Empowered By the Barbell: Weightlifting's Youth

MIKE JENKINS - SPEED POWER STRENGTH

Mike Jenkins was a strong athlete in high school, and went on to play college basketball. He never fell in love with a specific sport, but his entrepreneurial mind gradually drew him to the business side of sports. A decade ago, the intersection between sports business and a passion for his community landed Jenkins on his next venture: a gym.

“In 2015, I was driven to do something for the community, and that something was health,” Jenkins said. “I wanted to bring health and strength to Oakland and make an impact – not just on the young people, but on all lives. That was my passion. I didn’t have a plan, and it’s not a good business plan, but I wanted to be helpful in the world.”

Jenkins spent time finding the right space, and then started to envision what a world-class gym would look like.

“It was really important to me that I give kids who have nothing everything,” Jenkins said. “And that started with equipment, the layout, and that I wanted competitions there.”

In 2015, he founded Speed Power Strength (SPS) in Oakland, CA. The gym hails itself as the largest weightlifting gym in America, and it’s hard to argue. It boasts 15 weightlifting platforms, as well as a competition platform, three squat racks, three bench presses, 30 yards of turf, a physical and massage therapy room, and a personal training room with free weights. Every area has its own bars, weights, and bumpers, and it’s all Eleiko equipment.

Through SPS, he welcomes youth athletes in, many free of charge, to train under his coaching staff and be a recipient of the Lift Us Foundation. The foundation’s mantra is to make sure strong, smart, healthy young people become strong, smart, healthy adults.

For Jenkins, the combination of SPS and his foundation is a way to accelerate success in young people, and grow qualities that they’ll need for the rest of their lives. It includes learning about physical strength and nutrition, as well as receiving counseling, academic support, and mentorship. Eventually, it’s future-focused – where does the young person want to go to college and what kind of career do they want?

“I like to say we’re creating superheroes. Their outcome could be anything. We’re preparing them to take on any level of success,” Jenkins said. “We’re preparing them with resilience, strength, creativity, and confidence.”

Jenkins is passionate about teaching the importance of eating. He provides meals through a friend that runs a local catering business. If an athlete hasn’t eaten yet, Jenkins will make sure they eat one of his healthy, organic meals both before and after their workout. These meals come out of his own pocket, and he has given out over 8,000 since 2015.

“It became pretty apparent to me right away that nutrition has to be integral to what we’re doing. I’m not talking about breaking down macronutrients or your protein count. I’m talking about getting families to understand that their child needs breakfast before they go to school. They need a lunch, because you don’t know what the school lunch is. They need dinner, and a dinner time so that they know when they’re eating,” Jenkins said. “Too many kids have shown up here without the family understanding the importance of nutrition. They haven’t eaten all day, and now they’re going on to two hours of football or basketball practice, or two hours of weightlifting, and these kids are exhausted. When I saw that, I spent a lot of time and effort not only bringing in nutritionists but bringing in food. Making sure everybody eats is very important to me. If you’re not feeding the kids, weightlifting doesn’t even matter.”

Another priority for Jenkins is education. Athletes in the Lift Us Foundation, of which there have been over 1,500, have averaged a 3.5 GPA and achieved a 100% high school graduation and college acceptance rate. 95% of them have received tuition assistance, totaling over $350,000 to date. Two standout weightlifters that have competed on the international stage, Robert Whitlock and Rucker Johnson, received full-ride weightlifting scholarships to LSU-Shreveport while they were 15 and 16 years old, respectively.

“It’s more than just lifting weights,” said Alex Wade, whose son, Idán, plays quarterback at Berkeley High School, lifts at SPS, and is planning to major in kinesiology in college. “You have kids that are 3.0, 3.5, 4.0 students, and during school they’re just normal kids. But here, they’re superhuman. They have this space to become something that they can’t be on campus.”

Jenkins also takes pride in bringing in high-level athletes and coaches for young people to learn from and look up to. Over the years, he has hosted almost a dozen Olympians at his gym, including Oscar Chaplin, Cara Heads-Slaughter, Kendrick Farris, CJ Cummings, Harrison Maurus, and Tim McRae, as well as champions in powerlifting and coaches of champions.

“It’s important for me to bring them to the community to spend time sharing their knowledge with people who would normally never meet them. I know the work ethic it took to get there, and it’s something that I want these young people to share and learn from,” Jenkins said. “It’s not an easy road being an Olympian. It’s not always riches and rewards. It’s a lot of discipline and hard work. Hearing that directly from the Olympians is a big deal.”

