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PetitePowerlifter.com
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Check here first for THE LATEST NEWS!
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Minnesota's awesome First Lady, Mary Pawlenty, recently invited Cheryl Anderson to represent Women's Powerlifting at the Minnesota Governor's Residence by honoring her and several other women of accomplishment at the "Notable Women of Minnesota" Dinner on June 1st!
My computer crashed, and my personal schedule has become unbelieveable, causing delays in updating this site...but thanks for checking back! Here are just a few latest news items while we're catching up: Mitch Edelstein just lifted at the USAPL Hudson Open in Wisconsin on Oct. 28, and - surprise! - I coached him for a third time, once again mentally lifting the weights and ending the day mentally exhausted (and dehydrated down to probably 97, since I helped him cut weight all the way to nearly the cut-off for weigh-ins). He went 7/9 in the Men's Open 220 lb. class, squatting 590, benching a personal best and state record 430, and deadlifting another personal best and state record 670. His efforts that day placed him 1st with a 1690 total. He had attempted to pull 680 to break the 1700 barrier, and mark my words, that is just around the corner! Congratulations to my "twin" (born on the same day - May 25th - separated by 13 years... just one of many things in common) on another strong meet performance. Had he lifted like this at the USAPL Twin Cities Open, he would have placed 1st in the Men's Deadlifts and 2nd in the Men's Bench Press... 2nd overall. Personally, I think this man needs his own website. He deserves it, but he is one of the most modest of accomplished and consistent powerlifters around. Stay tuned... PetitePowerlifter.com might very soon host a web profile on this awesome guy :) Speaking of the Twin Cities Open, a.k.a. "TCO," that event took place at THE GYM in Plymouth, MN on Sept. 23rd. CHECK OUT A FEW PICTURES! In a coaching reversal, I lifted while Mitch coached me back to focusing again after I had missed two of my squats, enabling me to break a 20-year-old USAPL Open American Bench Record in full meets. I was stuck with my opener squat of 231.5 lbs., but I benched a personal best American and state record of 172, followed with a state record deadlift of 320, totaling 723 lbs. in the Women's Open 97 lb. class. As mentioned on the home page, I won Best Female Lifter also! Even something as wonderful as breaking a long-standing American Bench Press record can be turned into a topic of (crazy) debate as my miraculous accomplishment became a front-page news item on PowerliftingWatch.com. It was nice to see so much support and uplifting words in the face of insanity. WHO WOULD HAVE GUESSED? ;) I will go on record and say that my raw (unassisted, bench-shirtless) bench is currently 150 lbs. Go figure. Onto the latest in other news... the College Page has a little update on my rapidly-ending college years (!!!!!!!!!) and my new Corporate Communications internship at Northwest Airlines (the one at the City of Edina had wrapped-up at the end of May). My first coaching experience: USAPL Men's Nationals and Mitch places 2nd @ 220! (8/06) It's that time again...so everybody say it altogether now... "Who would have guessed?" Since my last competition, I have been involved in powerlifting in an entirely different realm - drafted as a coach twice! My training partner and friend, Mitch Edelstein, placed 2nd in the Men's 220 lb. Open class at the USAPL Men's Nationals which took place in Miami, Florida this past July. This was my first time coaching anyone - from the gym, through last-minute weight-cutting, and all the way through 'till the last bar hit the floor. Mitch had a perfect meet performance, hitting all 9 of his attempts, breaking three state records (bench press, deadlift and total), and packing another 47 lbs. onto his last successful full-meet total to win a silver medal. At this huge event, I had the awesome opportunity to meet and help the competitors from Minnesota (who all did an incredible job, placing very high in their respective classes), getting involved behind-the-scenes with everything from warm-ups to gear to keeping track of their flights. Here's some of the discussion posted on the Unofficial USAPL Forum about the Minnesota guys after the meet:
Huge
Minnesota Lifting...
Just a brief recap of the huge lifting done by Minnesota at Men's Nationals
this year...
All I can say was that all the guys did an amazing job rockin' the house in Miami... these guys had heart, they were determined, and it showed!! I am proud of all of you and had an awesome time, my first time attending Men's Nationals. One of the factors I think that led to such great results was the spirit of this group - the best teamwork I'd ever seen, as all the guys were there to help and support one another (and may I add ANGELA's unbelieveable efforts helping everything turn out well, esp. come deadlift-time!!!). I have to say that the showdown between Nick and Tony in the 242's was simply awesome to witness. Many, many congratulations to Tony, Nick, Greg, Sean (who made his terrific debut here - way to go!!), and Mitch on their very memorable performances this past weekend!
Re:
Huge Minnesota Lifting...
However, I concentrated on coaching Mitch, as I had been training with him 3 days a week at THE GYM since late March of this year. After his shocking, frustrating, and unexplainable experience at this year's USAPL Master's Nationals, he came back home, went back to the drawing board and invited me to get involved in his preparations for Men's Nationals. I began to work with him on perfecting his form, developing sharper focus, stronger determination, and everything mind-over-matter. All of this, for me, meant sharing just about everything I had learned in my own experiences training and competing. At the same time, it also meant taking an accelerated crash-course in "Advanced Powerlifting at the National Level" - plus additional credits in "How to Coach a Lifter With 8x's More Lifting Experience Than Yourself" (that would call for a separate web page altogether, LOL!). His results that day were better than anyone could have ever expected!!
