I’m 46% stronger now than when I did my first competition 10 years ago.
Back then, I was supremely lucky.
See, I didn’t want to compete. I wanted to wait until I could win something.
I wanted to at least not be last in my class, and I wanted to be able to mix it with the big boys at the time….
….I was only 19 years old, so cut me some slack.
I thought everyone at these comps was gonna be some big weight eating monster, since that’s what I was used to seeing online.
(I didn’t realise what I saw online wasn’t real life!!)
YOUNG, OLD, WEAK, AND EVERYONE IN BETWEEN
It surprised the hell outta me to see young and old people competing, guys and gals, strong and weak, skinny and overweight, AND an even bigger mix of people in the crowd supporting the lifters. Powerlifting is not what you think it is.
You think powerlifting is a sport where stronger muscular people compete against other strong and muscular people with perfect technique in a show of macho bravado.
BUT powerlifting is actually a sport where people from all walks of life, who just want to be a little bit better today than they were yesterday, come together and hang out at a competition to compete against themselves.
The only numbers that matters are your own. In 10+ years of powerlifting I have NEVER heard someone “he / she is too weak to be on the platform, they’re embarrassing themselves”.
It simply doesn’t happen. And if it did, they’d receive the butt of my palm squre in the middle of their nose.
The number one reason why “weak” people (and I’m using that term because it’s how they define themselves) should compete in a powerlifting comp is because it will make them strong fast.
It will reframe exactly what is possible.
I saw a 63kg girl I know doing a 165kg deadlift yesterday.
I know quite a large number of guys who get freaked out by that number.
WHAT IS “HEAVY” ANYWAY
Heavy is relative to how strong you are now, but once you begin to reframe what “heavy” means to you by seeing other ‘normal’ people do the same, it opens your mind and gives you the confidence to go after it too.
Having a competition to train for will take your training to the next level as well – think back to school or college, nothing focused the mind and creates a lot of output fast like a deadline. And that’s all a competition is.
It’s a deadline to evaluate your last “X” weeks and months of training. We do them every quarter in the gym for our members, and many will go on to compete in IrishPowerlifting Federation events around the same time.
It’s about 7 weeks until our next in house comp. Typically, over that time period beginners will see anywhere up to a 25% increase in their strength levels while training with us. It happens fast because at the start of your training cycle we do a series of movement and strength tests to determine your biggest weaknesses.
From there, we attack them like a horny kangaroo. You’ll be coached in a small group thru every session (3-4x per week) for the next 7 weeks, and at the end you’ll get to see exactly how much stronger you’ve gotten.
Our next in house comp is 17th December 2016.
You can start today if you reply to this email before 3pm. We’ll get your private intro and strength test done tonight, and figure out your training times for the rest of the week from there.
(if you’re reading this on facebook, or our blog, just click here to email me directly)
And if you want to find out a bit more about powerlifting, read my series on it here:
Things To Know Before Starting Powerlifting
The Gear You Need To Compete In Powerlifting
How To Enter A Powerlifting Competition
PS – it’s just €38.75 per week for 3-4x semi private personal training sessions each week, along with all the nutrition support you need, regular body fat tests and free entry to any RevFit In house comps – you don’t even need special gear to compete in our members competitions, just a tee and shorts 🙂
TL;DR – join a gym, enter a powerlifting comp, I don’t care how little you lift, and neither does anyone else, just get stronger