As I leap into the world of Powerlifting and become a Powerlifter, officially. I took away so much from this experience and learned a ton about myself and even changed as a person.
A little over 2 years ago I took the dive into CrossFit which completely changed me as a person, which it has done for many. As I travelled through the world of CrossFit I felt like I wanted something more, not to knock Crossfit at all because if it wasn't for it I wouldn't be where I am today, I felt as though I could only get so good at Crossfit and I would NEVER be at the top of the CrossFit boards (due to strength and injury issues). My issue with CrossFit is there is no specialization, you get decent at a lot of different things and maybe, just maybe you excel at a couple. This was starting to annoy me because there were many areas that were not getting better and I was feeling burnt out.
So, after my husband got certified to train Powerlifting I jumped in head first and LOVE it! I was seeing numbers go up that had been stuck for quite sometime and I started feeling super confident getting under or lifting a bar with heavy weight. This felt amazing for me because with injuries I've had, "heavy" weights have always scared me. And to be honest, I didn't know how hard lifting heavy weight was supposed to be...it sucks, it's uncomfortable, you feel like you are going to explode and on and on...even with all that I LOVE IT! But at the same time competing scares me worst than the weight lifted...getting in front of that many people and testing my skills and being judged NO way, NOT me!
Well...this past weekend I stepped onto the platform for the first time. And I gotta say I was a lot more calm than I expected to be...except for during squats because wrapping the knee wraps stressed me the fuck out! Now that the meet is over and I have the experience to look back at I am so proud of my self for stepping out on the platform and giving it my all.
For anyone who knows me they know I am a very out spoken, very hard on myself if I "fail" and if I'm pissed you know it kinda girl. But after this weekend I have learned some very important things about myself:
- Being afraid is NOT a valid excuse to not do something awesome. Conquering my fears is a huge step for me as I am always afraid of failure.
- Learning to not beat myself up because I miss a lift or have some technical reason for missing. I usually harp on it for days and run it over and over in my head and beat myself up over missing it. This is SO unhealthy! Well, this weekend I missed quite a few lifts and I started to get pissed and harp on missing my first bench attempt (because of technicalities) THEN I snapped out of it and MOVED on. I'll get it next time!!
- It does not matter how much you lift...it matters that you get up there and prove that you can do it...and that you are a POWERLIFTER!!
The Powerlifting community is one of the most helpful, supportive and encouraging group I have ever been involved in. Yes, from the outside looking in they look mean, tough and unapproachable but it is the exact opposite. Every time I stepped off the platform, whether I made the lift or not, one or two of the judges (who were world, national and state champions...btw) would pull me to the side and give me pointers...that right there is valuable information and not something they have to do.
At the end of the day ANYONE can walk around LA Fitness talking about how strong they are and how much they can curl or leg press. But it takes a lot to step out of your comfort zone and prove your strength and test your ability as a Powerlifter.
As I move on from this weekend and start a new training cycle. I will focus on and attack my weaknesses. We will be doing lots of strength, of course, as well as adding in Crossfit type workouts to keep up with conditioning...just because we like to lift heavy doesn't mean we don't want to be conditioned :) Until next time....
Lift heavy or go home!