Episode #37: Chelsea Savit | From Spinal Fusion to the Platform - An Elite Powerlifter’s Athlete Recovery Process
For most barbell athletes and powerlifters, the thought of needing any kind of surgery is terrifying and the unknown of what could happen after is even scarier. In many cases, surgery isn’t necessary to resolve symptoms but in some situations it is. This can be a major interruption to your life, your training, and your overall identity as a powerlifter but it doesn’t have to mean that your barbell training or powerlifting career is over or that you can’t be stronger in the future.
In this episode of the PRS Podcast we’ll sit down and talk with Chelsea Savit, an elite international-level powerlifter who put her training on hold to have an L5-S1 spinal fusion with the goal of addressing a longstanding back injury and symptoms that had progressively worsened over many years.
Chelsea’s story of her journey from gymnastics to powerlifting to surgery and back to the world powerlifting platform is truly inspiring. She serves as a great example of how even with a significant training interruption and extended time off from powerlifting you can return to barbell training and powerlifting, return to the platform, and surpass your previous strength levels.
Checkout this episode of the PRS Podcast to learn about Chelsea’s journey as an athlete, competitive powerlifter, and someone who underwent a significant surgery but came out stronger on the other side. Learn about how she set herself up for success by surrounding herself with medical professionals that supported her goals and shifted her weight training focus until she was mentally and physically ready to get back under the bar.
Connect with Chelsea Savit on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/savvysavit/
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Dr. Rori Alter, PT, PRSCC, SSC: [00:00:04] All right. Welcome to the Progressive Rehab & Strength podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Rori Alter, here with my lovely co-host, Dr. Alyssa Haveson. We're clinical coaches here at Progressive Rehab & Strength, and today we are sitting down with Chelsea Savit, a very highly energetic and exciting competitor to watch in the USA powerlifting and Powerlifting America realm. So we're sitting down here with Chelsea today not to talk about training and what it took to get to the level that she was at. But Chelsea also experienced a pretty significant back injury that was followed by a pretty significant back surgery. And we're going to talk to her about her journey in deciding to have surgery and the journey back to elite-level powerlifting, the length of time, the mindset, and all of the identity shifts that kind of come along with that for lifters to hopefully help inspire the people who are listening, whether you're a recreational lifter or a locally competitive lifter or any type of athlete who's dealing with an injury. Just to share this, the stories behind what goes into elite athletes and their mindset and journey to recovery. So Chelsea, thank you so much for joining us. We are extremely excited to talk with you. Your journey has been incredible to watch. So why don't you tell us a little about yourself and your athletic career? What led you to powerlifting? And just share a little about yourself so that the people listening can relate to you before we dive into the injury.
Chelsea Savit: [00:01:49] Sure. Thanks for that intro, and I'm so flattered to be here. Thanks for having me, Rori, and Alyssa. So when I was very young, my mom put me in cheerleading. She wanted me to be exposed to different sports and thought I'd like that. And in cheerleading, they have the fliers and the spotters. And at the age of four or five, they made me a spotter instead of a flier. And perhaps I should have taken that as a cue that maybe weightlifting and powerlifting and strength sports are a good fit for me because they put me in the back and wanted me to throw people and catch people, but I wanted to be the flier. So I asked my mom to put me in gymnastics, and then she put me in gymnastics, and then I was like, okay, I'm quitting cheerleading now. And I liked gymnastics much better. So I did gymnastics for about, I think, 15 years. I forget the precise start and end, but I did it through my first semester of college. I was a recruit to Yale University for their collegiate gymnastics team and was pretty good at gymnastics. I would say level ten for several years. If, you know, gymnastics at all, level ten is like the level before elite.
Chelsea Savit: [00:03:16] They have a whole leveling system. So, I got up to level ten and competed at junior Olympic nationals once, which was a really good time. And yeah, I made my way to Yale's gymnastics team, but along the way, I incurred many injuries. Gymnastics is a very intense sport, and I had a lot of ankle injuries. I would sprain one ankle, then two weeks later, and it brings the other ankle back and forth. So I always had ankle tap on, and I also incurred a back injury at some point during gymnastics, so I had spondylolisthesis at L5/S1. That's a very common injury that young gymnasts incur. I was diagnosed with that in my late teens. I don't know precisely when the diagnosis was, maybe around 17. And yeah, I had back pain and injured that injury from gymnastics. Spondylolisthesis, it's a structural injury. It doesn't necessarily correct itself over time. But if you're not in pain, you can manage your life just fine while you have the injury. So I was aware of it. I sometimes got back pain, but it wasn't a big issue. It wasn't the reason I stopped gymnastics.
