wait a minute, did I really say your knees need to be forward in the squat?  How can that be if we follow the infamous “weight in your heels” cue as we are coming out of the bottom of the squat? Hate to tell you, that cue is crap for most of us.  The phrase “keep your weight in your heels” was actually coined for equipped powerlifters, but somehow it has been deemed appropriate for general squatting technique. A better way to look at it is to keep your weight distributed evenly throughout the foot (particularly in three points: the big toe, pinkie toe, and heal).  As you ascend up you want to “keep your knees on the wall in front of you” as long as possible. Generally, coming out of the hole and for the next 3-6 inches is where a lot of lifters tend to “get stuck” or “buried”. There will be this tendency for the hips to shoot back, making the hamstrings and low back take the brunt of the load, leaving the quadriceps almost out of the whole equation. Even if you are a back-dominant squatter, this is not a good position to be in.  To neglect not only the biggest, but the most advantageous muscles really limits the lifter’s potential and more importantly, puts them at risk for injury. Thinking about keeping the knees forward will help deter this shift back from occurring by keeping force production balanced and efficient. On a side note, this was the most impactful cue for myself as a lifter. I struggled for 2 years to break the 300lb mark, but once I was able to get my quads involved, PR’s were coming every meet thereafter.  

Cue 4:  “Stay strong in your legs”

Over the last few years, I started to see some trends amongst my athletes as I began coaching the squat more and more.  Some of these trends would also show during my own training so I knew I had to figure out a way to combat some of these slight technical flaws to not only help my people but ascend me to the next level.  “Stay strong in your legs” is a pretty broad way of saying be intentional in your reps by grounding your legs throughout the entire move. Let me explain.

Yes, the squat is technically a total body exercise.  From maintaining upper back tightness, bracing your core the entire 360-degree circumference, and using your lower body to drive you up, there really isn’t a muscle not working or engaged at some point.  Being intentional about each rep reinforces this, but particularly in the legs. From the start, the legs and glutes should flex as you stand waiting to perform the rep. This, in my opinion, and experience, creates a slight “activation” of the very muscles we want working when the weight is trying to hold us down.  Then, during the descent, there should be a mind-body connection with the legs to help you control your descent. Whether you’re a dive bomb squatter or someone who is precise and calculated as you go down, the legs need to be very much involved and thought of. Finally, as you are in the hole and making your way up, you should be thinking of pushing your legs through the floor as your upper back drives into the bar.  Staying strong in your legs allows all of that to happen; briefly letting this just “happen”, especially during sub-max and maximal efforts, again, limits potential and puts one at risk for injury.

Well there you have it, my top 4 cues raw lifters should live by!  During your next squat session, give these a try and be sure to tell me what you think!

Written by Sarah Strong

When I first started powerlifting, I signed up for a meet right away. I knew close to nothing about the sport, but I have zero regrets about competing just three months into picking it up. Here are my top ten tips for your first meet:

Just sign up! I hear so many lifters say that don’t want to enter a competition until their lifts hit a certain number. But everyone starts somewhere, and the experience of a meet under your belt will help. I entered my first meet after just three months of training. I was so nervous, but I am glad I did it. I got to watch a lot of experienced lifters and learn from them. It prepared me to train better and be more competitive at future meets.

Don’t cut. For your first meet, don’t worry about your weight class. Enter whatever category you naturally fit in. The physical and mental stress of cutting before a meet can totally tank your numbers when it comes time to hit the platform. It’s your first meet, just go out and have fun.

Check your equipment. Before the meet, make sure that any equipment you use is on the federation’s approved list. Some federations have more strict lists than others.

Practice your commands. One of the biggest differences in lifting in the gym to lifting at a meet is that you have to wait for commands. Make sure you research these commands and practice beforehand. You’d hate to have a PR disqualified because you re-racked your squat before the “rack” command.

Do a mock meet. At least a week before the big day, do a mock meet. Do all three lifts with cues. My suggestion for your opening numbers is to pick a weight that you can do at least 3 reps with. Don’t make your opening lift your max or a PR. You get two more chances to hit those big numbers, and you don’t want to be DQ’d for completely missing a lift.

Pack food, lots of food! I’ve been at meets that last a couple of hours, but most of them have taken all day. You may not know the surrounding area so bring your own food. I always bring a cooler full of goodies. You’ll see a lot of doughnuts and junk food at meets, and that’s great, but consider the toll it may take on your stomach. Personally, I like to have healthier options and a few treats for a little sugar rush right before a lift. Either way, you don’t want to run out of fuel so pack up!

Have a handler. This is something I didn’t know about in my first meet, and it left me with using the volunteer staff to do my liftoff on bench. (This only applies to some federation. Some federation will not allow you to choose your lift-off person. Make sure you know the rules of the federation you will be lifting in.) It would be much better to have someone there that you’ve practiced with and who knows how you like your liftoff. You don’t have to have a coach; just get someone you trust.

Warm up, but don’t overdo it. You need to find the sweet spot here, and that’s why a mock meet is so beneficial. You definitely want to warm up before your lifts, but I’ve seen so many athletes kill themselves in the warm-up room and run out of energy on the platform. I like to warm up as closely as possible to when I’ll actually be lifting so I set myself up to peak.

Know kilo conversions, and bring your own conversion chart. You can view a conversion chart HERE. After each lift, you’ll go to the judges’ table and tell them how much you want on the bar for your next attempt. You’ll need to say the amount if kilos, not pounds. They’ll usually have a printout of conversions, but sometimes it just helps to be familiar with the conversions beforehand and have an idea of what you want your attempts to be.

Have fun! Competing is a huge adrenaline rush and the powerlifting community is filled with kind, supportive athletes. Look at your first meet as a learning experience. Soak up all the tips and tricks from veteran lifters, and just enjoy yourself.

Comment below if you have any other tips for a first-timer.