From left: Lucy O’Shaughnessy, Chuma Nwachukwu, and Sayeeda Chowdhury
Three second-year medical students, Sayeeda Chowdhury, Lucy O’Shaughnessy, and Chuma Nwachukwu, have brought the sport of powerlifting to their classmates at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Since establishing Sinai Strong, a student powerlifting club—whose advisor is Dennis S. Charney, MD, Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Dean, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and President for Academic Affairs, Mount Sinai Health System—they have taught more than 50 of their colleagues the art of the sport.
Powerlifting, which differs from conventional weightlifting, involves three tests of strength: the squat, bench press, and deadlift, a movement in which a weighted barbell is lifted from the floor to the level of the hips. In January, Ms. Chowdhury, Ms. O’Shaughnessy, and Mr. Nwachukwu participated in the Northeast Iron Beast Winter Classic V in upstate New York, a powerlifting competition in which each competitor has three attempts at each of the three lifts to move the most weight possible. Their best lifts were a 265-pound squat, a 308-pound deadlift, and a 600-pound deadlift, respectively.
The three students competed against many other lifters of the same gender, age division, and weight class but not against each other. Ms. Chowdhury won a gold medal in the juniors age division, and Ms. O’Shaughnessy won a bronze medal in the open age division.