An interview with record breaking Stefanie Cohen.
Stefi Cohen’s strength is something of beauty. Don’t just label Stefi as a powerlifter, she’s so much more than that. A real athlete and someone who plays around with her training, mixing a variety of training styles to what she likes to call the Hybrid Performance Method. A mixture of powerlifting, strength training and olympic lifts, Stefi’s records speak for themselves…
- A world record-holding powerlifter: 485-pound deadlift at 121 pounds bodyweight. To break that down, that is quadruple her bodyweight.
- A state record-holding weightlifter
- Former Venezuelan soccer player
We had the pleasure of speaking with Stefi on her passion, strengths, being a role model to men and women, what drives her and her opinions on people taking to more strength based training these days.
Q1) Have you always been athletic?
I definitely didn’t come out of the womb doing back flips but sports have always come fairly easy to me. I’m good at picking up cues and imitating movement. For example, back when I used to play soccer one of the things I found most helpful was playing Fifa on my Xbox because it would allow me to learn plays and tricks, in a way that would help me predict and create plays on the field. Now with olympic weightlifting and powerlifting is similar, I spend a good amount of time watching videos of lifts.
Q2) When did you realise you had a gift for strength sports?
After I started doing Powerlifting. I’ve been progressing at a pretty fast pace both technically and in terms of strength. Powerlifting is one of those sports where you get what you put in, and I’m always going to put in the most. One of my biggest attributes is being consistent, stubborn and having the ability to work harder and longer than anyone else.
Q3) What are your personal favourite accomplishments to date?
Being on the National Soccer team for Venezuela, and breaking 11 all time world records in 2 years in powerlifting.
Q4) Why do you think so many women are drawn to more strength/power based training?
Because we are finally showing the world now that being strong is cool, and empowering. Women are passive beings that succumb to societal norms. A few years ago the norm for women was to be skinny and passive, to stay home and follow the rules. Thanks to strength sports, women have found strength in numbers and feelings of empowerment from the iron in a way that is indescribable.
Q5) What areas of your training have you gone wrong in the past?
All of them. There are always ups in downs in training. The public might not see them, since we all tend to just talk about our achievements and avoid shortcomings, but they are there. The iron is unforgiving. There will be rough training blocks, but I believe that talking about shortcomings magnifies and projects negativity upon others so I’d rather not share that with anyone. The answer to the question is yes, things will not always go your way in training, and the good become great through consistency and proper planning.
Q6) What’s your opinion on having a coach versus going it alone on your own plan?
I think everyone needs a coach. Even if you know how to plan. It’s important to have someone on your side to tell you that you can when the voice in your head is screaming “no you can’t”. My olympic weightlifting coach Camilo Garcia has been one of the most influential people in my life. He taught me how to believe in myself and never let me quit. Hayden is my partner, boyfriend and powerlifting coach, having his support when training gets rough, when meets don’t go my way is priceless. I think you can get away with not having a coach, but having one who truly supports is always the better option.
Q7) What’s your top 3 tips on getting strong?
Joining hybrid performance method. Haha! just kidding. But not really. 1) Consistency 2) don’t be a program/coach hopper. Find a coach/program that is reputable and stick with it. No one has the magic answer, you need to put in work to get results period. 3) Never make your goal just a number. eventually the sessions where you hit PR’s are going to be fewer and farther apart. Focus in the process of attaining the goal. Your goal should be to “train 5 times per week”, to “get 8 hours of sleep”, to “complete all the sets and reps” etc.
Q8) What are your future goals with your training?
To deadlift 600lbs, continue to make progress in my Olympic lifts, and break some more world records in powerlifting both in the 114lb class and the 132lb class.
Stefanie speaks so much sense in this interview. Unless you’re willing to accept that results are going to take time, a lot of hard work and you will have to go through some failures, you’ll rarely get to where you want to be. It’s that point in training when things get hard, that determine those go on to get results and who give up.
Give it time, be relentless and challenge your body as often as you can, Stefi is living proof of this…anything is possible!
Check out Stefanie’s instagram here.
