The Mental Mettle Podcast
The Mental Mettle Podcast
Ep: 157: Full Send: Paralympic Powerlifter Ashley Dyce on Persistence and Progress
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In this episode of The Mental Mettle Podcast, Matt sits down with Team USA para powerlifter Ashley Dyce, who was born with spina bifida and has fought her way onto the world stage through a decade of relentless commitment.
Ashley shares how she went from discovering the Paralympics on TV to representing the United States, what it really looks like to stick with one path for 10+ years, and how she’s handled injuries, surgeries, missed lifts, and seasons that felt like setbacks instead of breakthroughs. She talks about chasing a 300 lb bench, preparing for the Paralympic Games, and using both her faith and sports psychology tools to stay locked in when progress isn’t linear.
We get into:
- Choosing a lane and committing fully to para powerlifting
- Coming back from injuries and health issues without quitting on the dream
- How faith and sports psychology work together in her mental game
- Practical tools: visualization, music, and routines to manage nerves on the big stage
- Competing as a woman with a disability and why representation matters
If you’ve ever wondered how far you can go by going “full send” on one goal—and refusing to back off when it gets hard—Ashley’s story is a powerful example of what persistence and progress really look like.
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Timestamps (approximate): 00:00 Intro
00:40 Ashley’s journey into para sports
03:30 Discovering para powerlifting
05:00 From 135 to chasing 300 on bench
08:00 Failing in the gym and building real resilience
11:30 Injuries, surgery, and non-linear progress
18:00 Training, recovery, and daily life as a Team USA athlete
19:30 Faith as a foundation for mental toughness
21:30 Working with a sports psychologist
24:30 Visualization, nerves, and reframing anxiety as excitement
28:30 Competing on the Paralympic stage
31:00 Representation, purpose, and lifting for something bigger than medals
34:00 Ashley’s goals and final thoughts on persistence and progress
Follow Ashley: www.instagram.com/ashley_dyce/
To learn more about the American Paragons Foundation:
americanparagons.org
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