Powerlifter Naomi Kutin is just 16 years old, but she has already set several records in her sport, and knows exactly what the proper and improper ways to lift are.

In an exclusive interview, the youngster from Fair Lawn, New Jersey explained the key things to remember when lifting so as to avoid injuring oneself or anyone else around.

“You want to make sure you’re not pulling with your back,” warned Kutin. “That’s how injuries happen. I’d say that’s the number one thing to remember: it’s your legs, not your back,” she added, laughing.

“For the squat, just staying as upright as possible is very important. Otherwise, again… You get injured.”

Kutin began breaking world records in powerlifting at age nine when at the tender weight of just 88 pounds, she squatted 215 pounds to surpass the mark previously held by a 44-year-old German woman. She competed in the 97-pound weight class at the time. Kutin also maintains a strict protein diet to stay in good shape.

Her life story can be seen in the documentary Supergirl, which is available for streaming on several platforms including ITunes, Amazon Prime and Google Play.

Powerlifting runs in Kutin’s family: both her father and brother have competed in the sport.

Free diver Kerry Hollowell, 41, didn’t begin deep-sea diving until she was in her 30s, but she has made quite a name for herself in the sport.

Kerry Hollowell: Best life Advice

The North Carolina native explained in an exclusive interview with uSports what is the best advice — of any kind — she has ever kept with her.

“I don’t know the specific words that somebody used, but being encouraged to be different, and going against the grain,” Hollowell said with a laugh. “That was initially very difficult for me when I was a teenager: I tried to fit in and I tried to be like what everybody expects of you, and I was lucky enough to have some mentors that saw me as ‘you know, this girl isn’t like other people,’ it’s not good or bad. It’s just different.”

Hollowell said this mentality has helped her embrace a whole new lifestyle.

“I travel the world, I free-dive, and I do these things that many people find fascinating and also maybe a little crazy,” she said. “I’m not married and I don’t have kids, so I have different focuses. Just embracing those differences in how I see the world and how I think is the best mentorship I got in my early years.”

Hollowell also works as a diving instructor for Performance Freediving International, as well as an Emergency Medicine Doctor in North Carolina. She follows a very specific training routine and alkaline diet. 

Jonathan Lipnicki is best known as an actor, but these days he’s now a mixed martial arts enthusiast.

Off-Road Racer RJ Anderson: How To Pull The… by uSports

Off-road truck racer RJ Anderson is quite the wunderkind. At the mere age of 24, the 2016 Polaris RZR driver already boasts six off-road racing championships, 46 Career Lucas Oil/ WORCS Racing victories, two Lucas Oil ProLite Championships (2012, 2015), one Lucas Oil Pro 2 Rookie of the Year title (2014) and over 100 combined Career Podiums( Lucas Oil, Score, BITD, Terracross Worcs) — as well as several other accolades.

Action Star Ju Ju Chan Explains How To Fly Kick by uSports
JuJu Chan, an action film star and martial artist known for Kung Fu movies like the Netflix-original Chinese-American production Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny (2016), sat down with uSports for an exclusive interview in which she explained the technique for executing a flying/jumping side-kick.

 JuJu Chan: How to do a flying side-kick

“You start doing the stationary-jump side-kick, and then you do a jump-over side-kick toward some obstacle,” the 29-year-old Honk Kong-American actress told uSports. “If you want to fly over a longer period of time or a longer distance, you need to start increasing your height, the way you jump, your speed.

MMA Star Alain Moussi On How To Defeat A Bigger… by uSports

Alain Mousi, a mixed martial artists, actor and stunt double, sat down with uSports for an exclusive interview in which he discussed, among other things, his strategy for defeating larger-sized opponents in a fight.

Kayla Harrison, Olympic Judo Gold Medalist, On… by uSports

U.S. Olympic judoka Kayla Harrison won the 2012 London Olympics 78-kg weight class and she is looking to repeat in Rio. She was also the first American to bring home a gold in judo. Visualization is something she thinks is important to her success on the mat and she went through her visualization with uSports.

At the end of every day, for ten minutes, Harrison envisions how her Olympic competition will play out.

She is very superstitious on fight days and doesn’t like to mix it up, in fact she loves routine.