Chelsea Savit: [00:04:53] Actually, I stopped doing gymnastics because of perpetual ankle injuries, and I just couldn't take it anymore. So after my freshman year of college, I left the sport, which is a common path, I think, for many gymnasts to not do the sport into their twenties. So I think I quit after my freshman year when I was maybe 20 years old. Gymnastics is a very time-consuming, and I loved many aspects of it. I love the strength aspect of it. We did much strength and conditioning daily, just the challenge and the training. I always loved all of that. So, when I had to leave the sport, I didn't know what to do with myself. I wanted to continue to feed that athletic need that I had. But I didn't know what to do. I did have an aunt who told me when I was like. I don't know, 17 or 18 years old. She said, "Chelsea, you'd be a great powerlifter." And I didn't think that she knew anything about powerlifting. I knew that she was in the bodybuilding world. My first cousin is an ifbb pro bodybuilder.
Dr. Rori Alter, PT, PRSCC, SSC: [00:06:17] Yeah, I remember.
Chelsea Savit: [00:06:18] Yeah. Ariel Khadr So I was close with her and her mom growing up. My aunt, at some point, said that I'd be good at powerlifting. I never forgot that. And then, after I quit gymnastics, I found out that Yale had a college powerlifting team, and then I was like, Oh, maybe this would be interesting. So, I went to practice one day. They let me on the team. I think I was one of two women on the team, and I squatted 185 on my first day, 185 lbs.
Dr. Rori Alter, PT, PRSCC, SSC: [00:07:00] And for reference, Chelsea. How tall are you?
Chelsea Savit: [00:07:05] It's funny, I gained a little bit of height during the back surgery. I noticed I liked a little smidge of height that I gained immediately. It was maybe, like, probably not even half an inch, but I was like, "Whoa. I feel like I can see so much more of the world."
Dr. Alyssa Haveson, PT, PRSCC, CSCS: [00:07:22] Yeah.
Chelsea Savit: [00:07:22] So I'm 5'1" now.
Chelsea Savit: [00:07:28] I was five feet, maybe five foot and a half.
Dr. Rori Alter, PT, PRSCC, SSC: [00:07:31] And back then, what weight class were you in? Just for people to grasp this, like, amount of just, like, natural strength that you have?
Chelsea Savit: [00:07:47] I think at the time, I was anywhere from 150 to 160. I was always a heavier gymnast. Yeah.
Dr. Rori Alter, PT, PRSCC, SSC: [00:07:54] Chelsea is a brick house.
Chelsea Savit: [00:07:59] I was always a heavier gymnast. And gymnastics coaches always told me that I needed to lose weight. So, you know.
Dr. Rori Alter, PT, PRSCC, SSC: [00:08:05] That's how it always is with gymnasts, figure skaters, and dancers.
Chelsea Savit: [00:08:11] So I didn't mention that. But another motivation for leaving the sport was that environment. And I realized that my eating disorder and body image issues were perpetuating even on my college team when I left club gymnastics behind. So, that was also a motivator for leaving. I was like, "I'm still dealing with these issues even though I'm in a better environment," right? So, leaving the sport was about injuries and the mental and emotional need to improve my mental health and well-being.
Dr. Alyssa Haveson, PT, PRSCC, CSCS: [00:08:52] Just to give sort of a reference of time frame, because I know we're going to go into talking about your injury and surgery and where you are now. What year are we? Was this that you got into powerlifting?
Chelsea Savit: [00:09:03] I guess my first introduction to it was the first time I squatted 185 was like 2010. Okay, so about 13 years ago, I showed up to a few practices that year. But I didn't get into it. I use that as a springboard to just start lifting on my own and going to the gym. But I didn't get entrenched in the team because I didn't get it. I didn't get the concept of going to a meet and squatting and hitting a squat bench and deadlift. It didn't make sense to me, and I knew the team did that, but I was like, Oh, I don't need to do that. I just need to lift weights in the gym. So that's what I did for a few years: I sort of trained with the team on and off and learned how to squat, bench, and deadlift. My technique was terrible for several years.
Dr. Rori Alter, PT, PRSCC, SSC: [00:10:02] And then so I have a question in that time frame for the couple of years that you were going to these practices but not competing and just getting into the gym and learning how to lift. Did you experience back pain?
Chelsea Savit: [00:10:19] I did not did not experience back pain. As I said, like I knew about the structural injury. Extension is, I would say, was a trigger for the pain. And I wasn't really arching.