Bahamian female powerlifters Indera Gibson and Aliczia Turner-Bain, both from the JKS Fitness Powerlifting Team, recently competed at the USA Powerlifting (USAPL) Raw National Championships in Chicago, Illinois. The Bahamian contingent included Coach Je’Vaughn K. Saunders and handlers Shane Moncur and Leonardo Ferguson.
Turner-Bain finished in the top 15 of her weight class after overcoming significant challenges, and was able to secure a personal record (PR) of 100 kilograms (kgs) or 220 pounds (lbs) in bench press despite a recent bicep and shoulder injury.
Gibson earned a PR in the squat with a performance of 167.5 kgs or 369 lbs. This performance came after a significant weight cut, as she challenged herself to increase the amount of weight she is able to lift while in a lower weight class. That strategy was successful.
Coach Saunders was complimentary of both of their performances.
“Aliczia came in for her second nationals appearance and showed exactly why experience matters. She hit a platform PR on bench, carried herself with confidence, and most importantly, showed a new level of composure. Whether a lift went her way or not, she reset, refocused, and attacked the next attempt. She didn’t surpass her all‑time best total, but she did improve on last year’s performance, and that progression speaks volumes,” said Saunders.
He continued: “Indera stepped on to the national stage for the first time and handled it like she’s been there before. She walked away with a platform PR in the squat and executed her game plan with maturity beyond a first‑timer. With this experience under her belt and another full prep to refine what works, I genuinely believe she’ll be flirting with a top‑10 finish by next year.”
Turner-Bain said she was pleased with her performance.
“The most difficult part was not being sure what I weighed, so that put me in a place where I had to remain dry, so no liquids for the entire day until I weighed in,” said Turner-Bain. “I was able to eat, thankfully, some stuff, but that resulted in me having a headache and a horrible refeed when it was time to start competing, so that played a toll on me. Overall, my performance today, 10/10. This was the hardest prep I have ever had.
“I currently have a shoulder issue, bicep issue, and my hips … but I’m just thankful that I was able to get something for each lift, and I got a bench PR, which is great. My advice to women who want to join the sport is don’t give up. You wake up some days and you don’t want to. You feel a pain and you’re overly tired and stressed and you don’t want to because you’re a woman and you just don’t want to, but you have to. It’s the days you don’t want to that matter the most and today, I can say I didn’t want to, but I had to.”
Gibson said: “Making weight was the most difficult part. For some reason, one day before the meet, my weight shot up and we had to take steps to bring it down and control it. Trying to refuel was really, really difficult. It took about four weeks to drop three or four kilograms, so I had to make 10,000 steps, use the sauna and monitor my diet. I came over at 90.8 kgs and the day of the competition I came down at 89.3 kgs. Transitioning from different time zones and not knowing what conditions you’re walking into, sleep time and other conditions are difficult to handle when you’re trying to prep. This meet is different because I put a lot of effort into it. Even though I didn’t hit all of my numbers, I am still really, really proud of my prep, the cut was the new thing, and we’re learning a lot from this prep. In general, this meet was extremely different but still something to be proud about.”
Both athletes said they’re looking forward to more tournaments in the future.
