Conquering The Platform-Kimberly Morring
"Conquering The Platform" isn’t only about numbers in competition, but the stories and struggles our athletes endure just to get there.
Kimberly Morring from Chesapeake, VA shares her story in her own words. We are proud to have Kimberly on the Intense Attire team...
I started strength training in 2008 after I got to my heaviest weight ever, 420 pounds or so. I remember when I met my first personal trainer, she took me through a fitness assessment at the gym and instead of focusing on the weight I had to lose, she would exclaim at each test how strong I was. Her enthusiasm for my strength encouraged me to begin a lifting program. I loved lifting, and how it made me feel....strong, capable, determined, able to do anything that I put my mind to.
I moved on to training with Jungle Gym in 2014, a year and some change after the birth of my son. That program had a "strength" week where we lifted heavy and worked on setting PR's a few times a year. That was my favorite week each month. It was where I excelled, and for many lifts I was sharing the bar with the guys in the class instead of the girls!
Things changed after my husband, Joe, passed away from colon cancer on September 20, 2016 leaving behind myself and our 3 year old son. I tried EVERY DAY to put one foot in front of the other and to find some sort of normalcy in my life that had been turned upside down. The gym had been my place for ME before Joe died, and while I still went to the gym, it wasn't the same. I was going through the motions, but I felt like I was at the bottom of a deep valley and couldn't find the strength (that I have always had) to climb back out into the light.
That all changed in the spring of 2018. I watched friends compete at their first powerlifting meet and I was intrigued. I started asking them questions about the sport and talking with their trainer. In May of 2018, I decided to try it out for myself. I started workouts that Rich programmed for me and within the first week I found my fire and zest for life coming back to me. After about a month of training, I joined the USPA and signed up for my first meet (Iron Asylum). I am hooked to the sport and how it makes me feel.
I am completely sincere when I say this, but powerlifting helped me find myself again. Powerlifiting reminded me that I am a tough, strong, courageous and determined woman. Every single time I have a bar in my hands I am reminded of how strong I really am. I LOVE that feeling and how I feel capable to take on anything that life hands me (not just in the gym). I can't wait to see where I am both emotionally and physically next June when I go to USPA Drug-Tested Nationals in Columbus, Ohio.
Life is good. About two months after I started powerlifting I met my fiance'. We get married this November. I really believe that if I hadn't gotten my spark back before meeting him that we wouldn't be together now. My whole mental state has shifted from the person I was when Joe was sick and after he died back to the strong, happy, determined person I was before he got sick. Powerlifting helped give me my life back.