Here’s how I went from being picked last in gym class to deadlifting 3 times my bodyweight in a powerlifting meet.
First meet total: 252.5 kg.
Current Deadlift PR: 250 kg.
2 weeks before my first meet, I injured my left hamstring. Squats were OK but deadlifting was tremendously painful.
Having never gotten along in team sports, I was SO worried that I’d make an ass out of myself at my first powerlifting meet and be too weak, get heckled off the platform, talked down to and so on. And to be honest, this fear was not unfounded.
In my upbringing, I was so bad at sports that getting picked last for teams in gym class or going an entire game of soccer without ever touching the ball was not an uncommon event for me.
Because of that, the amount of negative self talk I had leading up to that first powerlifting meet I did in 2012 and even when submitting my attempts was definitely not healthy. But in true stubborn fashion, I said I was going to do something so I followed through with it.
I ended the day with 107.5kg squat /70kg Bench /75 Deadlift and to be honest with you, even with the absolute worst meet of my life being that day, I left with a strong desire to do another meet. The other competitors seemed to be in my corner, regardless of how much (or little) I was lifting and offered encouragement as I grinded through my lifts.
I’d never experienced that kind of community in sport before.
And damn did it feel good.
It made me feel like I belonged somewhere.
Training for powerlifting gave an amazing outlet for my competitive spirit that I’d previously just let transfer into angsty behaviour like being over competitive in games when I was out with my friends. I’ve even seen this type of thing come up in others who don’t have that outlet where they’ll do dumb things like road rage or speed.
As soon as I had that outlet to train hard (and with a purpose!), everything else dissolved away. The feeling of belonging to a “tribe” of like minded lifters kept pulling me back to competing and made all the training feel worthwhile. On top of that, getting on the platform broadened my horizons with what I considered possible.
Having a date in mind to focus on kept me so much more focused than “exercising 3 times a week to stay healthy”. As a result, I tried harder and saw better results.
Seeing people casually benching 300 lbs, squatting 4, 5 or even 600 lbs made whatever I was doing at the time seem “normal” and getting stronger didn’t feel like some novel task anymore. There was proof right in front of me that X lift was possible and I just had to put in the work to get there.
One of my favorite examples that I like to give of this is when I’d joined my first powerlifting gym in 2015. At the time, I had been stuck at a 125kg (275 lb) competition bench press for several months. In my first 12 weeks of lifting in the new gym, I benched 303 with some room to move up still. A little later on, I had progressed to 331, then 343lbs as my bench max. I attribute some of this of course to program changes, but the other part was seeing that it was “normal” to be able to do these types of things. This in turn got me out of my own way and allowed me to explore my strength potential instead of placing a glass ceiling on my own strength.
If you keep finding yourself putting off competing because you might not be strong enough or think people will care. Trust me… they don’t care about how much you lift, they care that you’re there.
Come join the tribe.
PS – here’s 2 ways I can help you prepare for your first powerlifting meet:
1. Follow me on Instagram (@strongeryoupt) for free lifting advice, programs and more powerlifting content. You can DM me the word “GUIDE” and I’ll get you a copy of “Your First Powerlifting Meet” – my guide that shows you strength standards and how to compete in powerlifting.
OR
2. Apply to join my “Platform-Ready Blueprint” and become a case study. We’ll work with you 1-on-1 to show you how to add up to 200 lbs to your total and compete in your first meet with less than 5 hours per week in the gym.
It takes less than 60 seconds to apply HERE in order to find out more information and see if you’d be a good fit.