LIFTER : ‘Troll’ Is a Big Man in Weightlifting : Power-Lifting: Jerry Subin, a powerful 5-foot, 2-inch lifter who competed successfully in the Soviet Union, believes in hard work and opposes the use of muscle-building drugs.

According to Scandinavian folklore a troll can be a giant or a dwarf; either malicious, or pleasant.

The Scandinavians could have been describing power lifter Jeremy Subin of Redondo Beach. In fact, that’s what Subin’s friends know him as-- Troll .

Sitting across from Subin, it would be hard to guess his nickname. The 22-year-old Atlantic City native has a gentle face and a mussed-up head of brown hair that make him seem boyish. Subin’s knowledge of the development of muscle tissue and the effect of drugs on a body makes him sound like a veteran physical therapist.

But once Subin stands up and walks to a squat rack or weight bench, is it easy to see that he is part man and all troll.

Subin was dubbed Troll by family members when he was in high school because of a hulking physique on his short body. Extending from his 5-foot, 2-inch, 165-pound frame are long, muscular arms. Hands appear small. Short, thick legs propel Subin with a waddle, his arms swinging from side to side. He walks like--a troll.

Subin is a national-class power-lifter in the 165-pound weight class. Last July Subin competed in meets in the Soviet Union with a team of American power-lifting all-stars. He earned a bronze medal at an outdoor meet in Akaban, Siberia, in front of 7,000 people, believed to be the largest crowd ever to watch a weightlifting competition. Subin’s opponents weighed the same as he did, but he believes many of the Soviet lifters used performance-enhancing drugs, or steroids.

“They have a very low-protein diet,” Subin said. “That may be one reason they’re on drugs. All of their coaches joked about it.”

The drugs are not limited to the Soviet Union. In the United States, many lifters are on the “juice” but Subin is opposed.

“I’m totally against the idea of using drugs,” Subin said. “Nothing comes without hard work. If it ever came down to doing drugs to stay competitive, I’d get out of the sport.”

Subin competes in drug-free competitions,

where all the athletes must take a polygraph test and give a urine sample. Positive results in either test result in disqualification.

Subin says steroids give an unfair advantage to lifters but that the risks far outweigh the benefits. Steroid users can suffer from heart disease, skin problems and irritability. Steroids are also known to cause sterility in men

Steroids are especially popular with bodybuilders, who should not be confused with power-lifters. Bodybuilders lift weights to look good, Subin feels good only when he lifts lots of weight.

Subin’s personal bests in the three major lifts are not only astounding for a man of his size, they are astounding for men of all sizes. He can squat 575 pounds, bench press 355 and dead lift 515. Weight rooms are filled with legends of lifters who can move massive amounts of weight, but Subin’s lifts are totally legitimate, performed to the specifications of judges in competitions.

To put the weight in perspective, Subin squats almost three-and-a-half times his own weight, bench presses a little more than twice his weight and dead lifts a little more than three times his weight. If a 250-pound football player duplicated Subin’s feats, he would squat 875 pounds.

“Troll is a stud,” said an observer at the Grunt and Sweat Gym in San Pedro, Subin’s main lifting venue.

All that weight would stay on the bar or the platform if not for Subin’s round-the-clock training schedule. Subin says a champion lifter must work hard not only in the weight room but also outside. He runs sprints on the beach to increase his explosiveness, he works out on a rowing machine to increase his cardiovascular capacity, and he executes strong will in many athletes’ favorite room of the house.

“You have to be real disciplined in the kitchen,” Subin said. He follows a strict diet of foods such as fish, brown rice, vegetables and chicken. Subin salads have lemon juice for dressing and potatoes must be boiled. If Subin wants to splurge on sweets, he’ll have some sugar-free frozen yogurt or raisins and apples.

He does all this to compete only three times a year, with a 12-week training cycle preceding each meet. “I enjoy the meets,” Subin said. “There’s so much preparation for a couple of minutes of work.”

Power-lifting competitions are conducted by weight class. Competitors are given three attempts at a weight in the squat, bench press and dead lift. The weight is increased until competitors are unable to lift the weight. Each competitor’s total from the three lifts are added together, and the champion is determined by the highest total.

Subin’s next competition is Feb. 3 and 4 in San Antonio, Tex., in the Alamo Southwest Challenge. Subin qualified for the meet with his performance last summer in the Soviet Union.

Subin is well into his training schedule for the meet, but he can’t wait to get on the platform, and his fans can’t wait to see him.

Jimmy Toy is a former professional football player who occasionally works out with Subin and has seen the Troll in action, in this instance before a squat attempt.

“It’s quite a spectacle to watch him,” said Toy, who watched Subin compete in Ventura last year. “I just couldn’t believe it. Right before he lifts, he listens to his music. In this case it was from the movie “Apocalypse Now,” and it was piped into the auditorium. The crowd was just going ‘Golly!’ ”

The music is from the opera “ Die Walkure “ by Richard Wagner, and Subin charged the platform with a vengeance, Toy said, apparently spurred on by the stirring music.

Toy continued: “Then he pulls up the straps on his suit and wraps his knees. He curls into a ball and then pops out an (ammonia capsule) and goes in to a period of silence. Then he throws the cap away and lets out a scream. It’s a real fun time. Troll’s a real big crowd pleaser.”

Subin is much more subdued in person, but he becomes animated when he speaks of a meet. “It’s a real big physical and mental drain if you’ve left nothing out on the platform.”

Subin has always loved competition. As a prep athlete at Holy Spirit High in Atlantic City he rowed in the Henley Regatta, a prestigious crew event in England. He also played football and soccer but gave up the sports because of ankle injuries. After surgery on both ankles, Subin began weightlifting in earnest and took up power-lifting in college.

Subin was a collegiate All-American at Temple University in 1987. In 1986 and ’87 Temple won the national power-lifting championship.

An exercise physiology major, Subin came to the West Coast to pursue a career in athletic training. He has worked with several professional athletes, including Mike Haynes of the Raiders. He trains personal clients out of Gold’s Gym in Redondo Beach.

Subin believes power-lifters reach their peak between the ages of 23-27, so he is in good shape to increase his lifts to his goals of 580 pounds in the squat, 360 in the bench press and 540 in the dead lift.

But unfortunately, Subin’s achievements may go unnoticed. Power-lifting is not a nationally organized sport, and many of the competitions are dominated by steroid users. Unless a national drug-testing policy is adopted by a power-lifting association, the sport will always be tainted by drug-enhanced performances.

Subin dreams of competing in the Olympics, but Olympic power-lifting does not include the squat, bench press and dead lift, only the clean-and-jerk and the snatch. The prospects of adding lifts are bleak, because the International Olympic Committee is opposed to more new sports, according to an official of the National Athletic Foundation.

But the Troll is undaunted. Even if he cannot lift in the Olympics, he says he’ll compete in his sport well beyond his twenties. “It’s fun,” Subin said. “I’ll keep lifting as long as I’m able.”