VCOM View Magazine Vol. 12 | No. 1

Student Spotlight

Powering Through I had absolutely no idea what powerlifting even was,” says Allison Garden, VCOM-Carolinas Class of 2025. “Powerlifting has helped me to develop a functional strength that has carried over into everyday life outside of the gym. Lifting heavy weight in itself gives you this powerful feeling, but more so than that, it forces you to develop a new kind of inner strength and mental fortitude. I think the part about lifting that I personally find most rewarding is overcoming what seem to be insurmountable obstacles, and the focus, drive and discipline you build while getting there.” But then in late 2018, disaster struck. “I started noticing Get to Know Allison Garden, VCOM-Carolinas Class of 2025 “Working out was a hobby for me, not something I’d ever considered taking to a competitive level of any type.” The 24-year-old first took up the sport in 2018, during her last semester at college, with the encouragement of

that my hip was hurting, specifically with deadlifting,” Garden says. “After a couple MRIs and referrals to multiple surgeons, I was diagnosed with a labral tear in my left hip, as well as a CAM lesion. I put off surgery for as long as I could, but ended up getting it repaired on Aug. 28, 2019. In recovery, I noticed that I started having the same pain in my right hip, so my surgeon got me in for an MRI as soon as possible, at which point we discovered I had torn that labrum as well and had a CAM lesion on my right femur.”

Dan Austin, USC’s football strength coach. Her newfound passion for powerlifting would have profound effects on Garden’s life in the years to come. “The small group of people that lifted at the baseball weight room every morning at 5:15 a.m. quickly became a semblance of a family to me,” she says. “To this day, we still have a group chat that we talk in every day despite being hundreds of miles away from each other.”

“Lifting heavy weight forces you to develop a new kind of inner strength and mental fortitude. ”

-Allison Garden,VCOM-Carolinas Class of 2025

18

vcom . edu