Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Powerlifter Makayla Mahler training for the upcoming "Twin Ports RAW Open 2018." Mahler is a 2017 graduate of Wakefield/Marenisco High School.
By JEAN NORDINE
Marenisco - When Makayla Mahler, 2017 graduate of Wakefield/Marenisco high school, began powerlifting she "went from a 120 pound college freshman to a 160 pound beast, all muscle!" according to her grandfather Bruce Mahler. "Her transformation has been nothing but spectacular. She has put on 40 pounds of well defined muscle."
Mahler has been diligently training since the fall of 2017 to complete in the female middleweight class at the "Twin Ports RAW Open 2018" in Duluth, Minn. Aug. 4.
This sanctioned event of USA Powerlifting is a RAW event which means that lifters can only use knee sleeves and weight belts, no other support equipment, such as wrists straps are allowed.
Competitors will also be drug tested to ensure no competitors have been using performance enhancing drugs.
In high school Mahler played volleyball and basketball. Her grandfather was her high school basketball coach and he required weight lifting as part of the teams athletic conditioning. This was the beginning of Mahler's interest in weightlifting.
This past year as a freshman at Northern Michigan University, she became a "gym rat" spending most of her off-time in the weight room lifting.
At the beginning Mahler was bodybuilding, but soon transitioned to powerlifting.
She told her grandfather, "getting stronger and competing against others is a lot more important to me than competing in a bodybuilding competition where you're only judged based on your appearance and not on your abilities."
Powerlifting is comprised of three separate weightlifting disciplines/events – bench press, squat and dead lift. Each competitor is given three opportunities to lift in each event with the highest weights from each added together to make a total composite score. Eight places will be awarded in each weight class at the competition.
For the "Twin Ports RAW Open" Mahler has set goals to bench press 135 pounds, squat 230 pounds and dead lift 260 pounds. Her personal bests are – bench press 125 pounds, squat 215 pounds and dead lift 250 pounds.
Mahler is also a certified personal trainer with certification through the National Academy of Sports Medicine. She is working towards a degree in Health and Fitness at NMU.
