TMGP Ep 04 with bench press (E) world record holder: Ashleigh Hoeta

oo another white boy with a podcast pronouns Jim bro another white boy with a podcast you want to see the video it went viral hi gains gurus and welcome to tmgp the muscle growth podcast episode 4 I am your host Rosco and today we are welcoming Ashley hoter onto the show Ashley is multi-talented a mom of two a student studying to become a teacher an ex-gymnast Paul Dancer New Zealand's female arm wrestling champion and now the world's strongest female equipped bench presser she's smashed the world record for female equip bench press on her second attempt at her last powerlifting meet and then smashed her own world record on her third attempt hitting a whopping 700 lb or 317.50 kg given that brief glimpse into Ashley's astonishing background let's jump right into the QA Style Show hello Ashley hi so Ashley you are the female world record bench press holder how how did you do that was that this weekend is that correct yes so it was the weekend just gone um I actually broke the world record in my second attempt um at 305 kgs um and then yeah we just went for the third one which was £700 which is um it still hasn't sunken in so it's just taking its time so that was 37.5 kgam if I'm not mistaken yeah so that was your third attempt so you did the second you broke the world record with 305 kilograms on your second attempt what was your first attempt um it was 280 kgs oh so just a warm up really as it should be y it was lightweight it was lightweight wow um can you briefly introduce yourself and your journey into the world of being incredibly strong and flexible yeah so um my name is Ashley hoer I am 27 years old I am a mother of two um I'm also studying to become a primary school teacher um I've done Sports my entire life um I started at the age of four I did gymnastics and at the age of eight I was representing my region nationally at the age of 15 I represented New Zealand over in America um and then unfortunately at the age of 16 I had to give up due to a huge injury in my left ankle I tore all the ligaments in it and there was fluid building up um so I really wasn't able to do what I was doing like double back flips double front flips um from there I kind of of just lived a normal life um until I had my daughter in 2017 I then had my son in 2018 and decided that I wanted to kind of get back into fitness um and in 2018 I tried Pole Fitness completely different to I guess the normal of the Rugby's and the net Bulls um but that sort of helped me to find my confidence again as a mother um and then in 2019 um my cousin was doing powerlifting and my dad was like I think you should do it like I think you are strong and I was like oh I think you're just saying that because I'm your daughter but I tried it I won my first comp my dad was there to witness it and then we kind of just went through the motions of training consistently and building to be stronger and um a year after I started no it was 3 months after I started I suffered a stroke in 2020 um after that I did heaps of Rehabilitation um a lot of cardio Fitness to sort of make me stronger which worked in in my instance um 13 months after that it became the top female power lifter in New Zealand a year after that I became the top fale arm wrestler in New Zealand and a year here after that here we are wow you you you managed to basically answer like the next four questions so well done on that no no no you did an absolutely phenomenal job that that is so much to take in and I hope that the listeners find you incredibly inspiring I know that um you inspired myself and my girlfriend um I've watched all your YouTube videos and uh Instagram reals and just phenomenal um yeah that's it's incredible that you do so much uh and so many different um yeah like power B powerlifting and gymnastics are very very different and then throwing in arm wrestling as well what what got you into the arm wrestling so um the gym that I'm at um there's a guy there who's now one of my best friends um he is the 12-time arm wrestling champ in New Zealand and when I first saw him do it there was just males and I thought oh I really want to give it a go though like I know I'm a girl but I think I'd be all right at it since I'm kind of all right at this powerlifting thing and it was a week after I became the top female powerlifter in New Zealand I went and watched an arm wrestling comp and I TN my rotator cuff so my arm was in a sling and he goes would you like to compete against a girl on your other arm we'll just take the sling off and I went why not um and I bit her and so from there he's like I think I think we'll both up um and then yeah last year I faced the seven time woman's champ and better 5 n on my left arm and 3 n on my right um and yeah here we are and then she gave did she give up on the on the on the right or is it sorry I know nothing about arm wrestling is there do you have to get first to eight or how why why stop at three so we usually have five rounds and it's the first person to three but because it was like one of my first proper arm wrestling comps she's like do you want to keep going to five and I was like all right okay yeah she hadn't had enough yeah wow wow yeah I I know Larry wheels does quite a bit of arm wrestling I think you should shout him out and then maybe have a have a go against him see how you go my best friend actually I think it was last year he competed against him in an Australian comp and then I think they um I think they hit a super match in Dubai I think um but yeah shout out Larry Wills organized just organized 100% how did he do against Larry oh he bat him he bat him but oh okay I think yeah yeah he beat him um and this was after he'd gone over to I think it was Europe and um competed against one of the best in the world um but yeah like Larry will I've noticed has been training quite a lot in the arm wrestling scene I think he's competing in King of the table coming up or it's been but um yeah it's it's really cool to see arm wrestling get out there because it's so many people especially in New Zealand are like it's a sport we thought you just do it at the pub when you drunk kind of thing