Genesa Byrd is a very busy person but still finds time to hold a very competitive edge.
On top of owning and operating Yadkin Valley Gymnastics Academy in Wilkesboro, she also serves as the head gymnastics coach for more than 500 gymnasts.
Last weekend, the 1992 West Wilkes graduate took time away from her rigorous schedule to compete in the 15th Annual Iron Boy Powerlifting Bench Press Classic in Concord and set new state and national records in various events.
Byrd has been running Yadkin Valley Gymnastics for 10 years and has seen her students win more than 20 State Gymnastics Championships, six all-around state titles, have eight Southeast Regional qualifiers and four regional championships.
As Byrd watched her students accomplish their athletic goals, she kept feeling that there was something left in her athletically that she wanted to do.
“I didn’t feel like I was done. I see my girls striving to compete and doing better and I just felt I needed to do something else,” said Byrd. “I’m usually working seven days a week. So if we don’t have classes, then we are at competitions on Saturday and Sunday so I usually have to train before classes start in the morning but basically I work out every day. It was just good to compete again.”
As a three-sport athlete for the Blackhawks in volleyball, basketball and track and field, Byrd was also a two-time state champion gymnast.
According to Byrd, who went by Genesa Holloway in high school, her best sport out of the three she competed in at West was definitely track. She broke three school records including the 100-meter hurdles and the long jump with the latter standing for 18 years. She also set three records during the Wilkes County Olympics.
Byrd had offers to compete in two different sports in college but a knee injury her senior year prevented her competing at the collegiate level.
The idea to compete in power lifting came at the urging of a few friends she had been lifting with. When she got to the competition on Saturday, they had the records posted and felt like she had a good chance to break them.
The bench press competition got off to a rocky start, something that Byrd chalked up to nervousness. Once she got started, the confidence came back and she set a new record with the 185-pound press, beating the previous best of 180 pounds, earning elite status.
Byrd also competed in the Bench Super Reps event and bench-pressed 135 pounds 12 times. She did that while competing in the Master Raw division for 40-44-year-olds.
“I did 175 a little too fast, you have to pause it on your chest and wait for a command and I paused and did the lift before they said ‘up’ and I didn’t really realize that you had to wait so they didn’t count my first lift,” Byrd said. “So when I went back, I attempted that again and lifted it and then the next time I came through, I did 185 and it counted. Since I had broken the record, they gave you a fourth attempt and so I went and hit 195 but then they didn’t count it because of my hip lifting up.”
Byrd, who competed in the Open Raw Division for the 148-pound weight class, also competed in the dead lift — an event she felt more comfortable in.
After clearing 300 pounds, she set a new Class I record with a dead lift of 335 pounds. She also set a new record in the overhead dumbbell press at 60 pounds.
For her efforts, she was named one of the three Outstanding Lifters at the event.
“I wasn’t too nervous about the dead lift because of the fact that it’s not a technical lift. If you get it off the floor and come up with it, you get counted for that so I wasn’t worried about my technique being wrong or them not counting it for a certain reason,” Byrd said.
As much as Byrd wanted to prove something to herself, she also wanted to show the students that she teaches that goals should be set regardless of age.
Byrd doesn’t feel that competing in power lifting competitions will be a one-time thing for her as she hopes to do other competitions similar to the one she did last weekend and against more competitors.
“I wanted to teach them that even with getting older, you can still set new goals and try to achieve those things even after your youth,” said Byrd. “I’m wanting to pass down not just a love of gymnastics but just health and physical conditioning. Teaching that gives them the confidence to be a strong individual, to set their own goals, to strive to be better not just physically.”
Courtesy of: Journal Patriot