DATE: Saturday, June 21, 1997               TAG: 9706210338

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 

SOURCE: BY ANNE SAITA, staff writer 

DATELINE: ELIZABETH CITY                    LENGTH:  102 lines

BALANCING LIFE'S WEIGHT RAMONA GILBERT "WORKS AROUND HER CHILDREN'S SCHEDULE AND STILL FINDS TIME TO GET IN THERE AND TRAIN."

For Ramona Gilbert, it starts with three, four and five.

Three lunch hours a week climbing stairs at a nearby university football stadium.

Four evenings running a couple of miles around her Edgewood neighborhood.

Five weekly workouts to train for competitions that on a good day leave her 180-pound body sore, bruised and chafed for weeks afterward.

All this just for a lift.

Mona Gilbert is not just any 35-year-old accounting assistant who powerlifts on the side. Two years ago she became nationally ranked after bench pressing 192 pounds, squatting 280 pounds and dead lifting 320 pounds.

Those numbers made Gilbert the second strongest powerlifter in the Natural Athletic Strength Association's 198-pound women's submaster division.

She's also the American record-holder in the Amateur Athletics Union Powerlifting Organization's similar age group. She earned that title with a 175-pound bench, 225-pound squat and 275-pound dead lift.

The difference in the weight totals, Gilbert explained, comes from the lack of special suits, wrist wraps and knee wraps in the latter competition.

Those skin-tight compression suits ``keep the blood flow right where it needs to be'' to enable a lifter to withstand more stress on the shoulders, back and legs.

``But, boy, they're a bear. It takes two peple to get you into a suit,'' Gilbert said of the 10- to 15-minute ritual that includes powder and panty hose. ``There's no give in that outfit. None at all. And if you're sweaty - forget it.''

``When I take it off, I have bruises for a couple of weeks. I look like I've just come from the hospital.''

Gilbert, who is 5-foot-7, wasn't always into athletics. In fact, there are those back home in Portsmouth, Va., who might not recognize the former shrinking violet.

``I was one of those that never played sports in school. No one ever wanted me to play sports with them.''

But shortly after the birth of her daughter Rhiana, now 12, Gilbert went looking for a lunch-hour diversion to help her lose weight.

A friend mentioned a small weight room near the Norfolk Naval Shipyard, where she and her husband, Pete, worked. Pete, 40, still works there as a welder, but Mona is now employed at the accounting firm Sykes & Co. in Elizabeth City.

``So I got started in this tiny little room with the bare minimum. I started lifting and found that I loved it,'' she said.

A couple of years later, Gilbert came to an Elizabeth City powerlifting meet and learned that to compete she'd have to start using free weights instead of machines.

``That was my first incentive to stop messing around with the weights and get serious,'' she recalled of the RiverWind Health and Racquet Club competition in Elizabeth City. After her first bench press competition a year or so later, she was hooked.

By then she'd also had another daughter, Saxan, who is now 8.

Gilbert's training varies, depending on the closeness to competitions and softball season. Her commitment, however, is constant.

``She's very enthusiastic. She works around her children's schedule and her work schedule and her husband's schedule and still finds time to get in here and train,'' said Joanie Smart, operations director at RiverWind.

``She's just been a motivating factor for the (RiverWind Powerlifting) team to stay together,'' Smart said.

For a long time, Gilbert was the team's only female competitor.

``It was harder because, granted the guys were wonderful, but you couldn't work in with them,'' she said. Her husband usually helped her, but he also tended to be gone on business.

``I don't have anybody there spotting me all the time. When you have to put your own plates (of weights) on and off, it tires you out when you're trying to get your initial max in. You don't always push because you don't always know if you're going to make it. You worry you might get stuck.

``Usually, when I go to competitions, there are, at the most, four or five girls. That's why I can hold my title, see?''

Gilbert recently took on a protege, 23-year-old Kim Kaighn, who observers say shows a lot of promise.

``She's a natural athlete. She plays everything,'' her mentor said. ``She lifts in the unlimited category, so she's a little heavier. But she's good, and she's discplined. I've helped several girls that showed an interest, and they've always died on the roadside.''

RiverWind's Smart theorized that women aren't as interested in powerlifting because they think they lack natural strength.

``They just automatically assume that they're weak and that they'd never be able to set any records,'' she said. ``And they're scared to death about getting big.''

Gilbert admits the hours of training can take their toll.

``It's difficult being a working mother and trying to maintain your own hobby and interests, especially one as demanding as powerlifting,'' she said. ``I often feel guilty because I'm in the weight room in the evening, vs. being home with my family, or instead of putting in a few more hours at work.''

But the stairclimbing, running and weight training also are what keeps her together. That's why she plans to continue competing for as long as she can.

``I love my family and I love my work, but I couldn't possibly be any good to anyone if I didn't take time to pursue the hobbies I love, to daily reaffirm my identity, to be able to say `I can do that!' '' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by DREW C. WILSON/The Virginian-Pilot

Ramona Gilbert began lifting weights to get in shape. Now she

competes for the RiverWind Powerlifting team in Elizabeth City.

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