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Mule and Big Earl promote powerlifting
Several national publications visit Tatamy gym to learn about sport.
Sunday, November 07, 2004
By ALYSSA YOUNG
The Express-Times
TATAMY -- The discreet gym on South Eighth Street in the tiny borough is no ordinary fitness club.
Members say the place has a "vibe" that's electric, intense, high-energy -- even violent.
"You can feel it when you walk in," said Mike "Mule" Miller, the 36-year-old, 365-pound co-founder of Nazareth Barbell Powertraining.
The gym was featured in this month's issues of Men's Health, Muscle and Fitness and Monster Muscle magazines.
Nazareth Barbell is where some of the world's strongest men fuel their obsessions with getting stronger.
Miller's partner, Deb Ames, said Nazareth Barbell members can express themselves in ways that are discouraged at regular gyms: "Scream, snort, spit, carry on -- get it all out of your system."
Apparently such behavior is essential while trying to squat a half-ton.
"It's a very intense sport," Miller explained.
In the American Powerlifting Federation Northeast Regional Championships this spring, Miller set a record when he bench-pressed 805 pounds and squatted 1,050 pounds.
The 1986 Nazareth Area High School graduate discovered while growing up on a Bushkill Township farm that he liked to lift heavy objects. Physical labor on the farm bred competitions, such as throwing hay bales for distance.
Miller, a police officer for eight years in Coopersburg and an employee of the Lehigh County Sheriff's Department, said he became interested in powerlifting in October 1999 when he met Ames at a Pen Argyl gym.
A year earlier, Ames had started powerlifting because high-impact aerobics was not changing her body the way she wanted.
During her last competition, she bench-pressed 265 pounds, squatted 455 pounds and hoisted 450 pounds in the dead lift. The 41-year-old Pius X High School graduate answers to the nickname "Big Earl."
Miller and Ames first opened Nazareth Barbell in 2001 in the Lower Nazareth Township strip mall at Routes 248 and 191. They moved the gym to Tatamy in February 2003.
Ames calls it "a place where it's safe to be a guy."
All but four of its 100 members are men. According to Miller, the gym has a 90 percent retention rate. Many members have moved to the Lehigh Valley to train at Nazareth Barbell, and others travel from as far as Syracuse, N.Y., and Delaware.
"We've got tons of behemoths in here," he said.
Justin Todd, who goes by J.T., dropped out of Penn State University and moved from State College to East Stroudsburg in April to devote his time to the sport.
"(School) was kind of getting in the way of my training," Todd said.
At a meet later this month, the 315-pound, 21-year-old weight trainer hopes to become the youngest person to squat 1,000 pounds. Six months ago, the most he could squat was 700 pounds.
"Powerlifting is very mental," Todd said.
He wakes up at night thinking about it and goes to the living room to practice his dead lift form.
Todd said he is considering trying out for the Philadelphia Eagles football team next year. He was an all-state offensive lineman and team captain in high school.
Miller and Todd train together for a couple of hours four or five days a week. The dedication powerlifting requires can lead to debt, pain and alienation from family members, but "it's the ultimate high," Todd says.
"It just swallows up your whole life," Ames said. "But you're going to feel alive."
Miller's "enhanced sports performance" system turns bodies "from mush to machines" by focusing on strength and speed, Ames said. He also offers sports-specific training for athletes.
He trains a 17-year-old who weighs in at 165 pounds and can squat 550 pounds.
Powerlifting breaks most conventional weightlifting rules, yet no one at the gym has suffered any major injuries, Miller said just before sitting down for a massage to treat a couple of aching muscles.
The author of the Men's Health story "The Misfits of Muscle" wrote that after powerlifting for two months, his left arm was numb and limp.
That's because he didn't start out slow, Miller says.
"We stress training smart," Ames said.
Reporter Alyssa Young can be reached at 610-863-3841 or by e-mail at [email protected].
http://www.nj.com/printer/printer.ssf?/base/news-13/1099834460155570.xml
Mule and Big Earl promote powerlifting
Several national publications visit Tatamy gym to learn about sport.
