HEATHER LEE
A BEAUTIFUL ARGUMENT FOR THE BENEFITS OF TRAINING HEAVY !
For years, Ned Low of Gold's Gym Venice used to amuse himself by travelling all over the country filming at various powerlifting gyms. I recall one particular vhs issue when he went to Pennsylvania to visit Mike Miller's Nazareth Barbell.
As Ned was panning across the gym with his camcorder...... BLAMMO! something really caught my attention; two ultra hot girls working out on the bench using boards and denim bench shirts! Like beacons of beauty they shone out amidst the throng of no neck'd, head shaven, goatee sportin' neanderthals that frequent Big Mike's power palace.
Thankfully, Mike and Ned decided to give these two ladies some of the video spotlight and, between watching Shawn Lattimer and Bobby Fields breaking in their new shirts, we got to see Heather Lee and Elena Seiple learn how to get the most benefit out of board pressing with and without shirts.
I figured out that her official website was
http://www.heatherleenj.com and I've kept in contact with her ever since; working with her on photography for various bodybuilding magazine layouts. Anyone who's been to a women's powerlifting nationals knows that, despite some of the stereotypes people have about women who train heavy, there are lots of pretty girls lifting big iron on the platform. It's just rare that women get much press outside of Powerlifting USA magazine and so House of Pain's gonna make a point to run some Iron Maiden interviews here on the new HOP BLOG !
Sean Katterle - When you were in high school, the only sport you competed in was cross country running your sophomore year. Then, you went straight to the gym and you've been an successful bodybuilder, fitness model and a powerlifter ever since. I can relate as my last school organized sport was also cross country and that was my freshman year and then, beyond that, all my time spent on athletics was either in the weight room or in the boxing gym. What do you think was your motivation for not getting involved in the more typical women's school sports; volleyball, basketball, softball, cheerleading, ect.? What was it that drew you to the gym instead? When I was a teenager in the 1980s bodybuilding wasn't popular at all in Portland, Oregon. Was it popular when you were growing up in your hometown in the early 1990s?
Heather Lee - To tell you the truth, the reason I never got involved with any type of athletics when I was younger was because I was a bit of a klutz! You know, the type of girl who tripped over her own feet... seriously! I always wanted to play soccer or cheer, but the prospect frightened me. I thought I would be able to handle running when I entered high-school, and cross-country seemed easy enough. However, I had asthma, and was always the one holding everyone up at practice, so I just gave it up....And as for bodybuilding, well I don't think I even knew what that was until sometime around 1995, when I joined my first gym, "Ron Capadanno's Muscle Mill" here in New Jersey. It was the type of place with a little juice bar, trophies lining the wall, contest pictures everywhere, and a little cardio loft with a fan on the floor. The place even had a posing room. That was my glimpse of bodybuilding.
Sean Katterle - You've been sponsored by MHP (
www.maxperformance.com) since 1998, right? Are you still currently working with them? What nutritional supplements are you using? Did your supplement program change when you were training for powerlifting? For fitness modeling? How does your supplementation change in the offseason as compared to when you're dieting down for a bodybuilding show?
Heather Lee - Yes, I was sponsered by MHP from 1998 until 2003... However, I am currently sponsered by a company call Anafit,(
http://www.anafit.com/ ) and they make, by far, the best line of supplements I have ever used. They are a smaller company based out of Florida, and the products are top of the line! I have been with them for 5 years and attribute my best gains( and biggest fat loss) to their products!Each one is totally unique. Now, as you may know, I had a baby six months ago, so my regimine right now consists primarily of trying to get my body back to it's pre-pregnancy state!
My bodyweight is exactly what it was pre-pregnancy, however I need to add a few pounds of muscle back and lose a bit of bodyfat. My supplement routine consists of a bevy of fat burning products, including "Yohimburn", which is a topical fat-burner and diuretic consistening of yohimbine HCL, "Thermorexin" which works on enhancing your metabolic rate as well as supressing your appetite and utilizing fat stores for energy, and at the same time increasing your focus, "Glucorell-R", which helps shuttle carbs into the muscles by improving your insulin-sensitivity, which means carbs will be used as energy and not stored as fat, "Red-Blast", which combines top-quality creatine with a number of quality ingredients to help improve your pump, your endurance, and your intensity during those kick-ass workouts! They make a lot of other really great stuff so check out their site and tell em' I sent you! I swear by the stuff! They also have some of the most knowledgeable people on staff to answer any questions you may have about their products, and I have to tell you, once you use Anafit products you will never look elsewhere!
