This 16-year-old girl can crush you at the gym
Competing with Team USA this summer at the Pan American Championships in Florida, 16-year-old Naomi Kutin dead-lifted an incredible 365 pounds.
The high-school junior from Fair Lawn, NJ, has been nicknamed “Supergirl” ever since she broke a world record in 2012 by squatting 215 pounds in the 97-pound weight class at the tender age of 9.
The record was previously held by a 44-year-old German woman.
Now Naomi, a modern Orthodox Jew who always competes wearing a T-shirt under her singlet for modesty reasons, is the subject of the documentary “Supergirl,” airing Dec. 18 on PBS. Cameras followed her for three years when she was between the ages of 11 and 14.
“I wanted to do [the film] because I thought it was a great opportunity to show people that you can be an Orthodox Jew and a world-class powerlifter and still be religious,” she tells The Post.
The teen, who trains with her father, Ed, in the family’s cluttered basement, points out that some stricter sects frown upon girls doing any type of sport at all.
“I wear long shorts when I am training, but my everyday skirts are below the knee,” she says.
Naomi’s success has drawn attention to the potential health risks of a developing girl performing intense power lifts, with some critics speculating that the rigorous sport is more suited to adults and could potentially stunt growth.
The American Association of Pediatrics (AAP) and National Institute of Health sanction powerlifting and bodybuilding only after adolescents have reached skeletal maturity — at the age of 14 for most girls, 16 for boys.
“They are particularly concerned about rapid high lifts [lifting to the neck level], which could cause back injuries,” says Manhattan pediatrician Dr. Barry Stein, assistant clinical professor at Mount Sinai Medical School.
Stein insists that would-be powerlifters have a physical examination before even touching a piece of equipment.
“You need to make sure there are no contraindications, such as elevated blood pressure and a thickened heart muscle,” says Stein. “The problem when you are doing this training is that you’re putting very rapid strain on the heart.”
Naomi’s family, however, insist their daughter was never placed in harm’s way.
“Everything Naomi does takes place under close medical supervision of our doctor. We all know her limits,” says her mom, Neshama, 54, a certified health coach.
You can be an Orthodox Jew and a world-class powerlifter and still be religious
“Supergirl” also explores other health concerns affecting Naomi during her competitive career. They include debilitating headaches, which her mother says she successfully treated with magnesium supplements. Then there was the obsessive weight-watching so Naomi could remain in her 97-pound category — in the film, she goes without food and drink for seven hours in order to drop a pound in one and a half days.
Although she still watches her weight, Naomi’s outgrown the sub-100-pound weight class and can loosen the reigns on her regime.
A typical kosher meal for Naomi these days is a 3-ounce grilled steak, served with two cups of vegetables and a baked sweet potato. Dessert is always fruit, however, she does occasionally splurge on chocolate ice cream.
“My family has a very healthy lifestyle and [doesn’t] eat junk food,” says Naomi. “I am conscious of my weight, but don’t go to extremes [of dieting]. I eat a lot of protein to keep up with all the muscles. My regular foods are beef, fruits and vegetables.”
“I always make sure she has the right nutrition and she doesn’t eat sweets by choice,” says Neshama.
In the winter of 2014/2015, benign tumors were discovered in Naomi’s pituitary gland, grand sinuses and eardrum (the latter tumor was removed). While they are being monitored, doctors found them to be unrelated to her powerlifting, says Naomi.
“I was super-duper worried,” she says. “I was anxious to get an answer, to find out what was wrong.”
Now her days are consumed by SAT prep and training for the USA Powerlifting High School Championships in March in Wisconsin, as well as running the Jerusalem Marathon that same month.
But Supergirl relishes the challenge — and living up to her nickname.
“I’ve really adopted the name as my own,” says Naomi. “It makes me think of strength, power and confidence. It’s good.”