Sport- Olympic Weightlifting
Age- 32
Location- Langhome, PA
About 2 weeks ago, I just finished up a squat session at McKenna’s Gym, and I was feeling pretty bad ass. I managed to squat my max weight six-times,
and was on cloud nine. As I'm coming off my high horse, Tiana comes in and begins her session. If
you are an Olympic weightlifter and you haven’t heard her name before, you
should start to watch out for her. If you aren't a weight lifter and haven't heard her name before you should watch out for her.
At this point, I hear her coach, Mike McKenna, tell her, “you’re doing
snatches today and working off of 85kg today” and she calmly responded with “okay.” I’m still learning the metric system, and I
quickly did the math. For those of you
who don’t speak in kilograms, that is 187 pounds! I thought to myself, “that is sick! I’ve got to see this.” As I sat there, I watched Tiana snatch 72kg
not once but THREE times! Again, let me
do the math for you. If you multiply 72
by 2.2 and you will get 158.4 pounds.
Yes, ladies and gentlemen Tiana snatched my bodyweight for multiple
repetitions. Here’s the kicker, that isn’t
even her max! I was immediately inspired
and thought to myself, “that was awesome! No, no, that was bad ass. I must learn more about her.”
Days later, I reached out to Tiana to see if she would be
interested to answer some questions for the readers of The MissFit Movement
blog. She soon responded back and was
happy to do so. If you have any doubts
about whether you should continue reading about Tiana, you should watch this video taken at McKenna's Gym: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10200977915187384.
If that doesn't inspire you, you might not be human! Now that I have your attention, you should probably proceed.
Can you fill us in on your background?
Tiana: I grew up in a single parent home I have a younger sister and two older brothers who were just absolute badasses in sport. I wanted nothing more than to be just like them. I figured we all grew up in the same house with the same mother why wouldn't I be able to do the same things they did. They were incredibly encouraging and to this day remain my biggest supporters. I was very active as a kid. I was also always the big kid. Back then I thought I was fat, (I may have been big boned) but turns out I was perfectly healthy as a kid just bigger and stronger than all the others. I had a very old school upbringing. I grew up in a house with a single mother, we spent our days outside playing freeze tag and hide and seek, racing each other down the street for bragging rights and having to be on the porch when the street lights came on.
Did you play competitive sports growing up?
Tiana: I played everything in grade school. Basketball, Softball, Soccer, field hockey, I ran track, but in 10th grade (along with track) I focused on Cheerleading. My position in cheerleading was the main base, they call this position the "powerhouse" as the main base is lifting/holding about 80-90% of the flyers weight. Looking back on it now its interesting how similar Cheerleading and Olympic Lifting are.
I don't have much competitive background outside of the competitions and meets I had in high school and college, but once I left school I was really drawn to individual sports, I participated in triathlons for a good 3 years and I did a lot of rock climbing and swimming neither competitive.
How did you find Olympic Weightlifting?
Tiana: In 2012 I joined a CrossFit gym in Phoenixville. I had my daughter in 2008 and had struggled with losing weight and being active again. I had spent the beginning of 2012 at LA Fitness walking on a treadmill and taking Zumba classes with my sister in law that were more comical than helpful. I tried all the fads spinning classes, hot yoga, boot camp, kick boxing you name it I tried and I hated all of it. I had reached the highest weight I had ever been I was 225lbs I was unhealthy and just not myself. I wanted to do something challenging and I remembered watching a video online about how the guys from the movie 300 got fit for their roles. (Isn't that how we all found CrossFit?) I searched for a CrossFit in my area and found ICA.
My first max lift was a clean and jerk, never heard of this before and was actually shocked at what I was supposed to do. I had been given detailed instructions on how to perform the lift, but all I took from it was that I was supposed to lift as much weight as I possibly could from the ground to my shoulder and then from my shoulder to over my head. When I started to do the movement all instruction went out the door. I ended up doing a reverse curl (no squat) and an odd looking push press with my feet about 2 inches apart in what I thought was a "jerk". I ended up having a max that day of 115lbs. This is having never even touched a barbell before. I started training privately and by February 2013, my 5 rep hang power clean was 185 pounds. (editor's notes: Holy Crap!)
Are you Competing?
Tiana: In my mind I haven't officially competed. I decided that I was going to focus on Oly lifting full-time. That was 10 weeks ago. My first real competition will be in October at CrossFit Collective and then lords willing I will qualify for the American Open. After that you'll have to ask my coach if/when/where I will be competing.
Would you mind sharing your goals?
Tiana: My goals are to go as far as I can in this sport for as long as my body will allow me to do it. Getting medals at The American Open, at Nationals, in Worlds, the Olympics....my goals are endless. I'm so new to this sport and one of the biggest things I hear about the differences between USA and other countries like Russia and China is lifting to them is a need, a means to take care of their families, and put food on the table. It's those kinds of driving forces that make those athletes go above and beyond to do the best they can. It's no secret that in the USA we don't have those kinds of driving forces, we don't have a lot of incentives to make lifting a need. Most of us do this while going to school or working full-time. It's not a sport we can make a career unless we reach the Olympic level and even then its tough to pursue it full-time. For me it has become a need. I've found something I'm really good at, and something that could put me in the history books. I'm Cherokee Indian and have the opportunity to not only do something a woman has never done before, but something a Cherokee has never done. I want my people to be recognized in international sport. I want us to be known for more than just casinos, myths and fairytales. I want my daughter to be proud of me. She's such a stellar little girl. I've learned so much about myself and life from her. It doesn't take much to make her proud of me she tells me all of the time. But when she's older I want her to know that she can have anything in this world if she just works hard for it. I want to be able to prove that to her by what I do in my life.
Do you have any advice for other women or young girls that want to try this Olympic weightlifting (or any other sport), but are afraid to try?
Tiana: My advice to women who want to try this sport would be the same advice I'd give someone in any situation where they might be afraid to try something. You can accomplish anything you wish at any time in your life. It's never too late. If you have that drive and that determination to achieve it you will. Age, previous injuries, family situations, no support whatever it is if you believe you can achieve it you've won half the battle. One of my favorite quotes is from William Arthur Ward, "If you can imagine it, you can achieve it, if you can dream it, you can become it." I live my life by that quote. By the grace of GOD there is nothing I have tried that I have not been successful at. The fact that I even tried is success. Fear should never be a reason to keep you from trying something. If you want to try Oly Lifting do it. Give it everything you've got!
Why are you a MissFit?
Tiana: I am a MissFit because I've never let anything get in the way of me achieving my dreams. The only reality I live by is the one I write for myself and with GOD's help my reality will always be what people think is impossible.
I wanted to learn some more about Tiana, so I inquired about her to her Olympic Lifting coach, Mike McKenna. From working with her for the last couple of month Mike says that Tiana is not only has a legitimate shot at making the international team but, "Tiana's a good Mother, a successful businesswoman, and an outstanding athlete."
Tiana speaks words of wisdom by saying, "you can accomplish anything in your life. It's never too late." Anything that you want is in reach, but you have to take a chance on yourself and go for it. We need more people like Tiana. We need more risk takers. We need more dreamers. We need more women that are not afraid to own their "badass-ness" and go for what they want. Just to think, only a year ago she stepped into a CrossFit gym to lose some weight and ended up finding her dream in life. She found her passion, Olympic weightlifting.
What is stopping you from taking that first step to try something new? Stop thinking about it and go do it!
Thank you, Tiana. You truly are MissFit!
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