It’s A Strange Sport 

I call powerlifting one of the strangest sports around. It is the one sport where no one genuinely cares who wins and who loses. What everyone cares about is the struggle, the grind, the effort you put into lifting the barbell.  

This is why I love the experience of competing. For me I always knew I wasn’t good enough to win anything. I just wanted to be a part of it. I love that you can be warming up with some of the country’s best lifters and you will be treated like an equal in the warm up room.   

That person warming up with you, whether they are stronger or not, have been through the exact challenges you have been through to be there on this day. It will be a fist bump or a wink after a warm up set that you get from your fellow lifter that says, I’ve been through the same grind, let’s get after it today.  

Once you are on the platform your experience is just the same as someone stronger. I remember a story of Chad Wesly Smith being asked ‘What is like to squat 400kg?’. His reply, ‘It’s the same as you squatting your max, it’s heavy.’. And every lifter knows this. This is why when you are lifting on stage , whether it’s a 100kg or a 400kg squat everyone is cheering on the effort.  

This is what makes this sport amazing. Gravity, the all knowing and all equaling provides us all with the same challenge. It’s just the reasons why we take up this challenge that set us apart. 

As I write this I find myself eight weeks out from my next competition. I have had and will continue to have my challenges in  preparing for this comp, but so have all the other people I lift with. My focus is simple: I am very much looking forward to my experience on competition day.