Brawn and Beethoven: Local sisters balance muscle, music

Sisters Abigail, Hannah and Sarah Biddle go to church at Martinsville Baptist Tabernacle and are enrolled in IU's pre-college music program. Abigail, 17, plays the harp and sings in church choir. Hannah, 15, plays the cello and piano and wants to become a musical score composer. Sarah, 13, plays the harp and the piano and is the baby of the family.\nLike most multi-talented students, they can carry quite a load -- only their loads regularly exceed 200 pounds.\nIn addition to their musical talents, the sisters are national and world record-holding powerlifters.\nAbigail has lifted 300 pounds in the dead lift, and Hannah hopes to be able to put up a combined 600 pounds in the dead lift and the squat by the time she turns 18. A dead lift involves lifting a barbell to waist level. Sarah has lifted 185 pounds in the dead lift, and hopes to break the 200-pound mark by the fall, and the 250-pound mark by the winter -- more than double her own weight of 105 pounds.\nThe girls were motivated to start powerlifting from watching their father, Brent Biddle, lift at the Martinsville YMCA.\n"I wasn't old enough to go in the weight room without my dad," Abigail said. "So I would go in there and use the machines (with him). My dad started getting machines at home that we could use." \nOnce Brent realized his daughters' potential, he began researching different powerlifting tournaments in which his daughters could compete.\nIn April 2004, the girls entered their first powerlifting competition in Texas. During that competition, Abigail and Hannah each set four Indiana state records, and Sarah set nine. \nSince then the girls have dominated every competition they've entered. They swept the 2004 World Powerlifting Association Championships held in Montreal and the 2005 WPA Championships held in Nashville, Tenn.\nThe trio plans to travel to Germany and Finland in the next few months for more international competition. \nBut their success comes with more than just a physical cost.\nIn addition to the fatigue the sisters experience during workouts and competition, they also face criticism from their peers. \n"A lot of people I know think it's unfeminine and that it's not right for a lady to be (lifting)," Hannah said. "I just brush them off, and I use it for motivation to lift more."\nThe girls' father said their musical involvement proves their femininity. \n"Boys will always say 'What are you trying to be, a man?' I'm not raising tomboys," Brent said. "If I gave them a choice between a pretty outfit and a tomboy outfit, they'd choose the pretty outfit." \nLauri Wood, the girls' music teacher at Martinsville Baptist Tabernacle, credits Brent with keeping the girls levelheaded when facing criticism.\n"He's the type to override negative comments their peers might say to them," Wood said. "He's the type to put things in perspective." \nBrent said he has the advantage of being a 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week coach. And in that time he has noticed a bit of competitiveness between the sisters -- especially between Abigail and Hannah since they are in similar weight divisions.\n"They're competitors," Brent said. "They'll try to outdo each other. For instance, one time they were tied going into their last lift and they wouldn't tell each other what their last lift would be."\nHe said he tries use their competitiveness to their advantage and make it a positive.\n"A few tournaments ago, we were both trying to lift 300 pounds, and we just started trash talking to each other," Hannah said. "We were just joking, but we were kind of serious, too. It's good to have a push. If I was an only child, I would have quit by now." \nWhile the older two share a healthy sibling rivalry, both believe Sarah is the best out of the three of them.\nTheir father agrees.\n"Pound for pound, out of the three sisters, she's the strongest -- without a doubt," Brent said. "Little Sarah, she just wants to beat everybody."\nBut Sarah is quick to point out that her maximum weight is still smaller than that of her older sisters. In fact, she said if she ever outlifted her sisters, she hopes they would lift even more so they would still have better records than she.\n"I like sharing the spotlight with my sisters because they're my inspiration," Sarah said. "If anyone's going to be an Olympic lifter, it's Hannah. She's got the build."\nThough Sarah typically places first in the competitions she enters, sometimes she wishes it weren't that way.\n"I don't want to be on top all the time. What's the fun if when you compete all the time you're on top?" Sarah said.\nA second later she confessed, "But I do like to be on top most of the time"