Along with the guests that Jenkins brings in, he and his staff do a good job of teaching young people about more than just the physical side of the sport.

“I like that there’s a mental aspect to weightlifting. I’ve learned more about myself and how I deal with failure, how I’m able to get back from a bad day of working out, and how I’m learning from each day,” said Noah Junsay, a 15-year-old lifter at SPS. “Placing second overall at Nationals was really cool, because I remember the year before I didn’t place that well. Being able to see that physical growth from last year to this year makes me feel really good.”

On top of his efforts with young people, Jenkins has goals to convince families to buy into the idea of ‘generational health’ and long-term fitness. One of the ways he does that is by offering parents of young people in the Lift Us Foundation the opportunity to work out for free at SPS. Rucker Johnson’s mother, Candace, is one of the parents that has taken advantage of this offer, and she now hopes to compete in the UMWF World Championships in December.

“Mike Jenkins is one of a kind. His approach to caring for his athletes is very unique. Not only does he put his own time and investment into the gym and the community to support the athletes, but he will call parents one-on-one to say, ‘Hey, this is something that I noticed your child is struggling with, can we partner on how to help them get over this hump?’” said Candace. “The athletes here are getting nutritional support. They’re getting confidence and mentorship support, and it’s really beautiful how he has hand-picked coaches who really reflect his values and his way of creating a safe space for everyone. You’ll see people from all walks of life and all ages, and it just feels like we’re all one happy family.”

As the first ten years, or part one, of SPS and the Lift Us Foundation come to an end, Jenkins’ goals for the future are just beginning. He’s been renting the building thus far, but his next goal is to find a space that can be owned by him and the community.

“If we’re talking about generational health, meaning the kids in our program are now the healthiest in their families and they take those values going forward, then we need to be here for a generation. Part two for this is owning our own building, making our own footprint in Oakland, and building out from there,” Jenkins said. “It’s providing stability for the kids and families here. If a lot of the kids here have food or housing insecurity, the place they depend on can not be insecure. My next mission is to find us a forever home that the community controls.”

TIFFANY RAGOZZINO - GIRLS ACADEMIC LEADERSHIP ACADEMY

Tiffany Ragozzino has a passion for empowering women to embrace weight training and find their place in the gym. She’s been recognized for her efforts as a physical education teacher, and also runs a brand focused on teaching women about lifting. Ragozzino’s goals are to continue to make an impact on young women and to help bring weightlifting programs to more high schools across the nation.

Ragozzino teaches physical education at the first public all-girls school in California, Girls Academic Leadership Academy. Located in the heart of the Los Angeles Unified School District. GALA is a STEM school for girls from 6-12 grade. Ragozzino has taught P.E. at the school since 2018, started a lifting program for P.E. classes, and offers a weightlifting elective.

Ragozzino wasn’t introduced to weightlifting until her late twenties, but she’s been hooked ever since.

“I discovered barbell lifting through CrossFit, and I was just amazed with it,” Ragozzino said. “I wanted to do everything barbell training and it’s been a big part of my life into my thirties and forties."

While working as a full-time elementary teacher in 2014, Ragozzino launched her fitness brand, The Pretty Little Lifters. She offers fitness and nutrition coaching, and puts out health content, teachers resources, and a podcast with conversations and teaching points around weight training and lifelong fitness.

“It was definitely part of my mission to make sure that girls felt empowered and strong in the gym and felt like there was a space for them,” Ragozzino said. “I wish when I was younger I had learned some of these skills, exercises, and movements so that I could have been a little bit more confident [in gyms] by the time I got into my twenties.”

Eventually, Ragozzino noticed a need for updated physical education programs and took advantage of an opportunity to transition to GALA as a P.E. teacher in 2018. The school had zero weightlifting equipment when she was first hired, and her mission was to create a true gym space. She looked to collaborate with the community, and ended up partnering with Dylan Davies, the CEO of Lift Society, and lululemon to host a workout where people could donate towards buying weightlifting equipment.

“We were able to get barbells and weights and it was such an awesome event,” Ragozzino said. “It was so inspiring to see so many people willing to come. Even if they couldn’t come to the event, they donated money because they were so excited to empower girls with equipment so that we could start a weightlifting program.”

Over the years, Ragozzino has been recognized for her passion and impact on the girls she teaches. In her first year at GALA, Ragozzino took a group of her students to Michelle Obama’s Becoming book tour, and ended up being asked to speak at the event by a woman that Ragozzino used to coach.

