Profile: Erika Chandler Talbott

Training History: Olympic Style Weightlifting, 16 yrs. Prior to that was several years of soccer.

Height: 5' 3"

Age: 40

Favorite lifts: Hip Snatch, Split Jerk from the rack and Back Squats

"Love for the sport" is what motivates Erika to train. She is currently preparing to compete in the USA Masters Weightlifting 2011 National Masters this April where her main goal is to beat her lifts during the 2010 National Masters, but ultimately she will be focusing on doing the best she can. “My main focus is Olympic lifting, but over the years I have found that I need a variety of things to do to keep myself challenged and interested. I started looking at Crossfit and realized it was going to be the next challenge.” Erika began her Olympic lifting with Ursula from Oly Athlete, trains with Sandy Abney from Power to Perform and Strength Coach for the University of Texas, and gets her butt stomped by the WODs at CrossFit Leander, where she can also be found coaching the CrossFitters on their lifting technique..

The second reason Erika trains is for health. Four years ago she had 2 vertebra fused and has found that she has far less pain in her lower back when she’s able to work out consistently, specifically doing weight training. “The stronger I am, the longer I’m able to stay pain free. Not to mention I’m able to participate in all of the other activities I enjoy”. “Being strong helps me both mentally and physically”, she says. “I feel better about myself which in turn improves my mood and energy, which enables me to be adventurous and try out a variety of other activities.” Those activities include trapeze, indoor rock climbing, belly dancing, scuba diving, hiking and swimming, and she’s been known to run a 5k or two.

Erika’s commitment to training perfectly embodies the Manimal message. “I’m fully committed to my training, there are no excuses only obstacles to overcome.”. Her husband supports her working out and is a great part of helping her stick to her program.

When Erika isn’t practicing her lifts or chasing the clock in a WOD, she works as the Microsoft Certificication Development Manager for Dell. She talks with her manager about her routine so they know what she is doing and can assist with supporting her work/life balance. Who says tech companies are like internment camps?

We asked her what her biggest training/sports accomplishments were:

“After having to rebuild myself several times thanks to injuries and surgeries, I tend to focus more on consistency and continually working smart instead of a specific weight on a lift. That said, here are a few of my biggest accomplishments: Olympic lifting: Going to master nationals and putting in a total. Secondarily, having one of the refs at the meet ask my coach who I was and commenting on how nice my technique is. Training accomplishment: Losing 80 lbs (scale) and 100 lbs (body fat) in 8 mos. Coaching Olympic lifting: Watching one of my students beat her personal record by 20 lbs because she trusted me when I told her I knew she could do it.” Erika’s Oly class at CrossFit Leander is slowly gaining momentum, and she anticipates some of her students will take the skills they learn and apply them at one of the CrossFit competitions this year.

Art of WOD’nTrain for #1

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