Sean Katterle - Last year, at 35 years of age I suffered from congestive heart failure. My heart's ejection fraction dropped to 15% (50-70% is normal for a healthy, young adult) and it's taken 8 months of heavy medication to get my level back up to 35%. In addition I've got an arrythmia which will probably require me to get a defibrillator installed in my chest in case of an electrically inspired stroke or heart attack. You also have had more than your fair share of cardiac troubles. Please tell us about what you've been through, the details of the health problem and what you've had to go though to contain/correct it.
Heather Lee - I have had my fair share of adversity. In 1999 I had some major setbacks. First I was diagnosed with Wolff Parkinson's White Syndrome. Basically, to sum it up, my heart was conducting an extra electrical current back to itself which led it to overwork. This led my lungs to not get enough blood and therefore not pump enough oxygen to my body. I remember walking through the mall bearly being able to breathe. At 20 years old, you know something is wrong. I went to the doctor and they were able to diagnose my disease via an E.K.G. I was given the option to be on medication for the rest of my life of undergo surgery to correct the problem, which may not have corrected the problem. I chose the surgery, and I was fortunate I haven't had a problem since! I get an E.K.G. done every year, but to this day, have had no limitations as to what I could do, so surgery was the right decision for me!
Now I thought I was in the clear, but I was wrong! Almost 6 months to the day of my heart surgery, I was outside gardening with my Mom and had intense stomach pains come on. They progressively got worse and worse until finally I asked to be driven to the emergency room. To make a really long story short, I had a benign pollyp in my lower intestine which had caused my intestine to loop up and knot, and gangrenate. Pretty image, right? LOL! They later told me that the pain I was feeling from that was the equivalent to being shot in the stomach. (So I wasn't being a drama-queen when I said it hurt!!!) Again, I had to have surgery to correct the problem, and they removed part of my intestine and the pollyp, splitting my stomach muscle in the process. I was on IV only for several days(not even water allowed), followed by clear liquids, soft food, then finally real food again! But in the process I lost close to 20 pounds. I went back to the gym with a fire like you had never seen, determined to get all of my hard-earned muscle back! The doctors attributed my speedy recovery and the quick repair of my abdominal muscles to my conditioning prior to the surgery. I was back to normal in no time. However, 1999 had one last bout of adversity for me to overcome. In October of that same year, my Mother, who I was very very close with, passed away at 39 years old in a car accident. That took work to come back from than any health problem anyone could have thrown at me.
Sean Katterle - I first learned about you when you started dabbling in powerlifting. I remember watching Powerlifter Video and suddenly, in Mike Miller's Nazareth Barbell Gym, there were hot girls training (you and Elena Seiple.) There are some very good looking women competing in powerlifting but not anywhere near as many as who are only involved in fitness, figure (duh) or bodybuilding. Who got you started in powerlifting? What inspired you to look into competition powerlifting in the first place? I noticed that you went straight to the most extreme level of equipment (denim shirts and canvas suits.) Was that Mike Miller's idea or did you want to get started with the most advanced equipment right off the bat? Both you and Elena look like you're really strong women so have you ever considered entering a women's raw powerlifting competition?
Heather Lee - Wow! Thanks for the hottie comment, that's kind of funny! To tell you the truth, I was just looking for something different to do. Bodybuilding training was getting boring. No matter how many different splits I came up with, no many how new exercises I came up with, I was bored. Powerlifting seemed like something new for my husband and me to try, and we took a ride up to Mike Miller's gym, Nazareth Barbell. He was a great guy and spent a lot of time with us talking about the sport. We decided to give it a try, and jumped into our first meet 2 weeks later. We both competed, and I competed RAW in the bench. I hit 185 that day, missing 225.
