Passion For Power Lifting Takes NJ Girl, 13, Into National Record Books

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Don't let her size fool you. A New Jersey teenager has a passion for power lifting, and she's breaking all sorts of national records.

13-year-old Diana Yturbe doesn't attribute her success to beginner's luck -- it's all hard work and determination.

"I work out whenever I can," she tells CBS2. "Probably four to five days a week."

Each one of her lessons lasts about an hour, which is probably why after just seven months of training she's powering through all sorts of records.

"I never thought of power lifting," Diana said. "I didn't even know it was a sport really. Until someone mentioned it and then I fell in love with it."

She's been working out at Pinnacle Athletic Club in Parsippany for nearly three years training for softball, but power lifting is new to her and her dad -- who's become her biggest fan.

"We took this as a recreational, an extra athletic sport for her to do," Michael Yturbe said. "Never thought in a million years that it would take off like this."

Diana recently won the USA Youth Nationals Power Lifting Championship in Spokane, Washington, setting four national records while doing so.

"I broke the squat record with 214 and I broke the dead lift record with 303 and the total record with 638," she said.

She's competed against more than 30 athletes from 14 states, and not all of them were girls. She's proved it doesn't matter your age or gender, it's your determination that gets you far.

"The competitiveness," she cites. "Seeing other girls compete really drives me to do my best."

Diana says one day she hopes to reach the Olympics.