“My days when I fight are always the same, I eat the same foods when I wake up, I wear the same clothes, same T-shirt, same gi, same belt, same lucky socks. Before I fight, before I start to warm up I like to listen to country music, keep me mellow, keep me relaxed. A lot of Blake Shelton, George Strait, Tim McGraw, and then whenever I start my warm-up I put on my playlist which is all Eminem and he gets me amped,” she said.

Allyson Felix On How She Prepares For A Race by uSports

Allyson Felix is a U.S. sprinter and is competing in her fourth Olympics in Rio. She will be running in the 200 m, 400 m and 4X400 m relay. At the London Olympics she earned three gold medals in the 200 m, 4X100 m and 4X400 m sprints. She discussed her previous Olympic experience, role model and race day preparation with uSports.

Felix’s workouts are concentrated on track workouts and lifting in the gym.

“Six days a week, five hours a day and that’s time spent on the track doing speed workouts, endurance stuff, and then I spend three hours there [track] and two hours in the gym doing plyometrics, free weights, Olympic lifts,” she said.

Like many other athletes Felix has a role model, her role model broke a record the year before Felix was born.

“Evelyn Ashford is someone who continues to inspire me. I think she’s amazing, she competed in a time where there was enormous amounts of doping going on and she was really true and genuine and a true sprinter in my mind,” she said.

Ashford set a World Record in the 100 m in 1984 at 10.77 seconds and won the gold medal in the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.

Competing in the Olympics is different than any other race, Felix says. It’s a lot of pressure and it can be difficult to deal with competition away from home. Before a race Felix stays to herself and focuses on the technical parts of the race that will help her be successful.

Phil Dalhausser, U.S. Olympic Beach Volleyball… by uSports

Phil Dalhausser, nicknamed ‘The Thin Beast’ for his 6’9″ lean stature, qualified for his third Olympics in Rio. He played tennis growing up but didn’t start playing volleyball until the end of high school. He talks about his late start, what gets him in the zone before a match and representing the U.S. on the Olympic stage with uSports.

Dalhausser isn’t superstitious when it come to pre-match prep but he likes to do the same warm-up before each match to ensure he’s physically and mentally ready.

“During my warm-up is when I think about all the things I need to do on the court. I really focus on the little things like my feet, footwork, and my setting and things like that and that kind of helps me stay focused through the match,” he said.

To watch him play you may think he’d been playing volleyball since he could walk when in fact his start was much later than baby steps.

“I started playing volleyball when i was a senior in high school, I had a little late start. Once I got out there I picked up the sport pretty easy, everything came natural to me and I became obsessed with the sport,” he said.

He equates the motion of a volleyball serve to a tennis serve and the footwork in the two sports is also similar.

Michael Jai White On Josh Barnett, ‘Never Back… by uSports

Michael Jai White, martial artist, star and director of the new action film Never Back Down: No Surrender sat down exclusively with uSports to explain how best to prepare for a big fight.

Michael Jai White On How To Prepare For A Fight

“I basically listen to music, you know” White, 48, said with a laugh. “I would listen to music and even though you’d have all this nervous energy, I would just suppress ALL my energy and I would warm up late, to the point where I’d just be overflowing by the time I had the fight.”

White’s film focuses on the world of mixed martial arts, and he also recently weighed in on the passing of legendary MMA fighter Kimbo Slice, whom he was fortunate enough to personally meet and train with.

“I would keep the governor down, and I wouldn’t do very much of anything. My energy was then abundant by the time I had the fight.”

White recently got into a bit of a controversy after he said winning an Oscar ruins an actor’s career.

“For the love of God please do not nominate me for an Oscar!” the actor/director said, spurring backlash. However, he then stated he stood by that comment, when asked if he had any regrets.

“The only regret is how negative people try to take anything,” said White in a recent interview with BET. “I regret saying anybody’s name because instead of using a name to express the point, social media people try to insinuate that I’m going after that person. No, I don’t regret anything I said. I just regret the negative spin that people try to put on to things just because negative sells. There was not one negative thing that I meant towards any person, especially the idea that I was attacking people that were absolute friends of mine and have been friends for 20 years.”

Austin Trout on Training for Boxing Matches by uSports

Former World Boxing Association (WBA) super welterweight champion Austin Trout revealed the key to landing the perfect punch in any fight, in a recent exclusive interview with uSports.

Boxer Austin Trout On Secret To Landing The Perfect Punch

“Timing. Timing is everything,” said Trout, 30. “You don’t have to be super fast but you definitely have to time it right to place it in the right position.”

