Powerlifting (and actually any physical activity) is a relatively new thing in my life – something I’ve only really taken up in the last 4-5 years. It’s quickly become my favourite hobby and the thing I devote the most thought to these days… but that will definitely change once I am back in school!
I’ve had people ask me how I got into it, why I like training, and other things like that, so I’ll use this post to talk about my background and what keeps me going in the world of powerlifting!
My Athletic Background
I have none! There, that section’s done.
Just kidding. Well, kind of. I don’t have any athletic background really – I never did any sports in high school or university apart from what was forced upon us in gym class in 10th grade. After I graduated university, a friend I made at work convinced me to join a rec[reational] soccer league and I did and I hated it. Then an intern on my floor was told I “do sports” (still not sure who told him that) and signed me up for a floor hockey tournament, despite me never having played before.
After that I went on to play floor hockey with him for about a year and a half, moving from rec to an intermediate league where we won our division in our final season. Him and the rest of our team went on to play ice hockey, but I am abysmal on skates sooooo I obviously did not join that team. Our last game was in December 2014 and I’ve only played on a different team for one season since.
The Turning Point
I have people ask me “what made you decide to get into lifting?” and I honestly don’t have a very good answer. I guess I was bored and wanted to keep up my activity level after stopping floor hockey. I’ve seen a good number of female powerlifters on social media talk about traumatic experiences that led them to the sport – things like eating disorders, PTSD, assault, abusive relationships, just generally terrible events like that. I am grateful I don’t have anything like that to reference, but I can think of one moment that may have planted the seed of change in my mind.
I’ve always been “thin” – maybe it’s because I’m so tall, but I have always been naturally leaner than my girl friends. My “heaviest” was near the end of my first relationship, when I became too complacent with everything right out of high school and definitely gained the freshman 15 in university. Even then, I was still thin but definitely had a higher body fat percentage.
After my first boyfriend and I broke up, I dropped weight VERY quickly. I think I went from 165lbs to 140lbs in a couple months, mainly from increased activity (going to shows multiple times a week and spending hours dancing) and not sitting around stuffing my face constantly. There were times during this period of even-skinnier-ness where I received rude anonymous messages on Tumblr; I specifically remember one said “eat a fucking sandwich” and I just couldn’t understand the hate… because I ate sandwiches all the time??? So what the hell?? I later found out someone in my friend group at the time was spreading lies behind my back, telling my other friends I was bulimic or some crap like that. I didn’t really care, but whatever.
When my current boyfriend Dalton and I started dating, he invited me to go bowling with a couple of his friends. There was a point in the evening where we were all shuffling our feet around on the ground trying to gather enough static to shock each other. You know, just being silly, when one of Dalton’s friends says something like “that’s not going to do anything, you weigh like 100lbs” to me and it seriously hurt. Why do people feel the need to comment on my weight?? I’m over here just living my life, not affecting anyone, not having an eating disorder, and people are making comments.
When Dalton and I got back to my place I started crying and told him how much that hurt. How I didn’t understand the comments. You wouldn’t say anything to an overweight person you don’t know very well, how is it appropriate to say something to a thin person you don’t know very well? It wasn’t a fun feeling.
But I think it was after that moment that I started looking into…. fitness.
My First Foray Into The Gym
The first fitness-y thing I did was go to a boot camp class I found on Groupon. I only went to maybe a handful of classes and decided it wasn’t for me. I don’t like group training environments (I don’t mind working out around other people, I just don’t like fitness classes for the most part) and wasn’t drawn to that style of working out. Going to the classes did confirm one thing though: I wanted to put on muscle.
I don’t remember the specifics, but I looked up some sort of full body workout routine and signed up for a 2 week trial at a gym near my house. I could barely even lift the barbell (45lbs) and felt overly self conscious and awkward being there. I spent my free time researching proper form, lifting techniques, and decided on an actual beginner lifting program to follow. I seriously started from nothing, I don’t think I had even touched a barbell before that point in my entire life. Maybe I touched a dumbell once. Who knows.
Either way, I fell in love with training and continued to research and better myself. Until I did my first competition in 2015!
What Keeps Me Going
There are multiple reasons I continue training specifically for powerlifting:
- I like being strong. Getting strong in the gym means I am also getting strong in everyday life – I never have troubles lifting anything anymore… but I do still suck at opening most jars.
- I like constantly beating my old self. Setting personal records is one of the most satisfying feelings in the world for me! Doing something with tangible, quantifiable results makes it easy to keep setting goals and working towards them.
- I enjoy competing. I like pushing myself, the adrenaline rush, meeting new people, and taking home medals is a nice cherry on top.
- I like learning. I am constantly reading and researching topics related to lifting and nutrition, it’s definitely a favourite passtime.
- The community. Although I train alone, I’ve made some great friends (online and in real life) through powerlifting and lifting in general!
- I like the way I look. My body has changed a lot, along with my body image and the way I view others’ bodies. The aesthetic results of powerlifting are a neat little benefit for sure.
Powerlifting is definitely my “mastery activity” (thank you depression therapy for teaching me this term) and keeps me focused and enjoying life. I like having goals, working towards something that benefits me and keeps me healthy, and pushing myself to constantly be better than yesterday.