Look, powerlifting is tough — and not “getting to the gym is half the battle” tough. If that’s you’re mentality, that’s totally fine, as long as you’re willing to accept mediocrity when it comes to results. If you want to set records, win meets, and really accomplish something in the sport, then you’re going to have to make sacrifices. You’re going to get used to waking up in pain, going to work in pain, training in pain, and going to bed in pain. You’re to have to get used to eating — or starving — yourself until you feel like death warmed over. You’re going to have to suffer, and you’re going to have to fucking enjoy it.
And here’s the really tough part: all that suffering does is get you in the door. It doesn’t make you strong. It sure as fuck doesn’t make you a champion.
To be great, you have to earn your regrets. And that means making those sacrifices day in, and day out, until you reach your goals. And once you do, you don’t get rich or famous. You get a whole new set of sacrifices to enjoy.
It also means accepting risk. Every time you set foot in the gym to train, every time you step on the platform, you take a risk. It might be the risk of injury, it might be the risk of failure, or it might even be the risk of success. Earning your regrets means accepting those risks, because you know — you know in your very deepest sense of self — that they’re worth it, regardless of the outcome.
What It Doesn’t Mean
Going all-in doesn’t mean blindly going full speed ahead or abandoning backup plans. Just because you accept the risks of lifting doesn’t mean you have to be stupid about them.
In academic terms, going all-in means your outcome goals are your top priority. Being smart means setting outcome goals that are, well, SMART, but it also means that you have a strong process as well.
Otherwise, not only are you setting yourself up for failure, but you’re also taking on unnecessary risks. Hopefully, the last section convinced you that there are already enough risks associated with lifting. You don’t need to add more. In fact, unless you do everything you can to minimize those inherent risks, your chances of going from shit to suck to good to great will be pretty fucking slim.
Basically, it comes down to this: going all in means training hard AND Thinking Strong.
SO GO FUCKING DO IT.