I have spent the past 9 months exploring the world of powerlifting. In that time, I have competed and medaled in three meets and qualified for Raw Nationals in Scranton, PA on October 16th. I decided to go because YOLO and this may be the only time in my life I get so lucky to have an opportunity like this. It is surreal to think I didn’t even know what powerlifting was a year ago. I remember jumped on board at the last minute to sub for a girl who could no longer compete. There was a new lifting coach at Humanity. From what I had observed he was soft spoken and kept to himself and his female entourage of lifters. I said “hi” to them each day I came into Humanity to work out. One day, Sal approached me and asked me if I was interested in competing. Without missing a beat I said, “Sure. I like competing in general. How long do I have to train?” Truth, was I didn’t even know what he meant. “Two weeks,” he said. “Even better! No expectations!” I replied. I had been doing CrossFit at that time for almost two years and was ready to try something new. This seemed like the perfect opportunity to get my feet wet. I could go and experience a meet without any expectations surrounding my performance. I was just a sub. Once I registered for the Fall Classic time sped up. I had a lot to learn. For example, up until that point I thought a singlet was a classical music piece. A teammate loaned me her old singlet and I was grateful to not have to invest in the most unflattering piece of clothing I had ever laid eyes on.
Coach Sal “highly” suggested I get used to my singlet and lift in at least once before the meet. I didn’t want to walk out of the bathroom to the gym’s platform that day. Ladies, there is no hiding from the singlet. I lifted that day in practice resembling Sponge Bob in a wrestling unitard and wanting to die from embarrassment. Once you do your first meet in one you’ll definitely feel more comfortable. Now, I love my singlet. Looks be damned! I view wearing my singlet as an old friend. My buddy who gets me into the club and on stage. Truly, I’d head to happy hour in my singlet, pose for a photo shoot in it, and pick up a long lost friend from the airport in it.
Coach Sal put a lot of time into me giving me the rundown of what to expect at the meet. I’d get three attempts at each lift: squat (there’s only one type in powerlifting: back squat), bench press, and deadlift. He told me there would be a judge on each side of me looking for technical violations such as not hitting below parallel on my squat depth, or looking to see if my butt comes off the bench during bench press. I joked, “You mean there’s a specific judge just to stare at my a$$ during a meet?” If any violations were seen each of the three judges had a remote that linked to board of three lights. One violation meant one red light, two white lights. All I could really picture was an episode of family feud when he mentioned buzzers and lights. Sometimes my imagination takes over and I get lost in daydream. Coach Sal said to make it a goal to get 3 white lights for every lift. We would keep the jumps in weight conservative to allow for a positive first meet experience and my job was to focus on the cues and do what I do. I guess upon meeting me he knew focusing would be my toughest issue.
The Fall Classic was at Cal State Fullerton on a Saturday morning. I drove up to my grandma’s in Long Beach after work on a Friday night and she watched Frankie for me on Saturday. I remember being so tired crawling into bed on Friday questioning why I volunteered to drive, pay money and get up before 6 am on a Saturday. At that time, the pros didn’t outweigh the cons. I told myself I committed to this and I didn’t want to let the others down. So, early Saturday morning I headed out past the Anaheim Angels stadium to Cal State Fullerton. By the time I found the gym the check in and weigh in lines were long. This was my first time witnessing and participating in the formalities of a meet. Pre-meet formalities include:
- When you arrive, you sign a waiver saying I’m choosing to risk injuring myself therefore I won’t sue ___________ federation. Also, I don’t do drugs. You give this to the check in desk along with your photo ID proving ONLY you would choose to do something like this all day on a Saturday.
- Then you get in two lines to get your rack heights: one height for the squat rack and two heights for the bench press (one is the rack height, the other is the safety bar height).
- After that, you head to a ladies restroom to get weighed in kilos. If you’re starving because you’re trying to make weight
- Lastly, there is gear check. Just like airport security you put your gym bag on a table and show everything you will be wearing IN the meet: leather lifting belt only (Velcro belts not allowed), lifter shoes, tall socks (required for the deadlift).
- Then you hydrate and eat breakfast and wait for your flight to be posted. A flight is the order of lifters by weight class. What I didn’t understand is after each attempt for each lift the list gets re-ordered based on scores. So if you screw up your lift round one chances are you will be one of the first to pull in the second attempts. Conversely, if you make a huge jump in weight you’ll probably be towards the end of the next flight during the second attempt.6
- Towards the end of the flight before yours you have to get to the back weight room and start to warm up to your opening lift. This was the most stressful part because bars and space were limited. I didn’t want to be an A-hole but I also didn’t come here to not be warmed up before my first lift. I watched as girls approached groups already warming up and asked if they could be “worked into the rotation.” I followed suit and had to stay focused on being consistent with warming up with the same jumps in weight I did in practice.
During the warm up, my nerves kicked in. I was about to walk out on stage from a back room chalk my hands, remember my cues, stay tight, and lift for a crowd? No, Hannah you’re lifting for you. You’re lifting just like you did this entire past week. Big breath. Stay tight. Jitters are a good thing. They show me I care about what I’m doing and they truly help me focus on the task at hand. When I’m on the platform I don’t hear anything but what I’m supposed to hear, the cues. Sports in general help me to relax because mentally I have to block out the rest of the world in order to perform.
After each lift there is one minute given to report your next attempt weight to the judge’s desk. I relied heavily on Coach Sal. Not yet being able to know my body as a lifter under pressure. I couldn’t decipher if what I just squatted was heavy, super heavy, or even light? He suggested an appropriate yet conservative jump in weight as it was my first meet. The point was to have a good experience. It was not about risking it all and failing again and again.
Post final lift in the warm up area
Being the social creature that I am, in between lifts I enjoyed getting a sense of the other female lifters in my flight. Most were really nice, a few were keep to themselves, and a choice few were intimidating. I later found out that the ones who stomped loudly under the bar before de-racking it and flipped their ponytails over it dramatically, were title holders. Once I learned this, I felt I at least understood them better. I would imagine that defending a title would be the most pressure one ever could feel in any competition. Both Katy and Cathleen were the experience lifters I looked up to representing Humanity. They showed me the ropes and were very kind to me during my first meet. I feel grateful to them for being a major reason WHY I had a good first experience competing: a solid connection with my female teammates.
After the Fall Classic wrapped, I was hooked. I was to find out how a full training cycle could improve my strength and I wanted another opportunity at competing after putting in a ton of work. I really have no idea what a national level meet looks like and I’m excited to be the new girl taking it all in. I have no real goals other than to continue to improve during this strength training cycle and to go into the meet well rested, hydrated and fueled. Powerlifting will not be the only new sport I discover in my lifetime but while this wave lasts I sure am enjoying the ride!