it's a cool party trick that's for sure it is it really is so um what caused that injury that really bad one that got out of gymnastics the one in your ankle what was that doing gymnastics yes so I was at a Nationals and what you do in gymnastics is you go around each apparatus for about half an hour and you warm up before you go to compete and the warmup was going really well and I was doing a vault it's called a sukara so you run towards it put your hands on and then back flip off and when I landed I short landed and I heard a click in my ankle and I went okay something is really wrong and it just started to swell and Bruise um and yeah i' torn all the ligaments in my ankle but at the time we didn't realize so I went on to compete um I went on to compete yeah my coach didn't realize the severity of it um I had it operated on a month later two months later I was over in America competing for New Zealand it was very very it was a very crazy time that's a very short recovery period though and was that was that in the powerlifting oh no gymnastics oh sorry back back to gymnastics sorry yeah yes gymnastics I feel like gymnastics oh there's so many positives to it but there's also so many negatives that not many people probably talk about um you know you've got the positives of I feel like it helps everything in your body like the reason why my bench is so strong is because I've got the wrist the muscle memory from gymnastics but then you've also got the negatives of like gymnastics you have to look perfect you have to be perfect um and then once you go from that to try and living a normal life it's very it's a mind thing for sure and yeah you make good points about the different aspects of gymnastics I also I don't know much about gymnastics so I don't know how it's um how it's calibrated or anything like that that's interesting that you mention about how you have to look and the aesthetic and everything and it's not just about the M the muscle and the mind muscle connection and doing the things properly but also how you present it and all of that as well so it's quite intricate I guess y y definitely um even like the eating you have to like certain amount of calories um and like a lot of people have asked me like what is your daily intake with powerlifting blah blah blah because I ended up getting an eating disorder out of gymnastics because it was like lettuce with salad dressing and I was only allowed a certain amount with tuna every day as a kid um I was like I'm not putting that pressure on myself as an adult I have children I'm not letting them grow up and seeing like the toxic side of eating so I yeah I pretty much just eat anything and everything that I want to do is that quite a high protein diet still um now for for strength um if I'm going into training I'll definitely have like maybe spaghetti bnes or a lasagna before I go in um I used to when I first started powerlifting because I was still in that gymnastics mindset I would literally not eat before I went into the gym and you know now because I do eat and I do have the energy is's such a difference on how you lift how much you can lift um and just your attitude in the G I was so cranky when I first started um and now I'm just happy and bubbly and I'm well fed yeah I know it's very important to eat before training I I don't believe in fasted training at all yeah so what inspired you to pursue the world record in equipped bench press so um back in 2019 when I first started powerlifting um my dad had just found out he became terminally ill um he had COPD and my dad was a very non-emotional person and when I won the gold medal at this little comp back home um he cried and I was like I really just want to try and take whatever I'm doing as far as I can Molly's still here and so this year especially this year um I did a 265 kg bench press in March which put me sixth in the world and my dad was still here for that and we were looking at who was ranked in the top five how many years they've been doing it and I was like I think I can I think I can do this um and so yeah we trained quite a bit um from probably June till about September um and in September I I made my dad three promises it was to keep training no matter what cuz at this point he was he was really bad um to become the number one arm wrestling champ for 2023 which I did a week after he passed away and to attempt I I didn't want to put too much pressure on myself um Casey did actually die which she did um in that time but I said I want to attempt the world record like we've gotten this far we'll just attempt it and then um last month in October I received a phone call on the 18th of October saying that my dad was unresponsive and in hospital so went down there and I took three weeks off training um and then yeah I had a week training I came back in I was like to my coach look I just need to make sure my technique is still okay my strength is still there we'll just have a feel of weights I actually failed 305 kgs a week before the comp um I brought it down my wrist went back and the bo always had to hold it and I got pulled out from under it so that was really I was like I don't think I physically can do this um and then yeah a week later the unimaginable happened and um yeah it was it was my dad who inspired all of this you know if he was still around and he was healthy and okay he would have been standing next to me powerlifting and arm wrestling and doing all of that so I kind of kind of do it for for both of us wow my my sincere condolences for your dad and um that's really really inspiring and huge congratulations to you for being able to come back from such a tragic loss and being able to get a world record and making your dad those promises and sticking to them and fulfilling each of them I know that he he'll be very proud of you so well done for that thank you thank you wow and 305 to 317 in one week that's that's incredible well miss sorry missing 305 and then the next week getting it and then being like okay it's fine three 37.5 just let's do it that's absolutely incredible that so you said two World Records in one day yeah um wow and the crazy thing about it was usually I have these little