I began my transition into powerlifting this weekend. It was an exciting transition but will be a difficult one. Although I have learned to love mountain dog training, what will make this transition difficult is the sport of powerlifting itself. I have not stepped on the platform in over three years. In that time I have molded my squat and bench to give me more transfer into strongman. My squats were very quad dominant with a lot of rebound and my bench isn't exactly optimal for the sport.

July 11th

Today was a squat day I went through with one of the other interns. We did a 4x3 SS yoke bar box squat then worked up to a moderate triple. After we did some accessory movements for the squat and called it after a good day of work.

July 12th

Today did not go nearly as smoothly as I had hoped. Although my bench had never been particularly strong I knew I was capable of at least a 300lb bench. Even in my warm up sets I had felt strong but my technique was clearly off. Ted and Matt began working on my form and I eventually missed a 225lb bench press. They were able to expose some major weakness in my form for me to work on. I won't lie this was incredibly frustrating for me. A weight that I had been able to bench since high school just stapled me. For the first time in years I felt lost and completely stupid in training.

July 14th

That feeling of getting lost gets worse. Today was supposed to be a max effort squat session but it was just one of those sessions that was going to be more therapy than anything. I got under the bar and nothing felt quiet right. Inconsistent reps, tension was wavering, positioning was off. I got reduced back to 1 plate box squats once again. I would be lying to say it was demoralizing. Its frustrating to completely re wire the motor patterns that you have developed, the same motor patterns that brought you success in another sport.

I left this squat session more frustrated than on Sunday. I really had to sit down and objectively look at myself and think to get things in perspective. I need to accept that I'm rebuilding my movements from the ground up and that I'm going to feel weak before I begin to feel strong again. It will be a humbling experience for the next few weeks but you have to walk through a valley before you begin to climb to the peak.

Andrew Triana is a Springfield College student studying Applied Exercise Science. He competes in Strongman.