By: Sarah Wright | Troy Times | Published October 30, 2024
TROY — By the looks of an Instagram video showing 22-year-old Troy resident Angela Kattula take the stage prior to her world record-setting squat at the USA Powerlifting Raw Nationals, you’d say she was the most confident person in the building.
Animated and feeding off the crowd’s energy, Kattula approached the bar looking like she’d already set the world record before even squatting.
On the inside, it was a different story.
“I always tell people that if I’m really hyping myself up for a lift, it’s probably because I’m not that confident, and I’m trying to create more hype for myself,” Kattula said.
Squatting 487.2 pounds, Kattula set the USA Powerlifting world record Sept. 5 in Salt Lake City, Utah, bringing home first place in her junior division (ages 20-23) and second in the open category, which is all ages. Kattula also benched 231.5 and deadlifted 441 in the competition.
It was a fulfilling moment for Kattula, whose first Raw Nationals appearance in 2023 was clouded by a lingering back injury that kept her from competing at 100%.
“There were days where 225 was really painful for me or really impossible to get off the ground for a good six months,” Kattula said. “At nationals, I still ended up deadlifting 415, but that was a 50-pound jump from anything I did in training. Even in training, getting up to the numbers I was at was a lot of work, a lot of physical therapy, and a lot of going up and down in weight for many sessions. It was pretty bad.”
Kattula ended up earning second in her age group last year, but finally working her way back to near 100% had the 2020 Troy Athens High School graduate primed for a breakout 2024 campaign.
She exploded out the gate in May, winning the Michigan Ladies of Iron competition and earning the best lifter title for the best score.
Then it was all up to returning to Raw Nationals and reintroducing herself. When she went up for her record-breaking squat, everyone in the building knew exactly who she was.
“It was incredible with just the atmosphere of nationals and the hype,” Brendan Papin, owner of Momentum Powerlifting, said. “She was in the big spotlight session, so it’s primetime, where everybody is watching and they only have one platform going. Anytime you have an American record you’re attempting, they announce it over the speaker, and the whole crowd really gets engaged.”
Papin and Kattula have been friends on the powerlifting scene for a few years, but Papin, who has a Ph.D. in physical therapy, has trained Kattula the last year, helping her rehab with her back injury and guide her in her powerlifting career.
Papin is well-embedded into the powerlifting scene, holding years of experience and competition himself, and his knowledge of the sport is one of the many reasons Kattula refers to him as her mentor.
So when Raw Nationals was on the horizon, it was go time in the gym for Papin and Kattula.
“Generally, we train four times a week,” Papin said. “We’re squatting two times a week, bench pressing four times a week, and deadlifting two times a week. … I’m a physical therapist too, so my focus is keeping lifters healthy while still providing that most optimal progress as possible. That’s the name of the game.”
With her first-place finish, Kattula earned her pro card, opening doors to other potential competitions for her to take part in.
Who knows what 2025 will have in store for Kattula competition wise, for she is getting married to her high school sweetheart, who got her into powerlifting at Athens, while two of her four older brothers have events of their own, one getting married and the other expecting a baby boy in January.
Kattula is also a personal trainer at Peak Physique Fitness Training in Troy and a powerlifting coach at The Strength Athlete, so her home will always be in the gym, one way or another.
“It’s nice to see both sides of that and being able to offer that perspective, telling my clients that I know what it feels like and it’s OK to be upset about it, but you’re going to come out on the other side of it and be proud of yourself, because I’ve been through that,” Kattula said.
Regardless, there’s no better way to end a year of competing than with a world record, and maybe it will be in danger of being rebroken by Kattula, who said her goal is 500 pounds when she returns to competition.
“It felt very rewarding to come in this time and fulfill what I was hoping to do last year (at nationals),” Kattula said.