There were three reasons why I wanted to interview Rachel Roller. First, she’s a Catalyst Athletics weightlifter, and we like to share the stories of our team members in this magazine. Second, she’s becoming a pretty legit weightlifter. She’s competed in the National Championships and American Open Finals, creeping up on a 140 kg total in the 49 kg bodyweight class after only a few years of training.
 
Third, she’s a medical student in New York City during the time of the COVID pandemic. Think about that for a second. I don’t need to do a lengthy explanation of the curveballs COVID has thrown into the weightlifting world. You all know already. Many of you are training in your living rooms with equipment you borrowed from your gym while you try not to drop the weights too hard so your neighbors won’t blow a gasket, and we’re all walking around in masks as we try to avoid getting this awful disease. Rachel lives in NYC, which was one of the main epicenters of COVID. And she’s also training to go into the medical field, which is the frontline profession in charge of handling this crisis. This combination of circumstances gives her a unique perspective on the calamity that’s thrown our weightlifting lives into disarray. We’re pleased to share the story of a rising Catalyst Athletics competitor and future doctor.
 
Tell us about your background. Where are you from, where do you currently live, what’s
your occupation, family life, what kind of sports background do you have outside of lifting,
Etc.
 
My dad was in the Air Force, so we moved around a lot when I was younger but I consider myself to be from Colorado, where we moved when I was in 7th grade. I lived in Fort Collins during middle and high school and then Boulder throughout college and grad school. I moved to NYC last year for medical school and currently live in the Kips Bay area of Manhattan.
 
I did gymnastics throughout middle and high school but I wasn’t much good at it, except for the uneven bars. My sophomore year of college, I discovered CrossFit—which I also wasn’t much good at—and that led me to weightlifting.
 
Describe your weightlifting history. When/how did you start? Who have your coaches
been? What are your proudest accomplishments?
 
I got kind of harassed into it initially. One of the CrossFit coaches at my gym badgered me into signing up for an unsanctioned meet in early 2015. I PRed my clean and jerk with 48 kilos and fell in love. The transition from CrossFit to weightlifting happened pretty quickly after that.
I’ve been working with Greg for two years now. Before that, I worked with my good friend and Boulder-area physical therapist/strength coach Kevin Kirsch for a few years. I’d say my proudest accomplishments are qualifying for Senior Nationals, which I didn’t think I’d ever be able to do, and going 6/6 with two PRs at the 2019 American Open, which was my first big meet after starting med school and navigating all the challenges associated with that.
 
In addition to weightlifting, we know you’re also preparing for a life in the medical field. Tell us about the challenges and benefits of being a med school student and Olympic weightlifter at the same time.
 
When I moved across the country to start med school last year, it gave me a sense of stability to have the same goals, a similar routine, and an easy way to make friends. Lifting gives me another identity apart from medicine, which is good for my mental health. It also forces me to prioritize my physical health—besides obviously keeping me active, it incentivizes me to eat healthfully and get enough sleep, which can otherwise sometimes fall by the wayside when school is busy.
 
It can be really hard, though. Medical school is really demanding, and I have to be strategic about finding time to train around lectures, meetings, and being in the hospital. Some days, finding the physical and emotional energy to train is even harder than finding the time.
 
Most days I enjoy the challenge of making it all work. And I believe that the qualities I cultivate every day as a competitive athlete—things like discipline, grit, and even resilience through pain and injury—will make me a better doctor.
 
You have the unique perspective of being a national-level weightlifter living in New York during the era of COVID. Tell us what this has been like.
 
Yes, NYC was the initial epicenter of the pandemic in the US, so it’s been an experience to be living here during this time. We transitioned to remote classes mid-March, so I was home in Colorado from March to August. But New York was one of the last states to reopen gyms, so when we started back in person in August, the gyms here were still closed. Garages and backyards aren’t a thing in Manhattan. So my friend and I set up a home gym in his 6th floor spare bedroom.
 
That’s a funny story actually. We decided to build a pair of squat stands out of 2x4s and two buckets of concrete based on instructions from a YouTube video. We carried six 2x4s and a 60 lb. bag of concrete by foot 10 city blocks to our building (no one has cars here), cut all the wood to size with a hand saw (the Manhattan Home Depots won’t cut wood for you), and then mixed the concrete in his apartment. Unfortunately, we didn’t think to acquire proper concrete-mixing tools so it set before we’d mixed it all and we ended up with a 59 lb. bucket of concrete and 1lb. splattered all over the room. We learned from our mistake and got the stands built on our second try, so I was able to do light powers, squats, and floating pulls in our “home gym” for about a month while gyms were still closed.
 
All the weightlifters I know here did something similar. People found some really creative ways to train in their tiny NYC apartments. Gyms did finally reopen in September, so everyone is back and trying to get back into shape.
 
If you could look into a crystal ball, what kind of future would you see for weightlifting now that COVID is part of our lives? What’s the best way to make our sport work and fight against the pandemic at the same time?
 
No one knows what the world will look like in the next few months or even years, so the best thing we can do as athletes and as a sport is be ready to adapt and help each other out. We’ve already seen how adaptable, resilient, and cooperative our community is. During lockdowns, gyms loaned out all their equipment to their members. People trained in garages, bedrooms, backyards, and kitchens. USAW transitioned to virtual meets.
 
Moving forward, we need to stay smart to keep hold of the sport and communities we all love. Wear your mask, especially if that’s the rule at your gym/in your area. No one likes working out in a mask, but let’s be real, as a weightlifter you spend 80% of your workout sitting down between sets, so wear it anyway. Follow all your local guidelines, so gyms can stay open. Be prepared to continue to adapt for the foreseeable future. And give everyone a little grace.
 
What are your plans and goals for your weightlifting career? How do you see your future in the sport? And who are the people you want to thank for your success?
 
I’d really like to continue lifting at the national level until I start residency. My current goals are to snatch reds (65kg), clean and jerk 80kg, jerk 91kg, and squat 100kg.
 
The limited success I’ve had in this sport can be attributed almost entirely to the people I’ve been blessed to work and train with. This includes too many people to name here but first and foremost I have to thank Greg, who took on a skinny weakling and told her she could be a national-level lifter, and has also shown the patience of a saint working around injuries, less than optimal training setups, and a sometimes unpredictable schedule. Thank you to my physical therapist and former coach Kevin for dealing with all my problems and incessant questions. And finally, to all my teammates, past and present, as well as my training partner Mike Liegey, for your friendship and support over the years—thank you.
 
Thanks for all the hard work you put in, Rachel. And thanks in advance for all the great work you’re going to do in the future to take care of your patients!