22 Mar GETTING TO KNOW TEAM PRS: LISA GUGGISBERG

Posted at 16:25h in 10/20/Life, Articles, Brian Carroll, Female Powerlifting, Female Strength Training, Motivation, Multi-ply, Powerlifting, Women's Powerlifting by
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What’s your name, where do you live, what gym do you lift out of, and why do you train and compete?

 

My name is Lisa Guggisberg and I currently reside in Jacksonville, FL.  I usually train out of my garage, however I also have the privilege of working with Team Samson during my meet preps.  I enjoy training and competing as a means to challenge myself and apply the lessons learned from competing to my personal and professional life.

 

Tell us your story-what brought you to this point where you are today:

 

I am what you might call a late bloomer in regards to anything sport, or strength related.  Growing up I hated anything physical and was a self-proclaimed “band nerd.”  I never played any sports growing up and the only competitions I ever experienced were marching band, or musical recitals.  In 2006, on a whim I joined my husband, who had just been hired as a firefighter, to try a Crossfit class.  I was hooked and began Crossfitting  and enjoyed the challenge very much and eventually obtained my Level 1 coach’s certification.  It wasn’t long after doing Crossfit when I learned that I excelled at the strength component.  While I continued to Crossfit, I decided to enter my first powerlifting meet.  Having no clue what I was doing I went to the competition, did reasonably well for my first meet going 9 for 9 and haven’t looked back since.

 

 

I continued to compete in powerlifting meets and decided I wanted to take my competitive performance to the next level. I met Brian Carroll after one of the worst meets I have ever competed in. I went 3 for 9. I was frustrated and decided to reach out to him for coaching services.  Since working with Brian and using 10/20/Life methods, my raw total has increased from 585 to 936 in just three years.  I recently took on the challenge of multi-ply lifting in conjunction competing raw and have excelled in that as well.

 

What are your personal best lifts?

 

Raw:

  • Squat 362 at 114lbs
  • Bench 187 at 114lbs
  • Deadlift 405 at 123lbs

Multi-ply:

  • Squat 462 at 123lbs
  • Bench 260 at 123lbs
  • Deadlift 402 at 123lbs

 

Switching gears, but we will come back to the lifting aspect in a moment.  What are your interests outside of strength sports?

 

Outside of competing I have an extremely busy schedule as I am a mother to two extremely active children.  My oldest is a natural athlete and keeps us busy chauffeuring him to travel baseball practices.  I work full time as a litigation trial paralegal and love my job.  When I do have free time, you can find me on the beach with a book.  I love to read and I am the type of girl who fantasizes about being locked in a library overnight.  If I’m not on the beach reading, I’m in kitchen baking cupcakes.

 

What are 2 things you have learned over the last 2 years that have made you a better athlete and person?

 

Patience and humility.   You cannot force things to happen on your time frame and no matter how bad you want something, things won’t always work out in your favor.

What is the biggest mistake, or regret you have pertaining to training/competition?

 

I am lucky that I have had excellent coaches and advice since I started competing.  I took their advice, learning from their mistakes.  The only regret I have is that I didn’t start competing sooner.

 

Knowing what you do now, what would you go back and tell a younger version of you 10 years ago?

 

Allow yourself to slow down and enjoy the ride – don’t take your time, or the people in your life for granted.

 

 

What do you bring to TeamPRS that you feel is unique?

 

As a professional, female athlete and mother, I feel I bring a different perspective to a predominately male dominated sport as well as how to balance a career, family and still be a top ranked competitive athlete.

Who are your mentors/biggest influences-who do you look to for advice and help?

 

Todd Guggisberg – My husband, who has supported me every step, coached me, laid the foundation for the lifter that I am today and never lets me take short cuts, pushing me to not settle for being mediocre.

Brian Carroll – My coach and mentor for the past three years who saw and believed in my potential to become a great lifter and who has imparted me with so much knowledge.  Brian has taught me to work smarter, not harder and helped me, with 10/20/Life principals, to remain injury free.

Adam Driggers/Team Samson – They have given me so much knowledge and experience.  There is no way I could’ve made the switch to multi-ply lifting without their help.

Paul Key – Taught me to appreciate and love the bench press and that it is not just nap time in between the squat and deadlift.

 

 

In closing, name 2 things that few people know about you, unrelated to strength sports:

 

I am an extremely shy person, but once I am comfortable with you I won’t hold back anything.

I can be very indecisive and almost always overthink my decisions.

Make sure to watch for articles and weekly log posts from Lisa Guggisberg each and every week on www.powerrackstrength.com/author/lguggisberg/

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Lisa Guggisberg

A self-proclaimed former high school band nerd turned meathead nerd, Lisa has been coached and mentored by Brian Carroll using 10/20/Life principals for 3 years. She started CrossFiting in 2006 but gave that up after realizing all she wanted to do was squat, bench and deadlift heavy. She now competes as a raw and multi-ply powerlifter in the 114 and 123 weight classes. Lisa has All-Time top 10 totals in both raw and multi-ply in her respective weight classes with a raw pro total of 936 lbs at 114 and a pro 1118 lb multi-ply pro total at 123 and 1090 lb multi-ply total at 114. She is currently ranked the #1 female multi-ply lifter at 123, #2 at 114 multi-ply female and #3 raw with wraps. Lisa has a B.A. in Political Science and a Masters in Public Administration, but hates politics and political debates. She is a mom of two, a firefighter wife and has worked as a full time litigation paralegal for almost 20 years.
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