BALTIMORE — You may see her reporting the news or doing fun interviews for Good Morning Maryland, but there is another side to WMAR-2 News Reporter Erin MacPherson you may not expect.
Erin is a competitive weight lifter.
"To me, it's very empowering to be strong," explained Erin. "I love the feeling of completing daily workouts, hitting new personal records, and just being able to do daily activities without a struggle."
And not only can Erin lift nearly 300 pounds, she recently competed in a powerlifting competition... and got 3rd place in her weight class!
"I felt very accomplished! It was something I have never done before so it was exciting to complete this challenge and place. I've done Crossfit competitions before but powerlifting is completely different... from the training to the atmosphere on competition day," Erin said.
For the competition, Erin did a back squat, bench press, and deadlift. She explained you get three attempts for each lift and they take your highest score in each and then combine the scores to get your total.
"I felt so good about successfully achieving my lifts, I wanted to do more!"
Not only is Erin strong, but she is also a quick learner. She has only been powerlifting for less than a year, training with Good Morning Maryland Producer Jeff Kryglik.
"Jeff is extremely knowledgeable and so humble," Erin says. "He is a strongman champion and does some crazy events like lifting cars, but he is the most down to earth person. He has helped me tremendously on this journey."
Erin says her weight lifting journey does not end here and she has an ambitious goal,
"I want to deadlift 300 pounds. I hit 292 over the weekend and feel like 300 was feasible but we didn't want to push it, so that's my big goal which I'm going to hit before the end of the year. You can count on that! I have some personal goals with different lifts as well, but the biggest goal is just being happy and healthy."
Follow Erin MacPherson on Facebook, Instagram as @erinmac16, or on Twitter as @ErinTVnews to wish her congratulations!
