Williams was "phobia-ed out," Herring said, petrified of anything and everything beyond her front door.

"She was a virtual shut-in," said Herring, owner of Body by George Gym in Lawrenceville, Ga. "She had anxiety, phobia, psychosis - all that. She wouldn't leave the house, basically."

Williams, a 16-year-old, has come a long way since those dark days.

Saturday in the Georgia Games Championships, she set an American teen-age record in the women's super heavyweight division by bench pressing 185 pounds.

"When she came to see me, I had no intentions of making her a power lifter by any means," said Herring, 40. "But now, every time she goes out, she breaks records."

Herring is a licensed physiologist who has about 500 clients ranging in age from 8 to 93 years old. His original assignment was helping Williams with self-esteem and weight loss.

But one day, Herring was training one of his students for nationals. She was deadlifting 250 pounds, and Williams was curious - never mind that the closest she had come to deadlifting was helping her mom move furniture.

"I was in my normal workout, and I saw her doing it," Williams said of the other student. "I wanted to do it, so I asked George if I could try it. He said, 'Well, I think that might be a little much for you. I don't think you can do it."'

Said Herring: "I thought it would crush her."

To his and everyone else's surprise, Williams lifted it. And she has lifted a whole lot more since. Her first competition was at the Southern States Bench Press Competition, and she broke teen-age national records there. Then she went to the WABDL World Championships in Reno, Nev., where she now holds the records there for deadlift, squat and bench press.

Just getting to Reno was an accomplishment in itself for Williams, who conquered her fear of flying by making the trip.

"I never flew before that," said Williams, who has lost about 40 pounds since she began working with Herring. "I guess I have more self esteem."

Williams' success has allowed her to overcome her social fears as well. She now has a job at a clothing store in Lawrenceville. A friend from work called her on her cell phone after her record-breaking lift Saturday.

"It feels good to be able to tell people that," she said. "They're all shocked."

Herring said Williams isn't done yet. His eventual goal is for her to win the IBF World Championship, and he said the Olympics might be a possibility at some point.

Given how far she's come, there no telling what Williams can accomplish.

"She's got phenomenal strength and leverage," Herring said. "I just saw a unique opportunity to take a person that's got all these phobias, who's on all these medications, all these anxieties, and started working with her on it. I was thinking it might be an avenue of something positive, and it has just escalated from there."

Reach Larry Williams at (706) 823-3645.