Tina James

Actually, she holds four.

At the Richmond Open Power Lifting Championships on April 5, sponsored by USA Power Lifting, Tina James dead lifted 253 pounds, bench pressed 115 pounds and squatted 203 pounds, all new State Records for the under 40- year-old 149-165 pound weight class.

Her cumulative weight for the three lifts, 571 pounds, was also a new State record.

James got involved in power lifting about 11 years ago. Her soon to be husband, Kenneth, is a world class power lifter and took her on dates to meets where he competed.

“He was joking around and said I ought to try it. I decided to enter my first meet and from there on I just did it,” she remembered. She stepped away from competition five years ago in order to add Joseph, now four-years-old, and Zackary, now two, to the family to go along with current teenagers Samantha and Charles. 

Tina James did not pick up another competitive weight until the spring of 2007 and did not compete in a full-scale attack on the barbell until December of last year. She tuned up at another meet in March of 2008 before her April 5 annihiliation of all four records.

“I looked at the numbers and felt I could do it. I went there to set a State record,” she admitted.

With a peaches and cream complexion and a mega-watt smile, Tina James spends her afternoons driving a Powhatan County school bus. Her only visible concession to non-convention is a vine and flower tattoo circling a not-very-large left bicep.

So how has she been so successful?

“Determination. Power lifting is an individual sport. You spend every day competing with yourself. You are always trying to beat your own personal records,” she said.

Prior to becoming involved in power lifting, her athletic career was somewhat less than spectacular. At Manchester High School she played field hockey and was part of a start-up soccer team, she recalled.

“I’ve always loved sports and always wanted to be first,” (in some sport) she said “but there are not a lot of things when you get to say you came in first.”

The training is time consuming—at least three days a week at the “Y” or Wolfgang’s Gym —and there are a lot of aches and pains.

“You’re probably doing things your body was not meant to do,” she confessed, but the rewards are significant to her.

“Besides the adrenalin rush, there is a great sense of satisfaction. I know I couldn’t win the 10K but I can do this.”

Daughter Samantha and son Charles are athletes at Powhatan High School, both wrestling in the emerging Indians wrestling program. James feels her commitment has had a positive influence on them.

“I feel better mentally and physically and have learned how to overcome hurdles. I think this is setting a good role model for my kids,” she said.

Her personal motivation comes from a very unusual source and goes a long way toward defining this unassuming warrior. Special Olympians compete along side of the able-bodied lifters in many of the meets and their determination has found a home in her heart.

“Some of then have trouble walking or even standing, but this is their big chance and they just won’t give up.”

But, she pointed out, when it came time for her to compete, their commitment to her efforts was inspiring.

Amid their cheers and admonishments the realization came “that they believe in you so much that you have to believe in yourself.”