Conquering The Platform-Ethan Dew

Ethan is a valued member of the USPA East staff as a National judge.  Ethan has grown as a lifter right before our eyes and has always been a great team player for the USPA in and around Virginia.  Check out his story in his own words below and buy his design "Set The Tone" in the Intense Attire store...

For a lot of people within the sport of powerlifting now, many of them claim to have loved lifting weights from the first time they stepped in the weight room. I was not one of them. My first exposure to lifting weights was in high school for football, and I absolutely dreaded it. In order to get any playing time, you had to go the lifting and conditioning sessions. I wanted to get on the field, so I went. It was a “means to an end” type deal.

After I graduated high school and started at Virginia Tech, I continued lifting to stay active. I wasn’t very serious about it, but I continued regardless. I had played sports my entire life, so when I went to college and wasn’t playing any sports, it felt like something was missing. I missed having a reason to train hard and having a platform to compete. Eventually, in early 2014, I discovered powerlifting, and decided to sign up for my first meet without any real idea of what I was doing, but I was excited to have a goal to work towards.

I totaled 1454 in my first meet and was bit by the bug. I had some moderate success early on, getting up to a 1609 total. But very soon after that, I injured my back during training. I wasn’t very knowledgeable on rehabbing or training around an injury, so it persisted for quite some time before I resumed any semblance of normal training. That 1609 total stood for a few years as I was working my way back up, but now I have blown past it. I just recently competed at the USPA Holiday Havoc at Intense Attire HQ and put up a 1791 total. Lots of hard work, consistency, and starting to work with a real coach are all instrumental in that.

To me, “Set The Tone” means coming out of the gates early and dictating how the rest of the day is going to play out. That could mean making a big play or in powerlifting it’s hitting a big squat. Going 3/3 to kick off the meet with a PR gets the ball rolling to finish strong for the rest of the day. Plus, a big squat is another brick laid in pursuit of the mythical 2000 total.