Thanks to Mitch for encouraging my involvement as his coach - as he calls it, "mentally lifting the weights for him." Most of all, for drafting me into the sport in a different way... one in which I had the opportunity to learn a TON and gain even more valuable experience!
And as for what is happening with MY LIFTING?... as I always say here... STAY TUNED! :) Thanks for checking back! 325 lb. deadlift @ 96.6 lbs. bodyweight - and an evening at the Governor's residence (6/06) Last year, I turned 30 in Finland at the IPF Women's Worlds...but this year, the week of my 31st birthday was no less exciting, as some amazing stuff also took place ("who would have guessed?" has become my favorite "Latest News" question, LOL). The First Lady of Minnesota, Mary Pawlenty, held a special dinner honoring women of accomplishment on June 1st... and guess who was able to take part! (No, I still can't believe how cool that was :) Here are a few pictures and experiences from the very memorable evening. And, o n the heels of my last full power meet, I competed at the WABDL Midwest Regional Bench Press and Deadlift Championships on May 27th, once again in the Women's Open 97 lb. class, to increase my best deadlift (and the 97 lb. Women's Open National Deadlift Record)- now 325 lbs.! I also brought home the Outstanding Female Deadlifter Award again this year, having competed against eight strong women. Here's an exciting video clip of the 319.5 lb. pull that came before the 325 lbs. (large file size - please be patient!) and photos from the event. And here's the first report I posted on Weight Trainers United, the day after the competition, describing how the day went. 740 lbs. @ 96.8 lbs. bodyweight - and an invitation to the Governor's mansion for dinner!! (4/06) I competed at the USAPL Zumbro Valley Open on April 29th and, yes, I did indeed bring the 315 lb. deadlift (which I have done countless times in the gym but never officially in competition). Grippin'-n'-rippin' it contributed to an overall 740 lb. total in the 97 lb. Women's Open class! Here's a video clip of the 315 lb. pull which ended my 8/9 day (thanks to Brad Madvig for compressing the original gigantic file size into something more manageable). Check out the first report I posted on Weight Trainers United, the day after the competition, describing how the day went. And it gets even better! - In other news, I have been contacted by the office of the First Lady of Minnesota, Mary Pawlenty (Governor Tim Pawlenty's wife) - she is sending me an invitation to the "Notable Women of Minnesota" dinner in June at the Governor's mansion, after she read all about my powerlifting achievements in the Minneapolis Star Tribune West last year!! Ready for Zumbro! (4/06) I've just completed one of the best training cycles I've ever had, and now I'm cutting down to the 97 lb. weight class again for the fast-approaching USAPL Zumbro Valley Open in Kasson, Minnesota on April 29th. I haven't competed in this weight class since the IPF Women's World Championships in Finland last year, so I'm looking forward to all-new personal bests! I owe a ton of thanks to my new training partner, Mitch Edelstein (who has been training for the upcoming Masters National Championships right alongside me, 3 days a week). A veteran of the sport and a multi-time state champion who possesses (at minimum) a triple-bodyweight deadlift, he's given me the extra push of motivation and attitude that I've needed in my training, along with direct assistance on squat and bench days (did I mention I ended with a competition-style 175 lb. bench, followed by a set of 185 lbs. with board presses for 2 sets of 2 reps?). There have been (even more!) exciting new developments at the City of Edina - including a new permanent position that has opened in the all-new Communications and Marketing Department. My internship ends in late May, and I've applied for the new full-time position. We shall see what happens - either I'll be working full time in an exciting new career before I graduate, or I'll be focusing intently on school until the very end and continuing to train hard. Stay tuned, as usual! :) The Intern is still going at it - that includes powerlifting "in the news" (3/06) I've added a special page about my internship with the City of Edina. I had also been meaning to develop a page that includes all the media and publicity covering my involvement in powerlifting over the years and have finally started one - check it out! I will be adding more scans to that soon - the 5-page Powerlifting USA article I wrote on IPF World's last year is taking a bit longer, as well as the 3-page Star Tribune West story from 5/25/05 - stay tuned. Thanks! Countdown
to graduation: 8 months Things can only get better from here (2/06) What doesn't kill me makes me stronger. When I hit bottom, the only way to go is up. And it's happened time and time and time again. My latest post at Weight Trainers United explains what in the world happened to me when I traveled to Denver for Women's Nationals. This is pretty much all I have to say about that. After I am restored 100%, Lord willing (and I have a feeling this time it definitely is!), my next powerlifting meet will make up for this disaster...and then some. Stay tuned! Nine more months until graduation parties :) Sort of like going through a pregnancy and waiting for the big day...and I remember how quickly that kind of time flies by.
ARCHIVES of The Latest News - 2002 to 2005
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© 2004-05 Cheryl Anderson, Site Designer and Developer |
Catching up: Competitions,
College, and Another Awesome Internship (11/06)
Here are the 