If the idea of lifting hundreds of pounds over your head sounds intimidating, a local gym wants you to give it a shot — for a good cause.
The Amherst gym Be Awesome Be Strong is hosting the Be Awesome Deadlift Challenge on Saturday, Feb. 28, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Proceeds will benefit Cancer Connection, a Northampton nonprofit that helps people with cancer and their families. As of this writing, nearly two dozen competitors — ages 23 to 73 — are signed up to participate.
Some competitors are “just testing out what it feels like for a good cause, and then we have some really competitive athletes that have state and national records who are coming, who are likely to have some very strong lifts that day, and it’ll be impressive to watch,” said gym owner Beth Anne Moonstone, who is also a powerlifter and strength coach. “It’ll be a nice, fun event where we can all feel like we’re doing something good and celebrating our community.”
The winners of the challenge will earn bragging rights, but Moonstone said the real winner is Cancer Connection. She was inspired to host the powerlifting benefit event because several longtime members of Be Awesome Be Strong are cancer survivors. In fact, one of the gym’s instructors, just celebrated five years cancer-free.
“That’s big, but it also points out to us how many people in our community directly are affected by cancer,” Moonstone said. Supporting Cancer Connection over a national cancer charity made sense, she added, because the organization has direct ties to the Valley.
Beyond the fundraising, Moonstone and other lifters emphasized that powerlifting offers numerous benefits. It helps participants build bone density and muscle mass while helping them build confidence in their own abilities and challenging notions of who a powerlifter can be.
“There are a lot of people who get involved in strength sports and realize that it’s way more approachable than they thought,” Moonstone said. “You don’t need to be super coordinated. A lot of times, when we think of what an athlete looks like, we think of someone who has done sports their whole life or fits the particular image of a fit person. But in reality, lots of people can be healthy and strong that are all different ages and sizes.”
For example, Moonstone recently had a client in her 70s who was able to deadlift 95 pounds by the end of a half-hour session.
“She was like, ‘That was actually not as hard as I thought,’ but the amount of confidence she left with was huge,” Moonstone said. “And so, that carries over to her thinking, ‘I am capable, and I’m not frail. I just have to know how to do it safely.’”
Moonstone’s own path began with her underestimating her own capabilities. As a child, she never engaged in sports beyond riding her bicycle “a bit” as she considered herself too uncoordinated. After some health issues in her early 40s, she started going to the gym, lifting the three-pound weights. She eventually saw members doing strength sports and realized, “With a barbell in my hand, I am super strong, and I don’t actually have to be graceful about it. And I fell in love with it.”
That was 10 years ago. Now, she can deadlift 325 pounds.
Participant and physical therapist Maurice Disley has been training for the competition for the past few months. Several of his family members have been impacted by cancer, and he wanted to use his love of lifting to benefit cancer research and treatment. He appreciates that powerlifting not only gives participants long-lasting benefits to their physical and mental health, but also the supportive community at the gym.
“You’re not competing against anybody,” he said. “You’re really competing against yourself.”
Tina McElmoyl, who has been getting ready for the competition over the last two months and currently deadlifts about 250 pounds, echoed that sentiment. Participants can set records and win awards, but, overall, community members have “this joy in watching other people try to challenge themselves with even one more pound than last time,” she said.
“Powerlifting is such a culmination of all the pieces that you’ve been working on all along,” she said. “What you see on stage is literally one minute. The rest of it is just the road of getting there and what goes into that. It all adds up.”
To those who are on the fence about participating in the Deadlift Challenge, McElmoyl said: “Just come, pick up what you can, and people will clap for you. It’s gonna be so fun.”
Registration is $50 per competitor and is open until the day of the competition. Spectators can attend for free. To register or for more information the Deadlift Challenge, visit beawesomebestrong.com.
