Micaiah Branch

Best Lifter spotlight from the WPUSA Holiday Havoc on December 4, 2021.
Top OVERALL Wilks 2.0...

​Name, age & how long have you been Powerlifting?
Micaiah Branch, 29, 4 years.

Best lifts in competition?
584 S, 368 B, 637 D.

Athletic background?  What you did before powerlifting?
I played sports in HS. In college, I was a football strength coach intern for 3 division 1 colleges.

Why Powerlifting?
I have always admired strength sports. My father was a powerlifter while I was growing up and it has always stuck with me.

Tell me something about your gym/team.
I work out in my garage gym Typically alone, but occasionally someone may come to work out. My home gym started out pretty basic. I had a squat stand with a pull up bar, an Ohio bar and roughly 700 pounds in weights. Prior to my first competition, I only was able to floor press for bench press. 

Trying alone or training partner/coach, team?
I typically train alone. I am a coach, but mainly work with elementary, middle school and high school athletes who want to play sports in college. Occasionally, I get clients interested in powerlifting programming. 

Something most people you train with (or those who follow you if you train alone) don't know about you?
Honestly, I am not sure. 

Biggest inspiration in the sport?
Anyone stronger than me. I see people hit certain numbers and it drives me to train harder and consistently.

What's your favorite lift?
Deadlift

Least favorite lift?
Bench, but probably squat during a competition. 

Biggest challenge in your training?
Finding internal motivation to train when you don't have someone driving you. 

Ideal training atmosphere?  Focused and dialed in or noisy and high energy?
I like changing the stimulus. I don't like relying on external factors to influence my training. Competitions aren't predictable and you need to be ready for anything. 

Training plan. Do your own programming or have a coach?
I program for myself. I've considered a coach from time to time. 

Social media.  Positives and negatives
IG - Micaiahbranch. I post mostly training videos, but I don't really care about the feedback. 

Diet you follow? Supplements?
No supplements other than caffeine. I don't trust most supplements and I don't think the majority of them work. I don't have a specific plan that I follow. 

Biggest accomplishment in your powerlifting career? 
My last wilks score was 470. It was closed to being almost 480 if bench had cooperated. My goal is to hit a 500+.

What's one of your non-powerlifting goals?
Just to be happy. Nothing specific. 

Finally is there anyone you would like to acknowledge or give a shout out to (team, coach, spouse, sponsors)? 
My wife, Alex. I have tons of family and friends who support me, and it would be too long to list. No sponsors, but always accepting them. 😉