Sunday, November 07, 2004
By ALYSSA YOUNG
The Express-Times
TATAMY -- The discreet gym on South Eighth Street in the tiny borough is no ordinary fitness club.
Members say the place has a "vibe" that's electric, intense, high-energy -- even violent.
"You can feel it when you walk in," said Mike "Mule" Miller, the 36-year-old, 365-pound co-founder of Nazareth Barbell Powertraining.
The gym was featured in this month's issues of Men's Health, Muscle and Fitness and Monster Muscle magazines.
Nazareth Barbell is where some of the world's strongest men fuel their obsessions with getting stronger.
Miller's partner, Deb Ames, said Nazareth Barbell members can express themselves in ways that are discouraged at regular gyms: "Scream, snort, spit, carry on -- get it all out of your system."
Apparently such behavior is essential while trying to squat a half-ton.
"It's a very intense sport," Miller explained.
In the American Powerlifting Federation Northeast Regional Championships this spring, Miller set a record when he bench-pressed 805 pounds and squatted 1,050 pounds.
The 1986 Nazareth Area High School graduate discovered while growing up on a Bushkill Township farm that he liked to lift heavy objects. Physical labor on the farm bred competitions, such as throwing hay bales for distance.
Miller, a police officer for eight years in Coopersburg and an employee of the Lehigh County Sheriff's Department, said he became interested in powerlifting in October 1999 when he met Ames at a Pen Argyl gym.
A year earlier, Ames had started powerlifting because high-impact aerobics was not changing her body the way she wanted.
During her last competition, she bench-pressed 265 pounds, squatted 455 pounds and hoisted 450 pounds in the dead lift. The 41-year-old Pius X High School graduate answers to the nickname "Big Earl."
Miller and Ames first opened Nazareth Barbell in 2001 in the Lower Nazareth Township strip mall at Routes 248 and 191. They moved the gym to Tatamy in February 2003.
Ames calls it "a place where it's safe to be a guy."
All but four of its 100 members are men. According to Miller, the gym has a 90 percent retention rate. Many members have moved to the Lehigh Valley to train at Nazareth Barbell, and others travel from as far as Syracuse, N.Y., and Delaware.
"We've got tons of behemoths in here," he said.
Justin Todd, who goes by J.T., dropped out of Penn State University and moved from State College to East Stroudsburg in April to devote his time to the sport.
"(School) was kind of getting in the way of my training," Todd said.
At a meet later this month, the 315-pound, 21-year-old weight trainer hopes to become the youngest person to squat 1,000 pounds. Six months ago, the most he could squat was 700 pounds.
"Powerlifting is very mental," Todd said.
He wakes up at night thinking about it and goes to the living room to practice his dead lift form.
Todd said he is considering trying out for the Philadelphia Eagles football team next year. He was an all-state offensive lineman and team captain in high school.
Miller and Todd train together for a couple of hours four or five days a week. The dedication powerlifting requires can lead to debt, pain and alienation from family members, but "it's the ultimate high," Todd says.
"It just swallows up your whole life," Ames said. "But you're going to feel alive."
Miller's "enhanced sports performance" system turns bodies "from mush to machines" by focusing on strength and speed, Ames said. He also offers sports-specific training for athletes.
He trains a 17-year-old who weighs in at 165 pounds and can squat 550 pounds.
Powerlifting breaks most conventional weightlifting rules, yet no one at the gym has suffered any major injuries, Miller said just before sitting down for a massage to treat a couple of aching muscles.
The author of the Men's Health story "The Misfits of Muscle" wrote that after powerlifting for two months, his left arm was numb and limp.
That's because he didn't start out slow, Miller says.
"We stress training smart," Ames said.
Reporter Alyssa Young can be reached at 610-863-3841 or by e-mail at [email protected].
http://www.nj.com/printer/printer.ssf?/base/news-13/1099834460155570.xml