“That was the easiest yes for me to answer. It was so exciting for me to have that opportunity because my students were there,” Ragozzino said. “They were cheering and so excited to see their teacher. I think it was really cool for them to see somebody on stage who they knew so that they know that that could be them one day. It was just awesome.”

In 2021, Ragozzino earned the Extra Yard for Teacher award by UCLA, a national celebration honoring educators who make a lasting impact in their schools and communities. At the time, she taught P.E., health, and ran a weightlifting club once a month. In 2023, she began offering a weightlifting elective at GALA, and it has been a hit with her students.

“What made me want to join the elective in the first place was that I was having some strength issues last year, but we started weightlifting in P.E. and suddenly my ankles didn’t hurt and I could pick stuff up really easily,” sophomore Rose said. “Mrs. Ragozzino’s passion for this just kind of pours out of her. She wants to help us grow as strong, capable, young women and it’s been really supportive for a lot of people – me especially.”

Ragozzino’s passion for weightlifting and empowering young women resonates with students, many of whom would never have been introduced to lifting otherwise.

“She loves what she does. She’s probably the most dedicated teacher that I’ve ever had,” junior Marlena said. “Before Mrs. Ragozzino, I hadn’t even heard of or considered lifting, and she’s just been so open and so great. The things she does are really catered to us. If we’re having trouble, we’ll stop and work on form. She’s really growth-oriented and that makes her a really good teacher.”

Now in her eighth year at GALA, Ragozzino often gets emails from former students that tell her stories about being able to teach their friends how to lift at their college’s campus gym, which is the definition of success for Ragozzino.

“One of my goals with our program here is to really develop leaders,” Ragozzino said. “I hope that when they graduate, they are interested in pursuing other things in health and fitness as well as continuing their fitness journey.”

While her focus is on making an impact on her students’ lives, Ragozzino hopes that it may go beyond that and into their families and friends’ lives as well.

“She wants everyone to weightlift,” sophomore Dayleigh said. “She always tells us that we should share it with our parents and grandparents and teach them what we learn, just so everyone can live a healthier life.”

Just over a decade into her career of empowering women to feel at home in the gym, Ragozzino has done a lot for her students and the women she coaches. She hopes that the success that she’s found with her weightlifting program can be an example to other schools.

“One of my goals for the future is to help and inspire other schools to start programs like this. I would love to see every school in my school district with a legit lifting program included in their P.E. program – not just for athletes, not just for boys, but for everyone to have access to,” Ragozzino said. “That’s one of my goals – to have this in every school in Los Angeles, and beyond that statewide, nationwide, and worldwide.”

DAN DODD - TRISTATE BARBELL

Dan Dodd has always had a passion for giving back to the youth, and has been able to act it out as an elementary physical education teacher in New Jersey. Over the last few years, however, he has been able to expand his impact on the local youth and community through weightlifting and his club, TriState Barbell. What started as a few people training in his basement gym has quickly turned into two locations and a weightlifting program at two local Boys & Girls Clubs.

Dodd competed at CrossFit’s Regional level for several years before transitioning to weightlifting in 2018 and qualifying for the American Open Finals in his first event. He has since competed for Team USA at the 2022 Canadian Invitational, won the American Open Series 1 and Finals, and medaled at Nationals multiple times. TriState Barbell began as him and a few friends lifting in “The Bat Cave”, his basement gym. They now have their own space within CrossFit Mahwah and CrossFit Unbreakable in Parsippany, NJ, and train over 70 athletes. Along the way, Dodd has found a love for teaching youth about weightlifting that goes beyond his background in education.

“My passion comes from the experience that I’ve had in the sport and seeing what kids are getting out of it. I find that weightlifting is a sport where you don’t have to worry as much about what other people are doing, but you can really focus on yourself. I’ve seen that growth in them as people and I think that’s now my passion,” Dodd said. “Can I help these kids keep growing in that aspect and use weightlifting more as a tool? If they don’t have interest in it, then that’s okay. I really want them to feel like they’re bettering themselves and I think by using the tool of weightlifting to help them train they’re going to continue to find improvements in themselves.”

In 2023, Dodd was presented with an opportunity to expand his impact on the local youth. One of his coaches, Joe Mattera, connected him with the Boys & Girls Club of Northwest New Jersey to discuss a weightlifting program for both their summer and after-school youth. The Club was on board with the initiative, but needed to find funding in order to avoid passing the costs off on families.

“We really wanted to build it,“ said Dan Dipsey, Unit Director at the Wayne Boys & Girls Club. “I loved what they were going for – building self-esteem. Not every child is a team sport person. The weightlifting program is a way to build that individual child’s foundation without intimidating them or putting them into a situation where they might not thrive.”

