Lookout Mountain Mom Hits 875-Pound Total At First Powerlifting Meet

By LYDIA BERGLAR
News Editor

This summer, Hannah Wilkinson entered her first powerlifting competition with no expectations other than to have a great time, but she walked away as not only first in her weight class but also the best female lifter overall. Weighing in at 128 pounds, she hit 175 on bench press, 350 on deadlift, and 350 on squat.

The Lookout Mountain stay-at-home mom has been lifting weights for about five years, but competing in powerlifting hadn’t crossed her mind until some gym friends at GetFit 24/7 in Trenton encouraged her to try competing.

While growing up in south Florida, Wilkinson was not an athlete or lifter. Her focus was music, specifically the viola. In middle school, she dedicated two years to practicing scales for two hours every day. Eventually, she moved to Los Angeles, Calif., to finish high school at The Colburn School, a private performing arts school.

After high school, Wilkinson was awarded the Kovner Fellowship, a full-ride scholarship to The Juilliard School. Attending this renowned performing arts conservatory gave her the opportunity to tour the world playing viola.

She graduated in 2020 and married her husband, Josiah. The couple wanted to raise a family in the mountains but not too far from Florida which is how they found a home on Lookout Mountain near the New Salem community. They moved to the mountain in 2022.

Wilkinson started focusing on the gym in 2020 while still living in Florida. “I gained the classic COVID weight,” she said, so she began working out consistently to get back into shape. Just like her commitment to practicing viola years earlier, she brought that same determination and work ethic to the gym. “I went from very inconsistent to going six days a week.”

In January of this year, Chris and Jordan Young, fellow members at the gym in Trenton, encouraged Wilkinson to try competing in powerlifting. Chris gave her a training program and worked with her specifically on deadlifts. Of the three competition lifts (bench, squat, and deadlift), Wilkinson had not trained deadlifts.

After about three months, Chris set up a mock powerlifting meet with Wilkinson and another woman. Wilkinson enjoyed it so much that she decided to commit to the July 19 “Scenic City Battle of the Beast” hosted by the American Powerlifting Union.

She was in the 132-pound weight class, but she cut an extra four pounds to weigh in at 128. Her relative strength (i.e. comparing her lifts to her bodyweight) shows just how impressive Wilkinson’s performance was: Her 350-pound squat and deadlift were 2.73 times her bodyweight, and her 175-pound bench was 1.37 times her bodyweight.

These lifts not only earned Wilkinson first place in her weight class and best female lifter at the meet, but they also broke all of the federation’s open records for women in the 132-pound weight class.

Making her feats even more impressive, it was just a few weeks before the meet when Wilkinson learned that powerlifting requires a pause on bench press. (Bringing the bar to a complete standstill before pressing is more difficult than a touch-and-go lift.) She also switched from conventional deadlift to sumo two weeks beforehand which added 25 pounds to her lift. (Some lifters find they are stronger with conventional; others, like Wilkinson, prefer sumo, but it typically takes some time to master the new form.)

During meets, competitors get three attempts on each of the three lifts, and on Wilkinson’s third squat attempt, she failed 365 pounds. This Saturday, she has another chance to add a 365 squat to her official record. She’s competing in the United States Powerlifting Association’s “Iron Clash” on Sept. 13.

She entered the drug-tested portion of this meet. Wilkinson has never taken performance enhancing drugs, nor does she plan to, so moving forward, she wants to compete in tested federations when possible. “It’s not that I’m only doing competitions that are tested,” she explained, “but if I have the option to select it, I’m going to, because I don’t want to be up against people on steroids.”

After the July meet, powerlifting coaches contacted Wilkinson when they found out she didn’t have a coach. Chris had served as a mentor, but Wilkinson was ready to hire an expert coach. She chose Jason Banks, a Chattanooga powerlifter with a stellar coaching record, and for the last month and a half, the two have been preparing for this weekend.

Also as a result of her performance in July, Wilkinson received an invitation to the powerlifting portion of the Arnold Sports Festival. In March 2026, she’ll travel to Ohio to compete in the famous event hosted by Arnold Schwarzenegger. Wilkinson could hardly explain her amazement, shock, and excitement at receiving this invitation.

The supportive culture of powerlifting has already made an impression on Wilkinson. “I didn’t know what the powerlifting community would be like, but everyone was so nice at Battle of the Beast. The leader prayed for us all before the meet. Everyone came up and gave me big hugs even though they didn’t know me from Adam.”

She fell in love with lifting because of the confidence and strength it brings, as well as the mental clarity and rest found during a good gym session. “People think you do it for the way you look, but it really becomes for your mental sanity,” she said. “For women, lifting shifts your mindset from becoming skinnier and smaller to getting stronger. It gives you confidence.”

As a stay-at-home mom of a one year old and three year old, Wilkinson has learned that having hobbies is important for parents. “When you’re a stay-at-home mom, your kids are everything, and you’re at home all the time. I think it’s really important to have something for yourself. You can still be a great mom and a great wife and spend an hour working on yourself. The gym is my time to get out and shut my brain off.”

Thanks to Josiah’s work-from-home job and supportive in-laws who moved to the area to be near the young family, Wilkinson can usually train while the kids are napping.

Working out during her pregnancies helped her maintain a healthy amount of weight gain and also improved her morning sickness. “I’d get sicker if I laid down, but if I’d move my body and work out, it’d take away my morning sickness,” she explained.

To anyone new to working out, Wilkinson’s encouragement is that the first three months are the hardest. She remembers the soreness, insecurity, and fear of the weight room. Now, she doesn’t think twice about loading up a heavy barbell. “You stop caring what people think. It’s so cliché, but we all start somewhere.”

To women specifically, she addressed two myths: Cardio is the best way to lose weight, and lifting makes you look like a man. Of the first myth, Wilkinson said, “I think a lot of women do cardio because they think it will help with weight loss. You can burn 200 calories running a couple miles, but you have that one bite of peanut butter and that’s 200 calories.”

Building muscle, however, improves your metabolism because muscle burns more calories than fat while at rest. Cardio is a good calorie burner in the moment, but muscle is a good calorie burner all the time. Wilkinson still does cardio for her heart and lung health but not primarily as a calorie burner.

Of the second myth, Wilkinson encourages women, “You’re not going to get bulky by picking up a five-pound dumbbell.” It took her years of consistent, intentional, heavy lifting and proper nutrition to build the muscle she has, so she knows that women cannot accidentally get too muscular.

On the other hand, people often get discouraged by the amount of time it takes to reach fitness goals, whether they want to lose weight, gain muscle, or increase their one-rep maxes. To this, Wilkinson said, “One of the most inspiring quotes I heard when I started is that time is going to pass regardless. Don’t be intimidated by how much time it takes because the same year will go by whether you’re working toward your goals or not.”

Wilkinson’s goal for the rest of the year is to not let other people’s opinions cause her to doubt herself. “I want to work on not listening to my self-doubt, because that could have really done damage.”

For example, the week before the July meet, she almost dropped out because she was afraid she’d embarrass herself. Instead, she had a blast and came out on top. She added, “What if I hadn’t applied to the Colburn School? And I never in a million years thought I could get into Juilliard. If self-doubt had got in the way, none of that stuff would’ve happened.”

Speaking of her musical career, while she doesn’t perform as much as she used to, Wilkinson still makes time for music. This year, she released the album “Eternal Winds of Ash and Ice” under the artist name “Hellige.” It’s like listening to the soundtrack of a medieval knights tale or fantasy film.

You can follow along with Wilkinson’s lifting journey—and look for her results after this weekend’s Iron Clash—on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. Her username on all platforms is “squatlikehannah.”