About Dana

© John Adkins Photography

Dana McMahan

I’m a food writer who, with zero previous interest in anything athletic, was lured into powerlifting and found a love of getting strong.

On this blog I chronicled my year-plus long experience of transforming from a couch-loving writer with a penchant for macarons to an athlete, a record-holding powerlifter, with a truthful look at the moments of glory, despair — and a whole lot of work — along the way.  My powerlifting career ended with an injury and surgery in winter 2012 but the power I discovered didn’t vanish when I hung up my weight belt. I’m on a quest for my next adventure now.  To find a new passion I’m learning one new sport a month for a year.

Questions about my experience? (Or how to make the perfect macaron?) Email me. You can also find me on my travel blog.

I had (and still have!) a lot to say about heavy lifting for women — have a look at some of my stories:

Runaway Train, Elle magazine, June 2012
Download the article | See also: But wait, there’s more

What happens when a sport changes your life-and then you can’t do it anymore? Carried away by the power of powerlifting, Dana McMahan discovered new abilities and hard limits.

So You Want To Be A Weightlifter? What You Need To Know To Get Started

Let’s stage a coup of weight rooms across the country, tell the magazines and their five-pound weight routines where they can go, and get serious about heavy lifting!

Competitive PowerLifter Secrets: What The Diet Industry Doesn’t Want You To Know About Weights

If girls started getting under the bar with some serious weight, the market for diet books, gadgets, pills, food-like products, exercise gear, Spanxx, and so-called health/fitness magazines might just entropy.

Weight Lifting Landed A Scalpel In My Spine, But I’d Do It All Over Again

“Our little bodybuilder is waking up,” I heard the nurse say through my haze of anesthesia and morphine. I struggled to sit up and a nauseating wave of pain slung me back onto the hospital bed. “I’m not a bodybuilder,” I muttered. “I’m a powerlifter.”

Why No Pain No Gain Is All B.S.

“No pain no gain needs a lot of explanation. That’s the trouble with clichés.”

That’s Dr. Eddie O’Connor‘s much nicer way of putting something I’ve been saying for a while: “no pain no gain” is bullshit that gets you hurt.

Resolution Rehab: Screw The Scale—Get Me A Barbell

Brimming with elation, exhilaration, exuberance. Racing heart. Face-splitting grin. Did I win the lottery? No. I reached a goal – an epic, seemingly unattainable goal. I conquered a 200-pound – nearly double my bodyweight – lift.

I Heart Powerlifting (And I’m Not Bulky Or Masculine)

I spend four days per week in a gym; on days off, I pine to be there. I lift hundreds of pounds, sport smeary chalk prints on my sweat-soaked clothes and listen to cacophonous music at dangerously loud levels when I train. I attack large, bloody-rare steaks like a caveman. Am I a 275-pound shaved-headed dude with my bench total dangling as a charm from a gold chain around my thick neck?Nope. I’m a 100-pound 30-something female food writer who has fallen in love with powerlifting.

More …

• Lifting Big & Eating Big: Not Just For The Boys
• Strong is the New Skinny
• Who are you calling an athlete?
• Interview With Squat Record Holder Dana McMahan
• From the dining table to the chin-up bar

And I’ve talked about lifting on a local news show. Take a look!

High fives  all around when I broke the APA national and world record for squat in the 105 weight class with a 180 pound squat

Related articles

• The final numbers (beheavy.wordpress.com)