things that I do before comp so I'm usually like really really nervous leading up to it can hardly sleep can hardly eat the morning of I don't talk to anyone um and then comp day I sort of just get so into my head but um because I had a lot of my family show up the night before and we had a big barbecue it was just so calm and I got I think it was like seven or 8 hours sleep which was the first time ever in it before comp and the day I just kind of put my headphones on and listened to some really calm music and um yeah it was just such a calm environment but after I I tell you I L out like a month's worth of sadness and pain through just screaming through celebrations I saw that celebration it was it was impressive it was it was impressive but it was well it was well deserved it was well deserved that but that might also be the shortest world record ever how how long was it between breaking it and then breaking it again that 305 must be one of the shortest world records of History so um origin like my main plan was I just wanted to have that you know like my record will get beaten in the future but I really just wanted to put my name on it and be like I was the first woman to ever hit the 300 mark like it's just um but it was like a 10 minute a 10 minute break between the 305 to the 317.50 and after after the 305 I was like cool we' done it no more yeah and my coach was like oh sorry no no sorry go for um my coach was like because all my family started to come up um and hug me and my coach is like everyone get the F out of the way she's got one more and I'm like I'm tired like I physically don't feel like 700 is there and he was like don't tell me that go listen to your headphone stop smiling about this and you can celebrate after I was like just one more so he he told you you're going for 700 and you did it yeah um yeah and honestly I didn't think I had it in me like I'm going to be honest about that like the 305 felt off it was more my right arm was coming up and then my left arm just followed and I went I don't I don't think I have it and he goes stop just stop saying that I've got more faith in you than you do and I'm like I know you do no the 31177 and a half looked like it went up like R like I'm sure it was incredibly challenging but it doesn't look you made it look way easier than I think it was truth be told it was easier than the 30 or5 which is crazy but um I just had a slight adjustment issue in the last in the 700b um which made it flow up easier and I went why couldn't I have done that for the second lift as well well you got it so there's no no comments column I don't think it's just three did you get three white lights yes yep y wow for both of them um the 305 I think I had a one red light um I didn't actually ask what it was for but um yeah 37.5 three white lights which I was really stoked about that's again huge congratulations for that so let's jump into the fundamentals of hypertrophy how does your nutrition play a role in your performance especially leading up to a record attempt you mentioned the spaghetti bologan is that before before the gym or is that um carbo loading weeks before or how how does your nutrition play a role in your performance so um I don't really like follow anything um it's actually more focused around my children they they're not picky eaters but it's like what do you feel like tonight and then um so I used to try and eat heaps before going to the gym but then I would get a s tummy so now I have to split my dinner up in two whereas I'll eat half before I go to the gym and then I can eat the remaining half after when I'm stretching and warming down at home um but leading up to it because I'm lifting like I'm overloading like 330 340 if I know in advance then I'll stock up on like the chicken and the Rices and I'll actually try with my nutrition on those night but other other than that like in moderation with a lot of my food um I also hate chocolate I hate chocolate I hate cake I hate sugary stuff so like you know if people are going to be like take that out of your diet I'd never eat it I um I had a traumatic experience as a kid and I ate too much chocolate and I just felt ill for days and so just no chocolate no lollies no cakes no sugary stuff um instead it's more like minc pies okay so basically no sweets and and and junk like that just relatively healthy but at the same time not doing a strict meal prep or anything like that nope no um it was the gymnastics that made me go okay like you can still eat well just like cuz I know that I'll get sew in my head if I do stuff like that and I'll be like oh my gosh like looking at my weight and um the whole body dysmorphic stuff um but yeah just in moderation making sure that I'm so eing veggies and fruits each day um and lots of water lots and lots of water yeah so it's more about having a well balanced diet than than crashing your diet or or controlling the macros exactly rather having a balanced diet with lots of veggies fruits Meats um carbs as well and not restricting yourself would you say is important yeah yeah like you know and I also understand why people do what they do in terms of nutrition but um I just didn't want to put pressure on myself on that side and then I I I know what I'm like and I stress out and then my kids would see me stress out and yeah I just wanted to make it easy and fun and show them that they can enjoy Foods healthy foods um and all in moderation that that sounds like a fantastic strategy that you that you've found there and what works for you that's the most important thing I think with with uh food um in terms of supplementation uh do you take any supplements creatine or the likes or anything that that you found to be effective or not really I have never taken anything no I've never taken the creative just spaghetti B yeah literally um I I hate pre-workout like yes again a lot of people it but um because we take I can't take it at all um I train at 7 o'cl at night and I've taken it a few times oh a few years ago and then coming home I literally wasn't able to get to sleep until 6:00 the next morning and I went I have kids who get up an hour after that this is not for me um yeah I I just I