Trout lost his last fight against International Boxing Federation (IBF) Junior Middleweight champion Jermall Charlo in Las Vegas on May 21. Charlo thus retained his IBF junior middleweight title via unanimous decision. Two judges scored it 116-112, with the other card reading 115-113.

After the fight, Trout compared Charlo to Mexican middleweight Canelo Alvarez when asked how he compared to every other fighter he’s faced, and said Charlo was a better fighter.

“He’s up there,” said Trout. “Canelo had a lot of help, and I feel like me and Jermall, we got busy. Jermall didn’t have as much help as Canelo did, and well…it is what it is,” Trout added, forcing a smile after still attempting to shake off his disappointment with the loss.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVeL8W_43_s

PHOTO: LAS VEGAS, NV – MAY 21: Austin Trout is shown before the start of his title fight against IBF junior middleweight champion Jermall Charlo at The Chelsea at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas on May 21, 2016 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Steve Marcus/Getty Images)

Playing hockey goalie is one of the toughest positions in sports. As legendary netminder Jacques Plante asked, “How would you like it if at your job, every time you made the slightest mistake a little red light went on over your head and 18,000 people stood up and screamed at you?”

Or, as Gump Worsley once said, “The only job worse is a javelin catcher at a track-and-field meet.”

With that in mind, it’s no surprise that goalies often rely on superstition to cope with their stress; many will get dressed in a certain order or touch the goal posts the same way every time they take the ice.

But Jenny Scrivens of the NWHL’s New York Riveters doesn’t have any.

“That’s a myth that I’d really like to dispel. I don’t think we’re all that wacky and that we all have weird superstitions. I know that my husband has come across a few in the NHL with some of his goalie partners or people he’s heard about in the league, but I really try to focus on the things that I can control,” she told uSports. “For me, that means not getting caught up in any superstitions. I do the things that I need to do to prepare myself to play and that’s get enough sleep, eat a good meal and drink enough water. Aside from that, I don’t need to put on my gear a certain way or tap the posts or bar any number of times; that would just drive me out of my mind. I try to keep it as simple as possible.”

Even when she gives up a bad goal–which every goalie will do at one point or another–her key is to move on rather than dwelling on the mistake.

“I just try and shake it off and, I don’t know if I would say that I pretend it didn’t happen, but I try to have a short memory out there and forget about it,” she explained.  “Maybe take a lesson or two from it if there’s something I can do to make a quick adjustment in my game, but I really just shake it off and have confidence in myself and my team that we’re going to get the goal back.”

And, if any young athletes want to don the pads and endure the slings and arrows of goaltending, Scrivens offers this advice:

“I think one of the most important lessons that I try to teach kids—girls or boys, no matter what age, no matter what sport—is to play different sports and get a diverse outlook on not just the one sport you specialize in. Try a few different others and don’t get burned out because I’ve seen it happen. I know it happens in every sport. I think it’s just important to see what else is out there and have fun too. If you’re playing one sport and you’re playing it for five hours every single day, I don’t think it’s going to help you as much as some people think. Just have fun with it.”

Photo: Goalie Jenny Scrivens in net for the NWHL’s New York Riveters by Troy Parla

Isaac Caldiero On How He Became The First To… by uSports

No matter what you’re doing, maintaining the proper mental edge is important for success. That’s especially true when you’re trying to conquer an insane obstacle course, so American Ninja Warrior champion Isaac Claderio knows a thing or two about keeping a mental edge in stressful situations. But in order to keep yourself in the right state of mind, you learn to quiet your mind and get to that state in the first place; it might sound simple, but it’s easier said than done. “I would recommend starting out with small amounts,” Claderio told uSports. “Sit down, find a nice peaceful, quiet place and just meditate 10 minutes a day. Get used to that routine of being able to focus and relax and take your mind off the stressful things of life.”

Beyond that, there are a few other strategies Claderio recommends to stay in the right frame of mind. “A lot of it is just learning how to use visualization and visualizing all your success,”he said. “Never visualize any failure. That’s what I would recommend: learn how to stay calm and stay focused and that’s a good base level.”

Kyle Busch On How To Avoid An Accident by uSports

“The Big One” is a nickname for the huge crashes seen at tracks like Daytona and Talladega that can take out over 20 cars. It takes some skill and a lot of luck to not get caught up in the mayhem. uSports was able to get some insights from NASCAR star Kyle Busch on how to avoid crashes like these.