Christina McDonnell looks fit and muscular, but she doesn’t project the herculean image that I was expecting. Standing before me in a striped summer dress, she looks more like a teacher enjoying her summer break—which she is—than an elite-level powerlifter. It’s hard to imagine her dead-lifting more than twice her body weight.
But that’s exactly what she does, and she makes it look easy.
She holds the state and national records in the World National Powerlifting Federation for the dead lift, squat, and bench press in her weight class of 165 pounds. Her current best lifts are 335 pounds for the dead lift, 150 pounds for the bench press, and 290 pounds for the squat. Did I mention that she’s been practicing her sport for only a year?
McDonnell discovered her natural gift for weightlifting when she moved to town last year and joined a local CrossFit gym. CrossFit is a strength and conditioning program that includes weightlifting.
McDonnell had always been athletic, playing basketball through high school and college, but she rarely ventured to the weights section when she hit the gym.
Fit in Bayonne
When McDonnell moved to Bayonne in the summer of 2013, CrossFit Bayonne had recently opened. She was among the first to sign up.
“I wasn’t born in Bayonne, but my lifting journey definitely started here,” McDonnell says.
A few months into her training coach Justin Frimmel had his students do a drill in which everyone finds out his or her maximum one-rep lift for the dead lift, squat, and overhead press.
McDonnell knew that she was naturally strong, but she had never been challenged to lift at her maximum weight under the supervision of a trainer.
“It came to be that I started out with a 205 squat, a 105 overhead press, and a 265 dead lift, having never really lifted before,” McDonnell says. A slight smile hints that she’s proud of this early accomplishment.
In the fall McDonnell capitalized on her natural talents and made lifting her main focus. She changed gyms and coaches so that she could concentrate only on lifting.
Pat Mingoes of Forum Gym and Kevin DiGiorgio, a Bayonne High School physical education teacher who specializes in strength training, were instrumental in McDonnell’s early success and commitment to the sport.
“The sky is the limit for her. She has a great group of people helping her and she has all the tools necessary to become a stud in this game,” says DiGiorgio, who has been weight training for 22 years and hitting the gym for fun with Christina for just a short time. “I can see her rising in the ranks, in the next few years, and taking her game to a whole new level. If she continues to do what she’s doing now she will be turning a lot of heads on the elite level in this game.”
The Heavy Weights
Soon she began competing at the regional level. Her first World National Powerlifting Federation meet in November 2013 didn’t go off without a hitch.
“My first competition was a bit crazy because I didn’t really know what I was doing, and I didn’t have a coach with me,” McDonnell says. “They changed the start time also, so any supporters from the gym, who wanted to come, couldn’t.”
Another coach at the event noticed McDonnell struggling and took her under his wing. It was Henri Skiba of the famed Carteret gym, which has been active in the lifting community since the 1970s.
McDonnell left the competition as a titled lifter and with an open invite to train at Skiba’s Gym. She gladly accepted. She has since added 85 pounds to her squat, 15 to her bench and 70 to her dead lift. She’s won titles at two more meets. With Skiba, McDonnell receives the intense training that she needs to make her natural gift grow.
McDonnell trains at Skiba’s at least three nights a week.
AC/DC blares on repeat until McDonnell changes the music to White Zombie. She warms up with 135 pounds. Her trainer, Joe Reiman, later adds more weight with resistance bands and thick chains. He marks chalk lines on the acid yellow concrete wall as McDonnell executes lift after lift with perfect form.
Women’s Work
The lifting belt suits McDonnell more than the sundress. It’s clear that this is her world. She exudes inner strength and confidence as well as physical strength.
McDonnell stands out among the mostly male lifters. Most women, she says, work out with the intention of losing weight, not gaining strength and muscle.
“So many women are focused on being skinny, and I know that my body type isn’t built for that,” McDonnell says. “It’s a shame society is all about airbrushing models and making girls think they have to be as thin as possible. I thought I needed to be that thin at one point, too, but I get lots and lots of compliments looking the way I do.”
CrossFit has made strides in changing those ideals with mottos like “strong is the new skinny” that challenge women to upgrade their fitness goals.
McDonnell hopes that she can use her success in powerlifting to inspire girls and women. Currently a special education teacher in New York, she hopes to teach physical education so that she can encourage kids to compete in sports.
Looking ahead, McDonnell dreams of competing on the WNPF USA team. She also plans to break 300 pounds on the squat and bump up all her numbers.
She has a new interest in Strongman, which features displays of strength like walking with concrete atlas stones or pulling trucks that weigh around 11,000 pounds. McDonnell has incorporated aspects of this sport into her training regimen and participated in her first meet over the summer. She placed second in the middleweight class and was invited to compete nationally in Reno, NV. She describes the experience as more physically taxing than lifting, but plans to take first place nonetheless.
What does it take mentally to make it as a powerlifter?
“I’ve been challenged many times throughout life, whether it’s athletically or personally, and I’ve always risen to the occasion,” McDonnell says. “I guess it just comes down to determination and persistence. You have to have a certain drive. You can’t accept failure, and if you do fail at something, you have to figure out what went wrong, and just go at it again.”—BLP
Photos by Maxim Ryazansky