Mavericks that like to pump iron can do so in a team setting if they join the IronMavs Barbell Club. President Elizabeth “Addy” Davis formed the club in January with Alissa Franks, who helps her run the club as vice president.
Powerlifting is a strength-based sport that focuses on three lifts: squat, bench press and dead lift.
“There are people who do enjoy the sport, or at least find it interesting, that don’t have an avenue to go check it out, basically, so we kind of wanted to fill that gap,” Davis said.
They currently have 18 members and expect to grow. Franks said she didn’t know any other power lifters until the club’s coach and advisor Andrew Trujillo approached her in the gym at the Rec Center and asked if she was interested in starting the club with him and Davis. She said he could just tell that she was a power lifter.
Membership in the club is divided between two tiers: general members and auxiliary members. General members are asked to pay $200 and are required to attend more meetings and events than auxiliary members. In exchange, the general members get financial support to travel to meets and extra time with coaches during training.
Davis said that the club’s coach will formulate a training program for anyone that joins the club and work with people one-on-one, regardless of membership type.
“If you want to compete with that, then you’re more than welcome to, and if you want to just work with him and learn more about lifting and good technique, then you’re also welcome to do that,” Davis said.
Davis has been a powerlifter since high school. She intends to graduate in May with a degree in business management. She said powerlifting is more of a competition with yourself than with other people.
“When you go to a meet, you’re trying to beat yourself. You’re trying to do your best. You’re trying to get PRs. It is a self-competition with just the added benefit of maybe a medal at the end of the day,” Davis said. PR stands for personal record, and currently, Davis can squat 314 lbs, bench press 209 lbs and deadlift 415 lbs.
Although it’s not required of members to compete, Davis and Franks both said that going to meets is one of the best parts of power lifting. They spend months training for meets to lift as heavy as they can and try to qualify for Championship meets. Davis and Franks qualified this fall for the USA Power Lifting (USAPL) National Collegiate Championship in Louisiana next April.
Lifting heavy isn’t the only goal in the club, though it is a big part. Franks said that the group encouragement to do your best is a major perk.
Whether it be at meets or during training, Franks said that having a team member there for support makes everything better.
“You want to be there. You want to train. You want to push yourself more,” Franks said.
Franks moved to Grand Junction from Hawaii to go to school. She was a cheerleader for about 10 years before she got into power lifting. Franks said there are a lot of parallels between cheer and power lifting, especially with mind-muscle connection.
“I know my body really well, and so I know what I have to train. I know what I’m feeling,” Franks said. She needed that connection in cheer for stunting and flying and uses it now in powerlifting. She’s also trained to be a firefighter and said powerlifting has probably helped protect her body from a lot of injuries because she knows how to lift heavy things safely.
Franks weighs about 110 lbs and her PRs in the gym are 285 lbs for squat, 145 lbs for bench press and 300 lbs for deadlift.
IronMavs partnered with Lifted Lifestyle Gym on the west end of Grand Junction, and in May, the club is hosting a USAPL sanctioned meet there.
Davis said that if someone is interested, they should come to a club meeting or a team lift event before they decide to apply. The application can be found on their Presence page. The club meets every Friday at 6 p.m. in the Maverick Center. Team lift dates are advertised on their Instagram at @ironmavsbarbell.
“Lifting should not be intimidating; It should be fun, and if you’re intimidated by it at the beginning, that’s normal,” Davis said.
