An elitefts intern, Ellie Kim is a full-time college student studying Exercise Science at Purdue University and a part-time personal trainer at the Purdue Recreational Center. As the Purdue Barbell president, she strives to help college students train safely and efficiently and turn college gym-goers into competitive strength athletes. As the vice president last year, she worked to introduce powerlifting to novice female lifters in the Purdue community. Kim is a raw junior powerlifter in the 165-pound weight class and her best totals are 710 (without wraps) and 750 (with wraps). In 2018, she plans on qualifying for and competing in IPL Worlds for her last meet in the junior age division. She is coached by EliteFTS athlete Brandon Smitley.
Brandon Smitley competes in equipped bench-only at the APF Chicago Summer Bash. While recovering from a low back injury, he has been focusing on bench and decided to make a run at the all-time bench record at 132 pounds.
Under the skillful coaching of Steve Goggins, Meana Franco continues to establish herself as one of the top young female powerlifters today. Read about the changes she’s implementing in anticipation of the IPL Anaheim Fit Expo.
Rachel Ellis and Maggie Kuhn are owners and operators of CBUS Lifting Co. Watch how they used their passion for building an environment where competitive strength athletes thrive and form a community.
"It's an honor to be able to give back to the site and the people that have given me so much. My goal with this column is to help young strength and conditioning coaches get the information that they need to succeed when starting out."
Jason is the owner of Performance and Recovery Systems, where he works with clients as a Soft Tissue Therapist and Active Release Therapist. "I consider being part of the team both a privilege and, most certainly, a dream come true.”