get all like the shakes and weird preout yeah I so I've just I've knocked that one um and then supplements I yeah I just I mean I've tried to take a few protein powders and stuff like that but that was me in my early stages of oh everyone else is taking protein I'm going to take it too I don't actually know what's in it but I'll do it but um yeah I don't don't take anything wow that's cost cost effective um and and salts or anything like that like smelling salt before lift so um back in the early days yep um with the three lifts especially with dead lift like I feel like Squat and bench you kind of have to be really calm for that whereas deadlift you're more like the whole slapping and stuff like that but um with bench definitely not I I've had it thrown in my face before training and it just completely throws me off so I'm like okay stay away from me please I'll just get in my little zone so so this weekend was it a bench comp or was it a it was a bench only comp um it was a three lift oh was it okay it was a three lift okay wow and what were your numbers for the for the squat and and deadlift oh so I'm sorry it was a three lift competition but I only did the bench oh okay what was it a team a team oh wait so how does that work was it a team comp and then someone else did The Squat and and deadlift or you just did the the bench so um when entering like a three lift comp you can decide to just do a single lift um or a push pull yeah yeah so I didn't know that sorry I'm very uh I haven't actually done a no don't worry I didn't I didn't know that until November last year either I honestly thought you as a lifter you have to do all three lifts all three I thought so okay yeah yeah so um yeah only only single lifts um I am possibly looking at going back to three lift but I told my coach that I I really want to try and knuckle down and try and go for 400 kgs before hitting back 400 Bene yeah wow okay you've started my question for future goals but it's fine we we'll come back to that one later some other ones uh what are some of the most effective training principles for muscle size and strength oo this is a hard one because I am probably not like the best athlete to look at when it comes to this only because I could get away with going to the gym each week once a week Max out completely not worrying about accessories and then going home but we have changed that now because you know this um so we split it up into four days two days is for bench and two days is for arm wrestling um because I've also had a lot of people be like what's your roll bench blah blah blah blah blah um so the reason why I've started equipped is because with armrest you've got so many tendons and muscles in your hand that if you were to do a raw bench and try and arm wrestle at the same time it's one of them is going to Fizz out um so with equipped because it's like a lot better on the joints and it's much more supportive in the bench shirt um you're able to do bench training at the start of the week take a little bit of break in between and then go back to arm wrestling training but um Monday nights I have um we have tension bands on the bench um I think I only did about 60 kgs this week just to get my body back into the FI after a comp um we're also on a lot of volume this week which is killing me but I am trusting this process from my coach um lots of volume like I did 200 reps of tracp pull Downs the other night at a very very lightweight um and then what did I do on Wednesday I did Sling B so you put a sling on um I was doing 150 kg 10 sets of three and then again after so many accessories um and also abs like I did not realize how much you need your core during a bench um I didn't think I had a call because I've had two C-sections um but it it must be there somewhere from the from the 700 lb bench um and then transitioning over into arm wrestling we're working like the wrist muscles and tendons and all of that um as well as again core which I didn't realize you needed that for for arm wrestling out of all things but it's just like keeping tight and um yeah maintaining the way that you're pulling with the arm wrestling um it's a pretty hectic week no it sounds hectic so you've got four training days is that is that correct two for powerlifting two for arm wrestling yes yeah okay and in sorry in arm wring completely off topic uh like I haven't actually prepared this question what are um what are like the rules so I know you got the handle and you can hang on to the handle and then you've got to grab their hand can you twist your uh your your wrist anyway what are the rules with leaning with using body momentum can you do is a rule just hang on and and your elbow can't come off some of yeah and what are the other rules is that is that pretty much it yeah so um a lot of people think that with arm resting you're only allowed to move your arm um you're allowed to use your entire weight so my way is I'll hold on to the side of the bar I'll lean over the Tighter and the closer you are with your body the better it is because if you're in this position you have nothing to be able to pull it back around um there are different kind of wrists this is a what is this called This is called a hook this is called a press it's just different different ways but um yeah it's it's pretty much keeping the elbow on the pad if it comes off the pad it's a foul and they'll restart um and then if you both slip out then you go to a strap and I feel like strap is probably a big advantage in my case because then it becomes like a strength thing over the side of it sorry with regards to a file does that detriment you in any way or do you just restart so um if you were to fou a second time then the other person would get the point which is I mean it makes sense um but it's like sometimes there are like some big dudes with you know big arms and they can't really help it if the elbow like slips a tiny bit off okay that makes sense is that two times in a row and then resets after everyone yeah okay that's a wrap for part one with Ashley hoter the world's strongest female equipped bench presser goodbye gains gurus thank you for listening and see you on the next episode of tmgp