Depending on how serious a person is about fitness, gyms being closed down for the entire spring was some level of catastrophic.
Shelby Miles just decided to circumvent the situation entirely. She had to.
A Franklin native who ranks as one of the top powerlifters in the world, Miles claimed some open space in her parents’ barn and filled it with the weight training equipment she knew she’d need. She borrowed what she could from her coaches, Jeremy and Alyssa Hartman, and bought a few things to fill in the gaps. Miles’ father even bought some metal gas pipe and fashioned a pull-up bar out of it.
"Between what coach Hartman and Alyssa had and what I already had at my house, it was pretty much a complete setup for what I needed," Miles said. "It was a really seamless transition."
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For competitive lifters such as Miles, 2020 has been anything but seamless overall. After the Arnold Classic, which still took place in early March but with almost no spectators allowed, more than three months’ worth of meets were either postponed or cancelled outright.
One of those was the IPF World Championships, which would have been held in Belarus last month. That meet was pushed back to late fall, and the United States announced that it won’t be sending a team to the event this year.
For Miles and fellow Franklin graduate Kloie Doublin, losing out on the opportunity to chase world championships was disappointing, and training schedules have had to be moved around considerably as the competition calendar has been largely erased.
But in some ways, that has been beneficial.
"If anything, this break has given everyone kind of a reset button in adjusting what they need to do," Doublin said. "For me, it’s just been focusing on getting healthy and getting everything back in line."
Doublin was close to wrapping up her sophomore year at Midland University in Nebraska when the COVID-19 outbreak brought her school year to a halt. She returned to campus briefly after the Arnold but has been home since, working some hours as a certified nursing assistant and working out with some of her college teammates who are staying at her house for a few weeks.
The next competition for Doublin, Miles and Franklin’s Jennica Baldridge was supposed to be the USA Powerlifting Raw Nationals in early October — but the plug was also pulled on that event earlier this week. Instead, Doublin will look ahead to defending her individual title at the 2020 USAPL Collegiate Nationals, which was pushed back from April to November but has not been cancelled (yet).
Though going so long without competing hasn’t been ideal, it has afforded more preparation time.Â
"Usually I have to squeeze in my hypertrophy block and my off time and then try to get a couple of building blocks in after worlds," Doublin said, "so as far as the timing goes … I’m going to have plenty of time to do building blocks of strength. I’ve already done a hypertrophy and my off time previously, and usually at this time I’d just be getting home from worlds."
The extra prep time has also allowed lifters to incorporate some different types of exercises into their training that perhaps they wouldn’t ordinarily have as much time for.
Miles has been doing more strongman movements, working out with atlas stones and doing 600-pound tire flips as well as pushing and pulling her parents’ truck in the driveway.
"It’s been fun to be able to mix it up," Miles said. "It’s definitely important to be able to work your body and your muscle groups in different ways than they’re used to. … It helps in your long-term health if you can keep some variety in your training."
For Doublin, the additional down time led her to incorporate running into her routine again. A standout sprinter and long jumper in high school, Doublin had gotten away from track life over the past year or so — but she’s glad to be back at it.
"I was feeling like I was focusing on lifting by not running," she said, "but running just makes me feel really good and actually makes me feel better at my lifts."
The pandemic has not only changed up the training schedules, but it’s also altered what competitions will look like for the foreseeable future. Though a lot can change between now and the fall, USA Powerlifting has stringent regulations in place for now.
Competitors have to wash their hands before every lift in an effort to keep the chalk bowl germ-free; Doublin and her friends have been incorporating that process into their workouts to get used to it.
Perhaps more significantly, all athletes, officials, coaches and spectators are being required to wear masks throughout the competition — even while lifting.
Hartman isn’t sure what sort of impact those regulations might have on performance.
"You’re holding your breath anyway when you’re handling big weight," he said, "(but) if they have to do it all through their warm-ups and everything like that, that could be an issue."
Regardless of what shape meets end up taking in 2020 and beyond, all of the county lifters are eager to get back on that stage at some point. Any disappointment about missed opportunities these past few months has been pushed aside, with eyes fixed on whatever might be next.
"We’re still training and getting stronger for whenever the next one is," Miles said.