After that, my husband, Elena, and a whole group of us would drive up to Naz twice a week to train with the team, wednesdays for legs, and sundays for chest. I actually chose a Karin Closed Back Denim for my first shirt just by researching through the interent and by speaking to her on the phone....Once I began training with the Naz team, we modified it into an open back, and it was a great shirt! The canvas squat suit was Mike's idea. The Leviathan had just come out and he said with my style of squatting, with a few minor changes I would hit a big squat in it and he was right! A few months of bands and chains and killer workouts, and we were ready to go! Under Mike's guidance I was able to total Elite my first meet, with 1205. I squatted 535, benched 265, and pulled 405. I think I had the 13th highest squat in the 165 class for awhile. Not sure if that record still stands though.
Sean Katterle - You're the most famous for taking some really high voltage modeling photos ! You've got a website (
www.heatherleenj.com ) that offers a "members only" section. In detail, what can a person look forward to getting when they become a member of your VIP website?
Heather Lee - Thanks Sean! I love my site and put a lot of work into it! It has been around for 6 years and has over 29,000 photos of me and some of my hottest friends on it! Not just the girls you can see everywhere, but many new and upcoming fitness hotties! I have every type of photo from bikini, lingerie and gym shots, to hardcore training photos, powerlifting, strongman, contest photos, backstage... you name it, you can find it on my site! I even have yearly transitions so you can see my changes from 1999 to the present! You can also see my personal photos, all of my powerlifting video's, including my 535 squat, and all the workouts leading up to it, photoshoot video's, my strongman contest, all my magazine tearsheets, a personal journal which also chronicles many of my workouts...there is too much to list!
Sean Katterle - You're only 30 years old so you've still got many years ahead of you at the national/pro level. What are you currently working on and do you have plans for competing in bodybuilding, powerlifting or ? in the near and distant future? What are your modeling aspirations? Are you interested in being an official card girl at our pro powerlifting events?
Heather Lee - Right now my focus is on my son, who was born on December 27th! He is amazing! As for contest plans...hmmm....I will definitly do another strongman competition, because that is what I was training for when I found out I was pregnant last year!~ Other then that, you will just have to wait and see!
Sean Katterle - If you could give 3 pieces of advice to women getting started in the gym, what would that advice be? If you could name the 3 mistakes you most often see women making in the gym (and outside the gym with their recovery program) what would those 3 mistakes be?
Heather Lee - Truth is, most women train like women. If you want real results, don't be afraid to pump that iron!!! It is going to get you a lot further then those little 2 pound plastic dumbells and aerobics classes! Don't get me wrong, there is a time and a place for everything, but if you want results, now is not that time! The 3 best pieces of advice I have are sort of combined with the mistakes they go alond with...
1. USE PROGRESSIVE RESISTANCE! Even if it means adding one to two pounds, increase your weight with each set. And try to increase it in progression every few weeks. Your body will adapt very quickly and you need to break that muscle tissue down for growth! That means pushing yourself! Handle as much weight as you can for each set and the desired amount of reps as you can with proper form. If you ae using 10 pound dumbells and you feel like you could do 40 reps, you need to increase the weight! You are in the gym to push yourself, not just go through the motions!
2. DIET IS KEY! You aren't going to grow or get leaner unless you give your body the proper fuel to do so! Good quality protein, carbs, and fats are essential to building a better body! Strive for at least one gram of protein per pound of bodyweight if not more, depending on your fitness level!
3.DON'T EXPECT MIRACLES OVERNIGHT! Stick with your routine and over time, changes will happen. Nothing is more frustrating to me than a person who asks me why they haven't lost all that weight even though they have been working out and dieting for 4 weeks. If it took years to do the damage, it is going to take longer then 4 weeks to undo it. Don't give up! Nothing is impossible, and with the right attitude and work ethic, you can achieve anything!
Sean Katterle - Great answers! Thanks again for spending some time chatting with us and we'll look forward to hearing about your next strongwoman competition. Congratulations on the birth of your son and please keep us posted on what you're up to and how your training is going.
