We would like to welcome Luke Summerall to the Play Book Athlete family. This young man has shared a great story of how he got involved in lifting weights and also with the special olympics:
How I got involved with Power Lifting – Luke Summerall
I started working out with my dad at 12 in our basement gym to get stronger for football. This was a time where we worked on my form in three primary lifts (squats, bench, and deadlifts). He would not let me use any real weight until I showed I could move through the lifts with decent form. The first bar I used was actually not even a bar, but a piece of wooden stair handrail that my dad cut to the same size as an Olympic bar. This allowed me to work on placement and balance of the bar without worrying about any weight. Once I had the moves down my dad let me start using weights, but everything was very light weights for high reps between 15-20.
Once I was able to handle heavier weights we started on a basic routine to introduce me to middle range reps of 8-10. After he felt comfortable that I could handle heavier weights my first real heavy program was the Stronglift 5×5 program. We continued working out together in our basement gym until I was almost 14, but eventually he realized we needed to move to the next level of training for me to continue to improve for football, which is when we were introduced to my current lifting coach (Matt Blankenship).
Before I get into the next level of training with Matt I would like to mention that working out with my dad at this early age taught me some valuable lessons in work ethic, drive, determination, and positive moods (even when I didn’t really want to work out). He never made me work out, it was always my choice, but he would remind me that everytime I chose not to work out it makes it easier to come up with excuses for not working out the next time, and that it’s easy to continue this cycle until you eventually always have an excuse not to work out. He also gave me a foundation in being positive, especially during work outs. He would not let me join him in the gym if I acted like I didn’t want to be down there. If I wasn’t motivated to be working out he did not want the negative energy around him while he was working out. This taught me that being positive or negative in whatever you are doing affects those around you, and I don’t want to drag someone else down by being negative. When you bring positive energy to anything, it helps others to be motivated and positive.
I remember the first time walking into Matt’s gym, which is pretty basic and hardcore. There were a few men lifting heavy that day and watching them move weights (400+ pounds) like it was nothing was intimidating. I remember Matt walking over to us with his chalk covered hand extended to introduce himself. I shook his hand, but I couldn’t remember my name to introduce myself and my dad had to remind me.
Matt had me do some basic body weight exercises that day to see where I was physically and it actually showed me that I wasn’t in as good of shape as I thought I was even though I had been lifting and doing cardio for over a year.
He agreed to let me start training there and even though I was still squatting, benching, and dead lifting I started learning new moves such as Power Cleans, Snatches, Front Squats, Overhead Squats, and Jerks. At that point I didn’t realize there was a difference between Olympic Lifts and Power Lifts, I was just lifting weights, getting stronger and had no desire to compete. Working out with Matt and the men in the gym was a major motivator to me, they accepted me into their circle and continued to refine my work ethic.
Around the beginning of 2017 the local director for Special Olympics Power Partners came to the gym and asked Matt if he could train his athletes there in preparation for the Southern Raw Power Partners competition. I remember meeting Chip and he asked me if I would be interested in being a Power Partner after he watched me work out. Although I really didn’t know what I was getting into, I wanted to help out with his athletes and figured it would be fun to train with them. The show was an official USAPL completion, but we would be competing as an exhibition match with our partners in just the deadlift. I was teamed up with my partner Michael, and together we came in second place. After being on the stage with the team my dad and Chip asked me if I would be interested in joining USAPL and competing in official meets. My dad and I both joined USAPL and are training together for our first official meet. I plan on competing in the Teen 1, 93kg division in TN this year.
Although, I started working out to be stronger in football, and that is still my primary sport, I have learned that I can use my strength in other ways to compete and be healthy.
