Walking the corridors of Holy Name of Mary Academy, Delaina Roul never thought that one day she would be setting records in the world of powerlifting.
“If someone had told me that I would be into powerlifting in high school I would have laughed, “ said the Lawn native who now makes her home in St. John’s. “I was not athletic at all, never into sports.”
She said she was always interested in health and fitness, walking, exercising.
“I was never very coordinated in sports, so it is definitely something I didn’t think I would be into,” Roul said.
Although her father Paul Williams, as well as her grandfather, were both involved in the sport, it wasn’t until she moved to St. John’s in 2012 to study kinesiology at Memorial University that she, too, became involved.
“I started working at Heavyweights in 2014. … That kind of introduced me to the sport. Also my grandfather Frank Williams, he is pretty much a powerlifting legend here in St. John’s,” Roul said.
Although she has only been involved in the sport for a little under a year, the 22-year-old has a growing list of accomplishments.
Last December during a competition, she set a new 47-kilogram junior weight class provincial squat record at 75 kgs (165 pounds). Most recently, she set the provincial deadlift record at 107.5 kilograms (237 pounds).
She also finished first in her weight class at the Canadian Powerlifting Union National Championships held Feb. 15 in Regina, Sask.
“It was quite a nerve-wrecking day,” she said. “In powerlifting, there’s three lifts; the squat, bench and deadlift, so every lifter does three attempts at each lift.”
Roul successfully completed two out of three lifts in the squat portion of the event, followed by a similar performance in the bench lift.
“It all came down to the deadlift,” she said.
During her first attempt, she lifted 203 pounds, but she missed the lift after lowering too early.
“Once you get your deadlift up, you have to wait for them (the ref) to say down,” she explained.
She was successful in her second attempt at the lift.
“My competitor was putting in her attempt for her third deadlift,” Roul said.
After her competitor successfully completed her third lift, she knew she would have to do more to secure a win.
“So I had to up my attempt to 237 pounds — that is the weight that I got to win.”
Roul trains twice a week at her grandfather Frank’s home gym, McNeilly Barbell Club, along with her training partners Stacey Price, Nick Battcock, Alison Rose, Eric Ducey, Cathy Quinlan and Deep Datta.
She also takes time during the week to work on her lifts.
“I might do an extra day or two of bench presses or some accessory work,” Roul said.
She is hard at work preparing for the world competition in June.
Roul, who will be completing her degree this year, said that she would like to go on to continue her education.
“I’m applying to physiotherapy school, and probably osteopathy and massage therapy school as well,” she said.
But she does not have any plans on packing away her lift belt.
“I would like to be involved in it for at least 10 years,” she said.
Courtesy of: The Southern Gazette