Five-mile sweat suit jogs, two-a-day lifting workouts, and hours of sitting and sweating in a sweltering sauna — all fueled by 800 calories.
Sounds impossible, right?
Powerlifter and Ivy Tech senior Brian Sweeny kicks impossibility in the butt and nearly defies the limits of the human body.
The relationship between mind and body of a powerlifter is constantly on the rocks. The body wants food, the mind says no. The body wants rest, the mind says no. But Sweeny’s peak physical condition and mental discipline earned him the 2008 Teenage Powerlifting National Championship.
“I wanted to be as fit as I could be,” Sweeny said. “So I had to watch what I ate. I was borderline anorexic. It kinda sucked.”
Because Sweeny was functioning on an allotted 800 calories a day, his body was dangerously reduced to skin and muscle.
“My mom was scared. I tried not to take my shirt off around her. The doctor even said it was physically dangerous. But the mental aspect was definitely harder than the physical aspect—I just felt weak.”
Sweeny’s remarkable perseverance and control over his body paid off, winning the national teenage power-lifting competition his senior year of high school.
But Sweeny’s mental commitment proved most taxing but also most gratifying. Having to deny the body’s screaming demands for food in order to cut weight did not come easily.
“I would open the fridge and see all my family’s food and want to eat the shit out of it. But even a minor slip could have cost me.”
Sweeny’s improving mental discipline flooded into other areas of his life and helped him focus in on who it was that he wanted to be, particularly through pledging Sigma Alpha Mu and his year in the army.
“My work ethic was shit before. But power-lifting definitely brought me a lot of focus. It gave me something to have private for myself.”
Power-lifting allows Sweeny to become acutely attentive to his physical limits and granted him an empowering awareness of his own body.
“To know exactly what you can expect of yourself mentally and physically is awesome.”
