The Ever-Powerful Physique of Powerlifting Porn Star Siri Dahl

In the infamous carol “The 12 Days of Christmas,” the singer brags about all the bossy gifts their “true love” gave them for the holidays. But since since six geese-a-laying and a bunch of turtle doves seem unsanitary — not to mention a violation of city ordinances — we decided to gift you with 12 of something better: A handful of sex workers you should absolutely know about. Whether they’re becoming literary superstars, breaking the “stunt cock” mold or literally embodying gay Jesus himself, they’re the real gifts we need this Christmas. And no, not one of them is a turtle dove.

It can seem odd to talk about the behind-the-scenes activities and hobbies of adult film stars. Most casual viewers of porn probably presume and fantasize that their days play out in real life the way they do on camera. Fans of performers like 33-year-old Siri Dahl might speculate that any time she consorts with college friends, goes on a romantic hike through the countryside or visits the local gym, an intense sexual experience awaits her.

While I can’t vouch for what transpires for Dahl during the first two activities, she did tell me about what ensues every time she descends upon the gym. The activities are punctuated by thrusting, sweating, moaning, groaning and exhausted collapses at the end. However, the only man in sight is usually Dahl’s powerlifting coach, the majority of the toys weigh in excess of 45 pounds and every ass slap is self-induced, done for the sake of restoring blood circulation to the glutes. 

As a result, Dahl has carved out a distinct niche for herself as the most prominent woman in the adult film industry to rely on a strict regimen of powerlifting to provide shape to her curvaceous muscles, and bulk to her prodigious backside. 

I recently spoke with Dahl about what attracted her to powerlifting in the first place, how she uses her training to her advantage on adult film sets and what her powerlifting goals are — both on- and off-camera.

Powerlifting seems like such an atypical way for a porn star to train considering how porn places such a heavy emphasis on aesthetic appearance. How did you end up training in it?

I actually got started with powerlifting because I hated doing cardio so much. I was sitting there Googling workouts that would allow me to never have to do cardio again, and powerlifting is what was recommended the most. That got me started doing training routines that were mostly a bunch of plyometric stuff. Then I realized the training movements that I liked the most were movements that involved the bar, and that led me directly into powerlifting.

Did you start training like a competitive powerlifter right away, or did you find a coach?

I train with a coach now, but I was mostly self-taught in the beginning. I lift four days a week, and I have three main lift days, which are squat, bench and deadlift days. That involves working sets of the main lift, which are working toward getting pretty heavy by the end. Then I do some sets of accessory lifts, which are focused on working up to be main lifts.

On the fourth day, I’ll do four sets of four types of accessory lifts, so 16 sets of accessory lifts. For example, on a squat day, I usually do my main squat set, then I’ll do a pause squat or a safety bar squat, and then I’ll do a quad-dominant or hamstring-dominant leg accessory, like some kind of lunge, or something like leg extensions or curls on a machine. Then I’d have a core exercise and then some kind of upper-body exercise, like a dumbbell bench press or dumbbell shoulder press. I change it up, but it’s usually some kind of dumbbell movement. If I’m at a gym that has a cable machine, I also like to do a lot of cable machine stuff, too, like cable rows. Those are fun.

How much time are you actually spending in the gym? Your training sessions don’t sound like they would take very long.

I’m in the gym for 15 hours a week! Powerlifting takes a long time. It’s hard work, but it’s not a very efficient way to train. You’ll do two or three reps of a heavy weight, and then you’re sitting around for eight minutes trying to rest and recover. You get great results, but there are so many ways to train aside from powerlifting where you could spend less time in the gym.

Your adult film career began in 2012, and you started powerlifting in 2014. Since your powerlifting training has completely overlapped with your porn career, how has your body changed from the beginning of your career to now?

My body looks totally different from how it did when I started my adult film career. I don’t even know how to quantify how much muscle mass I’ve added since I started powerlifting, but it’s a lot. It’s funny, because I would look at my arms in photos from the beginning of my career, and I would think that I had like these flabby arms, and now I look at them and think about what scrawny little chicken arms I had. I have much bigger biceps now, and even the other day I was doing something and I looked in the mirror and saw the muscles pop in my triceps and I said, “Ohh! Nice!”

Have you noticed that your ability to do certain things on camera has improved since you started powerlifting?

