Personal Lessons in Powerlifting
Powerlifting is a strength sport in which athletes practice the disciplines of the squat, the bench press and the deadlift. The total weight lifted across the three lifts are ranked against other athletes in the same weight class. The athlete who has the highest total in the weight class wins the competition.
It sounds pretty dry on paper, right? But many of us have found a huge amount of love for the sport. That’s not just because we’re strong and have won some big trophies. Our love for powerlifting comes from a lot more than our three-lift total.
I’ve learned a lot through powerlifting. Here’s where some of my love comes from.
Not everything you do in life needs to be in pursuit of a clear goal or outcome, success or wealth.
Powerlifting is not just a competitive sport. In fact, it is not that at all for many participants and many of our members at TSF. Powerlifting is a hobby, a means to get out of the house, meet like-minded people, exercise in a safe environment and improve your health and fitness.
While competition is cool in my opinion; it is not for everyone. Not everyone finds that fun or exciting and that is fine. You can get strong and move your body for the sake of it. You don’t need to strive to be the strongest or the best for it to be a valuable use of your time. You can engage in powerlifting training because it provides you with something that is completely intangible.
What motivates and inspires me won’t necessarily motivate and inspire you.
We all have different motivations and drives. There are many different reasons why people take up powerlifting. For many, this sport is about getting fitter and stronger, breaking out of their comfort zone and hitting that goal PB. For others it’s about competition and athletic success.
We can all respect what gets one another going, without at all feeling that same drive in ourselves. There is respect and unity in our differences. It’s cool to all come together, to do something that feels meaningful to us for whatever reason, and share in that despite our own personal reasons being uniquely our own. We all want to get stronger, and it’s cool and way more fun doing that together.
Life isn’t linear. It’s the turning up that counts.
For me powerlifting is like a philosophy I live by: it’s the pursuit of your very best in life, no matter the circumstances.
Strength training is not linear; just like life is not linear.
Perhaps one day you compete, you hit PBs across the board and you’re ecstatic. Two months later you encounter a setback: an injury, travel is interrupting training, you’re under the pump at work, or you are going through a tough time mentally and you can’t make it to the gym. Any number of things can impede your training. Now you cannot lift the weights you once could. That can be hard to accept.
For me this has happened many times. But I pull myself up, and I get back in the gym and I start from exactly where I am. Personally, I think it’s really cool to see what I can achieve, even amid all the setbacks. It displays and reminds me of my resilience.
How do I apply this to life? Well for me, I aim to just show up to the gym just like I show up for life regardless of the outcome and the progression/regression. This has helped me through my days in high school, university, full-time work, sport and showing up for my friends and family when they need me.
So for me to turn up today and to try and be better than I was yesterday: that’s what powerlifting means to me.
