My Personal Journey into Powerlifting
I’ve been strength/barbell training for almost eight years now. That sounds like a really long time, and it feels like it. I have learned alot in my time in the gym. That sounds really philosophical, I get it. But I really have learned alot from pushing my physical and mental limits.
Through all the phases of my life, physical exercise has played some part in it. As a kid, I played basketball and danced. While I didn’t really understand why at the time, I always felt good after a training session so I kept it up. When we played a tough game, or had a hard dance practice, the feeling of being able to push through the pain - physical and otherwise - gave me an unparalleled feeling of accomplishment.
As for my journey in to powerlifting, let me break it down in to timeline order for you:
2015
I still remember the first day I ever walked into a commercial gym. In May of 2015, I got my very own gym membership. I was in year 11 at the time and it was an ex boyfriend who persuaded me to go. He was pretty persistent in telling me that I’ll feel really good about myself, even though I didn’t really believe him. It was about 9pm at night and I was wearing a pair of old leggings and a giant hoodie, fearing that people would look at me because I didn’t belong. I was shitting myself.
I had no idea how to use any equipment and would just watch youtube videos to get workout inspo. At the time, the internet was just about entirely bodybuilders doing 3 sets of 12-15+ reps on EVERYTHING. So that’s what I did.
I stuck with this for a little while, but eventually cancelled my membership after the aforementioned boyfriend and I broke up. I didn’t feel confident enough to go on my own and thought that I’d never step foot in a gym again (LOL).
2016
After quitting the first gym, I went through my first real period of unintentional weight gain. I think I gained about 15-20kgs in about a year and developed a pretty complex relationship with my weight and food. I downloaded Kayla Itsines BBG (IYKYK) home e-book and thought it would “make me exercise”. I remember taking my first progress photo in the mirror and breaking down in tears because I hated how I looked. I promptly deleted the photo and absolutely smashed out these ebook sessions in my bedroom where no one could see me. I stuck to the nutrition plan in the book and dropped the weight almost as quickly as it had come on. Mind you, “correcting” my weight did anything but for my relationship with food and my body.
2017
I had finished the BBG ebook and decided that I’d like to go back to the gym. I felt really good after my home workouts (yay endorphins) and joined Fitness First. This was the first time that I’d ever gone to the gym on my own. I had a slightly larger knowledge of exercise but was still incredibly new to strength training.
I would watch youtube videos, find workouts on instagram and would write up my own workouts in a little notebook that I would keep in my gym bag. My workouts were mostly machine based, nothing too heavy because I didn’t want to get bulky and lots and lots and lots of reps. I trained this way for a little while and saw some pretty good results so I felt happy.
About a year in, I got approached by one of the PT’s at the time while I was mid-set during some seated rows and he told me that I was doing it all wrong. He then offered me a complimentary training session with him so I could train in a better way to get to my goals faster. Obviously I signed up with him after the session and was pretty quickly put on a very low carb meal plan and was training glutes 3x a week.
I ended up training with him for about a year and really enjoyed having a program and training consistently. Although I would struggle through my 90 minute sessions, I was feeling really good about how my strength was progressing at the time. In September of 2017 I hit a 60kg deadlift for about 6 reps, which was a PB at the time. I felt like the strongest person in the gym that day. It instantly boosted my confidence and I pushed the rest of my session pretty hard.
I had a hiatus from my PT sessions due to a surgery and never went back.
END 2017 - EARLY 2018
This was a huge milestone in my training. I, like many women, was always convinced that I didn’t need to learn to bench press. “That’s an exercise for men” HAHA. It was my younger sister's boyfriend (who was already in the powerlifting realm) who convinced me otherwise. He came to the gym with me and instructed me through the whole thing. It wasn’t until this session that I properly understood that heavy weights don’t necessarily equal a huge bulky physique.
I started training properly around this time. I was really focusing on my technique, so I swapped my bodybuilding workout youtube videos for ones about strength specific training.
2019
I’d seen powerlifting around on instagram over a number of years. I wasn’t super sure of what it was specifically but I thought it was unreal that there were people lifting these insane weights and placing more emphasis on what they could do rather than what they looked like.
After struggling for years with my body image and relationship with food, I finally worked up the courage to reach out to my now powerlifting coach.
In our first phone call, I remember mentioning that I was pretty relaxed about my training but I’d just like to get stronger. I had never thought about competing in powerlifting. When she asked if I’d be interested in doing a comp, I think I said something along the lines of “yeah maybe one day, I just need to be strong enough first”.
23 FEBRUARY 2020
I competed in a powerlifting competition for the very first time. I don’t know what made me feel confident enough to do a comp, but I did it. I scrapped the idea of feeling “strong enough” and was just really excited about the idea of a challenge. I had no expectations around how I would go but I was just focusing on doing it and having a good time.
I didn’t bother cutting weight, I wasn’t restricting my food or setting any expectations for how my training/comp day would go and it was brilliant. The energy in the room was electric, everyone was so excited - whether it was their first comp or tenth. My mum even came with me to support and I honestly don’t know who was more excited. I did my comp up in Sydney. My family and I live in Melbourne so I treated it as a little holiday. My mum filmed every lift and was cheering the whole time. It was like something straight out of Dance Mums. My family in Melbourne were huddled around the TV watching the livestream of the whole competition.
I finished the day 9/9 and I felt unbelievable. I didn’t care that I wasn’t the strongest person there, I didn’t care about what I looked like or how I actually performed on the day. I felt unreal that I had pushed myself to get through something challenging and felt so strong, both mentally and physically.
23 FEBRUARY 2020
This was also the year that I started to view exercise and sport as more than just a hobby. I completed my Certificate 3&4 in Fitness and became a PT.
2021-2022
The rest is history. I’ve gone from someone who was terrified to walk into a gym on their own to now working as a strength and powerlifting coach at The Strength Fortress. I have competed twice now and will do my third comp in August.
Powerlifting has taught me alot. It has completely changed my relationship with my body and how I now look at it.
Here are some of the key lessons I’ve learned:
- Go to the gym and lift heavy. Your body will thank you for it.
- Don’t be afraid to gain weight. Gaining weight is not something to be frowned upon. You don’t need to be small and petite.
- Learn to push through hard shit. You can learn this powerlifting and carry it in to every other area of your life
- Maybe this is overly specific but let’s just plant the seed – don’t cut weight for your first comp.
Without sounding too cheesy, this sport has changed my life.