Oh, 100 percent. I would say every porn star’s least favorite position is reverse cowgirl, or even cowgirl. A lot of positions in porn aren’t positions that people would usually do during normal sex. You need the camera to be able to get in there and see everything. Reverse cowgirl and cowgirl require a lot of stamina in your legs.

Before a scene is shot, there’s always a discussion of what you’re going to do, and you like for there to be a lot of variety in terms of the positions that you use. So you might have someone say that they can’t do a certain position or they can’t be in a position for very long. A lot of times, you can be in reverse cowgirl or something like that, and the male performer will be underneath you, and if you can’t hold yourself up on your own, they’ll have to provide you with additional help to support your weight. I never liked to have the guys support me like that. I’m a pretty big girl to begin with, but it’s a point of pride for me to be able to say, “I don’t need you to support me! I can support myself!” That’s one of the reasons it’s helpful for me to have such strong legs.

If you were to do a powerlifting competition, how well do you think you’d perform?

If I was in a competition, I think I’d do well. I’m very intermediate as far as powerlifting goes. I’m way stronger than most girls of my size and age, but in terms of powerlifting numbers, I’m comparing myself to professionals that are in my range. I’m nowhere near what they’re doing, but that’s okay. Powerlifting is something I do to work out, but also for fun and to challenge myself. It’s also good for me as far as the mental health benefits. 

My favorite lift is bench press. A lot of people ask me that, and they assume my favorite lift is the squat. It’s absolutely not the squat. I have really long legs, so that makes squatting more of a challenge, but I also have little T-rex arms, which means I’m built in a way that benching is easier for me.

Have the sort of scenes you’ve been asked to take part in changed along with the changes in your body?

Somewhat. I’ve never been asked to do my dream gym porn scene. I might never get to do my dream scene because I don’t know how much it would cost in terms of the production values. But my dream gym sex scene would be set in a gym, and I’d get to do at least one real lift. Not a power clean, but like a squat or a deadlift. I know those scenes exist because I’ve searched them out and I’ve seen them!

I produce a lot of content on my own on OnlyFans, so I end up doing a lot of fitness stuff. I have a gym at home, and in a lot of the OnlyFans scenes, I might be doing something where I’m doing squats totally naked.

Has anyone ever recognized you at the gym in a way that’s led to an awkward interaction?

Definitely. Although most of the people at my gym are regulars who I know personally, and they know what I do and are cool with it. There are some guys that stare a little too long, but I also think that’s something that most girls are aware of, and that may not have anything to do with me being in porn. 

I did have a case where a guy from the gym who I don’t really talk to commented on my Instagram page, and that made it creepier. I was like, “You saw me at the gym and you didn’t say anything, but then you went home and found my Instagram page and commented about where you wanted me to put my legs. You thought I wouldn’t notice that I saw you looking at me earlier?!?!” But for the most part, everyone is cool.

Have you ever had a serious injury from lifting?

Yes. I had a lot of pain in my shoulder, but that was from back when I used to play rugby. So I had to deal with that when I started lifting. It was one of those things where I’d really feel it when the bar would be on my shoulder when I was squatting. I had to squat for a long time with the pad and handles on it, like a safety bar. Eventually, the pain in my shoulders started to go away. 

I also kind of pinched or tweaked my back doing deadlifts, so it was like I had sciatica in my back. I need to be careful when I do my deadlifts not to cause that to act up again. The thing is, I know when I hurt myself seriously, it’s not going to be when I’m lifting something heavy and I’m focused. It’s going to happen when I know I’ve totally got the lift and I’m thinking it’s easy, and I’m going to be too relaxed and unfocused. That’s when I’m going to really hurt myself.

What are your ultimate goals for powerlifting? Would you ever transition into physique competitions or anything like that?

I would never do a physique competition. I just don’t have the mental makeup to do something like that. Just thinking about it right now, I know it wouldn’t be good for me mentally. It’s not like I don’t enjoy bodybuilding-style workouts, because they can be a lot of fun. But as far as getting on stage and competing, that’s not something I’d ever do.

With powerlifting, I have goals, but they’re not goals that involve qualifying for national competitions or anything like that. I just have certain goals I want to hit for certain lifts. But overall, it’s more about how much fun it is, and how much it helps me mentally.