Two years passed by, and Dodd wasn’t sure if the program would come to fruition. But the Club reached out in 2025 when it was awarded a grant by Chilton Medical Center to provide all of the equipment – mats, weights, barbells, PVC pipes – and sponsor a full year of programming between both locations. Dodd and the Club worked together to set up an eight-week summer program for middle-school ages at the Pequannock location, and 10-week fall and spring after-school programs for 4th-6th graders at the Wayne location. Over the past summer and the 2025-26 school year, the Boys & Girls Club program (BGCFIT) will see over 120 kids learn the basics of weightlifting from Dodd and his coaching staff and receive standardized assessments throughout the program.

Dodd realized early on that teaching youth at the Club is different from coaching youth at his gym. Whereas those in his gym are making the decision to train with him, the Club youth are automatically signed up to his program and will be there even if they don’t find it interesting. That’s where his background in education and passion for teaching makes a difference in his ability to find a way to reach each kid where they’re at. 

“I first need them to commit to wanting to do this in some aspect, and show them that it’s a fun thing to do and we can teach them about fitness,” Dodd said.

While not every kid will latch onto the program, Dodd has seen huge attitude shifts in many of the youth that initially didn’t see the point of weightlifting. One such case is Tia, a 10-year-old who completely flipped after several weeks in the BGCFIT program.

“In the beginning, I didn’t really like it because I thought it didn’t really teach me anything and I didn’t think it was fun,” Tia said. “But now I really enjoy it and I feel like I have a passion for it. So, now I do it with my sister all the time and it’s really fun doing it and just being a part of something.”

Along with the Boys & Girls Club program, Dodd has built a youth program at TriState Barbell that will see about 30 kids in and out between other sports, and a core group that trains with him year-round. He has also built a coaching staff that includes other educators, a physical therapist, and experienced weightlifters that buy into his passion.

“Dan loves working with the kids here. He’s a teacher, and I think his love for that transitions over to this really well,” said Elise Burkhardt, a coach at TriState Barbell. “You can see in the way he talks to the kids how much he cares, and I think that’s hard to find in some people. He really just has a passion for it, and I think that bleeds over into us as coaches, because you see that happiness on the kids faces and you just want to make them smile and have a good day.”

Parents and kids alike can see Dodd’s passion and the impact it has at TriState Barbell.

“I’m really thankful for the opportunity as this has been great for our kids. The community that Dan has built with all the different youth lifters and how he supports them and builds their self-confidence is really remarkable,” said Jim Telesmanich, whose son Charlie and daughter Quinn are 15 and 12. “To see them start so young and progress over the last three or four years has been a fantastic experience. Not only in athletic ability, but what’s been really great is their growth in confidence and maturity.”

“I really like weightlifting,” said Scarlet, 14. “Especially the past two years, this has been becoming one of my favorite things to do. It’s part of my everyday life. Dan’s really committed and attentive towards me and all the other lifters, and he just always tries his best to be kind and helpful towards everyone he meets in weightlifting.”

Dodd continues to work on expanding the ways he and TriState Barbell can make a positive impact on the youth in their community. As a New Jersey WSO Board member, he is helping to plan three free youth and junior events throughout the year. And with good news from the Chilton Medical Center about the possibility of another grant, both the Boys & Girls Club and Dodd have great hopes about the future of the BGCFIT program and its potential impact on the youth in New Jersey and across the nation.

“Being able to offer this program twice a week for the last five months, we were really able to impact multiple age groups,” Dipsey said. “We just received word that Chilton is open to us applying again and expanding this to the next level. That’s spurred on a lot of excitement for us here at the Club to figure out how we can take this and build it to the next level and hopefully make it self-sustaining in the future.”

“I have big goals for the Boys & Girls Club program,” Dodd said. “I would love to grow it, and for it to be in more than just the Wayne and Pequannock locations. I would love to see it across the state and across the country. Can we have teams inside these locations, and run events for them to give these kids opportunities? I’m lucky this year that at TriState we’re going to send six or seven youth athletes to compete at Nationals in Colorado Springs. To give kids at the Boys & Girls Club those opportunities would help the sport grow and also just increase their passion towards the world of fitness, pushing themselves, and feeling like it’s okay to do more. That’s my big goal, to get more of these programs running, show USAW coaches that this is an opportunity, and show Boys & Girls Clubs that this is beneficial. This can help your kids and your programs, not just in a financial sense, but we can teach these kids to have passion in these types of programs and sports.”