WARNER Beach powerlifter, Meagen Nell (21) wowed both the crowds and herself when she achieved numerous world records at the recent Rhino Powerlifting Club Nationals, held at Strength Club Durban North on 22 and 23 June.
The rest and recovery is now over for Meagen, as this week she began training for the World Powerlifting Championships, which will be held in Eger, Hungary this September.
All the hard work, sweat and tears certainly paid off as Meagen surpassed all limits she thought she had.
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Over the two-day nationals, Meagen achieved the squat world record (185kg), the bench world record (82.5kg), the deadlift world record (205kg) and the total world record (467.5kg) for her age and category.
“I absolutely exceeded my expectations,” she explained. “It came as a complete shock to me, to be honest, especially with my deadlift as I had never done that in training before. This achievement now has me aiming even higher.”
Meagen admitted that despite the nerves, she listened to her coach and did what she had to do, remaining humble through it all.
“Well now that I have qualified for worlds, it’s time to reset and start my new cycle of training in the hope of making it to worlds this year to compete,” she said. “If my finances can’t get me to worlds, I will continue to work on my weaknesses and compete at Record Breakers in November at Strength Club.”
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Meagen explained that if finances permit her to go to worlds, she will be keeping the weights high and the repetitions low, as to get used to the heavy loads. However, if she cannot make worlds, Meagen will be increasing the intensity and volume of training in each workout while focusing on her diet to drop a weight class for future contests
The 21-year-old explained that her long term goal is to continually better herself.
“I want to start a business around health and fitness, so that I can work in the industry and help other individuals like myself be the best version of themselves possible,” she said. “My heart is also set on becoming world champion someday.”
As imagined, finances prove a problem and could possibly be the reason the local powerlifting woman won’t be able to compete in worlds. If able to sponsor in anyway, or donate towards travel costs, email Meagen at meagennell03@gmail.com.
Meagen thanked her coach and mentor, Rory Scheepers as without him she would not be where she is today. She further extended gratitude to her ‘hype men’ Anton Buckner, Rob Nicolai and Dean Van Wyk for being great training partners and lastly to her parents, for all the constant support and motivation, even through her mental-block-stage.
“I am truly excited to see what a future in the powerlifting world has in store for me,” she beamed.
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